Portal:Catholic Church/Patron of the Day Archive/May 22 2007

Saint Rita (1381 – May 22, 1457), a pre-eminent Augustinian saint was born at Roccaporena near Cascia in the Diocese of Spoleto, Italy. The name is perhaps a shortening of Margherita, the Italian version of the name "Margaret".

She was wife to a rich man named Paulo, mother of twin boys named James Anthony and Paul Maria, and after the murder of her husband and the death her two sons, she spent 40 years as a nun living to the The Augustinian Rule in the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalen at Cascia.

Attributes:Crown of thorns, rose, bees

Prayer:Dear Rita, model Wife and Widow, you yourself suffered in a long illness showing patience out of love for God. Teach us to pray as you did. Many invoke you for help, full of confidence in your intercession. Deign to come now to our aid for the relief and cure of {name of sufferer}. To God, all things are possible; may this healing give glory to the Lord. Amen.