St. Rita Of Cascia Medal 925 Sterling Silver Sickness / Abuse / Parenthood

Lifetime guarantee finish - Sterling Silver finish will not tarnish.

Patronage: Lost and impossible causes, sickness, wounds, marital problems, abuse, mothers.

At the age of 36, Rita was accepted into the Augustinian convent. She lived a regular life of prayer, contemplation and spiritual reading, according to the Rule of Saint Augustine. For forty years she lived this routine lifestyle, until fifteen years before her death, on Good Friday 1442, she had an extraordinary experience. In contemplation before an image of Jesus that was very dear to her, the Jesus of Holy Saturday or, as it is also known, the Resurgent Christ, she was moved by a deeper awareness of the physical and spiritual burden of pain which Christ so freely and willingly embraced for love of her and of all humanity. With the tender, compassionate heart of a person fully motivated by grateful love, she spoke her willingness to relieve Christ's suffering by sharing even the smallest part of his pain. Her offer was accepted, her prayer was answered, and Rita was united with Jesus in a profound experience of spiritual intimacy, a thorn from his crown penetrating her forehead. The wound it caused remained open and visible until the day of her death.

Rita died peacefully on May 22, 1457. An old and revered tradition records that the bells of the convent immediately began to peal unaided by human hands, calling the people of Cascia to the doors of the convent, and announcing the triumphant completion of a life faithfully lived. The nuns prepared her for burial and placed her in a simple wooden coffin. A carpenter who had been partially paralyzed by a stroke, voiced the sentiments of many others when he spoke of the beautiful life of this humble nun in bringing lasting peace to the people of Cascia. If only I were well, he said, I would have prepared a place more worthy of you. With those words, Rita's first miracle was performed, as he was healed. He fashioned the elaborate and richly decorated coffin which would hold Rita's body for several centuries. She was never buried in it, however. So many people came to look upon the gentle face of the Peacemaker of Cascia that her burial had to be delayed. It became clear that something exceptional was occurring as her body seemed to be free from nature's usual course. It is still preserved today, now in a glass-enclosed coffin, in the basilica of Cascia.