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 Saint Rita of Cascia: 5th Centenary of Death Scott 209-211 (1956) May 22 marks the feast day for Saint Rita of Cascia. The three-stamp set shown above was released in 1956 to commemorate the fifth centenary of her death. St. Rita was born in 1381 at Roccaporena in the Central Apennines, Italy of peasant parents in their old age. From her earliest years, she desired to enter the Augustinian convent at Cascia, there to live her life as a virgin consecrated to God. Her parents demanded that she marry the man of their choice, and, although reluctant, Rita acceded to their command as an expression of the will of God for her. The husband, chosen by her parents, turned out to be brutal, violent, and dissolute, the terror of the neighborhood. Rita bore him two sons and endured his infidelity and brutality with patience and gentleness. As her sons grew they began to follow their father's example rather than their mother's. After eighteen years of marriage, her husband was brought home dead, slain by an unknown assailant. Her two sons swore to discover the killer and to avenge their father by killing his murderer. Rita prayed that they would die before being guilty of the sin of murder. They were seized with a fatal illness, during which they renounced their oath of vengeance and were reconciled to God. Alone in the world, Rita applied for entrance to the Augustinian Convent at Cascia. She was refused admittance to the community since the constitution of the congregation allowed virgins only to be accepted. She applied again and again, and on the fourth attempt the rules were relaxed and she was admitted into the convent and received the habit of an Augustinian Nun in 1413. Rita showed the same submission to authority in the convent that had guided her whole life. She was perfect in the observation of the rule of life, and where the rule allowed any latitude, as in extra austerities, she was merciless to herself. To others, she was the soul of kindness, as in her care of sick nuns, and in her concern for negligent Catholics, many of whom she converted to repentance by her prayers and entreaties. All of her actions were motivated by a fervent love of God. From childhood, she had a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ. In 1441 she heard a sermon on the crown of thorns by St. James Della Marca, after which she felt a pain in her forehead, as though a thorn from the crown of thorns were embedded in her forehead. It developed into an open wound that became so offensive that she was secluded from the other nuns. With the exception of a period in 1450, the Holy Year of Jubilee, when the wound healed so that she could make the pilgrimage to Rome with her fellow nuns ( for which she had prayed ), the sore remained with her until her death. It has been considered a partial stigma by many. During her declining years she suffered from a wasting disease which she bore with resignation and never relaxed her penances. The roses which are connected with St. Rita, and are blessed as her emblem in Augustinian churches on her feast day, come from an old tradition that as she was nearing death she asked a visitor from Roccaporena to bring her a rose from the garden. It was early in the season, but the visitor found a rose bush in full bloom in the garden, and brought a blossom to St. Rita. She was asked to bring the saint two figs, and in the garden found two figs on a leafless tree. St. Rita died on May 22, 1457 and her body remained incorrupt until modern times. Her feast day is also May 22nd. This article first appeared in Vatican Notes in 1960 (Volume 8, Number 6, pages 9 and 10). The original article can be accessed by clicking on the link below. It has been lightly edited, with color images of the stamps and corner blocks added. 
 Ornamental Corner Blocks: Saint Rita of Cascia Issue of 1956 REFERENCE: Technical Details: Scott Catalogue - 209 - 211 Date Issued - 19 May 1956 Face Value - 10 l, 25 l, 35 l Perforations - 14 Printer - The Italian State Printing Works |
