Roses, bees, a thorn and hopelessness, Comrade Rita is a defender in difficult and hopeless cases

Krakow Church of St. Catherine in Kazimierz, a crowd of people with roses at different times of the day. Tourists in electric cars and ordinary passers-by stop with the question: what is it all about? Where are all these people going and why? Only about 20 hours, st. Augustianska in Krakow returns to its normal daily routine next month. On the 22nd of every month, this area in Krakow and, presumably, in all places of the world associated with St. Rita, she's turning into a rose garden.

Local residents and visitors from the far corners of Poland come to the church to pray, to thank for the healing, pregnancy, finding a job, strength, power, for everything and ask for help. I go there often and not only 22. Although I have a piece of God in me, as in everyone else, sometimes I forget. I also meet her sometimes in different places, sometimes with other people or in nature. It seems that she is such a cordial friend, she is far away, and at the same time close, understands, listens, sometimes answers, but not always, which often turned out to be the best option. Sometimes I write letters to her: “St. Rito, you probably have more important things to do, but if you have a minute, remember about…”

Who was St. Rita?

Saint Rita of Kashy was a wife, mother, widow and sister in one lifetime. Her symbol is a rose, perhaps because love and pain were inseparable in her life. Through her intercession, numerous healings and miracles were performed in all sorts of things. She knows hopeless things very well, she is called in hopeless situations. It is disarmed by love and a deep longing for peace and harmony. The only saint who had the stigmas of a crown of thorns on her forehead, which lasted 15 years. OESA mystic (Ordo Eremitarum S. Augustini) - Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine - Augustinian hermits. Her body, preserved for 5 centuries in a glass coffin in the Basilica of Cascia, remains intact.

At the time of canonization, 300 favors were confirmed, received thanks to her intercession. In 1457 alone, eleven miracles were confirmed in writing. The biggest happened on May 25 of that year, the blind Battista d'Angelo regained her sight by praying in front of the saint's tomb.

History of St. Briefly about Rita

She was born and lived in medieval Italy, at the turn of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, not far from Cascia, in a pious and Catholic family. When she was born, her parents Amata Ferri and Anthony Lotti were in old age and the appearance of the baby, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, came as a surprise to them.

Since childhood, she wanted to become a nun, for which she fervently prayed. However, her parents gave her away against her will to a man who, to put it mildly, mistreated her during the 18 years of marriage until he was killed. From this marriage, Rita had 2 sons, who probably wanted to avenge the death of their father. Rita fervently prayed that God would not allow new bloodshed. Soon two of her sons died.

Then Rita entered the monastery of the Augustinian-Eremites in Kashii. It did not become a deus ex machina, as three times because she was a young widow she was denied admission to the convent. Legend has it that once during a prayer, John the Baptist, St. Augustine and Nicholas Tolentino, who brought her to the convent and disappeared. The sisters of the monastery of Mary Magdalene were surprised to find that Rita was outside the walls of the monastery, did not break down and did not open the door, and took her to them. During one of the visions, she received wounds from the crown of thorns of Christ, which remained with her for the rest of her life. This happened at her request after the Good Friday prayer, when she asked Jesus to allow her to participate in his suffering.

Bee

As an infant, Rita stayed under a tree while her parents worked in the fields. One day, a man with a wounded arm passed by her and rushed home to help her. He was surprised to see swarms of bees flying over the girl's cradle and also flying into her mouth, and nothing happens, but the baby laughs. He wanted to drive them away, and when he drew back his hand, he saw that his wound had disappeared.

The motif of incoming and outgoing bees was known in ancient Greece, where bees flew over wonderful children, giving them gifts of music. Honeycombs lay on Plato's lips, bees fed the poet Pindar. In Germanic mythology, there is a myth about the inspiration of the poet Odin, who stole honey from the giants, so poetry is called Odin's honey. In the Old Testament, the symbolism of bees is similar to Greek mythology.

Roses

Shortly before her death, Rita came to visit her cousin. The legend says that St. Rita asked her to bring her a rose from the garden. Surprisingly, roses bloomed in the middle of a harsh winter. Some biographers also mention ripe figs found in the snow, but this is not a very common symbol associated with the saint. Figs are a symbol of fertility and wisdom - the figs were offered to the goddess of wisdom, Athena.

Roses symbolize the unfolding mysteries of God in man and represent the more developed heart of the mystical soul. The rose is also a metaphor for life's vicissitudes, pain in the midst of beauty. In ancient mythology, she is an attribute of Venus, the goddess of love. Wreaths of roses over the heads of the saints mean that they received the gift of Love. The Mother of God is also sometimes called the Rose. 5 wounds of Jesus is also a rose.

What can you learn from St. Rita

Rita suffered a lot in life, lost her husband and two children. You can certainly learn from her to trust God and love without limits. When something wrong happens to us in our life, completely different from our imagination, we usually have 2 options, rebel or believe and believe that it is good, whatever it is.

From St. Rita, we too can learn contemplation and fervent, deep prayer. Like St. Augustine, she often prayed all night and became sad when the night, and therefore her prayer, came to an end. All her life Rita has trusted Jesus, she is a preacher of peace. When there is violence around her, she seeks harmony and light. Rita is a great teacher of forgiveness and acceptance of life as it is. St. On the XNUMXth anniversary of her death, John Paul II said that her message focused on the typical elements of spirituality: the readiness to forgive and accept suffering, not through passive giving, but through the power of love for Christ, who, especially in the case of his crown of thorns, suffered, among other humiliations, a cruel parody of his reign. She has mastered the art of living and not giving up.

The first miracles were explored during the process of beatification, from the healing of the carpenter who prepared the coffin for her, through the healing of a 7-year-old girl, a 70-year-old man, a nun from Kashii, to healings and miracles occur every day.

St. Rita is recognized as a Saint in the Catholic Church, which does not change the fact that she is recognized by a wide range of people in general, regardless of religion or religious affiliation or lack of it. People who need it just pray for her intercession.

Evelina Wuychik