5/19/2023 0 Comments St rita of casciaThis contrast inspired the Christian Latin poet Coelius Sedulius, who wrote (between 430 and 450) a very elaborate comparison between Eve, our first mother, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus our Savior. This symbolism attained a deeper complexity when contrasted with the rose's thorns. In Rome the feast called " Rosalia" was a feast of the dead: thus the flower referred to the next world. It also spoke of the fleetness of life, and therefore of death. In Greco-Roman culture the rose's symbolic qualities represented beauty, the season of spring, and love. In the Latin West the symbolism of the rose is of Greco-Roman heritage but influenced by and finally transformed through Latin biblical and liturgical texts. 311), and Our Lady of Guadalupe (appeared in 1531). Such a miracle is presented in various hagiographies and legends in different forms, and it occurs in connection with diverse individuals such as Saints Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231), Elizabeth of Portugal (1271–1336), Saint Dorothy, a 4th-century virgin martyr at Caesarea in Cappadocia (died ca. Within Catholicism, a miracle of the roses is a miracle in which roses manifest an activity of God or of a saint. Elizabeth of Hungary: Miracle of the roses by Karl von Blaas, 1839. She prays for those broken by disappointment, not for their wishes to be granted, but so they may face their sorrow as she was able to do throughout her life, with joy and undying hope in God’s goodness.St. Like all saints, her intercession leads to miracles, but we must not presume that those miracles will bear any resemblance to the ones for which we’ve asked. Now, she stands in heaven, interceding for the young couple with empty hands yearning for a child, or the woman suffering in an abusive marriage. She accepted God’s will for her life, believing that though his plan for her brought suffering he would only allow that pain if it could lead to greater joy in him. Rita refused to sink into despair because her hopes and dreams were not realized. Rita is now honored as the patroness of impossible causes, as well as of difficult marriages and infertility. She did not become bitter, and she did not withhold her love from God until he had proven himself to her by granting her wishes. Instead however, she leaned into her trials, trusting that God’s plan surpassed her own, and that by relying on his grace, she would receive greater happiness than she had ever imagined. If she had lived in a time like ours, so risk-averse and terrified of pain, she would likely have been crushed by the burdens she was asked to bear. Her early dreams were crushed, she endured a difficult marriage, suffered the loss of her husband quickly followed by the deaths of her children. At first glance, her life is one of disappointment, sorrow and grief. Rita lived four decades as a nun, receiving the gift of the stigmata on her forehead 15 years before her death at age 76. Rita’s grieved her sons, but gave thanks that her sons had not died in a state of mortal sin, and thus could hope for heaven.įollowing the deaths of her children, Rita sought entrance to a convent in Cascia, and after many trials - due to the feuds in which her late husband had participated - she was admitted, finally fulfilling her lifelong dream of committing herself solely to Christ. Rather than turning themselves to lives of peace, the young men died of illness. Her prayer was answered albeit not in the way she wanted. Falling to her knees, the distraught mother begged God that if her children were to die, that they do so before maiming their own souls with murder. Rita greatly feared for her sons, lest they follow their father’s footsteps and meet their own deaths, but they were already grown and had no interest in her heeding. She bore two sons and was widowed at a young age. Rita was heartbroken, but she immediately consoled herself with the knowledge that God’s will was for her to bear this Cross, and she did. But despite her pleas, her family instead married her off to a brutal and violent man when she was barely childbearing age. Rita of Cascia, a 14th-century wife and mother turned widow and eventual nun, sets a holy example of avoiding this trap. When we do, then if anything less than our rosy vision comes to fruition we spiral into despair and self-pity, trying to figure out why all those limitations we were told we were immune to are somehow thwarting us. There is nothing wrong with optimism, but we cannot assume that each dream will come true. We live in a world that seeks constantly to shield itself from disappointment.
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