The devotion of the “Fifteen Thursdays of Saint Rita” is a journey of prayer in the company of the “Patron Saint of Impossible Causes.” It consists of celebrating the fifteen Thursdays preceding the feast of the Saint of Cascia (held on May 22), through particular practices of piety, especially meditation on the main events of her life and her virtues.
Patron Saint of Impossible Causes
Wife, mother, widow, Augustinian nun, and great mystic, Rita is a highly popular saint. She was a woman of prayer and made the prayed and witnessed Word the strength of her life. In joys and many sorrows, she conformed herself to Christ crucified, in union with God the Father, for the salvation of the world. Close to ordinary people because of the normality of the everyday life she lived, she is invoked as the Patron Saint of the most desperate cases.
The Thorn on Her Forehead
The Fifteen Thursdays of Saint Rita originated in popular religious devotion, to commemorate the 15 years during which the Saint bore on her forehead the painful wound caused by the thorn, received as a pledge of love from the bridegroom of her soul, Jesus Crucified.
This devotion spread widely in Italy and abroad, especially after Rita was canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900.
The Fifteen Thursdays Today
In reintroducing this form of popular prayer today, the aim is to highlight more clearly its values for evangelization and growth in the Christian life.
This devotion involves a spiritual journey that begins in February (this year starting on February 3) and, week by week, continues until May 22, the feast of the Saint.
In his proposal, entitled «Saint Rita. The Fifteen Thursdays and Novena», Augustinian Father Giustino Casciano helps brothers and sisters who are weaker in faith and less prepared to understand the true meaning of devotion to the saints, convinced that this is one of the ways to evangelize today’s world and counter the dangers arising from magic and the spread of sects.
A journey of prayer
From Thursday to Thursday, the faithful take the steps of a journey of prayer and reflection that leads to an encounter with Saint Rita through the values she lived by and continues to teach today: forgiveness, peace, sacrifice, humility, and dialogue. In this way, the faithful undertake a living and dynamic spiritual journey of commitment to God, so that they may discover that the happiness of life resides within them.
A devotion for the whole year
This devotion can be practiced not only during the period of preparation for her feast day, but also to ask God for a particular grace or help in life’s difficulties, invoking the intercession of the Saint of Impossible Causes.
Saint Rita, a strong and courageous woman who reacted to violence, a spirit of revenge, and hatred by forgiving with the same love as Jesus Crucified, will not fail to answer our prayer.
