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 devotional practices, 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 very popular saint. She was a woman of prayer and made the prayed and witnessed Word the strength of her life. In her joys and many sorrows, she conformed herself to Christ crucified, in union with God the Father, for the salvation of the world. Close to people through the ordinariness of the daily life she lived, she is invoked as the patron saint of the most desperate cases.
The Thorn on the Forehead
The Fifteen Thursdays of Saint Rita originated in popular religious devotion, with the aim of commemorating the 15 years during which the saint bore the painful wound caused by the thorn on her forehead, received as a pledge of love from the spouse of her soul, Jesus Crucified.
This devotion spread widely throughout 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, there is now a greater emphasis on its value for evangelization and growth in the Christian life.
This devotion involves a spiritual journey that begins in February (this year starting on February 2) and, week by week, continues until May 22, the feast day of the saint.
In his proposal, entitled «Saint Rita. The Fifteen Thursdays and Novena», Father Giustino Casciano, an Augustinian, helps those 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 paths to evangelizing today's world and countering the dangers arising from magic and the spread of sects.
A journey of prayer
From Thursday to Thursday, the faithful take steps along a journey of prayer and reflection that leads to an encounter with Saint Rita through the values she lived by and still teaches today: forgiveness, peace, sacrifice, humility, and dialogue. In this way, the faithful embark on 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 responded to violence and the spirit of revenge and hatred by forgiving with the same love as Jesus Crucified, will certainly answer our prayer.
