May 22 is her feast day, the day on which Saint Rita is celebrated in Cascia, throughout Italy, and beyond.

The Saint of Bees and Roses

She is a saint about whom everyone knows at least something: she is the saint of forgiveness, because she was able to forgive her husband's murderers; she is the saint of impossible cases, because her intercession is a sure source of being heard and receiving graces; she was a wife, mother, widow, and nun during her life... so she is a sure source of support for women, whatever their circumstances.

And, of course, she is the saint of bees and roses, because these little stories about her are characteristic: episodes that have entered tradition and the collective imagination tell how, just after she was born, while she was in her cradle, some white bees came out of her mouth again and again and returned to it again and again.

In the frenzy of driving them away, a family friend seems to have injured himself with the sickle, but, heedless of himself, rushed to save the little girl; the bees then settled on the wound, which miraculously healed. In the middle of winter, when Rita was ill, a relative came to visit her, and Sister Rita expressed a strange wish: she would have liked a rose and two figs from her garden. The woman smiled at the request, but when she arrived home, she saw a beautiful rose on the bare, snow-laden thorn bush and two perfectly ripe figs on the tree. Rita asked Love for a sign, and heaven answered her by making roses bloom and ripe figs grow in the middle of winter.

The Saint Who Speaks to Our Time

Today, however, we want to celebrate and honor her by raising what may seem like a provocation, but which we hope will instead help us reflect: if Saint Rita lived today, she herself, that is, the saint who more than anyone sought and practiced peace, lived today, what would she say? What would she do?
Faced with a world threatened by the “Third World War in pieces,” as Pope Francis put it, faced with a world that for more than a year has seen Russia and Ukraine opposing each other in a war to which we are sadly becoming accustomed, what would Saint Rita do?

Perhaps she would do what she did when she reached her dying husband, who then passed away in her arms: hide the bloodstained shirt so as not to spread hatred toward his assassins.
Perhaps she would do what she did when she was worried that her children might not be immune to the climate of hatred and division they were breathing in: pray that the Lord would safeguard them in his peace.
If Saint Rita lived today, in this divided world, where everyone, despite being connected, is profoundly alone; in this world of continuous war, she would point us to the Crucified One; she would point us to the one who died on the cross for everyone and, from the cross, prayed for those who were killing him; she would show us how much light can come from forgiveness.
If Saint Rita lived today, she would make us feel the beauty of the peace that comes from God, from feeling that we are all brothers and sisters of the same Father.

To Saint Rita, who continues to live today, we offer our prayer:

I greet you, Rita
I greet you, Rita, vessel of love,
woman of peace and model of every virtue,
faithful disciple of Jesus.
Saint of family and forgiveness,
help us believe that everything is possible for God
and always come to our aid in every need. Amen.

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