St. Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible by Joseph A. Sicardo

Author:Joseph A. Sicardo [Sicardo, Joseph A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780895554079
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2014-12-18T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

MORTIFICATIONS PRACTICED BY ST. RITA

AFTER SHE BECAME A NUN

WE MAY say with truth that St. Rita was, from childhood, inclined to practice mortification, but it was after she had completed her novitiate and had taken her vows that she began to practice very severe mortifications, being called to a very intense practice of what Our Lord taught when He said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Mindful of the promises she had made when she professed obedience, poverty and chastity, and having no object outside of Him to whom she was entirely dedicated, St. Rita denied herself, and took up her cross to follow her divine Spouse, and did follow Him on the way of the cross.

Her progress in perfection was truly surprising and marvelous, and in a short time she became a model of every virtue and the edification of the nuns of the Maddalena, who looked upon her as a saint. The recipient of many and great favors from the hands of God, though she, in her humility, said she had done nothing for her crucified Spouse, St. Rita gave herself up to a life of rigorous and continual penance and mortification. Besides observing, as we have already noted, three Lents in the year, the fast and abstinence of the days commanded by Holy Mother Church, the vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and of her special protectors, St. John the Baptist, St. Augustine and St. Nicholas of Tolentine, she fasted on the vigils of other saints to whom she had devotion, and observed also the particular fasts of the Augustinian Order. So strictly, indeed, did St. Rita observe these fasts that she ate only enough to sustain life. She only partook of bread and water at her meals, and never allowed any excuse, no matter how grave, to interfere with the fast and abstinence. Though weakened by her continual fasts, St. Rita never spent a moment in idleness, and when not at prayer she was engaged in some useful occupation. At times when her strength failed her while at work, she would recline, for a half hour or more, on the bare floor, or on a hard bench, and repose as soundly as if she were reposing on a bed of down. She slept but a few hours each night; the remaining hours she spent in prayer or in doing needlework for the community. She wore always, next to her body, a rough hair garment interwoven with thorns which very often penetrated her delicate flesh.

Not content with thus punishing her body, St. Rita added another and a more severe exercise of mortification. She scourged herself three times a day, and she herself tells us that by so doing she became strong spiritually and was always sure of gaining the victory over the attacks of Lucifer. The following incident will tell us why St. Rita took the discipline. One day, while hurrying to her cell, one of the nuns asked her where she was going with such eager haste.

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