Saint Rita of Cascia and the Stigmata
We could spend a whole library of books sharing the miracles and examples of our Lord’s love and care in Saint Rita’s life, but since her life is only a part of this book on heroic women, our Lord has called us to share with you. I would like to remember one of the most outstanding gifts. He gave Rita a miracle.
Saint Rita of Cascia receives the Stigmata
During Lent of the year 1443, in Cascia, Santiago de Marches, a great preacher of his time, delivered a very personal and passionate sermon on Our Lord to the Nuns.
Rita was so captivated by the sermon that she returned to the Monastery and began to pray, with all her heart and soul, before a fresco of the crucified Jesus. As she humbly asked for a part of her suffering on the Cross, admitting that she was not worthy to share in her full Passion on Calvary, a thorn fell from the Beloved Head of our Savior and pierced Saint Rita’s forehead.
It immediately began to bleed profusely, and the wound that continued to bleed has been accepted by all as the gift of the Stigmata of our Lord.
In the case of most holy people who have been graced with the Stigmata, such as Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Padre Pio, the fragrance that emanates from the holy wounds smells like a beautiful perfume from Heaven, even more pleasant than that of flowers. . . With Santa Rita’s wound came humiliation, estrangement and isolation.
An odor so acrid and putrid emanated from the wound that she was ostracized and shunned by her fellow nuns who, at best, feared it might be infectious and, at worst, could not stand the smell.
She spent the next fifteen years alone, in increasingly excruciating physical pain. But even though she was isolated from her Community in a small cell away from any comforting company of other Nuns, she had the Comforter! Instead of looking at herself and her pain, she focused on Jesus and his head crucified with thorns and all the thorns in her life were turned into roses of love by her Lord when she offered them to him. Here we have a perfect case of redemptive suffering. . In a nutshell, redemptive suffering is like that. You have suffered what will not go away. For some reason, the Lord allows you to have it. He you He can’t pray it away; you can’t wish for it. You can get angry and turn away from God, or you can offer it to God for the souls in Purgatory, the conversion of sinners, or to alleviate someone’s suffering here on earth.
We believe that Redemptive Suffering is a powerful offering to Our Lord. It is a way of taking a terrible negative, the pain that suffering inflicts on us, and turning it into a great positive, offering it to Our Lord Jesus.
We believe that Saint Rita of Cascia used this unusual twist of not receiving the fragrance of Heaven that accompanies the Stigmata, to glorify Our Lord Jesus.
She offered him the isolation caused by the putrid smell of his wound.