Augustinian Journey

Following Saint Augustine ’ s lead, we have established this virtual community to reflect on a spirituality that calls us together to know and love God, each other, and the world we share.

Augustine for Today: Daily inspiration from Saint Augustine for 365 days of the year.

PODCASTS - Healing Mass Homilies: The National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia presents homilies and prayers for healing by Augustinian Friars.

MUSIC: “He who sings, ” said Saint Augustine, “ prays twice. ” Hear former Shrine Director, Fr. Joe Genito, O.S.A. perform his classics.

Send a Candle: Extend good wishes and prayers with a personal blessing to a fellow-traveler for a special occasion, achievement, or in a moment of need.

Jewel Haines, a longtime friend and patron of the Shrine

by Fr. Michael Di Gregorio, O.S.A.

Margherita, known as Rita, had experienced so much of life as a wife, mother, widow, and nun. As her earthly pilgrimage was coming to an end, thoughts of her loved ones seemed to fill her prayers. She was constantly asking for God’s Mercy on the salvation of her husband and her two sons’ souls. During the last several years of her life, a progressively weakened condition kept Rita confined to bed for long periods. However, Rita always remained lucid and shared with other nuns her great desire to be at last fully united with the Lord, whom she had faithfully sought to follow throughout her life. She was entirely at peace and ever thankful to God for the great consolations she had always received from him, even during her most difficult challenges.

Several months before Rita died, her cousin visited her and asked if there was something she might do for her. Rita, whose heart only longed to be one with her Lord, desired nothing. Rita’s cousin was disappointed with her response. Rita then asked her cousin to bring a rose and two figs from the garden of her former home in Roccaporena. Unfortunately, the disappointment was not to be lifted as it was the month of January in Cascia where winter’s snow blanketed the earth. Rita’s cousin walked pass Rita and Paolo Mancini’s home in dismay at her inability to grant Rita’s last request. Yet, to her astonishment, the pensive woman saw a fresh rose and two figs on a dry and barren bush in the snow-covered garden.

She then returned to the convent and presented the rose and two figs to Rita, who received them with quiet and grateful assurance. Rita understood the rose to be a sign from God. For four decades she had spent in Cascia’s convent, she had prayed especially for her husband, Paolo, who had died so violently, and for her two sons, who had died young. The dark, cold earth of Roccaporena, which held their mortal remains, had now produced a beautiful sign of spring and beauty out of season. Rita believed God had brought forth, through her prayers, their eternal life despite tragedy and violence. She knew that she would soon join them again in heaven.

Rita died peacefully on May 22, 1457. A revered tradition records that the convent’s bells immediately began to peal unaided by human hands, calling the people of Cascia to the convent’s doors and announcing the triumphant completion of a life faithfully lived. The sorrows and disappointments which had marked Rita’s life now passed into history. What remained were the consoling words of her beloved Jesus, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ”

You can visit our online Gift Shop to purchase a virtual rose for the Solemn Novena and Feast Day! Take this opportunity to offer a prayer or petition for your loved ones by “planting a rose” in the virtual garden. In addition to the online rose, your intentions will be printed and placed in a basket in front of the relic of Saint Rita in the Lower Shrine. Let Saint Rita’s powerful intercession nourish your rosebud into a beautiful rose, offered to God and His loving care.

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