SOLEMN BEATIFICATION OF RITA
A period of one hundred and seventy years had passed since Rita went to
live crowned with glory in the kingdom of the blessed, where there is
no change of years or of things, and from whence she was regarding with
compassionate eyes the ever-changing vicissitudes of this valley of
tears. In that interval between Rita's death and her solemn
beatification the world had changed a hundred times its form and
appearance. Convulsions of nature, ruling passions, kingdoms ceasing
to be, new Governments, dominions extended, fires of war enkindled,
extinguished, and enkindled again, heresies ever variable, now
spreading themselves, now kept within bounds, councils assembled,
Apostolic enterprises, and the barque of Peter always safe amid the
shocks of tempests--these are the things that make up the long history
of that time, and, indeed, of every epoch.
However, at the time in which the honours of beatification were being
prepared for Rita, the world and the Church were enduring only minor
afflictions, and the aspect of affairs would have been still more
serene but that the question of the succession to the extinct House of
Mantua was giving rise to some hostile movements in Italy, and that the
rebellious Calvinists were causing civil discord in France. Still,
compared with the past, those were times of peace, of gentleness, and
of religion. In the East, in fact, the infidel Amurath IV., sunk in
debauchery, had lost the taste for war and conquest. The Emperor
Frederick V., in the West, was keeping the heretics in subjection and
preparing the way to restore to the Church the rights and property they
had usurped. Italy had no longer to tolerate those wandering troops of
armed men of which we have elsewhere spoken, who, however they may have
bargained to bring help, were much more accustomed to bring ruin and
mourning in their train; nor was there that multiplicity of
Governments, each as ambitious and tyrannical as it was insignificant.
Cascia, too, although fallen from its primitive splendour, was yet at
peace, as was the rest of the Pontifical dominions.
The arts were flourishing and gaining new lustre in this time of
tranquillity. But what is of most importance is good order, religious
and moral, and the Council of Trent had brought back order into the
bosom of Christianity, and there it continued to rule.
At that time the chair of Peter was occupied by Urban VIII., whose
virtue, learning, and illustrious enterprises have made his name
immortal. Before ascending the Papal throne he had governed the Church
of Spoleto with great edification and splendid success, and there he
had every facility for inquiring into Rita's virtues and miracles, and
the antiquity and fame of the veneration paid to her. God afterwards
so disposed it that he should take upon himself the government of the
Universal Church, and should co-operate in the fulness of power in
exalting our saint. It is true that she had already been beatified by
the people from the time of her death, but in strict truth and in
accordance with the sacred Canons, it did not belong, nor does it
belong, to the people to declare anyone saint or blessed, for the
oracle of the Apostolic See is needed. For Jesus Christ alone
sanctifies in the Church triumphant, as He teaches in the Book of
Leviticus, where He says, 'I am the Lord who sanctifies them,' and so
in the Church militant it is the prerogative of His Vicar on earth, the
Roman Pontiff, to set the seal of his approval on sanctification and
publish it to the world.
Never was there a more favourable opportunity than that which then
presented itself, when the Papal throne was occupied by a Pope who had
been himself a witness of the devotion with which the faithful flocked
to Rita's tomb and of the ever-increasing veneration in which she was
held; and therefore the Augustinian fathers, the nuns, and the Council
of Cascia, determined to unite their influence with that of Monsignor
Fausto Poli and other distinguished persons, amongst whom was
pre-eminent the Lady Costanza Barberini, the Pope's sister-in-law, in
supplicating him graciously to proceed to the anxiously desired
beatification of Rita. Their petitions were sufficient for the Pope,
who ordered the Sacred Congregation of Rites to set about the affair.
The Congregation committed to the Bishop of Spoleto the task of
investigating into the fame of the sanctity, the virtues, and miracles
of the saint, and instructed him to prepare what is called the
informative process.
On the 16th of October, 1626, the legal inquiry was therefore begun,
and in due time brought to a happy conclusion. In the month of March
of the following year the results of the Bishop of Spoleto's
investigation were submitted to a rigorous examination by the Sacred
Congregation and approved of. The Cardinals of that Congregation
delivered the canonical relation of the investigation and its issue to
the Pope, who was rejoiced with the success of their labours.
Thereupon, by a Special Brief of the 2nd of October, 1627, he granted
leave to the whole Augustinian Order and the Diocese of Spoleto to
recite the Office and celebrate Mass in honour of B. Rita, and this
privilege was extended four months later by a Brief of the 4th of
February, 1628, at the instance of the Father-General of the Order, to
all priests celebrating Mass in any church of the Order, or of the
Diocese of Spoleto, on the day of Rita's feast. The joy of the
Augustinian Order and of Spoleto for so sovereign and gracious a
concession may not be described. But the solemn beatification was not
promulgated until the 16th of July, 1628, when the religious ceremony
was celebrated in the Church of St. Augustine in Rome in the presence
of twenty-two Cardinals and a great number of other prelates. We make
no mention of the splendid festivals organized in honour of the
illustrious Blessed Rita, of the panegyrics preached, of the poetical
compositions with which her virtues and miracles were celebrated. The
devout clients of Rita vied with one another in defraying the expenses
of these pious festivities, but the most distinguished for his
liberality was Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the nephew of the reigning
Pope.
The pomp of the ecclesiastical functions was renewed in all the
churches of the Order, but the people of Cascia and the nuns of Rita's
convent rightly determined that their celebrations more than any other
should be remarkable for magnificence. The joyful pealing of the
bells, which continued for several days and nights; the bonfires on the
hill-tops that illuminated the whole country around; the silken
hangings and rich ornaments that decorated the church within and
without; the new paintings representing Rita's glorious deeds and her
miracles; the solemn procession in which all the clergy, secular and
regular, and all the confraternities of the town and district took
part, bearing in triumph the banner of the blessed one; the band of
children dressed to represent angels that accompanied it; the many wax
torches and gifts; the enormous concourse of the faithful, many of them
from distant places; the solemn religious functions; the sacred plays
and representations; and other like pomps, all publicly testified the
common applause and universal joy.
Even the body of the saint seemed as if, on so glorious a day, it
wished to add to the splendour and gladness of the extraordinary
festivity; for, after the many years that had passed since Rita's
death, it opened its eyes, as if to take pleasure from the solemn feast
and general rejoicing, and at the same time to appease that momentary
tumult of which we have already spoken. Then, too, the church was
filled with that sweet odour we have described, and the sacred body
raised itself to the height of the grating at the top of its
resting-place. And, lest anything should be left to mar the
tranquillity of that happy day, she imposed silence on the demons by
then liberating from their influence two women--one from Spoleto and
the other from Sinigaglia--who had been obsessed. But all that we have
hitherto narrated was only accidental honour, and but a shadow of the
immortal glory which Rita enjoys in heaven.