MIRACLES WORKED BY RITA AFTER HER BEATIFICATION
It is related in the holy Gospels that once when the Saviour was going
to Jerusalem, as He entered into a certain town He saw ten lepers
coming to meet Him, who began to shout from afar off, 'Jesus, have
mercy on us,' and that all of them were miraculously healed by Him, but
only one fulfilled the duty of gratitude by publicly giving glory to
God and going back to give thanks to his Divine Benefactor.
We are forced to think that something similar must have been the case
with those who have received extraordinary favours and graces through
the invocation and protection of Rita. For, on the one hand, the
constant appeals of the faithful for her intercession, the numerous
triduums and novenas which the sick cause to be celebrated in many
places in order to be cured of their diseases, and the fame which is
spread throughout the earth of the benefits she has conferred and the
miracles she has worked, show with sufficient clearness the truth of
them and their frequency. But, on the other hand, there are few who
give full praise to God by publishing the wonderful works He has done
in honour of His beloved, or, at most, they content themselves with
hanging a tablet or votive offering on her altars. The present author,
too, may perhaps be not altogether free from fault, for he confesses in
his nothingness that he has neither sufficient zeal, nor correspondence
sufficiently wide, to enable him to know all the facts. Nevertheless,
we shall for the last time, for the glory of God and of Rita, relate a
few of the more striking miracles we have been able to gather, and
which seem best authenticated.
When we were speaking of the marvels done through such relics of the
saint as the portions of the veil or by the use of the little loaves,
we took occasion to mention some miracles that took place after the
time of her beatification, and now, in order to avoid repetition and to
pass over what is hidden in the obscurity of a period long past, we
shall confine our attention to the century in which the cause of her
canonization was resumed.
A youth of fifteen years, by name Francesco Cavalieri of Cascia, was in
the year 1746 confined to his bed by gangrene of the leg, which had
broken out in five different places, and was so bad that the surgeons
had resolved to amputate the limb. His father thereupon made a vow to
the saint, who heard his prayer, and deigned to appear to the sick
youth, first in the silence of the night, and again at dawn, telling
him to get up and go to her church. He went as told by the saint, and
was restored to perfect health.
Sister Chiara Isabella Garofili, professed nun of the convent of
Cascia, was twice cured through the saint's intercession in ways that
were certainly more than natural. The first case happened in 1775,
when she had been suffering for eight years from a complication of
diseases, of which the description would be long, and which had then
become incurable. St. Rita appeared to her in a dream, telling her to
get up--that she was cured. When she awoke she found that she had been
restored again to health. The second case occurred in 1786, in which
year Sister Chiara's right arm unexpectedly lost all power of motion,
and she was also deprived of speech. She tried several medical
remedies without avail, and ultimately abandoned their use, and put all
her confidence in the help of Rita alone. Her trust was rewarded, for
then, to the surprise of the doctor and of the community, she found
herself well once more. Yet the impediment in speech still remained to
some extent; but she went to the saint's tomb accompanied by her
sisters in religion, and the Superior anointed her tongue with oil from
the lamp that was burning there, and in an instant her cure was
perfected. This fact is confirmed by the legal testimony of the
doctor, Laurenti.
During the year 1777 Giovanni Graziano of Poggiodomo, in the district
of Cascia, fell from his horse, and was dragged for a considerable
distance along the road, receiving a number of bruises and lacerations;
but as soon as he invoked St. Rita she appeared to him, and restored
him to his former health and strength.
Another miraculous recovery, which has been authenticated in legal
form, was that of Sister Vittoria Teresa Bargagnati, which took place
in 1781, when she was a novice in the convent of St. Teresa in Terni.
Her malady was that she could retain no food in her stomach. She had
in consequence been confined to bed for several months, and seemed at
the last extremity. In this state, seeing that all the resources of
medical science were of no avail, she resolved to have recourse to more
effective aid, the intercession of St. Rita. Animated, then, by that
lively faith which is able even to move mountains, she applied to her
stomach a picture of her saintly advocate, and immediately after rose
from her bed, went to the refectory, and ate the same food as the
others, nor did she ever after experience any trace of her malady.
There is a still more marvellous recovery, which is also proved and
confirmed by legal testimony--that of Rosa Mazzi, a young lady of
Cittei di Castello, who was afterwards Sister Anna Rita of the
Augustinian convent of St. Maria Maddalena in Spello. In the year 1780
she began to suffer from pains, difficulty of breathing, and vomitings
of copious quantities of blood, and afterwards from inflammatory fevers
and ischury, so that in two years she was reduced almost to the point
of death. In this desperate crisis her confessor, who was attending
her as a dying person, told her of the miracle we have just related,
which had recently happened in Terni, and encouraged her to have equal
confidence. She determined to make a devout triduum to the saint. The
triduum was hardly finished when Rosa felt herself well again, rose
from her bed, and continued to be even haler and stronger than she had
been before her long and mortal illness. This wonderful miracle
occurred on February 6, 1783.
Signora Rosalia, the daughter of Francesco Pelagalli of St. Anatolia,
but then living in Camerino, was seized in the year 1802 by constant
rheumatic pains, which tormented her for two years, and brought her to
a deplorable state. One evening, when she was suffering more than
usual, and so much that she was forced by the pains to cry out aloud,
she thought of recommending herself in her extreme anguish to the
merciful intercession of Rita. She put into her mouth one of the
little loaves blessed in her honour, and that instant was completely
cured, and she continued to enjoy good health from that time. The
documents, drawn up in legal form, which attest this remarkable
recovery, are still extant in the archives of the convent.
For the sake of brevity we omit many other wonderful cures obtained by
those who sought the assistance of St. Rita. But we must not
altogether neglect to speak of the solemn transposition of her body.
After death, as we have already said, Rita's body was placed in a
coffin which was enclosed in another coffin, and there it remained for
public veneration for the space of 288 years, from the year 1457 till
1745. But in that year a devout client of the saint resolved to
provide a more worthy resting-place for those venerated remains, and a
new urn, ample and beautiful, was sent to the convent. This the
Augustinian nuns adorned with hangings and ornamentations, so that its
appearance should in some way correspond with their devotion.
Monsignor Paolo Bonavisa, Bishop of Spoleto, added by his presence to
the solemnity of the occasion, and on Sunday, October 24, in the
presence of many notable witnesses, carried out with due formality the
transposition of the sacred body into its new place of repose, where
now it lies. So may God grant us, through the abundant merits and
powerful intercession of Rita, to keep our minds and hearts raised
above earthly things, so that we may one day be transported with her to
participate in the immense and eternal joy of Paradise.