Saint Rita

DVD available through Ignatius Press

A movie review and personal testimony by Thomas A. Middleton

My initial introduction to St Rita came at a beautiful spiritual retreat center called Saint Anne’s Shrine in Isle LaMotte, Vermont. The parallels between her life and my own were stunning, and the powerful sign from God that would come to me through her intercession was like nothing else I had ever experienced.

Statue of Saint Rita at Saint Anne's Shrine, Isle LaMotte, Vermont Shortly after her husband’s murder, her two sons fell to the black plague and she was left alone in the world. She filled her days with prayer, fasting, penance and good works, and was admitted to a Convent of the Augustinian nuns. St Rita is said to have had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ, and was quite fond of the crucifix.

It was not long after the call came to become a priest. I toured the grounds and found a nice walking path with statues of various saints and a brief description of their life. I stopped and read each one, reflecting on how some aspect of the life of each particular saint seemed to have a parallel in my own. I prayed for the intercession of each saint I encountered, that they might help me discern whether I was truly called to the priesthood. I learned that St Rita had desired a vowed religious life from an early age. She had actually begged her parents to allow her to enter a convent, but they instead arranged a marriage for her to a man with a violent temper. A devoted wife and mother nonetheless, they had been married for eighteen years and had two sons together when he was mortally stabbed. He repented of his sins before he died, and Rita is credited with his salvation.

One day St Rita asked Jesus, “Please let me suffer like you, Divine Savior.” When she said this, and one of the thorns from her crucifix flew up and struck her in the forehead, leaving a deep wound that caused much pain for the rest of her days.

When I read these words before this blessed statue, a thought occurred to me. I too, asked God, through St Rita’s intercession, for a sign to help me discern His will for me. I reached out and gently touched the crown of thorns on the little crucifix held by the statue of St Rita with the fingers of my right hand.

I very slowly raised my hand to my own forehead in an act of pure faith, and began the sign of the cross. At the very instant that my fingers touched my forehead, I was immediately struck with incredibly sharp pain. It was an instant migraine headache, and an answer to my prayers.

Astonished, I fell to my knees at once. Hand trembling, I finished the sign of the cross and raised both of my arms to heaven, in a gesture of thanks for His incredible grace, and the affirmation which St Rita helped me to receive.

Many more signs would follow, in answer to my prayers, but few were as remarkable as this one. I kept a running count of them for a time, but stopped counting when I reached eighteen. In reflecting further on the parallels of the life of St Rita and my own, I began to further discern the fullness of God’s call for me.

Both St Rita and I had been married for eighteen years, though her marriage ended with the death of her husband and mine ended in an annulment. Both St Rita and I had felt an early call to religious life, but got married instead and experienced great suffering. Both of our families had been greatly affected by war. She lost both of her sons to the black plague, while we lost a child who was stillborn. With such a powerful message from God received through her intercession, I wanted to learn more about this special saint.

The movie opens with a young Rita, working in a field with nuns. She is symbolically carrying a lost lamb back to it’s flock. This scene is interspersed with parallel scenes in which a band of knights enters a village, setting fire to it and killing many of it’s inhabitants. We see one of the knights stop, however, and rescue an orphaned infant, carrying the child away with him on his horse.

This movie, available through Ignatius Press, was great drama. The movie depicts, as accurately as possible, both the life of this inspiring saint and the period of history in which her life takes place. There were no written accounts of the life of St Rita written during her lifetime, and the oral accounts of her life were not written down until many years after her death. A great deal of historical fiction had to be added to the known facts in order to make her story into a feature length film.

Filmed on location in Italy, the various city-states, dukedoms and small kingdoms present in Italy at the time were loosely part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The rivalries and violence depicted in this movie are typical of the place and the era, accurately reflecting this period in Church History we are currently studying.

We learn that the opposing forces in place at this time in what would later become Italy consisted of the Guelphs and the Ghibbeline. The Guelphs favored a republican form of government in which the middle class could rise to power. They were loyal to the Pope and the Papal State, while the Ghibbeline, though also Catholic, were the party of the old feudal nobility which had family connections to the Emperor and favored limits on Papal authority. Rita later articulates, in a scene with her father, that she did not know or care whether these men were Guelphs or Ghibbelines, since both seemed to murder the innocent.

The same troop of knights that just ravaged the village go galloping past, and all of the women in the scene withdraw in fear, except for Rita. One of the passing knights stops in front of her, and without saying a word to her, he hands her an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. Rita discusses this one kind knight with Mother Superior afterwards. In the subsequent dialogue in which Rita discussed this knight with the nuns, we are reminded of St Augustine’s teachings (these are Augustinian nuns) that “Each one of us is given an opportunity to change… if we want to”. This theme returns throughout the movie.

There are other references to the wisdom of the saints and to Jesus sprinkled into the dialogue. For example, when Rita and some of the other women are tending to the wounded following a skirmish, one of the other women quotes St Nicholas of Torrentino; “Remember… you cannot cure the sick with herbs alone. Above all, it requires love. That is how Jesus healed.”

Rita’s future husband Paulo is portrayed as quite a soldier, but a man of honor. He is depicted tutoring his younger brother Francesco in the ways of war. In one scene his younger brother gains the upper hand in a knife fight, only to take mercy on the man when it was time to finish him off. The man breaks away during the hesitancy, and Paulo must put him to death by the sword.

In a scene which follows, the younger brother asks Paulo if he ever thinks of hell. Paulo’s answer is rather telling; “Whether you like it or not, this is our life”. Did Paulo feel he truly had a choice in taking up the sword?

This dialogue, while fictitious, is helpful in illustrating a point about Paulo and his family the Mancinnis, who are powerful Ghibbelines. The point made here is that the Catholic faith ran strong in Europe of the time, even among the warriors. That Paulo would try and assuage Francesco’s conscience by minimizing the aspect of freewill in the sin of murder. This dialogue speaks to Paulo’s own hidden conscience and the teachings of the Catholic Church in what is required for a mortal sin to occur, and even alludes to St Augustine himself and his teachings on the doctrine of a just war.

Interestingly, the movie portrays Rita’s marriage to Paulo as one in which the two of them fell in love and married of their own initiative, while the accompanying booklet makes the point that their marriage was likely arranged. The truth is simply unknown, since the first account of Rita’s life was not written down until 143 years after her death and her story was passed down through oral history for a time.

Regardless, the dialogue contains much Catholic teaching and wisdom. After Paulo returns from committing a murder, burns his bloody clothes and lies about it to Rita, she discovers the bloody remains of his shirt, and the truth, in the fireplace.

Rita turns to the Mother Superior of the Augustinians for advice. “You are a married woman”, Mother replies, “Where will you go? You are bound to him by the sacrament of marriage. You forget, he is your husband. If God let the two of you meet, there must be a reason. There’s a design for every one of us. We must try to understand it and follow His will. God asks us to love. Jesus said, ‘I haven’t come for the righteous, but for sinners’…what about Paulo? Maybe you are his only hope.”

A climactic scene follows, as Paulo finds and confronts Rita. He begins by calling her out and commanding her to return home, but she quickly turns the tables on him. “What’s the matter with you, don’t you fear God?!?”

Paulo seems to soften at her words, and he relates that “This is my life, only now if I have to live without you, I don’t want to live anymore.”

Rita returns home with her husband, promising to be a good wife, while Paulo promises to try and be a better man. After repeated run-ins with her mother-in-law, the repentant couple considers moving into a smaller, separate home on Paulo’s family’s lands, intent on becoming millers. They are soon blessed by the birth of twin sons. Their arrival brings out the softer side of the men in the family, showing that there does indeed remain a Catholic conscience and a fountain of hope inside of these men. Her mother-in-law cautions Rita not to set her hopes too high for her sons, that “soon they will grow up, and everything will change”.  Rita is even warned by Paulo’s sister, herself and Augustinian nun, that Paulo cannot change, for it would cost him his life.

The men in the family repeatedly present their resignation that “we will all go to hell”. They all seem to use this fatalistic view to justify their treacherous actions and rule out the idea of repentance. Paulo, however, seems to find a glimmer of hope in his new wife and family. He seems less willing to accept that hell is inevitable, and is beginning to sense that perhaps there might be a way to make it to heaven after all. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to find a way to survive in this earthly world and also the next.

It starts to become clear to Paolo that he must at some point make a choice between good and evil. Thankfully, through the intercession of his wife, he is eventually saved, though not until he has been through some really tough times.

Rita is torn between her love for her husband, whom she now sees as a murderer, and her love for Jesus, who of course holds that murder is immoral. She prays intently before her crucifix throughout the movie, and from the depths of her torment, she recalls that Jesus did not come for the righteous, but for sinners. She thus comes to terms with her role as Paolo’s wife… and savior. She also accepts that if she is to save Paolo, she must honor and obey him as her husband.

Paolo is forced into killing the man he believes has betrayed his family… his best friend. In the climactic scene which follows, the bloodied and distraught Paulo confesses to Rita, breaks his sword in two and swears off killing forever, moving his young family to the home where, for a time, they settle into a peaceful life of a miller family.

It soon becomes apparent that Paulo was not permanently released from his obligation to participate in the family’s bloody ways, but merely granted a reprieve for a few years. He is ordered to kill again, but refuses, and is soon struck down by an assassin’s blade. As he lay dying in Rita’s arms however, he does indeed repent and is saved.

After Paulo’s death, Rita’s two sons increasingly fall under the influence of the more violent men in Paulo’s family, especially their uncle Bernardo. The boys are taken from Rita and no one will tell her where they are. When she eventually tracks them down, she finds that they are quite ill and in danger of death. The black plague has arrived in Cascia. Like their father before them, both boys repent of violence and die in Rita’s arms.

Overrun with grief, now having lost both her husband and her sons, Rita turns to the Augustinians nuns. Weeping with Mother Superior, she holds herself responsible for their destruction. She is assured by Mother Superior that her loved ones are now in God’s arms by the grace passed to them through Rita. She begs to be permitted to take the vows now that she put off so long ago.

Wisely, Mother Superior says no. “Desperation does not bear fruit, Rita. I cannot let you stay here without a real vocation.  All you want is to escape life”. Showing her a withered old grapevine that once bore great fruit, she continues… “You would wither too, like that grapevine”.

This scene resonated within me, because of my own journey toward a vocation in the wake of marriage. It is something I still pray about. My response thus far is to go forward in faith, growing closer to God as He calls all of us to do, confident that He will continue to show me the way.

Just as Rita was certain of her calling to become a nun, I sincerely believe that He has called me to become a priest. I have found peace, however, in the knowledge that discernment is a two-part process. God will reveal His will, not just to me, but also to His agent the Catholic Church, which must also discern that I am truly called to Holy Orders if I am to one day be ordained. Secure in this knowledge, with a clear conscience then, I present myself fully and completely to God in prayer. The rest is up to Him. In God I have faith, and in Him I place my trust.

After a dark period alone as a beggar, Rita discerns that she has survived the death of her husband and sons, even survived the plague, in order to fulfill a higher purpose. When the priest, an Augustinian Prior responsible for the monastery turns her away due to the danger to the monastery that her presence there might bring, she discerns that she is called to make peace between the warring factions in town, just as her father before her.

“There are two kinds of peace, the peace of men, and the peace that comes from God. The one that is imposed by arms and the one that stems from the heart. The first is fragile, because it is based on fear. The second is true, because it is based on love. Take the first step… and put an end to this war. First you must find the desire for peace within yourself, and perhaps Bernardo will follow you.”

Soon, Rita’s efforts at peace are helped along by a most unlikely character, the plague itself. Her brother-in-law Bernardo, who now leads the family after the death of his father, has personally contracted the plague.

As she did with her late husband, Rita comforts Paulo’s brother Bernardo on his death bed, praying for his salvation. Through her intercessory prayers, Bernardo miraculously recovers from the plague. He falls to his knees before the crucifix, and then begs forgiveness of Rita. He soon presents himself to Guido seeking peace and forgiveness. They embrace in peace, and before God, the community and blessed by the Augustinian Prior, peace is formerly restored to Cascia.

God has shown Rita the way through forgiveness. She turns to Him in prayerful surrender at long last, falling into a deep sleep beside a stream. During her sleep she is miraculously transported through the air, above the locked gates, and into the Augustinian monastery grounds. She is awakened by the sound of the bells ringing in the monastery tower, though no one has gone to ring them. Mother Superior and the other nuns respond to the unexpected ringing of the bells, and are astounded to find her there, and they soon receive her into their ranks as she makes her full vows before God.

Several years later, as an old woman now, Rita is depicted praying intently before the crucifix and asking Jesus to join Him now on the cross. She is immediately struck by one of the thorns in his crown, giving her a stigmata. Nearing her own death, deep in winter, she asks for a rose and some figs, telling the sisters that nothing is impossible through God. There in the midst of winter, they find ripe figs and a single bright red rose growing through the snow. Saint Rita was canonized a Saint in 1900 and is the patron saint of hopeless causes.

Bibliography

Saint Rita. Prod. Lux Vide. Perf. Victoria Belvedere, Martin Crews, Una Sastri. Ignatius Press, 2007. DVD.

"Photo of St Rita's Tomb, Displaying Her Incorrupt Body, Basilica of Cascia."Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_of_Cascia>.

Image of Saint Rita and husband Paolo from the DVD. Digital image. Ignatius Press, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. <http://www.ignatius.com/Products/SRITA-M/saint-rita.aspx>.

Saint Rita’s body has remained incorrupt ever since her death in the year 1457. Her body is on display in a glass coffin at the Basilica of Cascia in Italy. (pictured to the right).