Pilgrimage Stop: Cascia
A pilgrimage road-trip from Assisi to the Basilica of Santa Rita di Cascia — venerating the incorrupt body of St Rita, the Saint of Impossible Cases, and discovering the Eucharistic Miracle of Cascia in the basilica’s lower chapel. (4 min read)
Pilgrimage to Assisi provides ready access to other sacred sites in the region, including the Basilica of Santa Rita di Cascia. It is about 2 hours drive, holy door to holy door, from the Basilica of St Francis to the Basilica of St Rita.
St Rita is well-known at the Casa Dom Inacio and I have written about her at length. A document has been created by the Sanctuario di Santa Rita for pilgrims visiting Cascia during the Year of Mercy. It provides a different slant on this favoured saint:
“Living at the turn of the 14th-15th century, Rita was born in Roccaporena and died as an Augustinian nun in Cascia. Woman, wife, mother, widow, nun and stigmatised, Rita of Cascia has transmitted her message to us through the concrete example of daily life, consisting of respect towards each other and towards creation.
The miracles that God performed though the intercession of Rita are so numerous that she is universally known by Christians as “Saint of Impossible Cases” (or “Saint of the Impossible”). A woman of forgiveness, dialogue and reconciliation, Saint Rita addresses herself to everyone. The road that Rita suggests is one of love, built on welcoming, humility, sacrifice and listening to others. It is not easy but, with help of grace, it is the only road that brings us closer to God and to our neighbour.
In the last fifteen years of her life, Rita bore the stigmata of the thorn from the crown of Christ on her forehead as a sign of her participation in the Passion of Jesus. In the contemplation of the cross, Saint Rita found the strength to rise up from her situations of pain and trials of life. Commit yourself to make this journey as well, in the name of Saint Rita of Cascia”.
What the brochure fails to mention is that Rita is also known as the Patron Saint of Abused Wives – something the Roman Catholic Church has not always handled so well. In this Year of Mercy she is also known as the “Saint of Forgiveness”. This is, of course, the most important quality for spiritual advancement and it is fitting for this wonderful saint have this title.
Our road-trip to Cascia, which is close to the earthquake affected area in central Italy, was pretty much uneventful from my perspective as the car handles beautifully. My sister, who was riding shot-gun, found the gutter a little to close for her liking. Nevertheless, there were no real dramas and many spectacular views. The wildflowers are over for the season but the autumn colours are starting to appear.
In Cascia, we venerated the incorrupt body of St Rita – a beautiful nun took all my rosaries and placed them on St Rita’s body (and also gifted me with a rose petal that had been on St Rita for a friend). We also visited the Convent in which St Rita was enclosed and where she experienced the stigmata and other miracles and died – beautiful energy as usual.
Saint Rita’s Basilica has an “inferior” level which includes a chapel dedicated to the Eucharistic Miracle of Cascia. This was my first visit to this site. The history of this relic is that in 1330 a priest in Siena was requested to administer the holy sacraments to an ailing peasant. He took a consecrated host and placed it between the pages of his breviary which he tucked under his arm while he went to the sick man’s home. After hearing the man’s confession, the priest opened the book to take out the consecrated host but to his great astonishment, it had turned red with fresh blood, so much so as to have impregnated both of the pages between which it had been placed. One page was taken to Perugia and the other (to which the host adhered) was taken to Cascia. Many people have noted in those blood stains almost the expression of a suffering human face, and this is also clear in photographs.
Namaste.
© Paul McCarthy & Iluminar.au
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