Monastery of Saint Rita

At the time of Santa Rita, the Monastery was dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena. The ancient part dates back to the end of the 1200s. It was enlarged in the first half of the 1700s with the generous donations of John V, king of Portugal, who was cured of cheek cancer through the intercession of the Saint. The last expansion took place in the second half of the 20th century, with the construction of the Sanctuary. Coming out, it is possible to see the rose garden created in memory of the miracle of the rose and figs: at the end of her days, Rita asks one of her cousins to bring her two figs and a rose from the garden of her father's house in Roccaporena. But it's winter, so her cousin thinks Rita is delirious from her illness. Returning home, the relative finds a rose and two figs in the snow-covered garden and, amazed, returns to Cascia to bring them to Rita. The Monastery rose garden comes from the roses of the miracle garden of Roccaporena, Rita's hometown about 5 km from Cascia. Rita (perhaps short for Margherita), born in Roccaporena, a hamlet of Cascia, at the age of eighteen married a young local man named Ferdinando Mancini, with whom she had two children. Rita was not enthusiastic about it, because her aspirations were different, but at that time marriage was not so much established by the choice of fiancés, but rather by the interests of the families, therefore she had to give in to her parents' insistence and married that young officer who commanded the garrison of Collegiacone, of whom "she was the victim and wife", as was later said. She patiently endured every mistreatment from him, without ever complaining, even obediently asking him for permission to go to church. With the birth of twins and her perseverance to respond gently to violence, she managed to transform her husband's character over time and make him more docile. It was a change that made all of Roccaporena rejoice, who had had to suffer the oppression for years. He died a violent death: he was ambushed near the mill they owned. The first miracle concerned Rita herself: she entered the church of the monastery of the Augustinian nuns of Santa Maria Maddalena behind closed doors, aided - the iconography tells us - by her three patron saints, Saint Augustine, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. When the nuns, as usual, went to the choir early in the morning for the divine service, they found Rita praying inside the church. Faced with that miracle, the nuns who were most opposed surrendered. In the monastery, her soul opened to participate in the experience of Christ the Savior, in his pain, until she received a thorn from him which she carried for fifteen years (from this the devotion of the fifteen Thursdays of Saint Rita was born). Rita died in 1457. Some scholars try to move the date ten years earlier, i.e. to 1447, because this is how it is written in the life of Saint Rita written by the Augustinian Agostino Cavallucci from Foligno. .