Wednesday, May 22, 2024

It is the 22nd of May 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

So, the story goes, there are some nuns…. they were in West Texas in the 1920s, and they have recently invested in an oil well. But it isn’t producing, and the nuns are worried they have been swindled. Their superior tells them to pray over the site, bring some rose petals to cast, and say a good word for St. Rita, the patron saint of lost causes. The well begins to produce, and somehow, this transitions into the story of Jimmy Morris, the high school teacher turned 39-year-old rookie pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Jimmy Morris’ story, told in this film “The Rookie” starring Dennis Quaid, is an improbable story embellished a little for dramatic effect. The story of the real St. Rita, however, is more than embellished for dramatic effect: it became one of the favorite stories of Medieval Italian Christians and earned St. Rita the patron saint of “lost causes.”

Margarita, born in 1381 in central Italy, was the only daughter of Antonio and Amata Lotti. The two were pious and known as peacemakers but did not have a child until later in life, something they believed would portend well for the young girl.

What do we know about Margarita, Rita Lotti? She was married, widowed and eventually joined the Augustinian nuns at Cascia near her hometown. She was renowned for her piety, especially in suffering and difficult situations, hence her patronage.  

But this is a medieval saint. Their lives need to follow a certain pattern. Miraculous birth? Check, she was born to elderly parents. At her birth it was said that a swarm of bees hovered near her bed, some went into her mouth but she wasn’t harmed. Weird story? Sure, but others who were said to have a “sweet” tongue have the same story about the bees at birth.

She wants to join a monastery but isn’t allowed. In this story, it is her parents, pious, but desiring to keep the family line alive, they marry her off at a young age to a wealthy man. This wealthy man is also violent, coming from a violent family. The first thing we hear is the silent suffering of wife Rita. Then, she is able to coerce her husband to be above the family’s old tradition of violence. And he does! Another local family had wronged them, but the husband forgives, and the violence ends. Until he is murdered by the other family. X The couple had two boys who were then being apprenticed to their uncle, who was upset about his brother's death. So, the boys begin to grow jealous and desire revenge. Rita prays that the boys either have their hearts softened or that they are taken before they commit the sin of murder. Within a year, they both died of dysentery.

Rita then goes to the sisters at the monastery and asks to join. They refuse her because her family is known for its violence. If she were to go home and somehow quell the feud between the families, she would be allowed to join. To no one’s surprise, that’s how the story goes, and Rita spends 40 years in the monastery in prayer, especially for those women with abusive husbands, for widows, for people who have lost children (although she seems complicit with her prayer) and in general for those who feel like they are a lost cause.

Her monastery in Cascia has been transformed into the Basilica of St. Rita, where her bodily remains are interred. Stories of her piety and having received the stigmata made her a favorite as someone with a particular grace. Her iconography has her forehead open with a sore, which she said opened while in prayer and contemplating the crown of thorns worn by Christ.

How these stories develop, and why Margarita of Cascia would receive such a pious, but obviously embellished story, no one knows. I tend to think they were in fact remarkable people who seemed to gifted with a special grace that stories develop around them- and stories attributed to others with special grace- are retold with the new character involved to draw a connection between old saints and new.

The popular saint in Cascia would see a global interest grow with the dissemination of saints' stories in the aftermath of the Reformation. The patron saint of Lost Causes would have shrines in places as far away as Kerala, India, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. St. Rita, born in 1381, is said to have died on this, the 22nd of May in 1457, at the age of 75.

 The last word for today is from the daily lectionary, a post-Resurrection appearance of the risen Lord from the Gospel of John:

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 22nd of May 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Dennis Quaid movie is the one about a test pilot who is miniaturized in a secret experiment and accidentally injected into a hapless store clerk, played by Martin Short. Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who loves Quaid as Coach Vermeil in American Underdog (also, the other movie is Innerspace) I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.