May 22nd is the liturgical memory of Saint Rita of Cascia, woman, wife, mother and then nun faithful to God and the Crucifix. A particularly heartfelt celebration also in Cremona, at the rectory of Ss. Margherita and Pelagia, also known as the church of S. Rita, the heart of Cremonese devotion to the “saint of the impossible”.
Numerous celebrations punctuated the program, culminating in the day of liturgical memory. A notable participation characterized all the celebrations, in particular the solemn Mass at 9am, presided over by Monsignor Carlo Rodolfi, canon of the Cathedral Chapter, and concelebrated by the rector of the church, Don Claudio Anselmi. A packed church, with faithful also outside, to attend the celebration and await the blessing of the roses, a characteristic sign of the festival.
To the left of the church, the Santa Rita Market was also crowded, offering objects linked to the saint’s devotion – and naturally roses characterizing most of the offerings – in support of “Amici di Santa Rita”, a non-profit association which pursues exclusively purposes aimed at the protection, promotion and valorisation of movable and immovable assets of artistic and historical interest, directly commissioning or financing interventions concerning the church of Ss. Margherita and Pelagia, as well as the complex of S. Rita connected to it.
As always, the church of Santa Rita is a point of reference for pilgrims, brothers and sisters in the faith, for tourists – explains Don Claudio Anselmi –. And therefore, for those who know what Saint Rita is, the appointment is awaited, experienced and participated in. For anyone who stumbles upon the strangeness of this coming and going of roses it is a question. But Saint Rita does the rest and the community becomes testimony and prophecy.”
A celebration which, as the rector underlines, “is always a source of questions for the man of good will and for the believer”. Saint Rita, an example of human virtues, was a woman “of those centuries in which the role of women was often tailored to the female identity as a wife, as a woman of the house, or as a nun”. Don Anselmi then concludes: «Saint Rita had the privilege of having this experience both in the house and in the monastery and therefore it is a reminder today for man of good will to ask himself what the realization of Christian life and human life really is. For human life it is to do good; for the Christian life it means pursuing holiness through the teaching of Jesus, who left us a single commandment, that of love.”
The celebrations will end on Thursday 23 May with the Rosary at 5.30pm and the Mass at 6pm in honor of the members and benefactors of the Pious Union; the same afternoon the market is still open. (www.diocesidicremona.it)
