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The most important date in the history of Cascia is the year 1381, which s the birth of Margherita Lotti in the small suburb of Roccaporena.
Margherita was to become known to the whole world as Saint Rita of Cascia.
The year 1381 marks the dined between the warring centuries which had preceded it and the centuries which were to follow, overshadowed by the almost palpable presence of the saint, right down to the present day.
The saintliness of Rita is embodied in her earthly, feminine condition: her entire life is her message. Her childhood and adolescence, illuminated by the wise and peace-loving teachings of her parents; her unhappy marriage; her widowhood, made harder to bear by the deaths of her children; the years of obedience and humility spent in the Augustinian convent; and that unmistakable sign of sainthood, the stigmata which showed that she shared in the suffering of Christ: these are the milestones in her life which have made Saint Rita of Cascia a figure venerated throughout the world.
The town of Cascia commemorates this message of peace and love with a torchlight procession every year on the night of the 21st May, anniversary of Saint Rita's departure from this earthly life in the year 1457. Each year, a different town is chosen as a partner for Cascia in the pact of friendship and brotherhood which as made on this occasion.
On the following day, May 22nd a historical pageant takes place with tableaux along the route from Roccaporena to Cascia itself and them at the convent where her sisters in spirit still live cloistered and where her mortal remains are reverently cherished.
Roses, symbol of Saint Rita have an important part to play in this pageant carried by those taking part the flowers are blessed at the height of the festivities as an expression of the joy and sincere affection which the saint inspires in millions of men and women. The path leading to the Basilica takes on the semblance o enchanted garden made from roses held up to heaven.
If you are a lover of atmosphere, the most evocative route is that which leads from Roccaporena to Cascia following approximately the path of the river Corno and includes most of the important places associated with the saint. In Roccaporena you can still see the house in which she was born. The main window opens on to the Scoglio, a harsh peak which dominates the little town and which Saint Rita chose as her destination when she wished to spend time in prayer and solitary meditation.
In the church of Saint Montano Rita was married to Paolo di Ferdinando, a rough and violent man destined to be caught up in the cruel blood feuds typical of the Middle Ages and to lose his life in his attempt to redeem himself.
Other places of interest in Roccaporena are the house where Saint Rita lived after her marriage, the leper hospital where she worked tirelessly to alleviate the sufferings of the sick, and the garden where in the cold winter of 1457 a miracle took place: a rose flowered and a fig tree bore fruit, a sign of divine homage to a woman who walked in the ways of holiness.
In Cascia, in the convent now dedicated to Saint Rita, the Augustinian nuns still live by the same rule observed by the saint seven centuries ago. In the cell where she spent forty years of her earthly life important relics are kept: the coffin which received her body at her death, her wedding ring, her rosary.
But the most important relic of all is the body of the saint, perfectly preserved in a glass case inside the Basilica, a modern building brought into being thanks to the support and generosity of so many faithful followers of the saint, and to the determination of the Mother Abbess Teresa Fasce during her years in Cascia between the two World Wars.