People come to St. Rita with the situations that have outlasted every other prayer: the marriage that is breaking, the family at war with itself, the grief that moved in years ago and never left, the wound that will not close. The Church calls her the Saint of the Impossible — not because she worked magic, but because she lived inside impossibilities herself: a violent marriage, a murdered husband, two sons buried, a convent that turned her away — and handed every one of them to God.
One thing must be said before day one, because Rita’s story has sometimes been told carelessly: her endurance of an abusive marriage is venerated in her; it is not prescribed for you. The Church does not ask anyone to remain in danger, and explicitly permits separation for safety (CCC 2383). If you are praying this novena from inside a violent situation, pray it — and also seek safety and help. Rita’s intercession and your protection are not in tension. She is invoked by abuse survivors because she understands, not because staying is the lesson.
Below is the complete novena: the traditional prayer to St. Rita, a short reflection and prayer for each of the nine days, and honest answers to common questions. The traditional dates run May 13–21, ending the eve of her feast — but this novena can be prayed any nine days of the year, and the impossible does not check the calendar.
How to pray this novena
Each day for nine days: pray the opening prayer — the traditional prayer to St. Rita — placing your intention where it speaks of “our petition,” then read the day’s reflection and pray the day’s prayer, and finish with the closing prayer. An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be at the end is a common and worthy custom.
If you miss a day, pick up where you left off — do not start over, and do not despair. Rita waited decades for her prayers to be answered; she will not begrudge you a missed Tuesday.
Opening prayer — pray each day
O holy patroness of those in need, St. Rita, whose pleadings before your divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for your lavishness in granting favors have been called the advocate of the hopeless and even of the impossible; St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient, and of such compassionate love for your crucified Jesus that you could obtain from Him whatever you asked — on account of which all confidently have recourse to you, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort — be propitious to our petition, showing your power with God on behalf of your suppliant. Be lavish to us, as you have been in so many wonderful cases, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of your own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in you. We promise, if our petition is granted, to glorify you by making known your favor, to bless and sing your praises forever. Relying then upon your merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray you grant our request. Amen.
The nine days
Day 1 — The marriage that hurts
Rita knows this territory from inside: roughly eighteen years married to a harsh and violent man. If your marriage is hard, bring it to her honestly today — the coldness, the contempt, the fear, whichever it is. And hear this without softening: if you are in danger, the Church does not ask you to endure it. Separation to protect yourself and your children is explicitly permitted (CCC 2383). Seek safety and help today; pray this novena from safety. Rita’s intercession and your protection belong together.
St. Rita, who suffered inside your own marriage, intercede for mine and for every marriage that hurts. Ask God for healing where healing is possible, protection where there is danger, and the wisdom to know which is which. Amen.
Day 2 — Praying for a hard person
Tradition holds that Rita’s husband genuinely softened over the years — and that her costly, deliberate gentleness was part of how. Praying for a hard person does not mean excusing what they do; God is not asking you to call harm by a softer name. It means refusing to hand them your soul along with everything else they have taken.
St. Rita, who prayed for a violent man without pretending he was gentle, intercede for the hard person in my life. Ask God to change their heart — and to guard mine from bitterness while He works. Amen.
Day 3 — Widowhood and grief
Rita was widowed by murder — grief with violence folded inside it. She learned that a life can lose its whole shape and still belong to God. If you are grieving a spouse, or any loss that rearranged everything, bring it to her today. She does not rush mourners, and neither does God.
St. Rita, widow of Cascia, intercede for all who grieve — for widows and widowers, and for everyone whose life has lost its shape. Ask God to sit with us in the loss and, in His time, to rebuild. Amen.
Day 4 — Mothers who lose children
Rita buried both her sons within about a year — and before that, she prayed the hardest prayer a mother can pray: that God keep them from the murder they had sworn, whatever it cost. Some who pray this day have buried a child; some are losing one to addiction, to estrangement, to a road they cannot follow. She has stood in both places.
St. Rita, mother who buried her sons, intercede for every parent who has lost a child in any way — to death, to distance, to danger. Ask God to hold our children where we cannot, and to hold us. Amen.
Day 5 — The door that will not open
When Rita finally sought the convent she had wanted since girlhood, she was refused — by tradition, three times — because of the violence attached to her family’s name. The condition set for her entry was itself an impossibility: end the feud. She did, and the door opened. Some doors are not locked; they are waiting on something God intends to heal first.
St. Rita, turned away from the life you longed for, intercede for me before the door that will not open. Ask God to open it in His time — or to show me what He is healing on this side of it. Amen.
Day 6 — Forgiveness that takes years
Rita publicly pardoned her husband’s killers — but do not imagine it cost her nothing, or happened in an afternoon. Forgiveness is not a feeling, and it is not a declaration that the harm did not matter; it is a long handing-over of the debt to God, often repeated daily for years. Start, or continue, that handing-over today.
St. Rita, who forgave the unforgivable, obtain for me the grace to forgive — not to excuse the harm, but to release the debt to God, one day at a time, for as many days as it takes. Amen.
Day 7 — The thorn
In 1442, praying before an image of Christ crowned with thorns, Rita received a wound on her forehead that stayed, painful and visible, for fifteen years — tradition holds it as a share in Christ’s Passion that she had asked for. Few of us would ask. But most of us carry some pain that will not leave, and the tradition’s point is for us too: suffering united to Christ is not wasted (Colossians 1:24).
St. Rita, marked by the thorn of your crucified Lord, intercede for all who live with pain that does not end. Ask God to unite our suffering to Christ’s, and to let none of it be wasted. Amen.
Day 8 — Roses in winter
In her last winter, Rita asked her cousin for a rose from her old garden in Roccaporena — and, the tradition says, one was found blooming in the January snow. The rose became her sign: the impossible thing, flowering out of season, in soil that should not have allowed it. Ask today for your rose — and for eyes to recognize it if it blooms in a shape you did not expect.
St. Rita, saint of the winter rose, present my impossible intention to God once more. Ask Him for the flower that should not be able to bloom — and for trust in Him while the snow is still falling. Amen.
Day 9 — Peace after the impossible
Rita’s last forty years were spent in the peace she had been denied for the first forty — not because her losses were undone, but because they had all been handed over. That is the novena’s final petition: not only the miracle, but the peace on the far side of it, whichever answer comes. Entrust your intention fully to God today, and keep walking.
St. Rita, advocate of the impossible, on this last day I place my intention wholly in God’s hands. Obtain for me His help in my need, and whatever the answer, the peace you found after everything. Amen.
Closing prayer — pray each day
O God, who didst deign to bestow on St. Rita such grace that she loved her enemies, and bore in her heart and on her brow the marks of Thy charity and Passion: grant, we beseech Thee, through her merits and intercession, that we may love our enemies and ever meditate upon the sorrows of Thy Passion. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
Common Questions
When does the St. Rita novena start in 2026?
The traditional dates run May 13 through May 21, finishing the day before her feast on May 22, when churches around the world bless roses in her honor. But this novena may be prayed during any nine consecutive days of the year — the traditional window is a custom, not a rule.
I am in an abusive marriage. Does praying to St. Rita mean I should stay?
No. The Church venerates Rita’s holiness within her suffering; it does not teach that anyone must remain in an abusive situation, and it explicitly permits separation to protect yourself and your children (CCC 2383). If you are in danger, seek safety and help now — and pray this novena from safety. Rita is invoked by abuse survivors because she understands, not because endurance of violence is the lesson.
What is St. Rita the patron saint of?
Impossible causes, difficult marriages, abuse survivors, and widows. Each patronage tracks her own life: an arranged marriage to a violent husband, widowhood by murder, the loss of both sons, and a late entry into religious life that required an “impossible” reconciliation of feuding families.
What is the difference between the St. Rita novena and the St. Jude novena?
Both saints are invoked for desperate cases, by devotional custom rather than official assignment. St. Jude is typically sought in sudden, desperate situations of every kind; St. Rita especially in long-running impossibilities close to home — broken marriages, family estrangement, grief. Many people pray both; no one is checking lanes.
Why are roses associated with St. Rita?
Tradition says that in her final winter, a rose was found blooming in the January snow of her old garden in Roccaporena after she asked for one — the impossible thing, flowering out of season. Roses are blessed in her honor on May 22 and brought to the sick and the struggling.
What happens if I miss a day?
Pick up where you left off and continue. Missing a day does not invalidate anything — a novena is a devotion of love, not a legal formula. Rita waited decades for some of her prayers; she is not timing you.
Meet the saint
Who was St. Rita of Cascia? Read the life behind the devotion →
Sources & Church Teaching
- Traditional Prayer to St. Rita (public-domain devotional text)
- Collect for the feast of St. Rita, traditional Roman Missal (public-domain translation)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 2383 (separation of spouses), 956 (the intercession of the saints), 2634–2636 (prayer of intercession)
- Augustinian tradition and the Basilica of St. Rita, Cascia (her life, the 1442 forehead wound, the rose tradition); Leo XIII, canonization of St. Rita, May 24, 1900
- Colossians 1:24 (suffering united to Christ)