Born to an aged couple in Italy, Rita dreamed of joining the Augustinian nuns. Her parents married her to a minor official in Cascia, who was murdered during an ongoing vendetta between families. Their 2 sons died before they could carry out vengeance, and Rita tried again for the religious life. Because of its political affiances, the convent rejected her. Through prayer and hard work to reconcile the warring factions, she was finally admitted to the convent and spent her remaining 40 years striving to preserve harmony. The last 15 years of her life were punctuated by the Stigmata of a thorn, and her final 4 years were confined to a bed, subsisting on the Eucharist alone. She died holding a rose the bloomed miraculously in winter. She remains incorrupt today.