Saint Rita was born in 1381 and died on the 22 of May of 1457.These traditional dates were acepted by Pope Leo XIII, when she was declared a Saint, May 24th 1900. Rita, the only child of Antonio Lotti and Amata Ferri, was born in Roccaporena (about 3 miles from Cascia) and given the christian name of Margherita in the church of Santa Maria della Plebe, in Cascia.
Her parents were pacificators of Christ in the political and familiar fights between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines;they did their best to educate Rita, teaching her in reading and writing. When she was about 16 years old , she married Paolo Ferdinando Mancini, a basically good boy, but somewhat violent: two male children were born soon after. Through her simple style of life, rich of prayers and virtues, entirely devoted to her family, she helped her husband to change his behavior and to live honestly and laboriously. Her existence of spouse and mother was shaken by her husband’s murder, victim to the hatred between the parties. Rita was able to remain faithful to the Gospel, according to the example of Jesus, fully forgiving those who brought her such a great sorrow.
On the contrary, her children, influenced by the society and relatives, were tempted to revenge. Their mother prayed to _God to take hem, rather than have them blood-stained, to avoid their complete ruin from human and spiritual side; both children died at a young age, because of a disease.