The birthplace of Pope Leo XIV is the new twin city of Cascia, Italy, home of St. Rita, patron of impossible causes, peace and forgiveness.
A delegation of 34 pilgrims from Cascia joined parishioners at St. Rita of Cascia Parish, 6243 S. Fairfield Ave., for a ceremony and lighting of the “Torch of Forgiveness and Peace of St. Rita of Cascia” during Mass on March 14.
Cascia Mayor Mario De Carolis and Augustinian Father Giustino Casciano, rector of the Basilica of St. Rita, led the delegation, which included political and religious leaders.
The city established the twinning tradition in 1958 to unite Cascia with other places where devotion to St. Rita is strong.
While in Chicago, the delegation planned to take the torch to the National Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini, who was a native of Italy, to Catholic Theological Union; to a Mass with Cardinal Cupich on March 17; to Pope Leo’s childhood home in Dolton; and to a meeting of the Chicago City Council.
Born in 1381, Margherita Lotti, or Rita as she was affectionately known, wanted to join the Augustinians as a sister, but her family married her off to an unkind older man. Her husband and two sons were eventually murdered because of a family feud.
After their deaths, Rita was accepted into the Augustinian community on the condition that she brought peace to her family first. She was canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.
In addition to St. Rita Parish, the archdiocese is home to the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7466 S. Western Ave., on the campus of St. Rita High School. For over 100 years, the chapel has hosted a monthly novena to the saint with a large event on her feast day, May 22.
The Midwest Augustinian Friars — the religious community of Pope Leo XIV — staff both the parish and the chapel.
“Every year we make a twinning with another town in Italy or abroad to say that St. Rita can help the families, can help the society to live in peace and fraternity without wars and without fighting,” Casciano said. “This year, we chose together the town of Chicago because Pope Leo was born here and is very, very near to St. Rita. He came to Cascia many times because he was the father general of our family [the Augustinians].”
St. Rita can also intercede and be an example for families, Casciano said.
“Now the family is in difficulty. The relations between men and women are in many difficulties. And St. Rita is someone to help us to have relations in peace without the fighting inside the families,” he said.
Augustinian Father Homero Sánchez, pastor of St. Rita, said the world needs this reminder to focus on St. Rita’s message of forgiveness and peace.
“We know our neighborhood and we know that we need a lot of peace and forgiveness in our city, in our church, in our country,” Sánchez said.
Ten people from the parish will make a pilgrimage to Cascia for St. Rita’s feast day in May, he said.
The twinning of Chicago and Cascia shows that faith in God can unite people, Sánchez said.
“Not just people from the same language, but people from different cultures, different cities. They are coming from the other side of the world just to be together, to praise God and to see that Rita can lead us to Jesus,” he said.
The torch represents the light of Christ dispelling darkness in our world and in our relationships, Sánchez said.
“It’s something that really impacts the community because it is the light of Jesus that is really burning for peace and forgiveness. That’s the main purpose of these communities coming together, peace and forgiveness,” he said. “Not just for the for the city, not just for the church, but for the whole world. I think that this is something that we need today.”