Married young to a violent man, mother of two sons, she went through years in which there was nothing to do but hold on. Her husband was murdered, and her sons died before they could avenge him. Left alone, she entered the Augustinian nuns of Cascia, where she lived another forty years.
In their own words
I come from my own house, but I found it shut and barred against me.
What she used to answer, reported by her first biography, written more than a hundred and fifty years after her death (Agostino Cavallucci, Vita della B. Rita da Cassia, Siena, 1610, p. 24)
Because I have Jesus in my heart, carved into the chief part of that heart.
Words reported by her first biography, written more than a hundred and fifty years after her death (Agostino Cavallucci, Vita della B. Rita da Cassia, Siena, 1610, p. 64)
Remain in the holy love of this loving Jesus […] Remain, at the last, in his most holy peace and in fraternal charity.
Her last words to her sisters, reported by her first biography, written more than a hundred and fifty years after her death (Agostino Cavallucci, Vita della B. Rita da Cassia, Siena, 1610, pp. 99-100)