rita patron saint

I was wondering if anyone could tell me why St. Rita (the patron saint of abuse victims, against loneliness, against sterility, bodily ills, desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, impossible causes, infertility, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sickness, sterility, victims of physical spouse abuse, widows, and wounds) is connected to baseball. Some of the medals that can be purchased, have an option to have a baseball player on the back. Just wondering. Thanks!

Mighty fine question. According to an article on catholicherald.com:

"If there has been a run on St. Rita medals and holy cards at Catholic shops over the past few weeks, blame it on a family film released in April entitled "The Rookie." Based on a true story, and starring Dennis Quaid, it's a baseball tale that opens with a couple of nuns sprinkling rose petals from a basket while praying to St. Rita over the site of an oil well near the little town of Big Lake in west Texas in the 1920s.

According to the story's narrator, the nuns invested money in an oil well scheme that started to turn sour. When the nuns couldn't get their money back a Catholic priest advised them to pray to St. Rita, the patron St. of the impossible, and sprinkle rose petals on the well site. The Santa Rita well, named for its patron, not only produced oil but also (according to the film) a couple of major league baseball players. During the 21 months it took for the well to start spouting oil the Santa Rita crew built a baseball field near the well, and played baseball to while away the hours. Some of the crew got to be very good ball players.

Thirty years later the story of the Santa Rita well is told to a teenage boy who wants to be a major league pitcher. The teenager grows up to be the Quaid character, Jimmy Morris, a 30-something high school baseball coach who tests his arm at the old Santa Rita well and summons the courage to try out, late in life, for the big leagues."

The link is:
http://www.catholicherald.com/articles/02articles/strita.htm

Don't know if this is the right answer but thanks for peaking my curiousity! I learned something today!

2007-06-15 15:08:43 by Elizoria

Saint Rita#39;s Patron Saint Day. Monday morning mass!

I was wondering if anyone could tell me why St. Rita (the patron saint of abuse victims, against loneliness, against sterility, bodily ills, desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, impossible causes, infertility, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sickness, sterility, victims of physical spouse abuse, widows, and wounds) is connected to baseball. Some of the medals that can be purchased, have an option to have a baseball player on the back. Just wondering. Thanks!

that one puzzles me, too. her feast day is May 22nd, ( baseball season) and she is patroness of lost causes, so.... maybe the baseball game is a lost cause because the other guys are better, and it would take a miravle to beat them???
just a guess.

2007-06-15 14:02:25 by Elizoria

Price: $3.55

Saint Rita of Cascia. ( =

For centuries St. Rita of Cascia (1381-1457) has been one of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church. She is known as the "Saint of the Impossible" because of the amazing answers to prayer, as well as the remarkable events of her own life.

2008-11-16 15:38:30 by Cortzney

Price: $3.99

You don't have to be Catholic to have one. Mine use to be Saint Rita, the saint of possible or impossible dreams. Now that there's a Patron Saint named Zorro, I will check him out with the Vatican to see what he stands for. O might switch or keep both. You know the lines on the palms of your hands? On my left hand, there's lines that display the letter "Z" I kid you not! Wonder what it means. Am I a decendant,of Zorro?
A lot of dumb answers. Guess the Christians are busy doing other things instead of answering questions. Its a shame people can't be serious.

I was just reading about the saints, and I enjoyed the story about Padre Pio. He was the first stigmatized priest in the Catholic Church and was just canonized in 2002. I am not Catholic, nor am I much of a religious person, but I feel strangely calm and serene when reading about the saints. I also liked the story of St. Rita as well. I would have to say they are my two favorites.

I also agree that there are a lot of dumb answers to this question. Don't these people know that you don't actually worship a saint? You ask them to pray for you..............

2006-09-21 22:28:19 by ZORRO

Saint Jude is known as the patron saint of lost causes and there are special prayers that you can say for nine days in succession for a difficult problem to be solved. If your prayer is answered, you have to promise to pass the idea on to others. Has anyone had their prayers to Saint Jude answered? Also, I believe that Saint Rita is the femaile equivalent.
Thank you for your answers - interesting! Swordofthespirit2, I would just like to make it clear that Ithis was an open question; I was merely ASKING whether anyone had 'tried a Novena to Saint Jude' rather than recommending the practice and I certainly take your point.

My Grandmother has been praying to St. Jude since she was 12. She survived a bout of Leukemia recently and is now a pretty healthy person. She is 81 years old.

2008-04-14 16:26:12 by Claire