Prayers for St. Rita Novena: 9 Days of Intercession for Impossible Causes

This Catholic prayer is written to help you pray with the Church. If you are holding something that feels too broken to fix, too far gone to hope for, or too impossible to speak aloud without embarrassment, this novena was written for you.

St. Rita of Cascia is one of the Church’s most beloved intercessors. She lived in fifteenth-century Italy and knew suffering from every direction: an arranged marriage, years of grief, the death of her husband and both sons, and a wound from a thorn of Christ’s crown that she bore on her forehead for fifteen years. The Church has called her the Patroness of Impossible Causes because her entire life was a testimony that God moves in the places where human effort runs out. She is not a distant figure. She is a sister in faith who has already walked through what you may be facing now.

A novena is a nine-day prayer devotion, drawn from the nine days the apostles and Mary spent in prayer between the Ascension and Pentecost. Each day carries its own reflection and prayer. You do not need to pray perfectly. You need only to come, day after day, with your intention held before God.

St. Rita’s feast day is May 22, but this novena may be prayed at any time, in a hospital waiting room, in the quiet after midnight, or on an ordinary Tuesday when hope has run thin. Bring your impossible thing. Heaven is not intimidated by it.

Prayers for St. Rita Novena

About St. Rita of Cascia

Rita was born around 1381 in Roccaporena, a small village near Cascia in Umbria, Italy. From childhood she desired the religious life, but at her parents’ request she accepted marriage to a man known for his difficult temper. For nearly two decades she loved him faithfully, and history records that her gentleness gradually transformed him. When he was killed in a local feud, Rita faced a second grief: her two sons, inflamed by the culture of vendetta, burned with desire for revenge. Rather than lose them to sin, Rita prayed that God would take them before they could commit murder. Both sons died of illness within the year, a grief she bore as an act of trust.

Three times Rita attempted to enter the Augustinian monastery at Cascia and was refused because she was a widow, not a virgin. Tradition holds that one night she was miraculously transported inside the monastery walls. She lived there for forty years, known for severe penance, deep contemplation, and a charity that drew the suffering of her region to her door. When she meditated on the crown of thorns and asked to share Christ’s suffering, a thorn wound appeared on her forehead and remained open until her death in 1457. She was canonized in 1900. Roses and figs, both associated with miracles from her life, are blessed on her feast day in churches around the world.

Her patronage of impossible causes did not arise from legend alone. It arose from a life that demonstrated, again and again, that the God who raises the dead is not limited by what appears final. When you pray through her intercession, you are not asking her to replace Christ. You are asking a sister who has already crossed into glory to add her prayer to yours before the throne of the One who makes all things possible.

How to Pray This Novena

Begin each day at the same time if you are able, morning, noon, or evening, so that the rhythm of returning becomes part of the prayer itself. Write your intention clearly before you start. Hold it before God each day without changing it in panic; trust that heaven heard you on day one. Read the day’s reflection slowly, then pray the prayer aloud if possible. Words spoken in faith carry weight. Close with the traditional prayers below if they are part of your devotion. Then release the intention into God’s hands and go about your day. The novena is not a formula that obliges God. It is nine days of your heart opening wider to His will and His power, and that is always answered.

Day 1

What is impossible with man is possible with God. (Luke 18:27, NKJV)

On this first day, you come with honesty. You are not pretending the situation is smaller than it is. You are naming it before God and before a witness who understood what it means to carry something no one else can fix.

Lord Jesus, I come before You on this first day with the impossible weight I have been carrying. Your Word declares that what is impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18:27, NKJV), and I stand on that promise now. Through the intercession of St. Rita, who bore suffering without losing faith, I bring You my intention and lay it at Your feet. You are the God who opens what no one can shut, who makes a way where there is no way. I trust You with this. Strengthen my faith for each day of this novena. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Day 2

St. Rita loved a difficult man faithfully for years. She did not wait for circumstances to change before she gave her whole heart to her vocation. Today’s theme is faithful love in hard places.

Father, You are the source of every love that endures. Your Word promises that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:7, NKJV), and I ask You to work that love in me as I pray through this novena. Through St. Rita’s intercession, grant me the grace to remain faithful in the waiting, not brittle with impatience, but rooted in Your faithfulness. Where relationships in my life are strained or broken, bring Your healing. Where my own heart has grown hard, soften it by Your mercy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Day 3

Rita surrendered her sons to God rather than see them lost to sin. That surrender was not passive resignation, it was an act of radical trust. Today we pray the prayer of surrender over whatever we have been gripping too tightly.

Lord, I confess that I have sometimes held my intention with clenched hands rather than open ones. Your Word says cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7, NKJV). Today, through St. Rita’s intercession, I choose to open my hands. I release what I cannot control. I release the outcome I have been rehearsing in fear. I trust that You see every detail of this situation and that Your care for me is not distant or theoretical, it is present and active. Take what I surrender today and do what only You can do. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Day 4

Three times Rita was turned away from the monastery. Three times she returned. Today we pray for perseverance, for the grace to keep praying when the door has not yet opened.

Father, Your Son taught us to pray and not give up, saying that the persistent widow received justice from an unjust judge, how much more will You, a righteous Father, answer those who cry out to You day and night (Luke 18:1–8). Through St. Rita’s intercession, grant me perseverance that does not waver with each passing day. When I am tempted to stop praying because nothing has visibly changed, remind me that You are working unseen. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24, NKJV). I will not stop. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Day 5

Halfway through the novena. This is often the day when weariness sets in. Today we pray for renewed spiritual strength and the comfort of knowing we are not praying alone.

Lord Jesus, You promised that where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20, NKJV). I am not praying this novena in isolation. The whole Church, seen and unseen, surrounds this prayer. Through St. Rita’s intercession and the communion of saints, I ask You to renew my strength today. Your Word says those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31, NKJV). I wait on You. I am not giving up. Breathe fresh hope into me on this fifth day, and let me feel the nearness of Your presence as I press forward. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Day 6

St. Rita bore a thorn wound on her forehead for fifteen years, a mark of union with the suffering Christ. Today we pray for those who are suffering physically, and we bring before God the specific health intentions that may rest at the heart of this novena.

Father, You are the Lord who heals. Your Word declares by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5, NKJV), and I stand on that covenant today. Through St. Rita’s intercession, she who shared in the wounds of Christ and knew the body’s suffering, I bring before You every intention for healing that I carry in my heart. I do not know what medicine cannot reach, but You do. Give wisdom and skill to every doctor and caregiver involved. Bring comfort where there is pain, and peace where there is fear. I trust the outcome entirely to You, the One who holds life in His hands. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Day 7

St. Rita is also invoked for protection, for families, for children in danger, for those caught in situations of conflict or threat. Today we lift our protection intentions before God through her intercession.

Lord, You are a shield around those who take refuge in You. Your Word promises He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways (Psalm 91:11, NKJV). Through St. Rita’s intercession, I ask for Your protection over every person and situation I have named in this novena. Guard what is vulnerable. Stand between those I love and what seeks to harm them. Where there is conflict, bring Your peace. Where there is danger, station Your presence. I speak protection over my home, my family, and my circumstances, according to Your Word and in the authority of Your name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Day 8

On this eighth day, we pray for the grace of peace, the deep peace that holds steady regardless of what the situation looks like. Rita lived with an open wound on her face and still radiated a joy that drew others to Christ. That peace is not the absence of difficulty. It is the presence of God inside the difficulty.

Father, Your Word says the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7, NKJV). I ask for that peace today, not as a feeling I manufacture, but as a gift You place inside me. Through St. Rita’s intercession, quiet the anxious thoughts that return when I am not watching. Let me rest in You even while I wait. You are not silent. You are not slow. You are working all things together for good for those who love You, according to Your Word (Romans 8:28). I receive that peace now. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Day 9

This is the final day. Nine days of returning. Nine days of trust. Whether the answer is visible yet or not, something has shifted, in you, in your capacity for faith, in the atmosphere around your intention. Today we close the novena with gratitude and with open hands, trusting that the God who heard every word of every prayer will act in His perfect time.

Lord Jesus, I come to the end of these nine days with a heart that is fuller than when I began. I thank You that You hear every prayer, not one word has fallen to the ground unnoticed. Your Word assures me that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16, NKJV), and I believe these days of prayer have availed much before Your throne. Through the intercession of St. Rita, Patroness of Impossible Causes, I release my intention fully into Your hands. I ask for Your will, which is always better than my plan. I ask for faith to trust the timing. I ask for eyes to see Your answer when it comes, even if it looks different from what I imagined. You are faithful. You have never failed. I rest in You. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Traditional Prayers

Many who pray this novena include these traditional prayers each day. They are offered here unchanged, as the Church has prayed them for centuries.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Encouragement

You have done something courageous. You have prayed for nine days over something the world might call a lost cause. But the Church has never believed in lost causes, only in causes that have not yet seen what God can do. St. Rita prayed impossible prayers in an impossible life and stepped into eternity having witnessed the faithfulness of God in every season. She is a companion, not a replacement for Christ. Her prayer joins yours before the One who holds your situation in His hands and calls Himself the God of all comfort, the God of the impossible, the God who is never late.

If you need a night prayer to be strengthened and free from fear as you continue waiting on God’s answer, that prayer is ready for you. Keep praying. Keep returning. The door that looks sealed to human effort is never locked to heaven. God heard you on day one, and He hears you still.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.