A New St. Rita at the St. Rita Shrine Chapel: Family Donates Statue

On Thursday, October 3, Bishop Daniel Turley, O.S.A, Rev. Tom McCarthy, O.S.A., and Deacon John Donahue blessed a statue of St. Rita of Cascia that was donated to the St. Rita Shrine Chapel. 

Every year, tens of thousands of people visit the St. Rita Shrine Chapel for mass, monthly Novenas, weddings, funerals, and baptisms. Prior to the installation of the new chapel, the statue on 77th Street was of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, instead of the Chapel’s namesake. 

When Dr. Gene and Sistie McEnery noticed this, a lifetime of support for Catholic education and community came to a head. They donated the state of St. Rita that now sits by the entry doors to the chapel and welcomes visitors to the chapel. 

The statue was created with white marble from Carrara, Italy, and depicts St. Rita in a traditional Augustinian black habit holding a crucifix and roses. The statue also features St. Rita’s stigmata on her forehead, a wound that appeared late in her life. Stigmata are wounds or scars that correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Christ. 

St. Rita of Cascia in a rural Italian village in 1381, spent her life as a widow and mother before becoming a nun. She is the patron saint of impossible causes, parenthood, and the sick. We look to her strength and piety as an example of how to lead our own lives. 

We are so grateful for this donation from the McEnery family.  

“My parents are huge supporters of Catholic education and decided they wanted to contribute to this project and really made it happen.” said St. Rita High School Board of Director Chairperson Clare Napelton