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Auction: 17001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 380

(x) Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical, 'Order' of Saint Rita of Cascia, collar Chain, comprising 30 medallions made out of 15 roses upon red enamel border, 14 of crossed thorns, the final and central link made up of a trophy of arms with the letter 'R' upon the shield, the medallions linked by a border of inter-woven chain, 900mm, gilt and enamel, with Badge Appendant, formed of a gilt double-facing cross flory counter-changed in gold and red enamel suspended from a wreath of roses, the obverse central medallion with a gilt portrait of Saint Rita upon a white ground, the reverse with her beatification and canonisation dates in gilt upon a white ground, generally good very fine, highly unusual and worthy of further research (2)

Saint Rita of Cascia was born Margherita Lotti at Roccaporena, Perugia, in 1381, an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Married at an early age, she is remembered for her enduring Christian values as a wife to a belligerent, and later murdered husband. Upon her joining an Augustinian community of religious sisters she was known for practising mortification of the flesh whilst a number of miracles are attributed to her intercession.

Following her death from tuberculosis on 22 1457, she was beatified in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII, being canonised 24 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII as Patroness of Impossible Causes, and also recognised in a number of communities as the Patroness of abused wives and unloved women.

The quality and detail of manufacture suggest that this example may be a unique piece of insignia commissioned by a Priest or Bishop at the canonisation of Saint Rita of Cascia in 1900.

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Sold for
£550