My Homemade St. Rita Chaplet and How to say the Chaplets of St. Rita of Cascia

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Paul

In this post: The Six Decade Rosary of Lourdes and St. Bridget, I mentioned that a couple of months ago I made a Chaplet of St. Rita. I had already posessed one commercially made from the National Shrine of St.Rita of Cascia, but it had contained no instructions on how to pray it. So, I spent some time online looking for them. I found some instructions, but they didn’t match the arrangement of the beads I had.

This is the Chaplet I ordered from the Shrine:

Just ten beads, arranged in a circlet. But I kept finding instructions all over the web for a chaplet of three groups of three beads, like this one: (SPOILER ALERT!! this is “My Homemade St. Rita Chaplet”)

After a while, I managed to find a site which had the correct prayer instructions, (courtesy of the Shrine, no less!) and here are those instructions:

The Chaplet of St. Rita of Cascia
(from the National Shrine of St.Rita of Cascia; Philadelphia, PA, USA)

This chaplet consists of 10 beads on which are recited, alternately the Our Father and the Hail Mary while reflecting on the following meditations:

a) beginning at the centre piece of St. Rita, compose yourself for prayer and begin with a spiritual communion, or Apostles Creed. Then move on to the first set of two beads and announce the meditation.

1) I rejoice with you, O blessed Saint Rita, who were showered by God with blessings of sweetness whereby you remained always faithful to your baptismal consecration. Pray for me that I may avoid every sin.

Our Father, then a Hail Mary.

2) I rejoice with you, O glorious Saint Rita, who from childhood were blessed with the gift of prayer and the contemplation of Jesus crucified. Obtain for me fervour in my prayer and compassionate love for Jesus in his sufferings.

Our Father, then a Hail Mary.

3) I rejoice with you, O fortunate Saint Rita, who learned how to draw from your Crucified Saviour the strength and the courage to bear the trials of life out of love for him. Pray for me that I may imitate your virtues and experience the favour of Jesus crucified.

Our Father, then a Hail Mary.

4) I rejoice with you, O most blessed Saint Rita, who were so loving as to suffer for Jesus, and so came to receive on your forehead a thorn from his crown. Obtain for me a sign of heartfelt contrition and the grace of sorrow for my sins.

Our Father, then a Hail Mary

5) I rejoice with you, O Saint Rita, who walked always the path of faith, hope, and love, as wife and mother, widow and religious, and who now enjoy the rewards of heavenly glory. Look upon me in my needs and obtain for me the grace to follow your example, fulfilling all the duties of my state of life so as to share with you some day the Father’s presence.

Our Father, then a Hail Mary

b) (optional) The chaplet may be completed with the following prayer:

O Holy Saint Rita, exemplary Augustinian Sister, we honour you for your devotion to the Passion of Christ. Although your early life was filled with disappointment, frustration, and unceasing tragedy, you never lost faith and trust in God. For this you are the patroness of the impossible, and our inspiration and advocate in desperate circumstances.
Amen.

Novena Prayer (optional):

O holy patroness of those in need, St. Rita, whose pleadings before thy Divine Lord are almost irresistible, who for thy lavishness in granting favours hast been called the Advocate of the Hopeless and even of the Impossible; St. Rita, so humble, so pure, so mortified, so patient and of such compassionate love for thy Crucified Jesus that thou couldst obtain from Him whatsoever thou askest, on account of which all confidently have recouse to thee, expecting, if not always relief, at least comfort; be propitious to our petition, showing thy power with God on behalf of thy suppliant; be lavish to us, as thou hast been in so many wonderful cases, for the greater glory of God, for the spreading of thine own devotion, and for the consolation of those who trust in thee. We promise, if our petition is granted, to glorify thee by making known thy favour, to bless and sing thy praises forever. Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray thee grant that (here mention your request)

(These instructions generously given by The National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia, 1166 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146-(215)546-8333)

But what about the other kind? The three groups of three beads? I hadn’t felt like finding a source online and ordering one; I figured the one from the National Shrine is THE CHAPLET. But still, I really love St. Rita and not having “the other kind” bothered me.

As I mentioned in that post on the Lourdes and Brigittine Rosaries, I have a lot of rosary parts lying about, many are reddish and I attribute that color to St. Rita. So I set about to salvage parts of this or that rosary and came up with “the other chaplet,” pictured here, again:

I did have to order the medal of St. Rita; that is courtesy of the National Shrine (a little blurry, but good enough):

How to pray the “Other version”

This chaplet in honor of St. Rita, patroness of the impossible, consists of nine beads. The chaplet is comprised of three sets of three prayers each as shown below, completed with the recitation of the prayer to St. Rita.

Intentions may be made at the beginning or end of the chaplet.

Make the Sign of the Cross on the Crucifix.

Recite the Our Father
on each of the first three beads.

Recite the Hail Mary
on each on each of the second three beads..

Recite the Glory Be to the Father
on each of the last three beads:.

On the medal of Saint Rita, recite:

O Holy St. Rita, exemplary Augustinian Sister, we honor you for your devotion to the Passion of Christ. Although your early life was filled with disappointment, frustration, and unceasing tragedy, you never lost faith and trust in God. For this you are the patroness of the impossible, and our inspiration and advocate in desperate circumstances.

NOTE: This concluding prayer, “O Holy St. Rita, exemplary Augustinian Sister…” is a common prayer for St. Rita (I think it’s even in the Mass in her honor, but I’m not sure and don’t feel like looking it up. 😝)

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The SIx Decade Rosary of Lourdes and St. Bridget

Posted on July 15, 2025 by Paul

A six-decade rosary was held by Our Lady when she appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, France in 1858. The peasants around that area of France commonly used this kind of rosary; it differs from the the more common six-decade Brigittine Rosary (see below) only in the Mysteries prayed. The peasants used the accepted mysteries of the common everyday rosary that Catholics pray (known as the “Dominican Rosary”) but added a sixth decade for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. 🙏 From what I can find out online, the residents of the area still practice this devotion.

I’ve been obsessed with a book I’ve started reading: Champions Of The Rosary: The History And Heroes Of A Spiritual Weapon by Fr. Donald Calloway. (I’ll write up a review of it soon.)

I have learned quite a lot about the Rosary and while I have deeply loved it from my reversion through today, reading nearly 200 pages on its history and the saints who’ve championed it has really made me appreciate the extent by which it is critical for Catholics to pray the Dominican Rosary, especially every day. Its role in the salvation of souls is underappreciated and perhaps even little known. Anyway, and more to the point of this post, after reading a few chapters of the heroes of the rosary, I suddenly became obsessed very needful of having my own six-decade rosary, which is odd considering the book doesn’t mention it much. It must be some sort of God-incidental thing where my subconscious mind connected Calloway’s book to my increasing devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and the lore surrounding the Apparition that I finally thought “I must have one of my own!”

I started looking online for “six decade rosaries” and discovered they’re called “Brigittine Rosaries.” (OK, so I forgot that Calloway did mention those.) They’re just like the cDominican Rosaries except there’s the additional sixth decade. Many online stores sell them; often for a lot more money than I’m willing to spend. I did find one nice source from Canada that offers quite a huge variety, and many are very affordable; but I was turned off by the high shipping costs (tariffs? 😡🤬 ) (If you’re curious, they are Discount Rosaries. They offer a great selection of rosaries and chaplets and other resources for Catholics. If I had a longer shopping list, I might have risked the shipping fees. Please patronize them to make up for my not having done so! 🥺😇 )

So then I thought, “I’ve got a lot of broken and busted rosaries around here. Maybe I can salvage parts from some and make my own!” My first attempt was succesful for about 2 minutes (if that) before it fell to pieces. 😢 After the typical feeling sorry for myself period ran its course, I thought, “There’s a LOT MORE parts left, let me try again!” 💪🏻

SUCCESS! 🎆🎉

It looks a little odd, but after much trial and error (and squinting,) I managed to make a six-decade rosary out of three damaged or broken ones. Saves me money in not having to buy one. 😃

Mine’s a far cry from the gold chain-and-white-beaded rosary Mary held, but I’m happy with it. 😇😃 Like I said above, you pray the Lourdes Six-Decade Rosary using the same Mysteries as the regular rosary, just that the sixth Mystery is for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Just two months ago I made a St. Rita Chaplet from busted rosaries! 🤜🏻🤛🏻 There will be a post on that soon!

The “Brigittine Rosary” is named after St. Bridget of Sweden who propagated it. It was often referred to as the “peasant’s rosary” which had no assigned mysteries to it. The peasants made up whatever suited their fancy. However, the Brigittine Rosary does have formal, assigned Mysteries. (I guess the peasants didn’t care. 🫤 )

The Brigittine Rosary was instituted and propagated by St. Bridget of Sweden. She was favored with visions and extacies but remained profoundly humble with a deep devotion to the Passion of Our Lords and His Holy Wounds, and great love for the Blessed Virgin and made a rosary in her honor. When describing the rosary she constructed, she explained it was 63 Hail Mary beads to honour the 63 years of life the Blessed Virgin lived on earth. This is why it has 6 decades.

How to recite the Brigittine Rosary:

The Eighteen Mysteries of the Brigittine Crown Chaplet

Joyful Mysteries:

The Immaculate Conception

The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth

The Birth of Jesus

The Presentation of Jesus In The Temple

The Finding of Jesus In The Temple

The Sorrowful Mysteries:

The Agony of Jesus In The Garden

Jesus Is Scourged At The Pillar

Jesus Is Crowned With Thorns

Jesus Carries His Cross

The Crucifixion

The Body of the Lord was placed in the Arms of His Sorrowful Mother

The Glorious Mysteries:

The Resurrection of Jesus

The Ascension of Jesus

The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

The Patronage of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace (Brigittine Rosary)

or

The Patronage of Mary, Queen and Beauty of Carmel (Carmelite Rosary)

To St Bridgett, Queen of Sweden

WITH confident hearts we fly to thee, blessed Bridgett, and ask, in these times of darkness and unbelief,

thy intercession on behalf of those who are separated from the Church of JESUS CHRIST. By the clear

knowledge which thou hadst of the cruel sufferings of our crucified SAVIOUR, the price of our

redemption, we beg of thee to obtain for those who are outside the one fold the grace of faith, so that the

scattered sheep may return to the one true Shepherd.

Through CHRIST our LORD. Amen.

St Bridgett, fearless servant of GOD, pray for us.

St Bridgett, patient in sufferings and humiliations, pray for us.

St Bridgett, wonderful in thy love towards JESUS and Mary, pray for us.

PATER, Ave, Gloria.

Source: Discover a Lost Devotion of Brigittine Crown Chaplet

This source has the Luminous Mysteries: OCDS Tulsa.

If you are curious as to how it became a part of the Carmelite tradition:

How Did it Become Part of the Carmelite Habit?

St. Teresa of Avila prayed the rosary daily and it is believed that when she was traveling throughout Spain founding her monasteries of the reform, she would visit the Brigittine Monastery. It was there that she learned about their six-decade Rosary. As time went on, the six-decade Rosary became part of the Carmelite Habit, with a large medal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in addition to, or even in place of, the crucifix found on the Dominican Rosary.

Source: The little Brown Scapular Coloring Book

I hope you liked this!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

On Devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ

Posted on July 2, 2025 by Paul

July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. The devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ is as old as the Church, for we’ve learned through catechism or the Divine Mercy devotion that the Church was born from the side of Christ when St. Longinus pierced His sacred side with a lance and blood and water flowed out. Water signified Baptism, while the Blood signified the Eucharist.

Some feel that it predates the Church. In Devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, I wrote that…

It is said to have dated to the Circumcision of Our Lord, when according to approved private revelations, Mary collected the blood Jesus had spilled.

Today, July 2nd, used to be the Feast of the Most Precious Blood, but it was removed from the Roman liturgical calendar in 1970. Nowadays, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi is referred to as the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, so it was essentially combined into that. It is called ‘precious’ because it is Jesus’ offered His own blood to pay for the redemption of humanity. Jesus shed His very blood for the sake of all humanity, atoning for humanity’s sins. The devotion to the Most Precious Blood is yet another one dedicate to repentance and reparation, much like the Holy Face devotion, the Sacred Heart and the Fatima Message.

I find the Precious Blood Devotion to be a particulary pertinent one for us Sober Catholics, given that wine, abused by us during our active drinking years, is transubstantiated by the priest into His Blood during Mass. That which was killing us is now the source of our redemption. This does not mean that we can partake of the wine at Mass; as I said in Appendix B of “The Sober Catholic Way,”

While the wine is transubstantiated by the priest during Mass, it still retains the properties of alcohol.

The Church teaches that the entirety of the Real Presence of Christ, that being His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity are found in the transubstantiated bread. Therefore there is no reason at all for an alcoholic of any length of sobriety to receive the Eucharist in the form of wine.

Nevertheless, I think that the idea of turning something that was dangerous for us into a devotion to help keep us sober, merely because God transformed it into a substance through which we can attain eternal life, is emblematic of how He works through His Church. There is a lot to dwell on with that statement, if you pause to consider it. That’s the whole message of SoberCatholic.com and my books: that the Catholic Church through the Mass, Sacraments and her devotions can sustain one’s freedom from addiction. And get you so much more.

Check out the resources on the Precious Blood I linked to in this post.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church in Rome

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Paul

Today is the Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church in Rome. As I prayed the Divine Office this morning, I was struck by the Intercessory Prayers from the Morning Hour:

INTERCESSIONS

Our Savior’s faithfulness is mirrored in the fidelity of his witnesses who shed their blood for the Word of God. Let us praise him in remembrance of them:

You redeemed us by your blood.

Your martyrs freely embraced death in bearing witness for the faith,

– give us the true freedom of the Spirit, O Lord.

Your martyrs professed their faith by shedding their blood,

– give us a faith, O Lord, that is constant and pure.

Your martyrs followed in your footstep by carrying the cross,

– help us to endure courageously the misfortunes of life.

Your martyrs washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb,

– Help us to avoid the weaknesses of the flesh and worldly allurements.

Courtesy: Common of Several Martyrs – Morning Prayer

I was reminded that we all may be called to be martyrs. But even if not, some of the intercessions do remind us alcoholics and addicts of the road we are called to trudge along, especially:

Your martyrs followed in your footstep by carrying the cross,

– help us to endure courageously the misfortunes of life.

and:

Your martyrs freely embraced death in bearing witness for the faith,

– give us the true freedom of the Spirit, O Lord.

For the first one, evryday we are beset with annoyances and trials. “Normal people,” i.e, the ones who can drink safely, either take these in stride or resort to a few drinks to “take the edge off.” We, of corse, cannot. Furthermore, while in the past we abused the privilege of being able to drink by resorting to it for any reason, we also failed to learn socially acceptavle ways to “take things in stride.” In our recovery we had to relearn basic skills we somehow missed when others learned them. Even long after sobriety, we sometimes have to engage these new coping mechanisms willfully, so as to avoid the drink. Normal respond in stride, alcoholics have to think about how to cope. As Sober Catholics, we’ve learned to “offer it up.”

For the second one, we can reframe the martyrdom as having witnessed our old self dying for recovery. This means that in willingly turning away from the drink, we killed that old addicted version of ourselves and are reborn in Christ Jesus. In essense, we have found what true freedom is; liberation from the chains of addiction and having our souls fed by Holy Mother church via the Mass and Sacraments. We become free to become our truer selves.

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Immaculate Heart of Mary Novena begins today

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Paul

Today begins the Novena to the Immacuate Heart of Mary, a devotion near and dear to any person in recovery given the impurity and selfishness many of us engaged in. The Immaculate Heart of our Heavenly Queen and Mama is a safe refuge to comfort us and lead us further away from the sins of our past, and to keep us faithful to our goal of arriving to our true home, Heaven.

EWTN has a nice, concise prayer that you vcan recite every day: Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary courtesy of EWTN

Pray More Novenas has a longer and more involved one: Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary courtesy of Pray More Novenas

Join in praying the Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Surrender Novena: O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Paul

The Sacred Heart Novena begins today and I had the sudden inspiration to remind my readers of the Surrender Novena. It can be said along with another Sacred Heart Novena you are doing, but I highly recommend that you make a habit of saying it often. I have this taped to my laptop:

Catholic Exchange has an excellent piece on the Surrender Novena, The Surrender Novena: Let Jesus Take Care of Everything.

It is a Sacred Heart Devotion. Take a look at this image that is on the cover of the novena trifold cartd I use.:

The Surrender Novena grande

It’s quite easy and given the source, Servant of God, Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo, the confessor of St. Padre Pio, no less) it is powerful and is a must to be added to your spiritual toolkit. Here is the novena in full (read the article anyway; oh, and don’t forget to say the prayer to Mary everyday which is listed at the end):

The Surrender Novena

Day 1

Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.