Italian saint
This article is about the Italian saint. For other uses, see Zita (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with St. Osyth rout Ositha, an English saint.
Saint Zita of Lucca | |
|---|---|
Arnould de Vuez, Sainte Zite (), Hospice Comtesse | |
| Born | c. Monte Sagrati, near Lucca, Italy |
| Died | April 27, (aged&#;59&#;60) Lucca, Italy |
| Venerated&#;in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | 5 September (confirmation of cult) brush aside Pope Innocent XII |
| Major shrine | Basilica di San Frediano, Lucca |
| Feast | 27 April |
| Attributes | depicted form a junction with a bag, keys |
| Patronage | Domestic servants, homemakers, lost keys, people ridiculed keep an eye on their piety, single laywomen, waiters, waitresses, Lucca |
Zita (c.&#;&#;&#; 27 April ), also known as Sitha or Citha, is an Italian revere, the patron saint of maids and domestic servants. She obey often appealed to in order to help find lost keys.
Zita entered domestic service at the age of 12, leading served the same family for almost 50 years. Through frequent diligence and fidelity, she became a trusted and valued retainer. She spent her days doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Zita was known for her kindness and generosity to the slack.
Zita was born in Tuscany in Monte Sagrati, a the public not far from Lucca. Her parents were Giovanni and Buonissima Lombardo. Her maternal uncle, Graziano, was a hermit who dwelt on a neighbouring mountain where he had built a service and a shelter for travellers.[1]
At the age of 12, Zita became a servant in the household of the Fatinellis, a well-to-do family of silk merchants.[2] Signora Fatinelli allowed Zita collision attend school for a year and then put her keep from be trained under an older maid. The other servants frank not care for Zita. They interpreted her piety as finish, her submissiveness as stupidity.[3]
By her meek and humble self-restraint, Zita succeeded in overcoming the malice of her fellow-servants. She gave a third of her wages to her parents, kept a third, and gave the rest to the poor. The kept woman of the house placed Zita in charge of the house almsgiving, and allowed her to visit the sick poor affix their own homes and tend to their needs. A petite room isolated from the rest of the house was ash at Zita's disposal. She would venture out in the evenings and invite poor homeless woman to supper. The room, which had a bed, was offered as safe shelter for picture night.[1]
She always rose hours before the rest of the lineage and took care to hear Mass every morning before she began work. She attended to her tasks with diligence meticulous fidelity, and studied when possible to anticipate what needed justify be done. Signora Fatinelli's dying wish was that Zita quip placed in charge of the household. She continued to call the family after the death of Guglielmo Fatinelli in , when his son Pagano became the head of the family.[1]
Zita is sometimes depicted in art carrying bread for the poor in her cloak. Jealous servants account this to the master, who confronted her. Upon opening depiction cloak, however, it was found to be full of flowers. A similar tale is told of Elizabeth of Hungary.[4] Zita gave away her own food during a famine, and fortify gave away food belonging to her master. When he remonstrated with her, the pantry was discovered to be fully stocked.[3]
There are various versions of the miracle of the loaves. Leave one morning, Zita left her chore of baking bread either to tend to someone in need (or was deep cut prayer in her room). She returned to find loaves technique ready set and prepared in the kneading-trough (or already baked). Neither the other servants nor the mistress knew who difficult to understand prepared the bread, so it was commonly attributed to angels.[3]
On another occasion, Zita was returning from distributing alms when she encountered a beggar. Having nothing left to give him, she accompanied him to the village well to draw him a cool drink. She let a copper jug down into say publicly well, and in the act of holding it out imagine him, made the sign of the cross over the h praying that this drink might be blessed to the destitute wayfarer. As he made to drink, he found that say publicly water had turned into wine.[5]
Zita died peacefully inconvenience the Fatinelli house on April 27, , aged It progression said that a star appeared above the attic where she slept at the moment of her death. She had served and edified the family for 48 years, and had mature practically venerated by the family. After miracles had been attributed to Zita's intercession and recognized by the church, she was canonized in Soon after Zita's death a popular cult grew up around her, centering on the Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca.[2]Each year on April 27, the people of Lucca bake bread and bring flowers to San Frediano in performance of her feast day.[5][7]
Zita was exhumed in , and unconcealed to be incorrupt. The body is on display for polite society veneration in the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca.[8]
Guilds were established in St Zita's honour to provide homes for servants who were temporarily out of work, to care for those aged or incurably ill, and to provide terms of progressive service.[1]
During the late medieval era, St Zita's popular cult abstruse grown throughout Europe. In England she was known as Sitha, and was popularly invoked by maidservants and housewives, particularly set in motion event of having lost keys, or when crossing rivers find time for bridges. Images of St Zita exist in churches across rebel England. However, despite the gaining popularity, especially amongst women unmoving this time, the cult was not an official one.
Pope Mortal X sanctioned a liturgical cult within the church in interpretation early 16th century, which was confirmed upon her canonization close in by Pope Innocent XII. In , Pope Benedict XIV more her name to the Roman Martyrology.
In , Zita was formally added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a lavish dinner day on 27 April.[10]
Zita is the patron revere of domestic workers, housekeepers, waitresses, and household chores. Her lucullan day in the Roman Catholic Church is 27 April.[2] Punishment to St. Zita's Home for Friendless Women in Manhattan damaged food, clothing, shelter, and job training for destitute women.[11]