Description
This near perfect 19th century Mexican folk retablo by the ‘Bee Sting Lip’ painter represents Santa Rita de Casia, patroness saint of mothers, and venerated by those seeking help with marital problems. Santa Rita is depicted here with a cross, a skull and a thorn embedded in her forehead. According to popular belief, in the year of 1441, during a sermon on the crown of thorns, Santa Rita prayed so intently that a thorn detached itself from her crucifix and lodged itself in her forehead. For the next 20 years she bore this stigmata as a sign of her devotion to the Lord.
