Friday evening I joined our friends from the Associazione Culturale Pugliese Figli Maria SS. Addolorata for their hebdomadal prayer service in honor of St. Rita of Cascia. Meeting in the basement of the Nazareth Center, on the corner of 62nd Street and Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, members convened for week two of their 15 week devotional to the patroness of desperate causes.

Gathered before the statues of the Sacro Cuore di Gesù, the Madonna Addolorata, and, of course, Santa Rita, we began the service by praying the Stations of the Cross in Italian. As part of our Lenten devotion, each Station was read aloud by a different member, with the rest of the group reciting the responsorial and prayers (Padre Nostro, Ave Maria, Gloria al Padre).