At the moment of her death, with all the nuns surrounding her, the convent bell began to chime, the chord being pulled by a spiritual force. At the same time, the nuns realized a wonderful fragrance had filled the room. Rita's wound had healed and her face glowed with an eternal smile. They decided to lay her body at the foot of a portable altar because many wanted to see her. Her saintly remains, which were preserved so well, spread a sweet odor throughout the church. She remained there for 138 years before being moved into the church. People still come to see her to this day. Rita was not born with a halo around her head. She learned every step of life's way to deny her own wants and will. She forced herself to bend to the will of God. She did so in the commands and wishes of her parents, secondly in the will of her husband and lastly, as a religious, in the will of her superior and sisters. She trained herself to see everything with a view to eternity. In 1900, on May 24, Pope Leo XIII canonized the humble mountain woman whom the world had come to love and venerate as the "SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE."