Ex voto paintings such as this one were commissioned as public offerings of gratitude for a miraculous cure or dramatic intervention brought about through religious devotion. Few names of the painters of this type of image, found in both European and American Latino cultures, are known.

The translated inscription reads, "Doña Josefa Aguilera y Billalobos finding herself gravely ill from a stomach inflammation and almost in the last moments of life, invoked the miraculous image of St. Rita of Cascia from the precincts of Guadalupe and miraculously achieved health after 3 months of suffering: and in memory of such a great benefit dedicates this altarpiece on the 13 of August of 1849."