Saint Rose of Lima
| Saint Rose of Lima | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First Saint from the Americas | |
| Born | April 20, 1586 in Lima, Peru |
| Died | August 23, 1617 |
| Beatified | 1667
by Pope Clement IX |
| Canonized | 1671, Pope Clement X |
| Major shrine | convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, Peru |
| Feast | August 23 (August 30 in Peru) |
| Attributes | rose, anchor, Infant Jesus |
| Patronage | embroiderers; gardeners; India; Latin America; people ridiculed for their piety; Peru; Philippines; Santa Rosa, California; against vanity; Peruvian Police Force |
Saint Rose of Lima, (April 20, 1586 – August 24, 1617), the first Catholic saint to be canonised in the Americas was born in 1586, in Lima, Peru. At the saint's confirmation in 1597 at the age of eleven, she took the name of Rose, because as an infant her face had been seen transformed by a mystical rose, and her red cheeks and beauty earned her the name Rose from an early age. At a young age, she gave her life to prayer and mortification, practicing such acts as would turn her attention unfailingly to God.
When she read a biography of Saint Catherine she was inspired to take that saint as her model. She began by fasting three times a week.Then she added secret severe penances, and finally cut off her hair, adopted coarse clothing, and roughened her hands with toil. All this time she had to struggle against the objections of her friends, the ridicule of her family, and the censure of her parents. Daily reception of the Blessed Sacrament consoled her.
Finally she determined to take a vow of virginity. This presented still more trials and difficulties to the saint. She had to combat the opposition of her parents, who wished her to marry. After ten long years, she won her parent's permission to remain unmarried, and to become a Dominican Tertiary. In her twentieth year she received the habit of Saint Dominic and upon the permission of her spiritual advisor, moved permentantly into a small grotto built in her parent's garden where she had often spent nights in prayer.
She increased her mortifications and sacrifices, continued to work to support the family and serve the poor in whatever way she could find. For fourteen years this martyrdom of her body continued without relaxation, but not without consolation. Many miracles followed her death in 1617. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honoured. Her feast is celebrated 23 August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
Biography
St. Rose was born April 20 1586, in the city of Lima, the capital of Peru. She received the baptismal name Isabel Flores de Oliva. She was from a large family. Her father, Gaspar Flores, was a Spanish soldier and her mother, Maria de Oliva, had Inca and Spanish blood. She was always obedient to her parents and worked hard, both at her studies and at her domestic work. She was especially skilled with her needle and eventually helped support the family by growing flowers and needlework.
In emulation of St. Catherine of Siena she fasted three times a week with secret severe penances. When she was admired, St. Rose cut off her hair against the objections of her friends and her family. Upon the censure of her parents, St. Rose disfigured her face with pepper and lye. She was very upset that she was so beautiful and hurt herself to help others.
Rose began to tell of visions, revelations, visitations and voices as her parents deplored her penitential practices more than ever.
Many hours were spent contemplating the Blessed Sacrament which she received daily. She determined to take a vow of virginity in opposition to her parents who wished her to marry. Her Vita emphasizes "her excruciating agony of mind and desolation of spirit, urging her to more frequent mortifications."
Daily fasting turned to perpetual abstinence from meat. Her days were filled with acts of charity and industry. St. Rose helped the sick and hungry around her community. She would bring them to her home and take care of them. St. Rose sold her fine needlework, grew beautiful flowers and would take them to market to help her family. Her exquisite lace and embroidery helped to support her home, while her nights were devoted to prayer and penance in a little grotto which she had built. She became a recluse leaving the grotto only for her visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
She took the name of Rose at her confirmation in 1597. In her twentieth year she had so attracted the attention of the Dominican Order that she was permitted to enter a Dominican convent in 1602 without payment of the usual dowry. She donned the habit and took a vow of perpetual virginity.
For many years Rose lived virtually as a recluse. There was a little hut in the family garden, and this she used as an oratory. She often wore on her head a circlet of silver studded on the inside with sharp points, in memory of the Lord's crown of thorns. Other forms of penitence which she inflicted on her body were floggings, administered three times daily, the wearing of a hair shirt, and the dragging of a heavy, wooden cross about the garden. She rubbed her lips with gall and often chewed bitter herbs to deaden the sense of taste. Both eating and sleeping were reduced to a minimum. Naturally her health was affected, but the physical disorders which resulted from this regime-stomach ailments, asthma, rheumatism, and fevers-were suffered uncomplainingly.
This manner of life offended her family, who preferred their daughter to follow the more conventional and accepted ways of holiness. Finally, when Rose began to tell of visions, revelations, visitations, and voices they deplored her penitential practices more than ever. She endured their disapproval and grew in spiritual fortitude.
In spite of the rigors of her ascetic life, Rose was not wholly detached from happenings around her, and her awareness of the suffering of others often led her to protest against some of the practices of the Spanish overlords. In the new world, the discovery of unbelievable mineral resources was doing little to enrich or ennoble the lives of the Peruvian natives. The gold and silver from this land of El Dorado was being shipped back to strengthen the empire and embellish the palaces and cathedrals of Old Spain, but at its source there was vice, exploitation, and corruption.
The natives were oppressed and impoverished, in spite of the missionaries' efforts to alleviate their miseries and to exercise a restraining hand on the governing class. Rose was cognizant of the evils, and spoke out against them fearlessly. Sometimes she brought sick and hungry persons into her own home that she might better care for them.
For fifteen years Rose bore the disapproval and persecution of those close to her, as well as the more severe trial of desolation of soul. At length an examination by priests and physicians was indicated, and this resulted in the judgment that her experiences were indeed supernatural. Rose's last years were passed in the home of a government official, Don Gonzalo de Massa. During an illness towards the end of her life, she was able to pray, "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Thy love in my heart." This remarkable woman died on August 25, 1617, at the age of thirty-one.
Not until after her death was it known how widely her beneficent influence had extended, and how deeply venerated she was by the common people of Lima. When her body was borne down the street to the cathedral, a great cry of mourning arose from the crowd. For several days it was impossible to perform the ritual of burial on account of the great press of sorrowing citizens around her bier. She was finally laid to rest in the Dominican convent at Lima. Later, when miracles and cures were being attributed to her intervention, the body was transferred to the church of San Domingo.
There it reposes today in a special chapel. Rose of Lima was declared patroness of South America and the Philippines; she was canonized by Pope Clement in 1671, August 30 being appointed her feast-day. This holy woman is highly honored in all Spanish-American countries. The emblems associated with her are an anchor, a crown of roses, and a city.
Legacy
St. Rose was beatified by Pope Clement IX in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X as the first Catholic in the western hemisphere to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Her shrine, alongside those of her friend St. Martin de Porres and Alonso Abad, is located inside the convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, Peru. The Roman Catholic Church says that many miracles followed her death. All the places named Santa Rosa in the New World pay homage to this saint. Pope Benedict XVI has a special devotion for this saint.
Her liturgical feast was celebrated initially on 30 August, because 24 August was the feast of the apostle Bartholomew but the calendar reform of Vatican II moved her feast day closer to the anniversary of her death. She is now remembered liturgically on 23 August, except in Peru and other Latin American countries where her feast is kept as a public holiday on the traditional date of August 30.
She is the patroness of Lima, Peru, the Americas and the Philippines, and the city of Sittard, in the Netherlands. In addition to this, she is also the patron saint of the city of Santa Rosa, California in the United States which literally means St. Rose in Spanish.
Early Lives of Santa Rosa were written by the Dominican Father Hansen, Vita Sanctae Rosae (2 vols., Rome, 1664–1668), and Vicente Orsini, afterward Pope Benedict XIII wrote Concentus Dominicano, Bononiensis ecclesia, in album Sanctorum Ludovici Bertrandi et Rosae de Sancta Maria, ordinero praedicatorum, Venice, 1674).
She is depicted wearing a metal-spiked crown, concealed by roses, and an iron chain around her waist. [1]
There is a park named after her, in downtown Sacramento. [2] A plot of land at 7th and K streets was given to the Roman Catholic Church by the honorable Peter Burnett, first governor of the State of California. The reverend Father Peter Anderson would build one of the first of two churches in the diocese to be consecrated in honor of Saint Rose of Lima.[3]
Notes
- ↑ http://www.sooke.org/roseoflima/image/stroseoflima.jpg
- ↑ http://www.downtownsac.org/?mvcTask=merchants&id=581 (See Downtown Sacramento Partnership site.)
- ↑ [1] History of the Sacramento Diocese, second paragraph
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Sources and external links
- Catholic Encyclopedia Saint Rose of Lima
- Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography
- http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=446
- http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintr04.htm
- Flowers Lima
- "St. Rose of Lima Alumni Association, Newark, NJ" over 50 pages of photos, music and history"
| Saints Portal |
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
