Saint Rose of Lima
Saint Rose of Lima (baptized Isabel Flores de Oliva; born 20 April 1586 in Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru; died 24 August 1617 in Lima) was a Dominican tertiary, mystic, and lay contemplative of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Peru who became the first person born in the Americas to be formally canonized by the Catholic Church. She is the patron saint of Peru, Latin America, the Philippines, and indigenous peoples of the Americas, and one of the most celebrated mystics of the post-Tridentine Church. As a lay Dominican living in her parents' home in Lima, she pursued a rigorous programme of ascetical penance, contemplative prayer, and care for the poor and sick of the city, modelling herself consciously on the example of Catherine of Siena, the great Dominican tertiary of the fourteenth century.[1][2][3]
She was beatified by Pope Clement IX on 10 April 1667 and canonized by Pope Clement X on 12 April 1671 — becoming the first American-born saint in the history of the Church. Her feast day in the General Roman Calendar is 23 August; in some Latin American countries it is traditionally observed on 30 August, the date of her death.[2]
Stored in Cargo: Saint Rose of Lima
| Saint Rose of Lima | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | August 23 |
| Profession | Dominican tertiary (Third Order of Saint Dominic); laywoman; mystic |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Third Order of Saint Dominic |
| Patronage | Peru; Latin America; the Philippines; indigenous peoples of the Americas; embroiderers; gardeners; florists |
| Attributes | Crown of roses; Dominican tertiary habit; roses; anchor (hope in suffering) |
| Birthplace | Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru (present-day Peru) |
| Death Place | Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru |
| Cause of Death | Natural causes (illness), aged 31 |
| Primary Shrine | Basilica of Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru (principal relics) |
| Liturgical Class | Saint; double feast in the General Roman Calendar; major feast in Peru and Latin America |
| Historic Class | August 30 (in the 1962 calendar and earlier tradition); transferred to August 23 in the 1969 revised calendar to avoid conflict with the feast of Saint Bartholomew |
Biography
Birth and early life
Isabel Flores de Oliva was born on 20 April 1586 in Lima, the capital of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, at a time when the city was barely fifty years old and the youngest daughter of Spanish colonial society was only beginning to find its religious character. Her father, Gaspar Flores, was a Spanish military man from Baños de Montemayor in Extremadura who served as a harquebusier in the colonial army; her mother, María de Oliva y Herrera, was a criolla — a person of European descent born in the Americas — native to Lima. Isabel was one of ten siblings in a family of modest but respectable standing.[2][1]
The name by which she is universally known was not given at baptism. During her infancy, a household servant reportedly witnessed what she described as a miraculous transformation of the baby's face into a rose. This incident gave rise to the nickname "Rose" (Rosa in Spanish), and the name was formally confirmed by Archbishop Toribius of Mogrovejo — now himself Saint Turibius — when he administered her confirmation around 1597.[2][3]
From girlhood Rose exhibited signs of deep religious seriousness. At a young age she made a private vow of perpetual virginity and consistently resisted her family's attempts to arrange her marriage. When her mother insisted that she dress attractively to attract a husband, Rose is reported to have taken extreme measures to deface her appearance — cutting her hair and rubbing her face with pepper to roughen her complexion — to forestall the intentions of suitors.[1][2]
Dominican vocation and tertiary life
Rose found her model of lay consecrated life in Catherine of Siena, the great fourteenth-century Dominican tertiary, mystic, and Church reformer, whose biography she read and took as her pattern. Around her twentieth year (c. 1606), she received the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and made a vow of perpetual virginity before a confessor, entering the Dominican family as a tertiary — not a cloistered nun, but a lay consecrated woman living in the world under Dominican spiritual direction.[1][2]
She built herself a small hermitage in her family's garden — a primitive cell modelled on the kind of domestic withdrawal practised by Catherine of Siena before Catherine's public apostolate — where she spent long hours in prayer, contemplation, and penance. Her fasting was rigorous: she abstained from meat, fasted formally three days a week, and restricted her food intake severely. Her sleep was reduced to at most two hours per night. She wore a hair shirt and, following the example of Catherine of Siena who had worn a crown of thorns, made for herself a crown of silver set with small interior spikes that she wore beneath a wreath of roses to conceal it.[1][2]
Mystical experiences
Rose's ascetical life was the outward expression of an interior contemplative depth marked by intense mystical experiences. She described prolonged periods of desolation and spiritual darkness — in which she felt abandoned and assaulted by demonic presences — as well as periods of intense spiritual consolation and union, including, by her account, a mystical marriage with Christ analogous to those described by Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Ávila. Her family and confessor both testified to extraordinary occurrences in her presence, including reported levitations.[1][2]
She also engaged in direct apostolic work among the poor of Lima. From her home she conducted what amounted to an informal hospice: bringing sick, hungry, and homeless people into a room in her parents' house, caring for them personally, and financing the work by the sale of needlework and embroidery — she was an accomplished lacemaker whose skills helped support the family as well.[2][3]
Death and public mourning
Rose fell ill in the summer of 1617, the illness she herself had predicted would end her life that year. She died on 24 August 1617, aged thirty-one. The public mourning in Lima was remarkable: so many people pressed into the streets to venerate her body as it was carried to the Lima Cathedral that the procession was delayed for hours. Civic and ecclesiastical leaders alike served as pallbearers. The Viceroy of Peru was among those who came to pay their respects. She was buried in the church of the Dominican convent in Lima; her relics were later transferred to the Basilica of Santo Domingo.[1][2]
Beatification and canonization
The swiftness and universality of devotion to Rose in Lima and throughout the Americas prompted an early formal investigation of her cause. She was beatified by Pope Clement IX on 10 April 1667 — fifty years after her death. Less than four years later, on 12 April 1671, Pope Clement X canonized her: the first person born in the Americas, and the first American-born woman, to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church. The event was celebrated throughout the Spanish colonies of the New World with great solemnity.[1][2]
Her liturgical feast was originally observed on 30 August (the date of her death). When the General Roman Calendar was revised in 1969, the feast was moved to 23 August to avoid the perpetual conflict with the major feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle on 24 August; 30 August remains her feast in many Latin American countries.[2]
Significant events
- Born 20 April 1586 in Lima, Peru; baptized Isabel Flores de Oliva; one of ten children.
- c. 1597: Confirmed by Archbishop Turibius of Mogrovejo; formally took the name Rose.
- c. 1606 (her 20th year): Received the habit of the Dominican Third Order; made private vow of perpetual virginity.
- 1606–1617: Life of intense penance, contemplative prayer, and apostolate to the poor and sick of Lima in her parents' home.
- 24 August 1617: Died in Lima, aged 31; greeted with extraordinary public mourning.
- 10 April 1667: Beatified by Pope Clement IX.
- 12 April 1671: Canonized by Pope Clement X — first person born in the Americas to be canonized.
- 1969: Feast moved from 30 August to 23 August in the revised General Roman Calendar.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru (present-day Peru)
Death location: Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru
Notable location: Her birthplace, the entire setting of her life, apostolate, and death (Lima, Peru)
Notable location: Where her relics are enshrined; a principal site of her veneration (Basilica of Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru)
Notable location: Where her body lay in state after her death; tens of thousands attended her public mourning (Lima Cathedral, Plaza Mayor, Lima, Peru)
Notable location:
Notable location:
Life tour: Footprints — walkable life places and pilgrimage stops
Dynamic content
Parishes
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| This map created from a Cargo query () |
Media
| Media | Length | AuthorCreator |
|---|---|---|
| August 23 Saint Rose of Lima | Under 5 minutes | Breski1 |
| Saint Rose of Lima: The First Saint of the Americas | 15–30 minutes | Catholic Journey |
| St. Rose of Lima HD | Under 5 minutes | Catholic Online |
| St. Rose of Lima | Under 5 minutes | Catholic Online |
| Story of Saint Rose of Lima | Stories of Saints | Episode 73 | 5–15 minutes | Christian Family TV |
| A Beautiful Story of St. Rose of Lima || Feast Day : August 23 | Under 5 minutes | Joy of Heaven |
| Prayer for Strenght to St. Rose of Lima | Under 5 minutes | Joy of Heaven |
| Saint Rose of Lima | Under 5 minutes | Lives of the Saints |
| Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin - August 30th | Under 5 minutes | Saint of the Day |
| Audio Drama: Rose of Lima and the Power of Redemptive Suffering part 2 | 15–30 minutes | Sensus Fidelium |
| Audio Drama: Rose of Lima and the Power of Redemptive Suffering | 15–30 minutes | Sensus Fidelium |
| She Crowned Herself With Thorns—The Saint Who Outshone Beauty | Under 5 minutes | The Story of the Saints |
Shrines
Dynamic shrines
No results
No shrines where this saint is the primary saint.
Feast day
August 23 (General Roman Calendar since 1969); August 30 (traditional feast retained in many Latin American countries)
Veneration
Saint Rose of Lima is venerated as the first flower of holiness of the New World and the patron of the entire Latin American continent, of Peru, and of the Philippines. Her life demonstrated that the profound spiritual tradition of lay Dominican consecration — lived in a domestic setting and directed toward both mystical union and active charity — could produce, even in the raw social environment of early colonial Spanish America, a sanctity as deep and authentic as anything Europe had produced. She has given her name to countless churches, shrines, towns, and institutions throughout Latin America, the Philippines, and the wider Catholic world. The Sanctuary of Santa Rosa de Lima in the historic centre of Lima remains a major pilgrimage destination.[1][2]
Prayers
Authored
There are prayers authored by this saint in prayers list yet.
Intercessory
There are no prayers asking for this saint's intercession in prayers list yet.
External links
- Wikipedia – Rose of Lima
- New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia – St. Rose of Lima
- Encyclopædia Britannica – Saint Rose of Lima
- New World Encyclopedia – Saint Rose of Lima