Saints
St. Rose of Lima
St. Rose of Lima: The First Saint of the Americas
Feast Day of St. Rose of Lima: August 30
Biography of St. Rose of Lima
St. Rose of Lima is a Catholic saint from the 17th century, who is the first saint born in the Americas and the patron saint of Latin America and the Philippines. She is also the patron saint of florists and people with a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Rose was born in Lima, Peru in 1586, the daughter of Spanish colonizers. From a young age, she was known for her devout faith and her love of prayer and solitude. She was also known for her beauty and her love of flowers, which she would often use in her religious practices.
As a young woman, Rose decided to dedicate her life to God and to follow the path of a religious. However, her family opposed her decision, and her father forced her to marry. She then decided to dedicate her life to God in another way, by living as a layperson, and devoted herself to a life of penance and service to the poor.
Rose practiced many forms of self-denial and mortification, such as fasting, and wearing a crown of thorns and a hair shirt. She was also known for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and would often spend hours in prayer before an image of the Sacred Heart.
Rose’s reputation for holiness quickly spread and she became known as the “Rose of Lima”. Despite her life of penance, she was known for her kindness and compassion towards the poor, and she devoted her life to works of charity, particularly among the indigenous people of Lima.
Rose died on August 24th, 1617, and her cult quickly spread after her death. Many miracles were attributed to her intercession, and she was canonized by Pope Clement IX in 1671, becoming the first saint born in the Americas.
Her feast day is celebrated on August 23rd and it’s a public holiday in Peru, her native country and also in some other Latin American countries, where she is venerated as the patron saint of the region. She is also the patron saint of florists, gardeners, and people with a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
St. Rose is often depicted holding a bouquet of flowers or a crown of thorns, and sometimes holding a heart with a cross, a symbol of her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her symbols also include roses and lilies, and she is often portrayed with a brown habit, as a reference to her religious vocation.
The Life of St. Rose of Lima
Saint Rose of Lima, the first canonized saint in all the Americas, is extraordinary even for a saint. She is tremendous. Rose was a beautiful, joyous woman who seemed born to have her own way and to live in luxury. But she always followed God’s way rather than her own, and she lived a life of poverty and incredible penance.
Her whole life was penitential and expiatory, from her earliest years till her last breath. She had an intense love for our Lord, an overwhelming sense of the evil of sin, and a consuming desire to save sinners from hell. She could not be the missionary she longed to be, so she turned to penance instead, saying: “As I cannot do any good, is it not just that I should suffer whatever I am capable of suffering?”
Childhood in Suffering and Prayer
She was born at Lima, the capital of Peru, in 1586. She was of Spanish extraction, her parents being Caspar and Maria de Flores, decent people of moderate means. She was christened Isabel but was commonly called Rose, a name she later took in Confirmation.
From her earliest years, Saint Rose chose the path of suffering. At the age of three she injured her finger badly and endured the suffering in silence without telling her parents. When the injury was dis covered, a physician found it necessary to remove a fingernail. She endured the operation wide-eyed but tearless.
As Rose reached her teens, her father lost most of his money in a gold-mining venture. The family, which included seven children, was impoverished. Rose helped to support the family by selling flowers from her own garden and by doing embroidery work. After the day’s work, she spent hours in prayer and in acts of penance, Maria de Flores hoped that her beautiful daughter would marry into one of the wealthy and prominent families of Peru. She arranged it so that many prospective mothers-in-law had the opportunity of seeing and admiring Rose. The girl, however, felt that God had called her to a life of virginity. When she was about seventeen, she retired to a hut in the garden to work, pray, and do penance. When she was twenty she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic.
Work in the Third Order of St. Dominic
There was no Dominican convent in Lima, so Rose continued to live in the hut in the garden. Rose, with other Dominican Tertiaries, engaged in many works of charity. She chose for herself the care of the most neglected and abandoned women, whether Indian, African, or Spanish. She sought them out, brought them to her family’s house, and cared for them regardless of their condition. Cancers, ulcers, and hideous sores were dressed personally by Rose. Indian women were likely to be the most abandoned, and Rose gave much of her time to them.
Giving Her Beauty to God
All of this was most disgusting to Maria de Flores, but God inspired Rose with ways of overcoming her mother’s objections. Almost all the women died while in Rose’s care; there was seldom the consolation of sending them away cured. The girl’s rosy cheeks and fair complexion faded, and she became pale and emaciated. When she was going to church with her mother one day, she heard someone remark about her changed appearance and the sanctity which it seemed to indicate. She was horrified because she was afraid such words might encourage spiritual pride. She begged God to restore her youthful freshness, so that she might work and fast in secret. Her prayer was answered.
Extraordinarily Faithful
For years, St. Rose received Communion three times a week. She would have liked to receive daily, but custom forbade a girl to go out – even to church – unless accompanied by an older woman. Her mother could not, or would not, accompany her to church more Rose said, on one occasion, that God made it possible for her to assist at Mass while remaining in her garden retreat. Toward the end of her life Rose was able to receive Communion more daily. She prepared earnestly for receiving our Lord frequently, and even gained physical strength from His visits.
The penances practiced by Rose seem almost unbelievable. Her rigorous day-to-day program was a penance in itself and required great strength of character, but in addition Rose performed many other acts of penance. When she died, she had had nine confessors, and all testified to the fact that the penances had been inspired by God. The proof was in Rose’s humility and obedience.
When forbidden to practice a certain penance, she desisted immediately until she had permission to resume it or to substitute another. At the time of her First Communion, our Lord asked her to fast for His sake, and He promised to sustain her. From that time she never ate meat. She began rigorous fasting when she was about seventeen. In a week she would take no more food than would ordinarily be required for a day. Such food as she ate was never palatable. Her drink was tepid water, for she denied herself even the refreshment of cold water.
Carrying a Reminder of Jesus with Her
Under her outer garments, she wore a haircloth in which were fastened sharp metal points. Her belt was similarly equipped. Her devotion to our thorn-crowned Lord prompted her to wear under her veil a silver band to which were fastened thirty-three sharp points which continually pricked her head. In her small bed, she had two sticks of wood in the form of a cross, on which she stretched a body that was often sore from recent scourging.
Rose was no superhuman. She did not like this kind of living, but she believed that Jesus asked this suffering of her, and she gladly offered it to Him in union with His own.
A Perpetual Longing for God
As great as her bodily sufferings were, the sufferings of her soul were even greater. Hours at a time, sometimes all day long, she would be oppressed by a sense of being abandoned by God. At times it seemed to Rose that she was revolting in the sight of God, and that she was actually an object of hatred before Him. This spiritual dereliction was so terrible as to change her physical appearance. Those who saw her at such times never forgot the anguish of her expression.
There were some who thought that Rose’s conduct should be looked into by ecclesiastical authorities. Rose was summoned be the archbishop of Lima and several theologians. She answered their questions respectfully and briefly. The examiners were impressed by her humility, her selfless spirit, and her remarkable grasp of all that pertained to religion. Rose was permitted to continue her way of life undisturbed.
She had consolations in her life of suffering. Our Lord appeared to her from time to time to encourage her. Our Lady frequently visited her. St. Catherine of Siena, whose life she imitated in some respects, also consoled Rose by her visits.
Evangelization in the Americas
Rose was very much concerned about the spiritual and material welfare of the Indians. Many Peruvian Indians, against the protests of the friars, had been forcibly “converted” to Christianity without the proper instruction. In Rose’s time – which was only about fifty years after the first Spaniards came to Peru – whole villages of Indians had reverted to paganism.
The Spaniards reacted with harsh measures which only strengthened the resistance of the Indians. It was a situation which seemed to offer little hope for the Indians or for the greatly outnumbered Spanish rulers. The devil seemed to be having his way.
St. Rose begged God to help the Indians and she offered expiation of the most painful kind for one village after another. A change of heart on the part of the Indians followed immediately. One village after another returned to the Church. The news spread across South America and greatly modified the attitude of the Spanish toward the Indians. A better understanding between the Indians and their conquerors spread over the continent.
Illness and Death
When Saint Rose was about twenty-eight, she became desperately ill. Those around her thought she was dying, but Rose knew her hour had not yet come. Her mother took advantage of the situation and secured Rose’s permission to have her old, hard bed thrown out. Rose would not accept a mattress, however, and compromised on plain boards for the duration of her illness. After this illness, Rose left her hut and lived at the home of friends.
Rose knew that the Lent of 1617 would be her last on earth, and so she secured permission to resume her penances. She knew that she would die on the feast of St. Bartholomew and that during her last illness, she would suffer such torments as she had never endured before.
Toward the end of July, 1617, St. Rose visited her hut, where her mother heard her singing more joyously than ever. On July 31, she became intensely ill. A week later, she suffered parching thirst, but the doctor forbade water. On the night of August 23, Rose asked that the wooden cross be placed in her bed so that she might die on it.
During her illness she was observed in periods of ecstasy. Upon coming out of one, she told her confessor that she could tell him about the wonders that God has prepared in heaven for His saints.
After saying farewell and asking God to comfort her mother, Rose said three times, “Jesus, be with me”, and then she died. It was a few minutes after midnight on the feast of St. Bartholomew.
Strangely, the mother did not give way to tears. Instead, she was filled with great joy and hurried to another room to conceal this feeling. The whole house was filled with joy, and so was the town. By common consent, there was no mourning. So many miracles followed immediately upon the death of Rose that the people of Lima demanded her immediate canonization. But a recent papal ruling required fifty years between death and canonization. She was canonized in 1671, the first person in all the Americas to be so honored.
OTHER SAINTS OF THE SAME NAME:
St. Rose Elizabeth, d. about 1130. Hermitess. Feast Day: December 13.
St. Rosalia, 11301160 Patron Saint of Palermo, Italy. Feast Day: September 4
St. Rose of Viterbo, 1235-1253 Franciscan tertiary. Feast Day: March 6.
St. Roseline, d. 1329. Prioress of a Carthusian convent. Feast Day: January 17.
Popular St. Rose of Lima Medal and St. Rose Rosary
Prayers to St. Rose of Lima
Saint Rose, whom I have chosen as my special patron, pray for me that I, too, may one day glorify the Blessed Trinity in heaven. Obtain for me your lively faith, that I may consider all persons, things, and events in the light of almighty God. Pray, that I may be generous in making sacrifices of temporal things to promote my eternal interests, as you so wisely did.
Set me on fire with a love for Jesus, that I may thirst for His sacraments and burn with zeal for the spread of His kingdom. By your powerful intercession, help me in the performance of my duties to God, myself and all the world.
Win for me the virtue of purity and a great confidence in the Blessed Virgin. Protect me this day, and every day of my life. Keep me from mortal sin. Obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Amen
Prayer to St. Rose of Lima
O dear St. Rose, by the excessive love that inundated your soul when you heard from the lips of Christ the loving words: “Rose of My heart, you shall be My spouse!”–obtain for us and for our children a true love for Jesus Christ and an ardent desire to be united with Him.May our hearts, enclosed in His Heart, seek nothing but the perfection of His virtues, the fullness of His grace, and the imitation of His example! Obtain for us patience in suffering; gentleness under offenses; humility in calumny and abuse; and in all the affairs of life a pure heart and a contented mind.Obtain for us constant and generous renunciation of our willful desires, perfect victory over evil inclination, perseverance in prayer and good works, that we may ever please our God and, in the end, attain to a share in His glory. Amen.
Prayer to St. Rose of Lima
Dear St. Rose of Lima,
You devoted your life to God and to serving others, even at great personal sacrifice. Help me to follow in your footsteps and to live my life with love and compassion for those around me.
Teach me to see the face of Christ in every person I meet, and to treat them with the kindness and respect they deserve. Give me the courage to stand up for my beliefs, even when it is difficult, and to always seek to do God’s will in all things.
Help me to grow in my relationship with God, and to deepen my faith and trust in Him. May I be a witness to His love and truth in all that I say and do.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for me and for all who seek to live a life of devotion to God. Amen.
St. Rose of Lima Novena
Dear St. Rose of Lima,
I come to you in prayer, asking for your intercession and guidance. You lived a life of great devotion and sacrifice, always putting the needs of others before your own. Help me to follow in your footsteps and to live my life with love and compassion for those around me.
I ask for your help in (mention your request), and I place my trust in God’s infinite love and mercy. Through your intercession, may I be granted the grace I need to overcome the challenges I face, and to grow in my relationship with God.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for me and for all who turn to you in need. Amen.
St. Rose of Lima Miraculous Medal Prayer
O St. Rose of Lima,
Through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, and through the powerful prayers of St. Rose of Lima, I come to you in faith. Help me to live a life of devotion to God and to always seek to do His will in all things.
Grant me the grace and strength I need to face the challenges of life with courage and hope. Teach me to trust in God’s love and to always have faith in His plans for me.
St. Rose of Lima, pray for me and for all who seek to live a life of faith and obedience to God. Amen.
St. Rose of Lima: Patron Saint of South America and Florists
St. Rose of Lima is one of the most revered saints in the Catholic Church, known for her deep faith, her devotion to God, and her unwavering commitment to living a life of holiness.
St. Rose is the patron saint of South America, as well as florists, and is revered for her powerful example of faith and devotion.
As the patron saint of South America, St. Rose is revered as a powerful advocate for the people of that region, and is seen as a symbol of hope and inspiration to all who are struggling with the challenges of life. Her deep faith, her devotion to God, and her unwavering commitment to living a life of holiness serve as a powerful reminder that even in the face of difficult circumstances, it is possible to live a life of purpose, meaning, and hope.
St. Rose is also the patron saint of florists, and is seen as a powerful symbol of the beauty, fragility, and resilience of all living things. Whether tending to her own garden, or bringing comfort to others through her love and care, St. Rose reminds us of the importance of cultivating the beauty of life, even in the face of adversity.
Whether we are seeking guidance and inspiration for our own lives, or simply looking for a symbol of hope in a world that often seems uncertain, St. Rose of Lima is there to offer her help and guidance. Through her powerful example, she reminds us of the power of faith, the importance of perseverance, and the hope that is always available to us through God’s love and grace.
Reflection on the Feast Day of St. Rose of Lima
The feast day of St. Rose of Lima is celebrated on August 23rd.
As we celebrate the feast day of St. Rose of Lima, we are reminded of her unwavering commitment to her faith and her devotion to God. St. Rose is a powerful example of what it means to live a life of holiness and purity, even in the face of adversity.
St. Rose was born in Lima, Peru in 1586, and from a young age, she felt a strong call to serve God. Despite the opposition of her family and society, she devoted herself to a life of prayer and service to the poor. She lived a life of extreme poverty and austerity, dedicating herself to works of charity and penance.
Through her devotion and sacrifice, St. Rose became an inspiration to those around her. She showed the world that true holiness is not about living a life of luxury and comfort, but about living a life of service and sacrifice. Her example teaches us that true happiness and fulfillment can only be found in a life devoted to God.
As we reflect on the life of St. Rose of Lima, let us ask for her intercession and guidance as we strive to live a life of holiness and devotion. May her example inspire us to be true disciples of Christ and to serve others with love and compassion.
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Saints Similar to St. Rose Philippine
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