SAINT ROSE OF LIMA
Virgin
(1586-1617)
St. Rose is the first canonized Saint of the New World. When she was born in Lima, Peru in 1586, she was christened, "Isabel." However, the beauty of her features got her nicknamed, "Rose."
As a child, while still in the cradle, St. Rose's silence under a painful surgical operation displayed her uniqueness. She began working at an early age to support her parents, but in spite of hardships and austerities, her beauty only grew. Being openly admired, she cut off her hair from fear of vanity and blistered her face with pepper and her hands with lime.
In full possession of the beatitudes with her vocation before her eyes, St. Rose enrolled in the Third Order of St. Dominic, and took St. Catherine of Siena as her model. Her cell was a garden hut and her couch a box of broken tiles. Under her habit, Rose wore a hair-shirt studded with iron nails. A silver crown armed with ninety points encircled her head, which she concealed with a veil. More than once, when she shuddered at the prospect of a night of hardship, a voice said, "My cross was more painful."
The Blessed Sacrament was her soul's food and singular delight. All her sufferings were offered for the conversion of sinners, and the thought of the multitudes in hell was always before her.
She passed away in 1617 at the age of thirty-one.