Saint Rose of Lima - Patroness of the Americas

Saint Rose of Lima holds a vast significance to Peruvians but also to Catholics from across Latin America as she was the first saint from the Western Hemisphere.

She was born Isabel Flores de Oliva in Lima in 1586. A daughter of a Spanish businessman and a woman of mixed Spanish and Indian descent. She was called "rose" from a young age.

Her devotion to her faith was clear from an early age but her extreme self-mortification appalled her family. She practiced self-flagellation, fasting and other sorts of penance.

Her beauty was renowned but her aesthetic nature abhorred vanity and she detested the attention it brought her. She cut off all her hair and would disfigure herself with pepper and lye.

Yet she was known for her skill at raising flowers, particularly roses, as well as her needlepoint. Despite the rigors of her penances, she would go out and help the sick and hungry around her community. She would bring them to her home and take care of them.

Eventually, she joined the Dominican order where the intensity of her penances increased. She claimed to experience visions, revelations, visitations and voices. She died at the age of 31.

Despite her life as a reculse her devotion had become well known and thousands mourned her death. For several days it was impossible to perform the ritual of burial on account of the great press of sorrowing citizens around her bier.

Many miracles followed her death and she was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X. Her feast day is celebrated on Aug. 30 in Lima - the day of her death - but is honored on Aug. 24 in most other places.

On her birthday and feast day, hundreds descend on her shrine in downtown Lima built on the site of her birthplace. The faithful write letters to the saint telling of their needs and then cast the sealed envelopes into the the wishing well of Saint Rose.

Her distinctive visage a metal-spiked crown, concealed by roses is integral not only to Peruvians but, by virtue of her standing as the patroness of South America makes her an object of particular importance to almost all who hail from the region.


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