Saint Rose of Lima
Saint Rose of Lima is best recognized by the fact that she “has a flower wreath on herhead", and more precisely - a rose. She was the first American born person to be canonized by the Catholic Church. In addition, it happened quite quickly after her death: she died in 1617 and was canonized as early as 1671. She is the Saint that is still considered one of the symbols of Peru?
"Jesus, Jesus, may Jesus be with me always" - this was the first prayer uttered by the lips of the little Rose, a girl born in the future capital of Peru. In fact, her name was Isabel (Elizabeth), but due to her extremely smooth complexion, she was called Rose by her relatives, and this name stuck to her. Although it is difficult to suspect the parents of the future saint of deliberate use of the symbolism of this name, in the plan of Providence, without the consent of which the leaf does not fall from the tree, it is not without significance. Rose of Lima has become a real flower in the garden of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and His Immaculate Mother, but this symbolism still has a literal meaning. Since childhood, the garden at the house where she grew up became a little paradise of spiritual life, in which she was ready to rest eternally in the bosom of the Holy Trinity.
The lives of the saints of the Lord show that God usually binds their souls on earth with various sacred ties. This was also the case with the Rose of Lima and Saint Toribio of Mogrovejo, a Spanish Gospel missionary in Peru, who gave the pious girl the sacrament of Confirmation. In the garden by the family house, little Rose, contemplative since childhood, arranged a small house made of shrubs together with her older brother, in which she hid and devoted herself to prayer and pious meditation. This is how the ordinary children's imagination, with the help of God's grace, created a place pleasing to God, and for souls who love Him a real sanctuary - soon she built an altar inside and placed fresh flowers on it, gathered in the garden. The first miracle that was to happen in the Saint's life is connected with this hermitage, namely that it was there that the greatest number of mosquitoes gathered and found there a suitable dwelling. The girl, however, although she spent many hours there, did not have any wounds caused by bites on her body, which aroused the amazement of the surroundings.
This visible sign from God, however, did not convince her family, who did not want to hear about the lifelong virginity that Rose had vowed already in her childhood. Parents who were not very wealthy wanted to marry her well in order to ensure the well-being of their child, but the servant of God knew how to get her own way by refusing marriage proposals. On the other hand, it forced her to take up a job and support herself. Fortunately, she learned sewing and embroidery at home, and also did what she loved, i.e., growing flowers. This gave her a modest upkeep, but it did not diminish the stubbornness of her relatives in judging the path she had chosen.
Her Parents and relatives did not cease to try to dissuade her from voluntary maidenhood, her mother even went so far as to beat her daughter so that she would only want to stand in front of the altar. But the Saint irrevocably loved the Divine Bridegroom above all else and did not want her heart to be consecrated to a defective creature until death. At the age of twenty she entered the third order of Saint Dominic and strictly followed the rule assigned to this lay congregation, taking as an example the beloved Dominican woman Catherine of Siena. At the same time, with her modest financial resources, she helped the poor, especially local Indians and slaves.
With nowhere else to go, she lived in a summer cottage in the garden of her childhood and spent the next few years of her short life there. She lived an extremely mortified life, suffering severe penances out of love for her Creator and Savior, fasting and, above all, enduring constant taunts and pressure from her family. All this had exhausted her in the prime of her life, so that thirty years after her birth in the flesh, the moment of her birth had drawn near to eternal life.
In the last years of her life, having experienced a spiritual night, she was blessed with the grace of mystical union with God and various visions, especially of the Baby Jesus and the Holy Mother, as well as direct contact with herGuardian Angel. She was also informed by a supernatural intervention about the time of her death, so she turned to her confessor, who wanted to postpone her confession until the next day, because he was in a hurry to celebrate the Mass in honor of St. Bartholomew: "Father, I am in a hurry to make the solemnity of St. Bartholomew in eternal joy. Heaven already invites me to its magnificent and solemn feast. The time is already set. Don't you want me to go when the door is already open?
The Dominican Fathers, who knew about the holiness of the Tertiary, buried her immediately in the cloister, and shortly thereafter in the Church. The first American saint, and at the same time the patroness of South America, was beatified by Pope Clement IX in 1668, and canonization was announced by Clement X in 1671. Saint Rose of Lima is also - as it is easy to guess - the patron saint of gardeners.
A few years ago, based on a skull relic, recreated the face of St. Rose and the result confirmed the message of tradition - she was a woman with very regular features, subtle, but not devoid of femininity.
I have prayed many times at the tomb of Saint Rose of Lima. The long description of the forms of extreme asceticism practiced by Rose of Lima amazed me and I could not understand what such devastation of her health would be for. My approach changed when I remembered the scale of the evil that the newcomers from Europe did in that area, who, out of greed, went so far as to, for example, deny humanity to Indians and black slaves. Rose was the one who took the burden to compensate, albeit in part, for these crimes. Perhaps unconsciously, but out of a sincere and deep love for Him who saved every human being.
Saint Rose of Lima is the Patron Saint of the American Continent. Her official title is "Principal and Universal Patroness of all Provinces, Kingdoms, Islands, and Mainland Regions throughout America and the Philippines."
Until Tomorrow
fr. George