Saint Rose of Lima

As a young person, and in imitation of Saint Catherine of Siena, Rose began fasting three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. She spent hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily, rare in those days. She regularly abstained from meat and spent her days making lace, fine embroidery and performing acts of charity. The lace and refined embroidery she sold to support her family and the poor. The fame of her holiness spread far and wide attracting the attention of the Dominican monks who invited her to become a nun. Her father refused and she instead entered the Third Order of St Dominic (wear the habit of a nun but live in the home of her family). She wore a crown of silver, with thorns on the inside in imitation of the crown of thorns worn by Christ, hidden by roses. She was a contemporary and friend of the Dominican monk Martin de Porres, who is also a saint.

Rose was a friend of the poor and frequently gave away everything she had to help a poor or sick person at her door. Renowned for her generosity and her great holiness, she also experienced feelings of great sadness as if God were far away and hours of ecstasy where she would rejoice in God's unending love. She cheerfully offered all these troubles to God. She endured these penances until her death as expiation for the sins of idolatry of her country (pagan and Incan), for the conversion of sinners and for the respose of the souls in purgatory. 

Rose prophesized her death exactly, age 31, on August 24, 1617. Her funeral was conducted by the Archbishop and attended by all of the public authorities in Lima. Beatified in 1667, she was canonized in 1671 as the first saint from the Americas. She is the patron saint of the Philippines, embroiderers, gardeners, South America, and the patron saint of our parish. Her feast day is August 23.