Saint Rose of Lima

Who is Saint Rose of Lima?

Isabel Flores de Oliva, known as Santa Rosa de Lima, was born in Lima, then the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, in 1586. From an early age she was noted for her intense piety, adopting a life of extreme austerity, penance and prayer while remaining in the world rather than entering a cloistered convent; she became a lay member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. She supported her family through needlework and gardening and was known for caring for the sick, the poor, indigenous people and enslaved Africans in her home, work seen as an early form of social service in the Americas. Her mystical experiences and rigorous asceticism drew both devotion and scrutiny during her lifetime. She died in Lima in 1617 at the age of thirty-one. In 1671 Pope Clement X canonized her, making her the first person born in the Americas to be declared a Catholic saint. She is the patron saint of Peru, of Lima, and of the Americas.

Sources: Frank Graziano, 'Wounds of Love: The Mystical Marriage of Saint Rose of Lima' (2004) · Papal canonization by Pope Clement X (1671)