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St.
Rose of Lima
(20th
April 1586 - 24th August 1617)
 Spanish
SANTA ROSA DE LIMA, original name ISABEL DE FLORES, patron saint of Peru, the
Americas and the Philippines, and the first person born in the Western
Hemisphere to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
At her confirmation in 1597, she took the name
of Rose, because, when an infant, her face had been seen transformed by a
mystical rose. As a child she was remarkable for a great reverence, and
pronounced love, for all things relating to God. This so took possession of her
that thenceforth her life was given up to prayer and mortification. She had an
intense devotion to the Infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother, before whose altar
she spent hours.
She was scrupulously obedient and of untiring
industry, making rapid progress by earnest attention to her parents'
instruction, to her studies, and to her domestic work, especially with her
needle. After reading of St. Catherine she determined to take that saint as her
model. She began by fasting three times a week, adding secret severe penances,
and when her vanity was assailed, cutting off her beautiful hair, wearing coarse
clothing, and roughening her hands with toil. All this time she had to struggle
against the objections of her friends, the ridicule of her family, and the
censure of her parents.
 Many
hours were spent before the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily. Finally
she determined to take a vow of virginity, and inspired by supernatural love,
adopted extraordinary means to fulfill it. At the outset she had to combat the
opposition of her parents, who wished her to marry. For ten years the struggle
continued before she won, by patience and prayer, their consent to continue her
mission. At the same time great temptations assailed her purity, faith, and
constancy, causing her excruciating agony of mind and desolation of spirit,
urging her to more frequent mortifications; but daily, also, Our Lord manifested
Himself, fortifying her with the knowledge of His presence and consoling her
mind with evidence of His Divine love. Fasting daily was soon followed by
perpetual abstinence from meat, and that, in turn, by use of only the coarsest
food and just sufficient to support life.
Her days were filled with acts of charity and
industry, her exquisite lace and embroidery helping to support her home, while
her nights were devoted to prayer and penance. When her work permitted, she
retired to a little grotto when she had built, with her brother's aid, in their
small garden, and there passed her nights in solitude and prayer. Overcoming the
opposition of her parents, and with the consent of her confessor, she was
allowed later to become practically a recluse in this cell, save for her visits
to the Blessed Sacrament.
 In
her twentieth year she received the habit of St. Dominic. Thereafter she
redoubled the severity and variety of her penances to a heroic degree, wearing
constantly a metal spiked crown, concealed by roses, and an iron chain about her
waist. Days passed without food, save a draught of gall mixed with bitter herbs.
When she could no longer stand, she sought repose on a bed constructed by
herself, of broken glass, stone, potsherds, and thorns. She admitted that the
thought of lying down on it made her tremble with dread. Fourteen years this
martyrdom of her body continued without relaxation, but not without consolation.
Our Lord revealed Himself to her frequently,
flooding her soul with such inexpressible peace and joy as to leave her in
ecstasy four hours. At these times she offered to Him all her mortifications and
penances in expiation for offences against His Divine Majesty, for the idolatry
of her country, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory.
Many miracles followed her death. She was
beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first
American to be so honored. Her feast is celebrated 30 August. She is represented
wearing a crown of roses. 
This
window was created around 1880, probably manufactured by a German studio. She
had only recently been canonized when this window was fabricated, and this may
be one of the earliest major works depicting St. Rose commissioned in the world.
The window can be seen the
in Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, USA.
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