St. Rose of Lima

Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar): August 23
Double (1955 Calendar): August 30

St. Rose of Lima (1586 - 1617), a virgin, lived for Jesus Christ. She became the first canonized saint of the Western Hemisphere and was a Dominican lay tertiary who worked to evangelize the Indians. Her parents wanted her to marry, but she wanted to remain single and dedicate her life to Christ. St. Rose not only prayed for hours each day but also took care of orphans and the elderly who needed help. She lived each day for Jesus Christ and her friends, including St. Martin de Porres and St. John Masias.

In her life of penance, many people viewed her highly, and she was even a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. At age five, St. Rose devoted her life to God and served Him through all of her trials. St. Rose was born to Spanish immigrants and was a beautiful girl. At a young age, she used pepper and lye to ruin her complexion so she would not be viewed as attractive to help her vow of chastity. She had a great devotion to St. Catherine of Siena. St. Rose wore roses around her head, but underneath them was a crown of thorns - it was her penance.

She was tortured physically by the devil and scolded by her family, but she thought of them as treating her better than she deserved. For fifteen years, she suffered spiritual abandonment until her death when she received the companionship of Mary and her guardian angel. St. Rose of Lima even had the invisible stigmata.

Prayer:

O Almighty God, the Giver of all good gifts, Who didst will that blessed Rose, bedewed with Thy heavenly graces, should blossom forth in the Indies as a lovely flower of virginity and patience: grant to us Thy servants so to run in the odor of her sweetness, that we may be found worthy to become a sweet savor of Christ: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal