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 The first
canonized saint of the New World has one characteristic of all saints—the
suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for
admiration than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification.
She was born to parents of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru, at a time when
South America was in its first century of evangelization. She seems to have
taken Catherine of Siena as a model, in spite of the objections and ridicule
of parents and friends.
The saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is
indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction
that anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be
rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub
her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a
thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of
thorns.
When her parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all
day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when
they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and
out of obedience she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a
member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the
life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home in solitude.
During the last few years of her life, Rose set up a room in the house where
she cared for homeless children, the elderly and the sick. This was a
beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life and activity,
she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, who could
only say that she was influenced by grace.
What might have been a merely eccentric life was transfigured from the
inside. If we remember some unusual penances, we should also remember the
greatest thing about Rose: a love of God so ardent that it withstood
ridicule from without, violent temptation and lengthy periods of sickness.
When she died at 31, the city turned out for her funeral. Prominent men took
turns carrying her coffin. |
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