Claudio Coello (1642–1693), Santa Rosa de Lima, 1683, 240 x 160, Museo del Prado
Sainte Rose de Lima
Vierge (+ 1617)
Première sainte du Nouveau Monde, elle fut canonisée en 1671. Rose de Flores (*) était la dixième enfant d'une pauvre famille espagnole de Lima au Pérou. Très vite, elle manifeste pour le Christ un amour si violent qu'elle multiplie les austérités. A 4 ans et demi, elle reçoit la grâce de savoir lire sans avoir appris, l'ayant simplement demandé dans la prière. Elle en profitera pour se nourrir de la vie de sainte Catherine de Sienne qui deviendra son modèle. A 5 ans, elle se consacre à Dieu. A 20 ans, elle prend l'habit des tertiaires dominicaines. Les onze années qui lui restent à vivre, elle les passera, à demi-recluse, dans un minuscule ermitage au fond du jardin de ses parents, dans la prière et une austérité effrayante. En échange, elle reçoit des grâces mystiques étonnantes. Dans le même temps, elle se dévoue au service des indiens, des enfants abandonnés et des vieillards infirmes. Ses visions éveillent les soupçons de l'Inquisition. Elle devra subir des examens et la sûreté doctrinale de ses réponses impressionnera ses interrogateurs. A sa mort, le petit peuple de Lima se presse sur sa tombe pour en recueillir un peu de terre.
(*) Née Isabel De Flores Y Del Oliva, elle était si belle que, déjà quant elle
était bébé, on l'appela Rose.
Basílica
Santuario Santa Rosa de Lima, GoogleMaps
Elle faisait partie des Saints patrons des JMJ de Madrid en 2011.
Après une enfance déjà très mortifiée, elle prit l'habit des Sœurs du
Tiers-Ordre dominicain et, à demi-recluse dans le jardin de ses parents, se
livra à la pénitence et à l'oraison. Avec un zèle ardent pour le salut des
pécheurs et des Indiens, pour qui elle souhaitait donner sa vie, elle se
soumettait volontiers à toutes sortes d'austérités et de souffrances, pour les
gagner au Christ. Elle mourut le 24 août 1617.
Martyrologe romain
Aujourd'hui encore, nous
avons besoin de saints comme elle, a souligné François: «des personnes qui
ne s'assoient pas sur le canapé en pantoufles, mais qui, brûlant du désir
incontrôlable de vivre et d'annoncer l'Évangile, deviennent passionnément
contagieuses dans la sainteté».
VaticanNews - Une sainte "agitée" par l'Esprit Saint
- janvier 2024
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1723/Sainte-Rose-de-Lima.html
Angelino Medoro. Retrato póstumo de Santa Rosa,
Fue
pintado pocas horas después del fallecimiento de la santa limeña, el 24 de
agosto de 1617
Sainte Rose de Lima
Vierge
(1586-1617)
Rose naquit à Lima, au
Pérou, le 20 avril 1586, et reçut au Baptême le nom d'Isabelle. Sa mère,
penchée sur son berceau, ayant cru apercevoir une rose épanouie sur son visage,
s'écria: "Désormais, tu seras ma "Rose", changement de nom qui fut
confirmé par la Sainte Vierge dans une vision qu'eut plus tard la jeune fille.
La vie de cette petite
Sainte a été une suite ininterrompue de souffrances volontairement acceptées et
héroïquement supportées. Dès son bas âge, Rose comprit que la vraie sainteté
consiste avant tout à accomplir ses devoirs d'état. Une source de difficultés
lui vint de concilier l'obéissance à ses parents avec la fidélité aux appels
intérieurs dont le Ciel la favorisait. Elle s'ingénia à trouver le moyen
d'obéir à la fois à Dieu et à sa mère. Décidée à ne chercher à plaire à
personne qu'à Dieu, elle portait néanmoins une couronne de fleurs imposée par
sa mère; mais elle sut y cacher à l'intérieure une aiguille qui faisait de cet
ornement un instrument de supplice.
À l'exemple de sainte
Catherine de Sienne, Rose se voua à une vie de pénitence. Dès son enfance, elle
s'exerça au jeûne et put le pratiquer à un degré héroïque. Elle ne mangeait
jamais de fruits. À six ans, elle jeûnait le vendredi et le samedi. À quinze
ans, elle fit voeu de ne jamais manger de viande. Plus tard, elle ne mangea
qu'une soupe faite de pain et d'eau, sans sel ni autre assaisonnement. Toutes
les nuits, elle se frappait cruellement avec des chaînettes de fer, s'offrant à
Dieu comme une victime sanglante pour l'Église, l'État, les âmes du purgatoire
et les pécheurs. Non contente du lit de planches sur lequel elle reposa
longtemps, elle se fit un lit avec des morceaux de bois liés avec des cordes;
elle remplit les intervalles avec des fragments de tuiles et de vaisselle, les
acuités tournées vers le haut. Rose coucha sur ce lit pendant les seize
dernières années de sa vie.
La vraie sainteté ne
réside pas dans la pénitence du corps, mais dans celle du coeur, qui est
impossible sans l'humilité et l'obéissance. Toutes les austérités de Rose
étaient soumises à l'obéissance; et elle était toujours prête à tout
abandonner. On s'étonnera que ses directeurs aient pu approuver dans une si
frêle enfant d'aussi cruelles macérations; mais il faut savoir que chaque fois
que des confesseurs voulurent s'y opposer, il en furent empêchés par une
lumière intérieure.
Toute la personne de
Rose, défigurée par la pénitence, attirait l'attention du public et la faisait
vénérer comme une Sainte. Désolée, elle eut recours à Dieu, afin que ses jeûnes
n'altérassent pas les traits de son visage. Chose admirable! Elle reprit son
embonpoint et ses vives couleurs; ses yeux se ranimèrent. Aussi arriva-t-il
qu'après avoir jeûné tout un Carême au pain et à l'eau, elle rencontra des
jeunes gens qui se moquèrent d'elle en disant: "Voyez cette religieuse si
célèbre par sa pénitence! Elle revient sans doute d'un festin. C'est édifiant,
vraiment, en ce saint temps!" Rose en remercia Dieu.
La charité de Rose pour
le salut des âmes était en proportion de son amour pour Jésus-Christ. Elle
ressentait une poignante douleur en pensant aux âmes qui se perdent après avoir
été si chèrement achetées. Elle pleurait sur le sort des Chinois, des Turcs, et
des nombreuses sectes hérétiques qui désolaient l'Europe.
Rose mourut le 24 août
1617, à l'âge de trente et un ans.
J.-M. Planchet, Nouvelle Vie des Saints, p. 345
Source : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/sainte_rose_de_lima.html
Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y
Ceballos (1638–1711), Sainte Rose de Lima, huile sur panneau, XVIIe
siècle, Museum
of Colonial Art
30/08 Sainte Rose de Lima,
vierge
Née à Lima en 1586, morte
le 24 août 1617. Première sainte du nouveau continent à être canonisée en 1671,
sa popularité était telle que Rome avait permis, dès la béatification, la
célébration de sa Messe votive dans le monde entier, cas unique dans l’histoire
du culte des saints. Mais la fête ne fut inscrite au calendrier au rang de rite
double que sous Benoît XIII en 1727 ; la fête de Ste Rose de Lima a réduit
au rang de commémoraison celle des deux Martyrs Félix
et Adauctus que l’Église de Rome célébrait aujourd’hui.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon. La première fleur de sainteté de l’Amérique méridionale fut la
vierge Rose, née à Lima, de parents chrétiens. Dès son berceau, on vit en elle
des marques éclatantes de sa sainteté future, car son visage d’enfant parut un
jour transfiguré et comme ayant l’aspect d’une rose, ce qui fut l’occasion de
lui imposer ce nom. Dans la suite, la Vierge, Mère de Dieu, y ajouta un surnom,
ordonnant de l’appeler Rose de sainte Marie. A l’âge de cinq ans, elle émit le
vœu de virginité perpétuelle. Dans son adolescence, craignant que ses parents
ne la contraignissent à se marier, elle coupa secrètement sa superbe chevelure.
Adonnée à des jeûnes qui semblent au-dessus des forces de la nature humaine,
elle passait des carêmes entiers sans manger de pain, n’ayant chaque jour pour
nourriture que cinq pépins de citron.
Cinquième leçon. Quand elle eut pris l’habit du tiers ordre de saint Dominique,
elle redoubla ses austérités, fixa dans un long et très dur cilice de petites
aiguilles, et se mit à porter jour et nuit, sous son voile une couronne armée
de pointes aiguës. A l’exemple de sainte Catherine de Sienne elle ceignit ses
reins d’une chaîne de fer, qui l’entourait d’un triple nœud. Son lit se
composait de troncs noueux dont les interstices étaient remplis de têts de pots
cassés. Elle se fit construire une étroite cellule dans un coin retiré du
jardin ; et là, livrée à la contemplation des choses du ciel, elle exténuait
son faible corps par de fréquentes disciplines, des privations de nourriture et
des veilles ; mais soutenue par l’esprit, elle sortit victorieusement de
nombreuses luttes avec les démons qu’elle méprisait sans crainte et dominait.
Sixième leçon. Cruellement éprouvée par les souffrances de diverses maladies,
les insultes de personnes de sa maison, et la calomnie, elle s’affligeait de ne
pas souffrir autant qu’elle le méritait. En proie presque continuellement
durant quinze années aux peines consumantes de la désolation et de l’aridité
spirituelle, elle supporta avec force d’âme ces combats plus remplis d’amertume
que toute mort. Après quoi elle commença à connaître l’abondance des joies
célestes, à être éclairée par des visions, et à sentir son cœur se fondre sous
l’action de séraphiques ardeurs. Favorisée de fréquentes apparitions de son
Ange gardien, de sainte Catherine de Sienne et de la Mère de Dieu, elle usait
avec eux d’une admirable simplicité, et mérita d’entendre de la bouche du
Christ ces paroles : « Rose de mon cœur, sois une épouse pour moi. » Introduite
heureusement enfin dans le paradis de cet Époux divin, Rose devint illustre
après sa mort comme auparavant par de nombreux miracles, et le souverain
Pontife Clément X l’inscrivit solennellement au catalogue des saintes Vierges.
Au troisième nocturne. Du Commun.
Lecture du saint Évangile selon saint Matthieu. Cap. 25, 1-13.
En ce temps-là : Jésus dit à ses disciples cette parabole : Le royaume des
cieux sera semblable à dix vierges qui ; ayant pris leurs lampes, altèrent
au-devant de l’époux et de l’épouse. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint Grégoire, Pape. Homilia 12 in Evang.
Septième leçon. Je vous recommande souvent, mes très chers frères, de fuir le
mal et de vous préserver de la corruption du monde ; mais aujourd’hui la
lecture du saint Évangile m’oblige à vous dire de veiller avec beaucoup de soin
à ne pas perdre le mérite de vos bonnes actions. Prenez garde que vous ne
recherchiez dans le bien que vous faites, la faveur ou l’estime des hommes,
qu’il ne s’y glisse un désir d’être loué, et que ce qui paraît au dehors ne
recouvre un fond vide de mérite et peu digne de récompense. Voici que notre
Rédempteur nous parle de dix vierges, il les nomme toutes vierges et cependant
toutes ne méritèrent pas d’être admises au séjour de la béatitude, car tandis
qu’elles espéraient recueillir de leur virginité une gloire extérieure, elles
négligèrent de mettre de l’huile dans leurs vases.
Huitième leçon. Il nous faut d’abord examiner ce qu’est le royaume des cieux,
ou pourquoi il est comparé à dix vierges, et encore quelles sont les vierges
prudentes et les vierges folles. Puisqu’il est certain qu’aucun réprouvé
n’entrera dans le royaume des cieux, pourquoi nous dit-on qu’il est semblable à
des vierges parmi lesquelles il y en a de folles ? Mais nous devons savoir que
l’Église du temps présent est souvent désignée dans le langage sacré sous le
nom de royaume des cieux ; d’où vient que le Seigneur dit en un autre endroit :
« Le Fils de l’homme enverra ses anges, et ils enlèveront de son royaume tous
les scandales » [1]. Certes, ils ne pourraient trouver aucun scandale à
enlever, dans ce royaume de la béatitude, où se trouve la plénitude de la paix.
Neuvième leçon. L’âme humaine subsiste dans un corps doué de cinq sens. Le
nombre cinq, multiplié par deux, donne celui de dix. Et parce que la multitude
des fidèles comprend l’un et l’autre sexe, la sainte Église est comparée à dix
vierges. Comme, dans cette Église, les méchants se trouvent mêlés avec les bons
et ceux qui seront réprouvés avec les élus, ce n’est pas sans raison qu’on la
dit semblable à des vierges, dont les unes sont sages et les autres insensées.
Il y a en effet, beaucoup de personnes chastes qui veillent sur leurs passions
quant aux choses extérieures et sont portées par l’espérance vers les biens
intérieurs ; elles mortifient leur chair et aspirent de toute l’ardeur de leur
désir vers la patrie d’en haut ; elles recherchent les récompenses éternelles,
et ne veulent pas recevoir pour leurs travaux de louanges humaines : celles-ci
ne mettent assurément pas leur gloire dans les paroles des hommes, mais la
cachent au fond de leur conscience. Et il en est aussi plusieurs qui affligent
leur corps par l’abstinence, mais attendent de cette abstinence même des
applaudissements humains.
[1] Matth. 13, 41.
Anonymous Cusco School (1680 -1750), Our Lady of the Rosary with Saint Dominic and Saint Rose / Notre Dame du Rosaire priée par Saint Dominique et Sainte Rose de Lima, circa 1750, 214 x 151, Lima Art Museum
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
Quel parfum d’au delà de l’Océan nous apporte aujourd’hui la brise ! L’ancien
monde renouvelle sa jeunesse à ces senteurs du ciel ; le nouveau se concilie
par elles la terre et les cieux.
Cent ans ont passé depuis les jours où l’Europe étonnée apprit qu’un continent
nouveau se révélait par delà les flots de la mer Ténébreuse, effroi des
navigateurs. L’Espagne venait d’expulser le Croissant de ses propres terres ;
comme récompense, elle reçut la mission de planter la Croix sur ces plages
immenses. Ni héros, ni apôtres, ne firent défaut dans cette œuvre au royaume Catholique
; ni non plus, pour son malheur, les aventuriers dont la soif de l’or fit le
fléau des Indiens qu’il s’agissait d’amener au vrai Dieu. La décadence si
prompte de l’illustre nation qui avait triomphé du Maure, montrera bientôt
jusqu’à quel point les peuples prévenus des plus hautes bénédictions restent
pourtant solidaires des crimes commis, sous le couvert de leur nom, par
quiconque porte le drapeau du pays. On sait comment finit au Pérou l’empire des
Incas : malgré les protestations indignées des missionnaires, malgré les ordres
venus de la mère patrie, quelques années suffirent aux compagnons de Pizarre
pour exterminer le tiers des habitants de ces florissantes contrées ; un autre
tiers achevait de périr dans la misère d’une servitude pire que la mort
immédiate ; le reste fuyait vers les montagnes, emportant au fond des forêts la
haine de l’envahisseur, et trop souvent, hélas ! de l’Évangile, responsable à
ses yeux des atrocités accomplies par les baptisés. La cupidité des vainqueurs
donnait entrée à tous les vices dans ces âmes en lesquelles cependant la foi
restait vive : Lima, fondée au pied des Cordillères comme métropole des
provinces conquises, semblait bâtie sur la triple concupiscence ; avant la fin
du siècle, Jonas nouveau d’une nouvelle Ninive, saint François Solano la
menaçait du courroux de Dieu.
Mais déjà la miséricorde avait pris les devants ; la justice et la paix
s’étaient rencontrées [2] dans l’âme d’une enfant prête à toutes les
expiations, insatiable d’amour. Combien nous voudrions nous arrêter à
contempler la vierge péruvienne dans son héroïsme qui s’ignora toujours, dans
sa grâce si candide et si pure ! Rose qui n’eut pour ceux qui l’approchaient
que des suavités embaumées, et garda pour elle le secret des épines sans
lesquelles ne vont point les roses ici-bas ! Éclose du sourire de Marie, elle
ravit l’Enfant-Dieu qui la veut sur son cœur. Les fleurs la reconnaissent pour
reine, et toute saison les voit répondre à son désir ; à son invitation, les
plantes s’agitent joyeuses, les arbres inclinent leurs rameaux, toute la nature
tressaille, eux-mêmes les insectes organisent des chœurs, les oiseaux
rivalisent avec elle d’harmonies pour célébrer leur auteur commun. Et elle
chante, au souvenir des noms de son père et de sa mère, Gaspard des Fleurs et
Marie d’Olive : « O mon Jésus, que vous êtes beau entre les olives et les
fleurs ; et vous ne dédaignez pas votre Rose ! »
Cependant l’éternelle Sagesse se révélait dans les jeux de l’Enfant divin et de
sa bien-aimée [3]. C’est Clément X qui, dans la bulle de canonisation, nous
rappelle qu’un jour où elle était plus souffrante, le tout aimable fils de la
Vierge bénie l’invita pour une partie mystérieuse où l’enjeu serait laissé au
libre choix du vainqueur. Rose gagne, et réclame sa guérison, aussitôt
accordée. Mais Jésus demande la revanche, et l’emportant au second tour, il
rend son mal, accompagné du don de patience, à la perdante toute joyeuse ; car
elle avait compris qu’elle gagnait plus à la seconde partie qu’à la première.
Réservons à l’Église de raconter, en la Légende, jusqu’où notre Sainte fut
amenée par l’efficacité de ces divines leçons touchant la souffrance. Dans les
tortures surhumaines de sa dernière maladie, elle répondait à qui l’exhortait
au courage : « Ce que je demande à mon Époux, c’est qu’il ne cesse point de me
brûler des ardeurs les plus cuisantes, jusqu’à ce que je sois pour lui le fruit
mûr qu’il daigne recevoir de cette terre à sa table des deux ». Et comme on
s’étonnait alors de sa sécurité, de sa certitude d’aller directement au
paradis, elle dit avec feu cette autre parole qui montre aussi tout un aspect
de son âme : « Moi, j’ai un Époux qui peut ce qu’il y a de plus grand, qui
possède ce qu’il y a de plus rare ; et je ne me vois pas n’espérant de lui que
de petites choses ».
Confiance bien justifiée par l’infinie bonté, les assurances et les prévenances
du Seigneur à l’égard de Rose. Elle n’avait que trente et un ans, lorsque, au
milieu de la nuit qui ouvrait la fête de saint Barthélémy de l’année 1617, elle
entendit le cri : Voici l’Époux [4] ! Dans Lima, dans tout le Pérou, dans
l’Amérique entière, des prodiges de conversion et de grâce signalèrent le
trépas de l’humble vierge, inconnue jusque-là du grand nombre. « Il fut attesté
juridiquement, dit le Pontife suprême [5], que, depuis la découverte du Pérou,
aucun missionnaire ne s’était rencontré qui eût produit pareil ébranlement
d’universelle pénitence ». Cinq ans plus tard, était dédié ce monastère de
Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne qui devait continuer au milieu de Lima l’œuvre de
sanctification, d’assainissement, de défense sociale, et qu’on appelait le
monastère de Rose, parce qu’elle en était en effet devant Dieu la fondatrice et
la mère. Ses prières en avaient obtenu l’érection qu’elle avait prédite pour
après sa mort, désignant d’avance le plan, les religieuses futures, la première
supérieure, qu’elle investit un jour prophétiquement de son esprit dans un
embrassement plein de mystère.
Lisons le beau récit
liturgique qui la concerne.
La première fleur de
sainteté que l'Amérique méridionale ait donnée au monde, la vierge Rose naquit
à Lima de parents chrétiens. Dès le berceau brillèrent en elle les marques de
sa sainteté future. Un jour le visage de l'enfant apparut merveilleusement
transfiguré comme une rose ; ce fut l'occasion du nom qu'on lui donna ensuite,
et auquel depuis la Vierge Mère de Dieu ajouta le sien comme surnom, voulant
qu'elle s'appelât désormais Rose de Sainte-Marie. Elle fit à cinq ans vœu de
virginité perpétuelle. Plus grande, pour éviter d'être contrainte au mariage
par ses parents, elle coupa en secret sa magnifique chevelure. Ses jeûnes
dépassaient la limite humaine; elle passa sans pain des Carêmes entiers, ne
vivant que de cinq pépins de citron par jour.
Ayant reçu l'habit du
tiers Ordre de saint Dominique, elle redoubla ses austérités, usant d'un long
et dur cilice garni de pointes acérées, portant jour et nuit sous son voile une
couronne armée au dedans d'un grand nombre de clous aiguisés. Elle s'était
proposé sainte Catherine de Sienne pour modèle et pour guide dans les sentiers
de la pénitence. Une chaîne de fer ceignait ses reins à triple tour. Elle
s'était fait un lit de troncs d'arbres noueux, dont elle avait rempli les vides
de tessons. Une cellule étroite qu'elle se construisit à l'extrémité du jardin,
pour y vaquer à la contemplation des choses du ciel, la vit mater son faible
corps par des disciplines fréquentes, par la faim et les veilles ; mais son
esprit y puisait la vigueur, et, victorieuse des démons en de nombreux combats,
elle se riait de leurs efforts et réduisait à néant leurs illusions.
En butte à des maladies
cruelles, aux mauvaises langues, aux affronts des siens, elle se plaignait de
n'être point encore traitée selon son mérite. Livrée pendant quinze ans
plusieurs heures par jour à une effroyable désolation spirituelle, desséchée,
consumée par l'épreuve, elle supporta courageusement ces agonies plus amères
que toute mort. Mais c'étaient à la suite les délices d'en haut, les visions,
les séraphiques ardeurs. Son ange gardien, sainte Catherine de Sienne, la
Vierge Mère de Dieu lui apparaissaient dans une admirable familiarité. Elle
méritait d'entendre ces mots du Christ Jésus : Rose de mon cœur, sois mon
épouse. Enfin arriva le jour fortuné où s'ouvrit pour elle le paradis de cet
Epoux. Nombreux furent ses miracles après comme avant son trépas ; et le
Souverain Pontife Clément X l'inscrivit solennellement au catalogue des saintes
Vierges.
Patronne de votre patrie de ce monde, veillez sur elle toujours. Justifiez sa
confiance, dans l’ordre même de la vie présente, en la défendant des
tremblements de terre dont les secousses promènent l’effroi sur ses rivages,
des commotions politiques dont sa récente indépendance s’est vue si cruellement
éprouvée. Étendez votre action tutélaire aux jeunes républiques qui
l’avoisinent, et qui elles aussi vous honorent ; ainsi que votre terre natale,
protégez-les contre le mirage des utopies venues de notre vieux monde, contre
les entraînements, les illusions de leur propre jeunesse, contre les sectes
condamnées qui finiraient par ébranler jusqu’à leur foi toujours vive. Enfin,
Rose aimée du Seigneur, souriez à l’Église entière que ravissent aujourd’hui
vos charmes célestes. Comme elle, nous voulons tous courir à l’odeur de vos
parfums [6].
Apprenez-nous à nous laisser prévenir comme vous par la céleste rosée.
Montrez-nous à répondre aux avances du sculpteur divin qui vous apparut un
jour, remettant aux soins de ceux qu’il aime les marbres de choix des vertus,
pour les polir et les tailler en s’aidant de leurs larmes et du ciseau de la
pénitence. Plus que tout le reste, enseignez-nous la confiance et l’amour. Tout
ce qu’opère, disiez-vous, le soleil dans l’immensité de l’univers, faisant
éclore les fleurs et mûrissant les fruits, créant les perles au sein des
océans, les pierres précieuses dans les plis des montagnes : l’Époux
l’accomplissait dans les espaces sans fin de votre âme, y produisant toute
richesse, toute beauté, toute joie, toute chaleur et toute vie. Puissions-nous,
ainsi que vous-même, profiter de la descente du Soleil de justice eh nos
poitrines au Sacrement d’union, ne vivre plus que de sa lumière bénie, porter
la bonne odeur du Christ en tous lieux [7].
Les saints Martyrs Félix et Adauctus conquirent la palme au temps
de Dioclétien. Ils méritèrent que le saint Pape Damase honorât d'une de ses glorieuses
épitaphes leur sépulture, voisine du tombeau de l'Apôtre des nations. Adressons
à Dieu la prière où l'Eglise implore aujourd'hui leur protection puissante.
ORAISON.
Daigne votre Majesté, Seigneur, exaucer nos supplications ; le souvenir de vos Saints nous est une allégresse toujours renouvelée : que toujours aussi leur intercession soit notre défense. Par Jésus-Christ.
[2] Psalm. LXXXIV, 11.
[3] Prov. VIII, 30-31.
[4] Matth. XXV, 6.
[5] Bulle de canonisation.
[6] Collecte de la fête, ex Cant. I, 3.
[7] Collecte de la fête, ex II Cor. II, 15.
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/gueranger/anneliturgique/pentecote/pentecote05/008.htm
Desposorio místico de Santa Rosa de Lima. Iglesia del convento de San Pablo, Valladolid.
Bhx cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Cette fleur délicate de l’Église du Pérou a joui du rare privilège d’avoir pour
rédacteur de son office le pieux et docte liturgiste que fut le cardinal Bona.
La fête de sainte Rose fut élevée par Benoît XIII au rite double, en sorte
qu’elle a pratiquement supprimé celle des deux martyrs du cimetière de
Commodille.
Comme sainte Catherine de Sienne, Rose était inscrite au Tiers Ordre de saint
Dominique ; dans la basilique de Sainte-Marie-sur-Minerve à Rome, près de la
tombe de la Vierge de Sienne, on vénère le crucifix devant lequel Rose avait
coutume de faire oraison.
Avant d’admettre la pieuse vierge péruvienne à ses noces mystiques, Dieu se
plut à la faire passer par l’épreuve du feu. Il la purifia par de dures
pénitences corporelles, et au moyen aussi de ces peines mystiques que souffre
l’âme qui n’est pas encore accoutumée au contact de la divinité, laquelle, au
dire de l’apôtre, est toujours ignis consumens.
La messe est du commun des Vierges, mais la première collecte est propre.
Prière. — « O Dieu, de qui nous vient tout bien ; vous qui prévîntes des
douceurs de votre grâce la bienheureuse Rose, et la fîtes épanouir en Amérique
comme une fleur de virginale pureté et de patience ; faites que nous, vos
serviteurs, attirés par le parfum de ses vertus, nous répandions également
autour de nous le parfum céleste du Christ ».
Quel beau programme de vie spirituelle ! Chacun de nous doit exprimer
Jésus-Christ dans sa vie, dans ses pensées, dans ses paroles, enlevant à la
piété chrétienne tout ce que peut parfois lui conférer d’âpre ou d’anguleux
notre immortification, afin que la dévotion apparaisse aux autres douce et
aimable, comme celle du divin Maître lui-même.
Noël
Laudin (1657-1727), Sainte Rose de Lima, émail sur cuivre, Limoges, Collection
du musée municipal de Châlons-en-Champagne
Dom Pius Parsch, Le
guide dans l’année liturgique
Rose de mon cœur, tu dois
être mon épouse !
1. Sainte Rose. — Jour de
mort : 24 août 1617, Tombeau : dans l’église du couvent des dominicains à Lima
(Pérou). Culte très populaire. Vie : Sainte Rose de Lima, tertiaire de
Saint-Dominique, « la première fleur de sainteté qu’ait produite l’Amérique
méridionale », est célèbre par sa grande vertu et l’austérité de sa vie. Elle
expia par ses pénitences la cupidité des conquérants de sa patrie, et l’exemple
de sa vie fut pour beaucoup un salutaire enseignement. Le pape Clément X
déclare dans la bulle de canonisation de sainte Rose « que, depuis la
découverte du Pérou, aucun missionnaire n’a jamais suscité un aussi grand
mouvement de conversion ». Dès l’âge de cinq ans, elle voua sa virginité à
Dieu. Dans son adolescence, elle se livra à des mortifications et à des jeûnes
au-dessus des forces humaines. Elle passait tout le carême sans manger de pain,
ne vivant que de cinq pépins de citron par jour. De plus elle eut à subir de
multiples assauts du démon, de cruelles souffrances et maladies, des insultes
et des calomnies qui lui venaient des siens. Volontiers elle acceptait tout, se
plaignant même de n’être pas aussi affligée qu’elle le méritait. Pendant quinze
années, elle fut en proie à la plus extrême désolation et aridité spirituelle.
Dieu l’en récompensa en la comblant ensuite d’une joie toute céleste, et en la
favorisant de fréquentes apparitions de son ange gardien et de la Très Sainte
Vierge. Le 24 aout 1617, le jour arriva enfin « où elle fit son entrée heureuse
dans le Paradis de son divin Époux ». L’office de sainte Rose de Lima est
l’œuvre du pieux liturgiste qu’était le cardinal Bona.
2. La messe (Dilexisti)
est du commun des Vierges. — Aujourd’hui encore nous pouvons constater le
triple but de la liturgie des saints :
a) elle voit dans la
sainte, présente parmi nous, un membre d’élite de la grande famille de Dieu.
b) Elle voit en elle une
image et un symbole de l’Église. Retenons bien cette pensée : l’Église se
représente elle-même dans la personne des saints, et particulièrement de ses
saintes.
c) Enfin, elle voit en
eux l’âme de chacun de nous.
Tout ceci est d’une
évidence remarquable à la messe de ce jour :
a) Sous les traits de
l’épouse, nous reconnaissons sainte Rose de Lima ; nous la voyons entrer au
ciel dans son cortège nuptial (Introït et Off.) ; nous voyons le Christ
s’avancer vers elle (Grad.). Elle fut vraiment la vierge sage qui attendait
l’époux, la lampe allumée à la main.
b) C’est cette autre
épouse, l’Église, que nous considérons aussi en sainte Rose, l’Église qui
célèbre à l’avance le triomphe suprême de chacun de ses membres. Admirons la
justesse de cette comparaison entre les vierges sages et l’Église qui, dans la
nuit de la vie terrestre, entretient la lampe avec l’huile de sa charité et de
sa prière, et dont l’unique préoccupation est d’attendre l’arrivée de l’Époux.
Et chaque messe est une anticipation dé sa venue ; à chaque messe l’Église se
rapproche du jour des noces. La messe est une anticipation du retour du
Seigneur. Combien cette pensée est manifeste aujourd’hui particulièrement au
moment de la communion !
c) Toute âme est une
cellule de l’Église ; les pensées et les sentiments de notre mère l’Église
trouvent un écho en Chacune. Aujourd’hui, c’est avec des sentiments d’épouse
que je me rends à l’église, que je pénètre dans la grande salle du ciel. A
l’offertoire, c’est moi qui suis l’épouse en parure royale près de l’Époux ; et
la sainte communion est pour moi la table du festin et les fiançailles
éternelles.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/30-08-Ste-Rose-de-Lima-vierge
Profile
Born to Spanish immigrants to
the New
World. A beautiful girl and
devoted daughter, she was so devoted to her vow of chastity that she used
pepper and lye to ruin her complexion so she would not be attractive. Lived and
meditated in a garden,
raising vegetables and making embroidered items
to sell to support her family and help the other poor. Dominican tertiary in 1606. Mystic. Visonary.
Received invisible stigmata.
Suffered from assorted physical and mental ailments. First saint born
in the Americas.
Founder of social work in Peru.
Great devotion to Saint Catherine
of Siena.
Born
20 April 1586 at Lima, Peru as Isabel
24 August 1617 at Lima, Peru of
natural causes
15 April 1668 by Pope Clement
IX
2 April 1671 by Pope Clement
X
Name
Meaning
people
ridiculed for their piety
sick
people of Peru (proclaimed on 5 September 1958 by Pope Pius XII)
Santa
Rosa, California, diocese of
anchor (noted
for being steadfast in hope and courage in spite of great sufferings)
Dominican tertiary holding roses
Dominican tertiary accompanied
by the Holy Infant
Holy Infant
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Saint
Rose of Lima, author unknown
Saint
Rose of Lima, by Anna D Cook
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
Saints
Westward, by Donald Attwater
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
Stories
of the Saints for Children, by Mary Seymour
Saint Rose of Lima, The
Flower of the New World, by Florence Mary Capes
books
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, by Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Emblems of the Saints, by
F C Husenbeth and Augustus Jessopp
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Oxford Dictionary of Saints, by David Hugh Farmer
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
Catholic News Agency: Is This What Saint Rose of Lima
Looked Like?
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
Franciscan Media: Saint Rose of Lima
Franciscan Media: Patron Saints
images
audio
Saint Rose of Lima, The Flower of the New World, by
Florence Mary Capps – audio book
Super Saints Podcast: Miracles in
the Life of Saint Rose
video
e-books
Life
of Saint Rose of Lima, Father Jean Baptist Feuillet
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
Lord, increase my
sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart. – Saint Rose
of Lima
Apart from the cross
there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. – Saint Rose
of Lima
Our Lord and Savior
lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that
grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of
afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that
the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to
stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without
the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.” When I heard these words,
a strong force came upon me and seemd to place me in the middle of a street, so
that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear,
O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by
using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we
suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep
participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect
happiness of soul.” “If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess
divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides
within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his
cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the
scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.” – from
the writings of Saint Rose
of Lima
MLA
Citation
“Saint Rose of
Lima“. CatholicSaints.Info. 21 April 2024. Web. 21 August 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-rose-of-lima/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-rose-of-lima/
_-_Saint_Rose_of_Lima_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
José
del Pozo (atribuido) (Sevilla, 1757 - Lima, ca. 1830), Sainte Rose de Lima, circa 1810, 81.5 x 62, Lima Art Museum
Saint Rose of Lima
St. Rose of Lima has a
special claim on our interest for she has the honor of being the first person
born in the Western Hemisphere to be canonized by the Church. The child
who became St. Rose of Lima was born on April 20 1586, of a Spaniard, Gaspar de
Flores, and Maria d’Olivia, a woman who had Inca blood in her veins. The
infant, one of ten children born to the couple, was baptized Isabel, after an
aunt, Isabel de Herrara, who acted as godmother. This ceremony took place at
home, for the baby was extremely weak. Several weeks later the tiny infant was
carried to the nearby church of San Sebastian for baptism by the priest, Don
Antonio Polanco.
By the time she was
confirmed by Archbishop Toribio of Lima, the name Isabel had been replaced by
Rose, and this was the name now bestowed on her. Rose had a fresh, lovely
complexion, and she was worried by the thought that this name had been given as
a tribute to her beauty. So sensitive was her conscience that she had genuine
scruples over bearing the name, and on one occasion, after hearing someone
praise her comeliness, she rubbed pepper into her face to mar it; another time,
she put lime on her hands, inducing acute suffering. This was her way-a way
conditioned by the time and place-of fighting a temptation to vanity. Such
self-imposed cruelties, as we have seen in the lives of some of the other
saints, have not been uncommon, particularly among those of a mystical bent.
Rose seems to have taken
for her model St. Catherine of Siena, and, like the earlier saint, she
experienced so ardent a love of God whenever she was in the presence of the
Blessed Sacrament that exaltation completely filled her soul. Yet Rose was not
without a practical side. Her father had been well-to-do, but when he lost
money in mining ventures, the family’s fortunes reached a very low ebb. Rose
helped out by selling her fine needlework; she also raised beautiful flowers
and these too were taken to market. One of her brothers, Ferdinand, was
sympathetic and understanding toward this sister who was so markedly
“different.” As she grew to maturity, her parents were anxious to have Rose
marry, and indeed there were several worthy aspirants for her hand. Rose did
not wish marriage, and, to end the arguments and offers, she joined the Third
Order of St. Dominic, donned the habit, and took a vow of perpetual virginity.
For many years Rose lived
virtually as a recluse. There was a little hut in the family garden, and this
she used as an oratory. She often wore on her head a circlet of silver studded
on the inside with sharp points, in memory of the Lord’s crown of thorns. Other
forms of penitence which she inflicted on her body were floggings, administered
three times daily, the wearing of a hair shirt, and the dragging of a heavy,
wooden cross about the garden. She rubbed her lips with gall and often chewed
bitter herbs to deaden the sense of taste. Both eating and sleeping were
reduced to a minimum. Naturally her health was affected, but the physical
disorders which resulted from this regime-stomach ailments, asthma, rheumatism,
and fevers-were suffered uncomplainingly. This manner of life offended her
family, who preferred their daughter to follow the more conventional and
accepted ways of holiness. Finally, when Rose began to tell of visions,
revelations, visitations, and voices they deplored her penitential practices
more than ever. She endured their disapproval and grew in spiritual fortitude.
In spite of the rigors of
her ascetic life, Rose was not wholly detached from happenings around her, and
her awareness of the suffering of others often led her to protest against some
of the practices of the Spanish overlords. In the new world, the discovery of
unbelievable mineral resources was doing little to enrich or ennoble the lives
of the Peruvian natives. The gold and silver from this land of El Dorado was
being shipped back to strengthen the empire and embellish the palaces and
cathedrals of Old Spain, but at its source there was vice, exploitation, and
corruption. The natives were oppressed and impoverished, in spite of the
missionaries’ efforts to alleviate their miseries and to exercise a restraining
hand on the governing class. Rose was cognizant of the evils, and spoke out
against them fearlessly. Sometimes she brought sick and hungry persons into her
own home that she might better care for them.
For fifteen years Rose
bore the disapproval and persecution of those close to her, as well as the more
severe trial of desolation of soul. At length an examination by priests and
physicians was indicated, and this resulted in the judgment that her
experiences were indeed supernatural. Rose’s last years were passed in the home
of a government official, Don Gonzalo de Massa. During an illness towards the
end of her life, she was able to pray, “Lord, increase my sufferings, and with
them increase Thy love in my heart.” This remarkable woman died on August 25,
1617, at the age of thirty-one.
Not until after her death
was it known how widely her beneficent influence had extended, and how deeply
venerated she was by the common people of Lima. When her body was borne down
the street to the cathedral, a great cry of mourning arose from the crowd. For
several days it was impossible to perform the ritual of burial on account of
the great press of sorrowing citizens around her bier. She was finally laid to
rest in the Dominican convent at Lima. Later, when miracles and cures were
being attributed to her intervention, the body was transferred to the church of
San Domingo. There it reposes today in a special chapel. Rose of Lima was
declared patroness of South America and the Philippines; she was canonized by
Pope Clement in 1671, August 30 being appointed her feast-day. This holy woman
is highly honored in all Spanish-American countries. The emblems associated
with her are an anchor, a crown of roses, and a city.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/rose-of-lima/
Frontispiece
of Vita Mirabilis et Mors Pretiosa Venerabilis Sororis Rosæ de S. Maria
Limensis, ex Tertio Ordine S. P. Dominici ac Sanctissimum d. N. Alexandrum VII.
Pontificem Max. Excerpta & collecta Per P. M. F. Leonardum Hansen
Provincialem Angliæ, & Socium Reverendissimi P. Magist. Generalis Ord.
Præd. By Hansen,
Leonardus [Hansen, Leonhard], 1654, Rose,
of Lima, Saint, 1586-1617, Rose,
of Lima, Saint, 1586-1617
St. Rose of Lima
Virgin, patroness of America,
born at Lima, Peru 20
April, 1586; died there 30 August, 1617.
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 constance, 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 which 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 for
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 honoured.
Her feast is
celebrated 30 August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
Sources
Hansen, Vita
Mirabilis (1664), Spanish tr. by PARRA.
Aymé, Edward. "St.
Rose of Lima." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 Apr.
2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13192c.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T.
Barrett. Dedicated to JoAnn Smull.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13192c.htm
Anonymous, Cuzco School, Peru, The
child Carlos II and Rosa de Lima (Santa Rosa de Lima) defending the Eucharist
against the Moors, circa 1670-1685. On exhibit
at the The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de
Montréal
Saint Rose of Lima,
V.O.P.
Feast Day: August
30th
Profile
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 constance, 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 which 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.
Born:1586 at Lima, Peru
as Isabel
Died: August 24,
1617 at Lima, Peru
Beatified: April 15,
1668 by Pope Clement IX
Canonized: April 2,
1671 by Pope Clement X
Representation: anchor;
crown of flowers; crown of roses; Holy Infant; roses; Dominican tertiary
holding roses; Dominican tertiary accompanied by the Holy Infant
Patronage: against vanity;
Americas; Central America; embroiderers; florists; gardeners; India;
Latin America; Lima, Peru; needle workers; New World;
people ridiculed for their piety; Peru; Philippines;
diocese of Santa Rosa, California; South America; vanity;
Villareal Samar, Phillipines; West Indies
Anonymous
Cusco School (1680 - 1700), Saint Rose of Lima with Child Jesus, circa
1680, 188 x 125, Lima Art Museum
Prayers/Commemoration
First Vespers:
Ant. Blessed art thou of
thy God, O Rose, in every tabernacle of Jacob: because in every nation which
shall hear thy name, the God of Israel shall be magnified on account of thee.
V. Pray for us, Blessed
Rose.
R. That we may be made
worthy of the promises of Christ
Lauds:
Ant. O sweet-scented
Rose, diffusing everywhere the odor of virtue, make us sharers of the light and
sweetness which thou enjoyest.
V. Virgins shall be led
to the King after her.
R. Her companions shall
be presented to Thee.
Second Vespers:
Ant. Thou art the glory
of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel, the honor of our people. O Rose thou hast done
valiantly, and thy heart hath been strengthened.
V. Pray for us, Blessed
Rose.
R. That we may be made
worthy of the Promises of Christ.
Prayer
Let us Pray: Almighty
God, the giver of all good thing, who wast pleased that Blessed Rose, early
watered by the dew of Thy grace, should blossom in the Indies with the beauty
of virginity and patience, grant unto us, Thy servants, that running after the
fragrance of her sweetness, we may be found worthy to become the good odor of
Christ. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.
Readings
Lord, increase my
sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart.
Saint Rose of Lima
Apart from the cross
there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.
Saint Rose of Lima
Our Lord and Savior
lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: "Let all men know
that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of
afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the
gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to
stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without
the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven."
When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemd to place me in
the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every
age, sex and status: "Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you
about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We
cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon
trouble to attain a deep aprticipation in the divine nature, the glory of the
sons of God and perfect happiness of soul."
"If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how
beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how
many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles
that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are
weighed when they are distributed to men."
from the writings of Saint Rose of Lima
SOURCE :
http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saints%20May.html#Rose of Lima
_-_stained-glass%2C_St._Rose_of_Lima.jpg)
Saint Rose of Lima
on stained-glass windows, Stained-glass
windows in Saint Mary's Church (Greenville, Ohio)
St. Rose of Lima, Virgin
From her life written by
Hansen a Dominican friar, and from the elegant panegyric pronounced by F. Paul
Oliva, S. J., in presence of the pope.
A.D. 1617.
ASIA, Europe, and Africa
had been watered with the blood of many martyrs, and adorned during many ages,
with the shining examples of innumerable saints, whilst, by the inscrutable
judgments of God, the vast regions of America lay barren, and, as it were,
abandoned till the faith of Christ began to enlighten them, and this saint
appeared on that hemisphere like a rose amidst thorns, the first-fruits of its
canonized saints. She was of Spanish extraction, born at Lima, the capital of
Peru, in 1586. 1 She
was christened Isabel; but the figure and colour of her face in the cradle
seeming, in some measure, to resemble a beautiful rose, the name of Rose was
given her. From her infancy her patience in suffering, and her love of mortification
were extraordinary, and whilst yet a child, she ate no fruit, and fasted three
days a week, allowing herself on them only bread and water, and on other days
taking only unsavory herbs and pulse. When she was grown up, her garden was
planted only with bitter herbs, and interspersed with figures of crosses. In
her exercises she took St. Catherine of Sienna for her model. Every incentive
of pride and sensuality was to her an object of abhorrence; and, for fear of
taking any secret satisfaction in vanity, she studied to make those things in
which it might insinuate its poison, painful to her. One day her mother having
put on her head a garland of flowers, she secretly stuck in it a pin, which
pricked her so deep, that the maid at night could not take off the garland
without some difficulty. Hearing others frequently commend her beauty, and
fearing lest it should be an occasion of temptation to any one, whenever she
was to go abroad to any public place, she used, the night before, to rub her
face and hands with the bark and powder of Indian pepper, which is a violent
corrosive, in order to disfigure her skin with little blotches and swellings. A
young man happening one day to admire the fineness of the skin of her hand, she
immediately ran and thrust both her hands into hot lime, saying: “Never let my
hands be to any one occasion of temptation.” What a confusion is this example
to those who make it their study to set themselves off by their dress, to
become snares to others! We admire a St. Bennet on briers, a St. Bernard
freezing in the ice, and a St. Francis in the snow; these saints were cruel to
themselves, not to be overcome by the devil; but Rose punishes herself to
preserve others. Thus did she arm herself against her external enemies, and
against the revolt of her senses. But she was aware that this victory would
avail her little, unless she died to herself by crucifying in her heart
inordinate self-love, which is the source of pride, and all the other passions.
This is the most important and the most difficult part of our spiritual
warfare; for so long as self-love reigns in the affections of the heart, it
blasts with its poisonous influence even virtues themselves; it has so many
little artful windings, that it easily insinuates and disguises itself every
where, wears every mask, and seeks itself even in fasting and prayer. Rose
triumphed over this subtle enemy by the most profound humility and the most
perfect obedience and denial of her own will. She never departed wilfully from
the order of her parents in the least tittle, and gave proofs of her scrupulous
obedience, and invincible patience under all pains, labour, and contradictions,
which surprised all who knew her.
Her parents, by the
vicissitude of worldly affairs, fell from a state of opulence into great
distress, and Rose was taken into the family of the treasurer Gonsalvo, by that
gentleman’s pious lady; and by working there all day in the garden, and late at
night with her needle, she relieved them in their necessities. These employments
were agreeable to her penitential spirit and humility, and afforded her an
opportunity of never interrupting the interior commerce of her soul with God.
She probably would never have entertained any thoughts of another state, if she
had not found herself importuned by her friends to marry. To rid herself of
such troublesome solicitations, and more easily to comply with the obligation
she had taken upon herself by a vow of serving God in a state of holy
virginity, she enrolled herself in the third Order of St. Dominic. Her love of
solitude made her choose for her dwelling a little lonely cell in a garden.
Extraordinary fasts, hair cloths, studded iron chains which she wore about her
waist, bitter herbs mingled in the sustenance which she took, and other austerities,
were the inventions of her spirit of mortification and penance. She wore upon
her head a thin circle of silver, (a metal very common in Peru,) studded on the
inside with little sharp pricks or nails, which wounded her head, in imitation
of a crown of thorns. This she did to put her in mind of the adorable passion
of Christ, which incomprehensible mystery of divine love and mercy, she desired
to have always in her thoughts. She never spoke of herself but as of the basest
of sinful monsters, the sink of the universe, unworthy to breathe the air, to
behold the light, or to walk on the ground; and she never ceased to adore the
infinite goodness and mercy of God towards her. So ardent was her love of God,
that as often as she spoke of it, the accent of her voice, and the fire which
sparkled in her countenance, discovered the flame which consumed her holy soul.
This appeared most sensibly when she was in presence of the blessed sacrament,
and when in receiving it she united her heart to her beloved in that wonderful
fountain of his love; her whole life was a continual vehement thirst after that
divine banquet, in which she found her greatest comfort and support during the
course of her earthly pilgrimage. God favoured the fervour of her charity with
many extraordinary graces: and Christ once in a vision called her soul his
spouse. But for her humiliation, and the exercise of her virtue, she suffered,
during fifteen years, grievous persecutions from her friends and others; and,
what were much more severe trials, interior desolation, and dreadful agonies of
spiritual anguish in her soul. The devil also assaulted her with violent
temptations, filling her imagination with filthy phantoms. But God afterwards
recompensed her fidelity and constancy in this life with extraordinary
caresses. Under long and most painful sicknesses it was her prayer: “Lord,
increase my sufferings, and with them increase thy love in my heart.” She
happily passed to eternal bliss on the 24th of August, 1617, being thirty-one
years old. The chapter, senate, and all the most honourable companies of the
city, by turns, carried her body to the grave; the archbishop assisted at her
funeral. Several miracles wrought by her means were juridically proved by one
hundred and eighty witnesses before the apostolical commissaries. She was
canonized by Clement X. in 1671, and the 30th day of August has been appointed
for her festival.
The saints, whether in
the world, in the desert, or in the cloister, studied to live every moment to
God. If we make a pure and perfect intention of always doing His will the
governing principle of our whole lives, we thus consecrate to Him all our
moments, even our meals, our rest, our conversation, and whatever else we do;
all our works will thus be full. To attain to this perfection we must
crucify in our hearts all inordinate self-love, or it will creep into our
actions, and secretly rob God of them. We must study to remove every obstacle
that can hinder the perfect reign of divine love in our souls, and must pray
and labour with all our strength, that this love be continually increased in
us. If true charity animate our souls it will regulate and sanctify all our
actions. By it we shall ardently endeavour to glorify God alone in all our
works, and sincerely offer and refer ourselves and all we do to this end,
repeating in the beginning of every action, Hallowed be thy name, both
by me with all my powers and strength, and by all thy creatures now and for
ever. Or, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; may it be always
fulfilled by me, and in me, and all others, with the most ardent affection, and
pure intention, as it is by the blessed angels above, O God of my heart, my
God, and my All!
Note 1. It is not
improbable that America was known to the ancient Carthaginians, and that it was
the great island Atalantis of which Plato speaks, both in his Critias and
Timæus, as larger than Asia and Africa, though he adds, that it had been
swallowed up by an earthquake, with other fabulous accounts. It is well known
in what manner Christopher Columbo, a Genoese, under the protection of
Ferdinand, king of Spain, in 1492, first discovered the Lucay Islands in
America, viz. Guanahani or The Desired Land, and afterwards Cuba, Hispaniola,
&c.; also, how Americo Vespucci, a Florentine, by the authority of
Emmanuel, king of Portugal, in 1501, sailing as far as Brasil, discovered that
vast continent which was called from him America. Amongst the barbarous nations
which inhabited it, all the rest, though united by certain laws of society and
government, might justly be called savages comparatively to those which
composed the two great empires of Mexico and Peru. These were both acquainted
with, and very expert in the useful and necessary arts, though strangers to
sciences, and even to the use of writing or an alphabet, properly so called; so
that the memory of transactions was only preserved by signs and marks, made by
a wonderful variation of colours and knots called Quippos, in threads or cords;
and by these they expressed what they desired. The same was the manner of
writing (if it may be so called) used by the ancient Chinese, before the
invention of their hieroglyphical letters. F. Jos. Acosta (Natural and Moral
Hist. of the Indies, b. 6, c. 8,) says, these Indians who were converted to the
faith, readily wrote, or rather marked down, by a dexterous arrangement of
these Quippos, the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Creed, in
order to learn them more easily by heart. The Peruvians preserved by these
Quippos the history of the chief actions of their Incas, on which see the
accurate Inca Garcillasso de la Vega, (in Historia Incarum, l. 6, c. 8.) who
was himself of the race of the Incas. The Mexicans, and ancient inhabitants of
Canada, wrote, not by Quippos, but by certain hieroglyphics, that is, marks or
little pictures, framed with meal, or such substances, on the barks of trees.
Their figures resembled hooks, axes, cords, &c. but were never understood
by any Europeans. Specimens of them are published by Olaus Wormius of
Copenhagen, in Musæo Wormiano, p. 384, and by John de Laat. (Descr. Indiæ
Occid. l. 5, c. 10.) The Spaniards, in the conquest of Mexico, destroyed many
such books, which they at first mistook for magical charms. Certain annals of
Mexico, in this manner of writing, are preserved in the Vatican library. See
Jos. d’Acosta (Descr. Indiæ Occid. l. 7, c. 19,) and Adrian Relandus (Diss. 12,
de Linguis Americanis, t. 3, p. 166.) The Peruvians and Mexicans performed
their arithmetical operations by the help of grains of mais, or Indian wheat.
The polity or constitution of the two empires of Mexico and Peru, and their art
of government, resembled, in some respect, those of civilized kingdoms; their
cities, palaces, and temples were surprisingly magnificent and well regulated.
These were richer in Peru, but the court of Mexico was supported with greater
state. Their armies were exceedingly numerous; but their chief weapons were
bows and arrows, stones which they threw, or sharp flints fixed on poles,
instead of steel weapons. The Mexicans had a great number of fantastical idols.
They were conquered under their great emperor Montezuma, in 1521, by Ferdinand
Cortes, who with eight hundred Spaniards, and some thousand Indian allies,
destroyed the great city of Mexico, which stood in an island in the midst of a
lake. New Mexico was afterwards built upon the banks of the same water. The
history of the conquest of Mexico by Cortes is most elegantly written by Don
Antonio de Solis.
The Incas or emperors of
Peru resided in the rich and stately city of Cusco. The language of Quito was
generally understood over that whole empire, the polity of which was superior
to that of Mexico. The chief god of the Peruvians was the sun, to which they
offered, in his great temple at Cusco, bloody victims, and fruits of the earth.
Francis Pizarro, a haughty, cruel, and perfidious Spanish adventurer, conquered
Peru, caused Atabalipa, the Inca, to be strangled, and built the city of Lima,
in a valley of that name, in 1535. Pizarro, Almadra, and all the other Spanish
adventurers or generals in Peru perished by the sword in civil wars amongst
themselves. (See Histoire Générale des Voyages, &c. at Paris, 1756, t. 13,
and the relations of Condamine and Bougere; also Jos. Acosta’s History of the
Indies.) In the learned and ingenious dissertation, Upon the Peopling of
America, inserted in vol. 20, of the Universal History, (which makes amends for
certain defective parts of that work,) the common opinion is invincibly
confirmed against Whiston, that America was chiefly peopled from north-east
Tartary, and the island of Kamschatka, or Jesso, on the north of Japan, perhaps
either by a continuous tract of land towards the North Pole, or by contiguous
islands, only separated by small straits. Some ruins of Japanese or Chinese ships
have been found on the American coasts; and in Canada the people had a
tradition, that foreign merchants, clothed in silk, had formerly visited them
in great ships, namely, Chinese. The names of many of the American kings, are
Tartar, ending in ax; and Tatarax, who reigned anciently in Quivira,
means the Tartar. Manc or Mancu, the founder of the Peruvian empire, probably
came from the Manchew Tartars. Montezuma, the usual title of the emperors of
Mexico, is of Japanese extraction; for Motazaiuma, according to Hornius, is the
common appellation of the Japanese monarchs.
F. Jartoux having obliged
the world, in 1709, with an accurate description of the famous plant Gin-seng,
then only found in Manchew Tartary, it has since been discovered in Canada,
where the Americans called it Garentoguen, a word of the same import in their
language with Gin-seng, in the Tartar or Chinese, both signifying, The
thighs of a man. (See Lafitau’s dissertation on the Gin-seng, printed at
Paris in 1718.) In many particular customs, religious rites, institutions,
species of food, &c. there is a wonderful agreement or resemblance between
the Americans and the Manchew Tartars; and as these latter have no horses, so
neither were there any in America, when it was first discovered, though since
they were first imported by the Spaniards, they have been exceedingly
propagated there. The Tartars therefore furnished this great country chiefly
with its first inhabitants; some few Chinese and Japanese colonies, also
settled there. Powel, in his History of Wales, informs us, that Prince Madoc,
having been deprived of his right to the crown, in 1170, with a numerous
colony, put to sea, discovered to the west a new world of wonderful beauty and
fertility, and settled there. It is objected that there were blacks in America
when that country was first discovered. But there were only a small number
about Careta, whose ancestors seem to have been accidentally conveyed thither
from the coasts of Congo or Nigritia, in Africa. The ancient inhabitants of
Hispaniola, Canada, Mexico, and Peru, had several traditional notions alluding
to Noe, the universal deluge, and some other points of the Mosaic history, as
Herrera, Huet, Gemelli, and others, who have treated on this subject, assure
us. America was the last peopled among all the known parts of the globe; and
several migrations of Tartars into that country seem to have been made since
the establishment of Christianity. See these points proved at large in the
aforesaid dissertation, against the objections of Deists, and the whimsical
notions of Whiston, in his Dissertation upon the Curses denounced against Cain
and Lamech, pretending to prove that the Africans and Indians are their
posterity. See also the learned Spanish Benedictin, F. Bennet Feyjoo, Theatro
Critico, t. 5; Discurso 15, p. 320. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/301.html
José Antolínez (–1675), St Rose of
Lima before the Madonna, second half of XVIIth century, 206 x 158.5, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Rose of Lima (Memorial)
August 23
Born 1586 at Lima, Peru as Isabel, to Spanish immigrants to the New World. A beautiful girl and devoted daughter, she was so devoted to her vow of chastity, she used pepper and lye to ruin her complexion so she would not be attractive. Lived and meditated in a garden, raising vegetables and making embroidered items to sell to support her family and help the other poor. Dominican tertiary in 1606. Mystic. Visonary. Received invisible stigmata. Suffered from assorted physical and mental ailments. First saint born in the Americas. Founder of social work in Peru. Great devotion to Saint Catherine of Siena. Died August 24, 1617, at Lima, Peru. Beatified April 15, 1668 by Pope Clement IX, Canonized April 2, 1671 by Pope Clement X.
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0823.shtml
Lazzaro
Baldi (1624–1703), Het mystieke huwelijk van de heilige Rosa da
Lima, circa 1666, 40,7 x 32,6, Rijksmuseum
Weninger’s
Lives of the Saints – Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin
God gave to the
Christians of America, and all over the world, a beautiful example of holiness,
at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, in
the Saint whose festival is this day commemorated by the Catholic Church. Her
native place was Lima, the capital of Peru. She was named Isabel, but while yet
in the cradle, she was called Rose, as her face, in its loveliness, resembled a
rose. She took the surname of Saint Mary, by order of the Blessed Virgin.
Already in her childhood, her conduct was holy. Her intention was to follow the
example of Saint Catherine of Sienna, whose life she had read, and therefore
she entered the third order of Saint Dominic. When five years old, she
consecrated her virginity to God, and was such a perfect hand-maiden of the
Lord, that during her whole life, she never offended Him by a mortal sin, nor
even intentionally by one that was venial. Her time was divided between prayer
and work. Twelve hours she gave to devout exercises, two or three to sleep, the
rest to work. When grown to womanhood, her hand was sought by several, but she
always unhesitatingly gave the answer, that she was already promised to a
heavenly spouse. That, however, her parents might no further urge her, she
herself cut off her hair, as a sign of her consecration to God. She treated her
innocent body with extreme severity; From her childhood she abstained from
fruit, which, in Peru, is so delicious. Her fasts and abstinences were more
than human; for, when scarcely six years old, her nourishment consisted almost
entirely of water and bread. At the age of fifteen, she made a vow never to eat
meat, except when obliged by obedience. Not even when sick did she partake of
better food. Sometimes for five or eight days, she ate nothing at all, living
only on the bread of angels. During the whole of Lent, she took only five
citron seeds, daily. Incredible as this may appear to the reader, it is told by
unquestionable authority. Her bed was a rough board, or some knotted logs of
wood. Her pillow was a bag filled with rushes or stones. Every night she
scourged her body with two small iron chains, in remembrance of the painful
scourging of our Saviour, and for the conversion of sinners. When, however, her
Confessor forbade her this, she, after the example of Saint Catherine of
Sienna, bound, three times around her body, a thin chain, which in a few weeks,
had cut so deeply into the flesh that it was scarcely to be seen. Fearing that
she would be compelled to reveal it, she prayed to God for help, and the chain
became loose of itself. Hardly were the wounds healed, when she again wore the
chain. until her Confessor, being informed of it, forbade her to do so, She
then had a penitential robe made of horse-hair, which reached below her knees,
and occasioned her intense suffering. She wore under her veil, in remembrance
of our Saviour’s crown of thorns, a crown which was studded inside with pins,
and which wounded her head most painfully. To attend the better to her prayers,
she loved solitude above everything. To this end, she asked the permission of
her parents to build a small cell for herself in the corner of the garden. This
cell was only five feet long and four feet wide; but she lived more happily in
it than many others do in royal palaces. O, how many graces she obtained from
heaven in this place! How many visions she had there of Saint Catherine of
Sienna, her Guardian Angel, the Blessed Virgin, and even of Christ Himself! She
was also frequently favored with visions in other places. The most remarkable
of these was one which she had on Palm Sunday, in the chapel of the Holy
Rosary, before an image of the Blessed Virgin. Rose, gazing at the picture,
perceived that the Virgin Mother, as well as the divine Child, regarded her
most graciously, and at last she heard distinctly from the lips of the Divine
Child, the words: “Rose, you shall be my spouse.” Although filled with holy
awe, she replied, in the words which the Blessed Virgin had spoken to the
Angel: “Behold, I am a handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy
word.” After this, the Virgin Mother said: “May you well appreciate the favor
which my Son has accorded to you, dear Rose!” I leave it to the pious reader to
picture to himself the inexpressible joy which this vision gave to Rose. It
served her as a most powerful incentive to the practice of all virtues. Among
these virtues, surely not the least was the heroic patience which this holy
virgin showed, as well in bodily suffering, as in interior, spiritual anguish.
The Almighty permitted her, for fifteen years, to be daily tormented, at least,
for an hour, by the most hideous imaginations, which were of such a nature,
that she sometimes thought that she was in the midst of hell. She could think
neither of God nor of the graces He had bestowed upon her; neither did prayer
or devout reading give her any comfort It sometimes seemed as if she had been
forsaken by God. In this manner, God wished to prove and purify her virtue, as
He had done in regard to many other Saints. Her patience was also most severely
tried by painful diseases, as she sometimes had a combination of two or three
maladies at the same time, and suffered most intensely. During the last three
years of her life, she was disabled in almost all her limbs; but her
resignation to the will of God was too perfect to allow her to utter a word of
complaint. All she desired and prayed for was to suffer still more for Christ’s
sake. She, at the same time, encouraged other sick persons, whom she served
with indescribable kindness, as long as she was well. She endeavored to comfort
them when it was necessary to prepare them for a happy death; for, her greatest
joy was to speak of God and to lead others to Him. One day when she was greatly
troubled about her salvation, Christ appeared to her and said: “My daughter, I
condemn those only who will not be saved.” He assured her at the same time,
first, that she would go to heaven; secondly, that she never would lose His
grace through mortal sin; thirdly, that divine assistance would never fail her
in any emergency. God also revealed to her the day and hour of her death, which
took place in her thirty-first year. After the holy sacraments had been
administered to her, she begged all present to forgive her faults, and exhorted
them to love God. The nearer the hour of her death approached, the greater
became her joy. Shortly before her end, she went into an ecstasy, and after it,
she said to her Confessor: “Oh! how much I could tell you of the sweetness of
God, and of the blissful heavenly dwelling of the Almighty!” She requested her
brother to take away the pillow that had been placed under her head, that she
might die on the boards, as Christ had died on the cross. When this was done,
she exclaimed three times: “Jesus, Jesus, be with me!” and expired. After
death, her face was so beautiful, that all who looked at her were lost in
astonishment. Her funeral was most imposing. The Canons first carried the body
a part of the way to the church; after them the senate, and finally, the
superiors of the different orders, so great was the esteem they all entertained
for her holiness. God honored her after her death, by many miracles; and
Clement X canonized her in 1671 and placed ner among the number of the holy
virgins.
Practical Considerations
• Have you been able to
read without astonishment the different means that Saint Rose employed to give
pain to her body, and constantly to mortify herself? What do you think of it? I
will tell you what I think. We find in the lives of almost all the Saints, that
they abstained from all worldly pleasure, and exercised themselves in voluntary
penances. As, however, the people of our day will hear nothing of all this, and
will live in comfort, and still think that, by avoiding all mortifications of
the flesh, and by enjoying all the pleasures of the world, they will go to the
same heaven into which the Saints endeavored to enter by so many voluntary
austerities, I must come to the conclusion that either the Saints acted very
foolishly in being so severe to themselves, or that the world of our day errs
in imagining that it has found an easier way to eternal life. What do you
think? Whom will you follow? The world or the Saints? Can you name to me a
single one who has followed the world and yet entered the Kingdom of God?
Perhaps you hope to be the first. Take care; your hope will deceive you.
• Saint Rose was assured
by God that she would be saved, that she would never lose His grace, and that
heavenly assistance would never fail her. Ah! what great and priceless favors!
The chaste virgin had made herself worthy by her holy life, of these graces, as
much as was in her power. Your tepid piety cannot promise you such graces; but
it is your duty to pray frequently and earnestly that God may grant them to
you. Pray therefore fervently and often to God that He may not condemn you, but
grant you life everlasting. Pray to Him humbly, that you may never lose His
grace by a mortal sin, and that He may grant you assistance in all your needs.
To obtain these graces endeavor to lead a Christian life. Although this does
not give you an infallible assurance of your salvation, it gives you reason to
hope that you will not go to perdition. Think on Christ’s words: “I condemn no
one who wishes to be saved.” “But who is he, you perhaps ask, who will not be
saved.” According to the words, no one; but according to the works, many, and
they are all those who become guilty of mortal sin, who continue in their
iniquity, who defer their penance too long. If we voluntarily do what we know
will lead us to destruction, it may in truth be said of us, that we wish to be
condemned. If we do no penance, after having committed sin, it may again be
said, with truth, that we wish to be condemned; because we do not make use of
those means by which we may escape hell. Examine yourself and see if you do not
perhaps belong to those unfortunate beings who will be condemned. If you do not
desire to be one of their number, avoid sin; and if you have committed it, do
penance immediately. “As often as a man becomes guilty of a mortal sin, so
often does he sentence himself to eternal misery,*’ says Saint Chrysostom.
MLA
Citation
Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin”. Lives
of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info.
29 April 2018. Web. 21 August 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-rose-of-lima-virgin/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-rose-of-lima-virgin/
Harry
Clarke (1889–1931), Saint Rose of Lima, St. Michael's
Church, Ballinasloe, South Aisle Fifth Window
Saint Rose of Lima
Jul 09, 2017 /
Written by: America
Needs Fatima
Feast August 23
Born Isabel Flores y de
Oliva in Lima, the capital city of Peru, her nickname, “Rose,” came from a
childhood incident in which a household servant attested to having seen the
child’s face turn into a mystical rose.
She took the name
formally as her own, at her confirmation in 1597 by the saintly Archbishop of
Lima, Turibio de Mogrovejo.
Remarkable, even as a
child, for her great reverence and love for all that related to God, she
developed an intense devotion to the Infant Jesus and His Holy Mother, and gave
herself up to a life of prayer and mortification. Industrious and adept, she
became very proficient in the arts of sewing, embroidery and lace-making, and
used her needle to help support her home and family, and as a means to assist
the many poor who came to depend on her generous alms.
In imitation of St.
Catherine, whom she took as a saintly role model, she fasted three times a
week, wore rough clothing, and roughened her face and hands to combat the
temptations to vanity. She spent hours on her knees before the Blessed
Sacrament and contrary to the usual practice of the time, was a daily
communicant.
Assailed by tremendous
temptations against the Faith and the virtue of purity, which caused her
excruciating agony of mind and desolation of soul, she multiplied her
mortifications and prayers, and with her confessor’s approval, took a vow of
virginity.
In this last resolve,
Rose had to combat the opposition of her parents, who wished her to marry. The
battle of wills continued for ten years until, won over by her patience and
prayer, they gave their consent to her decision.
At the age of twenty,
Rose received the habit of St. Dominic as a tertiary Dominican. From that
moment onwards, the severity and variety of her mortifications redoubled.
With her brother’s help,
she built herself a little cell from sun-dried bricks in the garden behind
their home. Here she would retire at night for solitude and prayer and take
whatever rest she permitted her body on a bed of broken glass and pottery,
rough stones and thorns. She took to wearing an iron chain around her waist and
a metal-spiked crown concealed about her head. Entire days without food would
be followed by sleepless nights spent in prayer. During her suffering, Our Lord
fortified her with the knowledge of His presence and consoled her with His
love, frequently revealing Himself to her and drawing her soul into ecstasies
that lasted for hours.
During these sublime
embraces with God, she offered Him all her penances and mortifications in
reparation for the offences against His Divine Majesty, for the sins of
idolatry, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory.
During her last illness,
her constant prayer was "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them
increase Your love in my heart.” Rose died in 1617 at the age of thirty-one
years.
She was beatified by
Clement IX in 1667 and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, thus becoming the first
American-born saint.
SOURCE : https://americaneedsfatima.org/articles/saint-rose-of-lima
Ricostruzione
facciale di santa Rosa da Lima eseguita dal designer Cícero
Moraes a partire dallo studio del suo cranio
Esta
é a face de Santa Rosa de Lima, reconstruída pelo 3D designer Cícero Moraes a
partir do estudo de seu crânio, o qual se encontra no Convento de Santo Domingo
na cidade de Lima, no Peru. Esse projeto foi realizado graças ao trabalho da
Equipe Brasileira de Antropologia Forense e Odontologia Legal (Ebrafol) sob a
responsabilidade técnica e científica do Prof. Dr. Paulo Eduardo Miamoto Dias,
especialista em Odontologia Legal, com o patrocínio da Faculdade FASIPE de
Sinop-MT e da Paróquia Santa Rosa de Lima em Guarujá-SP, com o apoio logístico
da Sociedad Peruana de Odontología Legal Forense y Criminalística (Spolfoc), da
Universidad Inca Garsilaso de la Vega e da Universidad San Martín de Porres,
todas localizadas em Lima, Peru. Todo o processo de análise antrooplógica foi
documentado pela L8 Filmes de Sinop-MT.
St. Rose was beautiful!
February 18, 2016Catholic Saints Guy3
Comments
Not long ago, I had the
extreme pleasure of serving as Communications director for the Diocese of Santa
Rosa in California, one of five dioceses around the world dedicated to St. Rose
of Lima, the patron saint of Peru’s capital and the first saint of the
Americas.
So you can imagine my
interest when I learned scientists recently did a facial reconstruction of her
from her skull. They also did this on St. Martin de Porres (patron
of the saint I attended in my early teens) and St. Juan Macias, all
Dominican saints, all from Lima (must have been something in the [holy]
water!).
Click on their names
above for more information on each. In any event, you can see from the above
just what a pretty woman St. Rose was. Here’s what the looked like, according
to artists. It will be interesting when November comes to see how close the artists
came.
In an article I wrote
about her for Santa Rosa’s diocesan newspaper, I noted, “Growing up, her hero
was St. Catherine of Siena, TOSD, and she emulated her in every way, even
fasting three times per week and performing penances in secret. When, like
Catherine, men praised her beauty and proposed marriage, she, like Catherine,
cut off her hair. She went one better, however. Rosa smeared hot peppers and
lime powder on her face so it would blister and made her look revolting, thus
scaring away suitors.
“She took these drastic
measures because had already decided she would devote her life to the Lord
through the consecrated life and not through marriage and family.”
A lot of times when
someone says some bygone saint was “beautiful,” I wonder if it was hyperbole.
Well, here we have proof. But her physical beauty couldn’t hold a candle to her
spiritual charms. See for yourself. I’ve copied and pasted the full article
mentioned above.
Enjoy!
St. Rose of Lima, TOSD
Memorial: August 23
Although St. Rose of
Lima, TOSD, is our diocese’s patroness, how many of us know much about this
woman in whose memory five dioceses and at least twenty-five parishes in the
United States alone are dedicated?
Born in Lima, Peru, to a
wealthy soldier and mestiza mother, she was baptized Isabel Flores y
de Oliva and gained the nickname “Rosa” when a servant claimed to see her face
transform into a rose. At her confirmation in 1597 at age 11 by St. Turibius de
Mongrovejo, archbishop of Lima, she formally adopted Rosa as her name.
Growing up, her hero was
St. Catherine of Siena, TOSD, and she emulated her in every way, even fasting
three times per week and performing penances in secret. When, like Catherine,
men praised her beauty and proposed marriage, she, like Catherine, cut off her
hair. She went one better, however. Rosa smeared hot peppers and lime powder on
her face so it would blister and made her look revolting, thus scaring away
suitors.
She took these drastic
measures because had already decided she would devote her life to the Lord
through the consecrated life and not through marriage and family.
She wasn’t simply trying
to ward off potential suitors, though. She wanted to fight her own temptations
to vanity. When a person is vain, they have the sort of pride that leads to
self-centeredness and thereby sin. She wanted to never sin.
All of this made her
uncomprehending parents furious, and they told her to stop. It was all so odd.
It was OK to be holy, but did she have to be so strange and different?
In an odd type of teenage
rebellion, she responded by spending more hours in prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament and attending daily Mass. Although he wasn’t happy about this, her
father finally gave her a room in the home as a sort of monastic cell.
From her one room
“convent,” she took care of the sick and underprivileged. Before Rosa began her
apostolate, no one in Peru had provided any social services. Ironically, her
work grew to include her family, which fell on hard times after her father’s
investments failed. Being an expert seamstress, she sold her sewing work as
well as flowers to support them and the poor. Otherwise her only trips beyond
the home were to attend daily Mass.
When Rose did go out, she
wore a silver crown on her head. The silver concealed inward-turned thorns, and
these she further covered with roses. About her waist she also wore a spiked
iron chain called “the discipline.”
Her bed she constructed
“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 for hours.”
Does this seem odd?
As American Catholic puts it, “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.”
She loved God to the
fullest and spent her life on Him, dying at age 31. The entire city attended
her funeral, with leading citizens serving as pallbearers.
Many miracles followed
her death, which lead to her beatification by Clement IX in 1667, and her
canonization by Clement X in 1671. She was the first American to be raised to
the altars. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaintsguy.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/st-rose-was-beautiful/
Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru where the remains of St. Rose of Lima rest
Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru where the remains of St. Rose of Lima rest
Nave lateral donde descansan los restos de Santa Rosa de Lima, San Martín de Porres y San Juan Macías, Iglesia de Santo Domingo, Lima, Peru
Saint Rose of Lima
Feast Day: August 23
Patron of:
Americas,
Central America,
Peru,
Phillippines,
South America,
India,
New World,
florists,
gardeners, p
eople ridiculed for their piety
Symbol: Holy Infant; roses; Dominican tertiery holding roses; Dominican tertiery accompanied by the Holy Infant
Catherine Fournier
Even though Saint Rose of
Lima was named Isabel De Flores Y Del Oliva at birth, everyone called her
'Rose' because her cheeks were so red. She was a beautiful baby and a beautiful
child. Since most young women get married when they grow up, everyone was certain
that a beauty like Rose would marry. Her parents, who were poor, hoped that she
would marry a rich young man who could help look after Rose's family.
Rose had other plans. She
disliked her beauty because it made people stare at her, and notice her. She
didn't want to be admired and praised, she wanted all admiration and praise to
go to Jesus. She loved Jesus very much, especially the Infant Jesus, and made a
vow of chastity when she was young. So, while she loved her parents and always
obeyed them, she refused their suggestions of marriage.
Instead, she moved into a
small shack in the family garden and spent her time in prayer and fasting. Rose
worked hard, growing flowers and doing embroidery and other needlework to
support her family, but she also served the poor and sick in many ways. She had
a great devotion and admiration for SaintCatherine
of Siena, and modelled her life after that saint.
When she was twenty she
became a Dominican Tertiary, taking vows of poverty. She suffered in many ways,
both from her mortifications, ill health, and the ridicule of family and
friends who didn't understand what she was doing. She died at the age of 31,
and went to a richly earned reward in Heaven.
Practiced Families
Saint Rose of Lima is the
patroness of Latin America and the Philippines. Her real name was Isabel, but
she was such a beautiful baby that she was called Rose. Some accounts of her
life report that when she was still a baby, a mystical vision transformed her
face into a rose.
Her parents were very
proud of their beautiful daughter. One day, her mother put a wreath of flowers
on her head to show off her loveliness to friends. But Rose did not want to be
admired for her looks, for her heart had been given to Jesus. So she the wreath
that enhanced her beauty turned it into an instrument of mortification by
putting a long pin through it into her head. Another time worried that her
beauty might be a temptation to someone, she rubbed her face with pepper until
it was all red and blistered.
Saint Rose worked hard to
support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to
get her to marry. That she would not do. She had made a vow of chastity and
promised her life to Christ. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she
talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled.
Rose had many temptations
from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling
of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully
offered all these troubles to Him. She bore all these adversities with patience
and consoled the sick and suffering among the poor, Indians and slaves. As a
consequence, she is regarded as the originator of social service in Peru.
Experienced Families
This saint, the first to
be canonised in the Americas was born in 1586, in Lima, Peru. At the saint's
confirmation in 1597 at the age of eleven, she took the name of Rose, because
as an infant her face had been seen transformed by a mystical rose, and her red
cheeks and beauty earned her the name Rose from an early age.
As a child she had a
great reverence and pronounced love for God and all things relating to HIm. She
was especially devoted to the Infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother before whose
altar she spent hours. At a young age, she gave her life to prayer and
mortification, practicing such acts as would turn her attention unfailingly to
God. She was always obedient to her parents and worked hard, both at her
studies and at her domestic work. She was especially skilled with her needle
and eventually helped support the family by growing flowers and needlework.
When she read a biography
of Saint Catherine she was inspired to take that saint as her model. She began
by fasting three times a week.Then she added secret severe penances, and
finally cut off her hair, adopted coarse clothing, and roughened 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. Daily reception of
the Blessed Sacrament consoled her.
Finally she determined to
take a vow of virginity. This presented still more trials and difficulties to
the saint. She had to combat the opposition of her parents, who wished her to
marry. She had to resist temptations which assaulted her faith, purity and patience.
She endured long periods of desolation of spirit, which caused her to doubt her
every decision. After ten long years, she won her parent's permission to remain
unmarried, and to become a Dominican Tertiary. In her twentieth year she
received the habit of Saint Dominic and upon the permission of her spiritual
advisor, moved permentantly into a small grotto built in her parent's garden
where she had often spent nights in prayer.
She increased her
mortifications and sacrifices, continued to work to support the family and
serve the poor in whatever way she could find. For fourteen years this
martyrdom of her body continued without relaxation, but not without
consolation. Our Lord revealed Himself to her frequently. At these times she
offered to Him all her mortifications and penances in expiation for offences
against Him, 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 honoured. Her feast is celebrated 23 August. She is represented wearing a
crown of roses.
Prayer:
God, You filled Saint
Rose with love for You and enabled her to leave the world and be free for You
through the austerity of penance. Through her intercession, help us to follow
her footsteps on earth and enjoy the torrent of Your delights in Heaven. Amen.
The illustration above
and more information about Saint Rose of Lima can be found at the Saint Joseph's
Patron Saint Index. Other sources used to this Saint's Profile
are: The
Catholic Encyclopedia and Catholic
Online Saints and Angels.
Return to Saints Page.
SOURCE : https://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19980701/SAINTS/STROSE.HTM
Basílica Santa Rosa de Lima, en Avenida Belgrano, barrio de Balvanera, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Interior y nave central, Basílica Santa Rosa de Lima, en Avenida Belgrano, barrio de Balvanera, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Saint Rose of Lima
August 23
Saint Rose of Lima’s
Story
(April 20, 1586 – August
24, 1617)
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
Saint 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.
Reflection
It is easy to dismiss
excessive penances of the saints as the expression of a certain culture or
temperament. But a woman wearing a crown of thorns may at least prod our consciences.
We enjoy the most comfort-oriented life in human history. We eat too much,
drink too much, use a million gadgets, fill our eyes and ears with everything
imaginable. Commerce thrives on creating useless needs on which to spend our
money. It seems that when we have become most like slaves, there is the
greatest talk of “freedom.” Are we willing to discipline ourselves in such an
atmosphere?
Saint Rose of Lima is the
Patron Saint of:
Americas
Florists
Latin America
Peru
Philippines
South America
SOURCE : https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-rose-of-lima/
Domenico
Piola, La Madonna offre il Bambino a Santa Rosa da Lima, 1673 ca, Santa Maria
di Castello, Genoa
Domenico
Piola: Rosa vor Maria,
Altarbild, um 1673, in der Kirche Santa
Maria di Castello in Genua
Santa Rosa da Lima Vergine
23
agosto - Memoria Facoltativa
Nacque a Lima il 20
aprile 1586, decima di tredici figli. Il suo nome di battesimo era Isabella.
Era figlia di una nobile famiglia, di origine spagnola. Quando la sua famiglia
subì un tracollo finanziario. Rosa si rimboccò le maniche e aiutò in casa anche
nei lavori materiali. Sin da piccola aspirò a consacrarsi a Dio nella vita
claustrale, ma rimase «vergine nel mondo». Il suo modello di vita fu santa
Caterina da Siena. Come lei, vestì l'abito del Terz'ordine domenicano, a
vent'anni. Allestì nella casa materna una sorta di ricovero per i bisognosi,
dove prestava assistenza ai bambini ed agli anziani abbandonati, soprattutto a
quelli di origine india. Dal 1609 si richiuse in una cella di appena due metri
quadrati, costruita nel giardino della casa materna, dalla quale usciva solo
per la funzione religiosa, dove trascorreva gran parte delle sue giornate a
pregare ed in stretta unione con il Signore. Ebbe visioni mistiche. Nel 1614 fu
obbligata a trasferirsi nell'abitazione della nobile Maria de Ezategui, dove
morì, straziata dalle privazioni, tre anni dopo. Era il 24 agosto 1617, festa
di S. Bartolomeo. (Avvenire)
Patronato: Fioristi
Etimologia: Rosa = dal
nome del fiore
Emblema: Giglio, Rosa
Martirologio Romano:
Santa Rosa, vergine, che, insigne fin da fanciulla per la sua austera sobrietà
di vita, vestì a Lima in Perù l’abito delle Suore del Terz’Ordine regolare dei
Predicatori. Dedita alla penitenza e alla preghiera e ardente di zelo per la
salvezza dei peccatori e delle popolazioni indigene, aspirava a donare la vita
per loro, giungendo a imporsi grandi sacrifici, pur di ottenere loro la
salvezza della fede in Cristo. La sua morte avvenne il giorno seguente a
questo.
(24 agosto: A Lima in
Perù, anniversario della morte di santa Rosa, la cui memoria si celebra il
giorno precedente a questo).
Il mese di Maggio è
tradizionalmente consacrato all’impegno di rendere particolari omaggi alla
Madre divina. Gli omaggi possono essere di infinite qualità e ogni santo, a suo
modo, ne insegna di personali e unici. Il proposito di incrementare la preghiera
mariana del Rosario, il rinnovato impegno a vincere un difetto predominante del
proprio carattere, la rinuncia a qualche diletto lecito, le opere di carità e
qualsiasi altra cosa purché fatta in onore della Santa Vergine.
Una santa che sembra
compendiare tutte le pratiche di devozione alla Madonna è proprio santa Rosa da
Lima, la quale, unendo la preghiera e la penitenza, diviene un valido modello
per chi, a misura della propria generosità, vuol fare del mese di Maggio un
attestato d’amore a Maria Santissima.
La Santa peruviana, in
questo, era “smisurata”. Un giorno ad esempio ebbe l’idea di confezionare un
abito alla Madonna: «Le farò – diceva – un gonna con 600 Ave Maria, altrettante
Salve Regina e quindici giorni di digiuno, a ricordo della pura gioia
cagionatale dall’Annunciazione. Comporrò il manto con identico numero di Ave
Maria e di Salve Regina, aggiungendovi quindici Rosari e quindici giorni di
digiuno in memoria della sua visita a santa Elisabetta...», e con altre
preghiere e sacrifici confezionò le frange e gli ornamenti del manto, il velo e
una collana. Tutto ciò era massimamente gradito alla Madonna che ricambiò il
suo zelo in modo singolare.
Rosa di Santa Maria
Il nome di battesimo
della Santa non è quello con cui è universalmente venerata. Nata il 20 aprile
1586 a Lima, i genitori Gaspare Flores e Maria Oliva al fonte battesimale le
imposero il nome di Isabel Flores. Non così il Cielo. Successe infatti che un
giorno mentre la bimba di appena tre mesi dormiva nella sua culla, i passanti
videro il suo volto divenire simile a una rosa sbocciata. Da allora la madre
non volle chiamarla con altro nome che quello di Rosa. Alcuni anni dopo, però,
mentre la fanciulla protestava davanti alla statua della Madonna del Rosario:
«Perché mai io sola fra tutti non porto il nome impostomi nel Battesimo? E
quello che porto, non mi viene forse dato per impulso di vanità?», la Madonna
le apparve rassicurandola: «Il mio divin Figlio approva il nome di Rosa, ma
vuole che vi aggiunga il mio. Perciò d’ora innanzi ti chiamerai Rosa di Santa
Maria». Dunque non Isabel, né Rosa, ma Rosa di Santa Maria si doveva chiamare
colei che avrebbe fatto della sua esistenza un dono alla Vergine.
Sempre vergine
Una volta che la giovane
Rosa aveva portato un mazzo di fiori a Gesù, il Signore le apparve e tra tutti
ne prese uno dicendole: «Rosa, tu sei questo fiore. Io lo prendo per me». Ecco
l’aspirazione di tutta la sua vita: lasciare il mondo di cui aveva compreso la
vanità ed essere solo di Cristo. All’età di 5 anni aveva già emesso il voto di
perpetua verginità – ciò la rende ancor più simile alla Semprevergine,
anch’Ella entrata nel tempio alla verdissima età di 3 anni –, tuttavia il
desiderio di consacrazione divenne via via più esigente spingendola a chiedere
di entrare tra le Clarisse di Lima.
Venne il giorno tanto
atteso in cui lasciò la casa paterna, accompagnata dal fratello Ferdinando, ma
successe un fatto imprevisto. Durante il tragitto, passando dinanzi alla chiesa
di San Domenico, pregò il fratello di poter entrare a visitare per l’ultima
volta la Madonna del Rosario. Entrata che fu, s’inginocchiò e si mise in
preghiera. Il fratello, che aveva fretta, cominciò a richiamarla, dicendole che
in monastero il tempo per pregare non le sarebbe certo mancato, ma la Santa,
nonostante i ripetuti tentativi, non poteva alzarsi da lì, come trattenuta da
una forza sovraumana. Comprese allora che la destinazione scelta non era quella
designata da Dio e promise alla Vergine che se le avesse ridato la libertà di
alzarsi, avrebbe senz’altro aspettato di conoscere i Sacri Voleri. La Madonna
acconsentì sorridendo e non tardò a manifestare a Rosa la divina Volontà. Il
giorno 10 agosto 1606, in quella stessa cappella della Madonna del Rosario, la
giovane ventenne vestiva l’abito del Terz’Ordine Domenicano.
“Sicut lilium inter
spinas”
Non può esservi
espressione più adatta a evocare l’identità spirituale di questa Santa, del
famoso versetto del Cantico dei cantici: come giglio fra le spine. La vergine
peruviana infatti è passata alla storia dell’agiografia come una Santa
penitente del calibro di Santa Maria Maddalena.
Crescendo, non solo aveva
allontanato da sé ogni vanità nella cura del corpo e delle vesti ma, convinta
che “Amore con amor si paga”, volle dare al Signore un ricambio d’amore quanto
più simile al Suo. Da qui la proporzione gigantesca e quasi spaventosa della
sua penitenza.
Il suo programma
giornaliero di vita ha cifre sorprendenti: 12 ore di preghiera, 10 ore di
lavoro manuale e 2 sole di riposo. Di notte, per poter pregare senza essere
vinta dal sonno, si teneva sospesa ai chiodi di una croce un po’ più alta di
lei e appoggiata al muro. Tra le altre preghiere, durante questo tempo
recitava, con particolare devozione, le Litanie lauretane in onore della
Madonna. Fu il suo direttore spirituale a moderare il fervore della Santa,
imponendole maggior tempo per il riposo. La mattina dopo un sonno così scarso e
scomodo, la natura faticava a svegliarsi. La Santa ricorse come di consueto
all’aiuto della Madre divina pregandola a svegliarla all’ora stabilita. La
Madonna si assunse l’incarico, svegliandola ogni giorno delicatamente. Una
mattina al richiamo della Madonna che come al solito le diceva: «Levati,
figlia, ecco l’ora della preghiera», la Santa rispose: «Cara Madre, io mi levo,
mi levo», ma il sonno la colse nuovamente. La Santissima Vergine allora le si
avvicinò di nuovo, la toccò e le disse: «Levati, o figlia, è la seconda volta
che ti chiamo». La Santa questa volta aprì immediatamente gli occhi, ed ebbe
appena il tempo di vedere il volto soave della Madonna.
Basterebbe questo
episodio per comprendere quale intimità univa Madre e figlia, e la sua vita è
tutta intessuta di tali preziosi episodi. Un altro giorno, per esempio, mentre
la Santa pregava nella chiesa di San Domenico, improvvisamente si ricordò di
aver lasciato su qualche mobile della camera uno strumento di penitenza.
Turbata perché qualcuno l’avrebbe potuto vedere, pregò la Madonna che lo
nascondesse. Detto fatto: quando tornò a casa lo trovò rinchiuso in un
ripostiglio, messovi dall’Angelo Custode per ordine di Maria Santissima.
L’ultimo sorriso
Consumata dalla
penitenza, offerta per la salvezza dei peccatori e la conversione delle
popolazioni indigene, si avvicinò per lei piuttosto presto il tempo di passare
da questa all’altra vita. Quel che temeva non era una vita breve, ma
unicamente una vita vuota d’amore, fu per questo che al sentore della fine
imminente, pur avendo solo 31 anni, non poté che rallegrarsi, realizzando di
aver dato veramente tutto al Suo Signore. Ma prima avrebbe dovuto soffrire
ancora molto. Durante la sua agonia ebbe a esclamare: «So bene di meritare ciò
che soffro; ma non avrei mai creduto che tanti mali potessero riversarsi su un
corpo umano e diramarsi così in tutte le membra... Nondimeno si compia in ciò,
come in tutto il resto, la divina Volontà».
Qualche giorno prima di
morire le fu dato il Santo Viatico e l’Estrema Unzione, e fu rapita in
un’estasi d’amore. Morì solo dopo aver rinnovato i suoi voti religiosi,
ripetendo più volte: «Gesù, sii con me!». Era la notte del 23 agosto 1617.
Dopo la morte, quando il
suo corpo, accerchiato da ogni parte da gente esultante di devozione, fu
trasportato nella Cappella del Rosario, la Madonna da quella statua dinanzi
alla quale la Santa tante volte aveva pregato le sorrise ancora, per l’ultima
volta. La folla presente gridò al miracolo.
Quel sorriso è il segno
del più bel compiacimento che la Madre divina volle mostrare per una vita spesa
interamente in una eroicità d’amore con pochi eguali.
Autore: Rito Cascioli
Fonte: Il Settimanale di
Padre Pio
Nacque a Lima, capitale
dell'allora ricco Perù, il 20 aprile 1586, decima di tredici figli. Il suo nome
di battesimo era Isabella. Era figlia di una nobile famiglia, di origine spagnola.
Il padre si chiamava Gaspare Flores, gentiluomo della Compagnia degli
Archibugi, la madre donna Maria de Oliva. Per cui, il nome della Santa era
Isabella Flores de Oliva. Ma questo sarà dimenticato in favore del nome che le
diede, per la prima volta, la serva affezionata, di origine india, Mariana, che
le faceva da balia, la quale, colpita dalla bellezza della bambina, secondo il
costume indios, le diede il nome di un fiore. “Sei bella - le disse - sei
rosa”.
Fu cresimata per le mani
dell'arcivescovo di Lima ed anche lui Santo, Toribio de Mogrovejo, che le
confermò, tra l'altro, in onore alle sue straordinarie doti fisiche e morali,
quell’appellativo datole dalla serva india. Rosa ad esso aggiunse “di Santa Maria”
ad esprimere il tenerissimo amore che sempre la legò alla Vergine Madre del
cielo soprattutto sotto il titolo di Regina del Rosario, la quale non mancò di
comunicarle il dono dell'infanzia spirituale fino a farle condividere la gioia
e l'onore di stringere spesso tra le braccia il Bambino Gesù.
Visse un'infanzia serena
ed economicamente agiata. Ben presto, però, la sua famiglia subì un tracollo
finanziario. Rosa, che aveva studiato con impegno, aveva una discreta cultura
ed aveva appreso l'arte del ricamo. Si rimboccò, quindi, le maniche, aiutando
la famiglia in ogni genere di attività, dai lavori casalinghi alla coltivazione
dell'orto ed al ricamo, onde potersi guadagnare da vivere.
Sin da piccola aspirò a
consacrarsi a Dio nella vita claustrale, ma il Signore le fece conoscere la sua
volontà che rimanesse vergine nel mondo. Ebbe modo di leggere qualcosa di
S. Caterina da Siena. Subito la elesse a propria madre e sorella, facendola suo
modello di vita, apprendendo da lei l'amore per Cristo, per la sua Chiesa e per
i fratelli indios. Come la santa senese vestì l'abito del Terz'ordine
domenicano. Aveva vent'anni. Allestì nella casa materna una sorta di ricovero
per i bisognosi, dove prestava assistenza ai bambini ed agli anziani
abbandonati, in special modo a quelli di origine india. Sempre come Caterina,
fu resa degna di soffrire la passione del Suo divino Sposo, ma provò pure la
sofferenza della “notte oscura”, che durò ben 15 anni. Ebbe anche lo
straordinario dono delle nozze mistiche. Fu arricchita dal suo Celeste Sposo
altresì di vari carismi come quello di compiere miracoli, della profezia e
della bilocazione.
Dal 1609 si richiuse in
una cella di appena due metri quadrati, costruita nel giardino della casa
materna, dalla quale usciva solo per la funzione religiosa, dove trascorreva
gran parte delle sue giornate in ginocchio, a pregare ed in stretta unione con
il Signore e delle sue visioni mistiche, che iniziarono a prodursi con
impressionante regolarità, tutte le settimane, dal giovedì al sabato.
Nel 1614, obbligata a
viva forza dai familiari, si trasferì nell'abitazione della nobile Maria de
Ezategui, dove morì, straziata dalle privazioni, tre anni dopo.
Grande, già in vita, fu
la sua fama di santità. L'episodio più eclatante della sua esistenza terrena ce
la presenta abbracciata al tabernacolo per difenderlo dai calvinisti olandesi
guidati all'assalto della città di Lima dalla flotta dello Spitberg. L’inattesa
liberazione della città, dovuta all’improvvisa morte dell’ammiraglio olandese,
fu attribuita alla sua intercessione.
Condivise la sofferenza
degli indios, che si sentivano avviliti, emarginati, vilipesi, maltrattati
soltanto a motivo della loro diversità di razza e di condizione sociale.
Sentendosi avvicinare la
morte, confidò “Questo è il giorno delle mie nozze eterne”. Era il 24 agosto
1617, festa di S. Bartolomeo. Aveva 31 anni.
Il suo corpo si venera a
Lima, nella basilica domenicana del S. Rosario. Fu beatificata nel 1668. Due
anni dopo fu insolitamente proclamata patrona principale delle Americhe, delle
Filippine e delle Indie occidentali: si trattava di un riconoscimento singolare
dal momento che un decreto di Papa Barberini (Urbano VIII) del 1630 stabiliva
che non potessero darsi quali protettori di regni e città persone che non
fossero state canonizzate. Fu comunque canonizzata il 12 aprile 1671 da papa
Clemente X. È anche patrona dei giardinieri e dei fioristi. È invocata in
caso di ferite, contro le eruzioni vulcaniche ed in caso di litigi in famiglia.
Autore: Francesco
Patruno
Isabella Flores Oliva nasce nel 1586 a Lima, in Perù. I suoi genitori, Gaspare e Maria, sono nobili spagnoli che si sono trasferiti in America Latina, nel “Nuovo mondo”, attratti dalla redditizia attività estrattiva delle miniere della catena montuosa delle Ande. Isabella, una bambina bellissima, è decima di tredici figli. La sua balia indios la chiama Rosa per seguire la tradizione indigena di dare alle bambine il nome di un fiore. Si narra che un giorno la culla della neonata sia stata trovata circondata da petali di rose. Rosa cresce serena. È intelligente e brilla negli studi. Purtroppo la famiglia subisce un crollo finanziario e si riduce in miseria. Rosa aiuta i suoi genitori: cuce, ricama e coltiva fiori stupendi nel giardino di casa. Poi si reca nelle abitazioni dei nobili per vendere ricami e fiori. Accudisce con amore la nonna malata e svolge i lavori di casa.
È sempre più bella: il suo volto ha tratti delicati, ha belle mani, dita affusolate. E occhi stupendi. Tutti credono che presto andrà in sposa a un uomo benestante. Invece Rosa cerca di rendersi brutta perché non desidera essere corteggiata. Lei da tempo ha promesso il suo cuore a Gesù e, dopo aver letto la vita di Santa Caterina da Siena, desiderando seguire il suo esempio, a vent’anni diventa monaca del Terz’Ordine Domenicano. Si fa costruire una minuscola capanna in fondo all’orto di casa dove vive in solitudine, digiunando e pregando, suscitando stupore e disappunto tra parenti e amici. La ragazza, però, è confortata da frequenti visioni di Gesù con il quale dialoga.
Rosa ha compassione degli schiavi e dei poveri indios e cerca di aiutarli come può. Chiede una stanza ai suoi genitori per accogliere bambini e anziani abbandonati, bisognosi di tutto. Rosa non capisce il comportamento dei colonizzatori che sfruttano e disprezzano gli indigeni, facendoli vivere in condizioni disumane. La monaca vorrebbe che tutti conoscessero Gesù e che, soprattutto, lo amassero e mettessero in pratica il messaggio del Vangelo come fa lei, per prima, senza aspettare tempi migliori. La sua famiglia è andata in rovina, eppure Rosa trova il modo di aiutare gli altri con il poco che ha.
Dopo la sua morte, avvenuta a Lima nel 1617, si racconta di tante malattie guarite miracolosamente grazie alla sua immagine, esposta con devozione in tante case peruviane. Patrona di Lima, Perù, America Latina e Filippine, Santa Rosa protegge i fioristi, i giardinieri e gli sposi. Viene invocata contro la febbre, il mal di stomaco e i litigi in famiglia. Il suo corpo riposa a Lima nella Basilica domenicana del Santo Rosario.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/28950
Statua di Santa Rosa da Lima nella parrocchia e lei intitolata a Lecce intronizzata in onore della sua festività il 23 agosto.
Festività
civili per la ricorrenza di Santa Rosa Lima nella parrocchia del quartiere
dedicato a lei nella città di Lecce.
(1586-1617)
Beatificazione:
- 15 aprile 1668
- Papa Clemente IX
Canonizzazione:
- 12 aprile 1671
- Papa Clemente X
- Basilica Vaticana
Ricorrenza:
- 23 agosto
Vergine, che, insigne fin
da fanciulla per la sua austera sobrietà di vita, vestì a Lima in Perù l’abito
delle Suore del Terz’Ordine regolare dei Predicatori. Dedita alla penitenza e
alla preghiera e ardente di zelo per la salvezza dei peccatori e delle
popolazioni indigene, aspirava a donare la vita per loro, giungendo a imporsi
grandi sacrifici, pur di ottenere loro la salvezza della fede in Cristo. La sua
morte avvenne il giorno seguente a questo.
Prima Santa canonizzata
del Nuovo Mondo ed è patrona del Perù, di tutta l'America Latina, delle Indie e
delle Filippine.
"Mio Dio, puoi
aumentare le sofferenze, purché aumenti il mio amore per te"
Isabel Flores de
Oliva nacque a Lima il 20 aprile 1586, decima di tredici figli dei Flores
de Oliva, nobili spagnoli trapiantati in Perù.
Fu la sua balia Marianna,
di origine india, a darle il nome di Rosa per l’incredibile bellezza che la
caratterizzava. Nome poi confermato alla cresima e a vent’anni quando vestì
l’abito del Terz'ordine domenicano, come il suo modello di vita, Santa Caterina
da Siena. A Rosa si aggiunse allora anche il nome “di Santa Maria”, ad
esprimere il tenerissimo amore che sempre la legò alla Vergine a cui ricorreva
ad ogni istante per chiedere protezione .
Santa Rosa conobbe la
povertà quando la sua famiglia andò in miseria per il fallimento degli affari
paterni; lavorò duro come domestica, nell’orto e come ricamatrice, fino a notte
fonda, portando nelle case degli acquirenti la Parola di Cristo e il suo
anelito al bene e alla giustizia che, nella società peruviana di allora,
schiacciata dalla Spagna colonizzatrice, sembrava offuscata del tutto. Nella
casa materna creò una sorta di ricovero per i bisognosi, dove assisteva bambini
ed anziani abbandonati, soprattutto di origine india.
Già da piccola Rosa
aspirò a consacrarsi a Dio nella vita claustrale, ma rimase “vergine nel mondo”
e da terziaria domenicana si rinchiuse in una cella di pochi metri quadrati, costruita
nel giardino della casa materna, dalla quale usciva solo per la funzione
religiosa e dove trascorreva gran parte delle sue giornate a pregare ed in
stretta unione con il Signore.
Mentre pregava davanti ad
un'immagine della Vergine Maria con in braccio Gesù, un giorno da quel bambino
Rosa udì una voce che le disse: "Rosa, dedicami tutto il tuo amore
...". Non ebbe dubbi: da allora fu Gesù il suo amore esclusivo sino alla
morte, un amore coltivato nella verginità, nella preghiera e nella penitenza. Ripeteva
spesso: "Mio Dio, puoi aumentare le sofferenze, purché aumenti il mio
amore per te".
È il significato
redentivo della Passione di Cristo che le si fece chiaro: il dolore vissuto con
fede redime, salva. E il dolore dell’uomo può essere associato al dolore
salvifico di Cristo. È una svolta interiore che coincise con la lettura di
Santa Caterina, da cui imparò l’amore al sangue di Cristo e l’amore alla
Chiesa. Ed è proprio nel suo romitorio in giardino che Santa
Rosa riviveva nella carne la passione di Gesù, con due intenzioni: la
conversione degli spagnoli e l’evangelizzazione degli indios.
Le si attribuiscono
infatti mortificazioni e castighi corporali di ogni genere ma anche tante
conversioni e altrettanti i miracoli. Uno fra tutti, la mancata invasione dei
pirati olandesi a Lima nel 1615.
Quando ancora era in
vita, Rosa venne esaminata da una commissione mista di religiosi e scienziati
che giudicarono le sue esperienze mistiche come veri e propri "doni di
grazia", tanto che alla sua morte per l’enorme folla che partecipò al suo
funerale, Rosa era già santa. Morì solo dopo aver rinnovato i suoi voti
religiosi, ripetendo più volte: «Gesù, sii con me!».
Era la notte del 23
agosto 1617. Dopo la morte, quando il suo corpo fu trasportato nella Cappella
del Rosario, la Madonna da quella statua dinanzi alla quale
la Santa tante volte aveva pregato le sorrise ancora, per l’ultima
volta. La folla presente gridò al miracolo.
Nel 1668, Rosa venne
beatificata da Papa Clemente IX e canonizzata tre anni più tardi.
È la prima Santa
canonizzata del Nuovo Mondo ed è patrona del Perù, di tutta l'America Latina,
delle Indie e delle Filippine.
È invocata come
protettrice di fiorai e giardinieri, contro le eruzioni vulcaniche e anche in
caso di ferite o per la soluzione di litigi famigliari.
Un Anno giubilare ha
commemorato i 400 anni della morte di Santa Rosa col motto: “400 anni
intercedendo per te”, in riferimento alle migliaia di preghiere che la Santa ha
ricevuto ed esaudito nel corso di quattro secoli.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/rosa-da-lima.html
Nicolás Correa (ca. 1660 - ca. 1720), Los desposorios místicos de santa Rosa de
Lima, 1691, 168 x 146, Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City
Santa Rosa da Lima
di P. Gerardo Cioffari OP
Più universalmente celebre è Rosa da Lima[1]. La sua fama in alcuni momenti ed in alcuni luoghi superò persino quella di S. Caterina, onde in certi dipinti della Madonna del Rosario è lei che appare con S. Domenico ai piedi della Vergine.
Rosa nacque a Lima il 20 aprile 1586. I suoi genitori, don Gaspare Flores e Maria de Oliva, giunti in Perù alcuni anni prima, conducevano una vita abbastanza agiata, e quando nacque Rosa le diedero il nome di Isabella. Al momento della cresima (1597), però, l’arcivescovo di Lima, Toribio di Mogrovejo, le mantenne il nome di Rosa, come da qualche tempo veniva chiamata. L’origine del vezzeggiativo sembra da connettersi col fatto che così la chiamò la serva india Mariana sin dalla culla, colpita dalla bellezza della bambina.
Benché fosse una donna, Rosa ebbe le cure dei genitori anche dal punto di vista della formazione culturale, oltre che dell’educazione religiosa. Ciò nonostante fu in quest’ultimo campo che Rosa si sentiva a suo agio nei primi anni della sua giovinezza. Anzi, non accontentandosi dei consueti obblighi religiosi, cominciò a praticare un’ascetica personale particolarmente rigorosa. La tradizione parla, infatti, anche di cilici e privazioni.
Intanto maturava la sua vocazione religiosa, cominciando a prendere in considerazione la sua entrata nella vita religiosa. Quando scelse l’Ordine domenicano, per la sua preparazione intellettuale e spirituale, avrebbe potuto entrare nel Second’Ordine domenicano. Non essendoci però un simile monastero a Lima, optò per il Terz’Ordine. Il 10 agosto 1606 finalmente vestì le bianche lane dell’Ordine[2].
La sua vita non è ricca di episodi particolari, vivendo essa nel nascondimento e nella preghiera. Continuò infatti la sua pratica ascetica sfociando spesso in estasi mistiche. Giungeva cioè alla comunione con Dio dopo aver meditato e vissuto nella sua carne la Passione del Signore. Il che non ci proviene soltanto dalla tradizione agiografica ma anche da alcuni scritti ritrovati nel 1923 da fra Luigi Getino, domenicano. Tra le carte autografe questi trovò anche delle semplici quartine, destinate forse ad essere cantate. Non per nulla Rosa aveva confidato al confessore: Quitarme a mì el canto es quitarme el comer (Impedirmi di cantare è come togliemi il mangiare).
Una di queste quartine dice:
Oh Jesus de mi alma
Que bien pareces
Entre Flores y Rosas
Y Olivas verdes.
Un’altra :
Padre mìo Domingo,
Ante que muera,
Te encomiendo a madre
Que solo queda.[3]
Più noti sono gli ultimi tre anni della sua vita, che visse nella casa di don Gonzalo de la Maza e donna Maria de Uzategui, una coppia di coniugi che viveva all’insegna della pietà religiosa, e che quindi trattava Rosa come una vera figlia. Questo ambiente ideale sul piano umano fu però controbilanciato da un fisico che cominciò a deperire fra atroci dolori. Si spense così a soli 31 anni il 24 agosto 1617.
Una vita breve, come quella del fiore da cui prendeva il nome. E forse questo fatto, insieme alla sua vita ascetica, fece sorgere fra gli abitanti di Lima una devozione particolare nei suoi confronti. Infatti, il 19 marzo del 1619 i frati dovettero trasferire la sua salma dal chiostro del convento alla chiesa di S. Domenico. Dopo qualche tempo di fronte all’altare maggiore, il suo corpo fu collocato nella cappella di S. Caterina da Siena. Oggi riposa nella cappella del Santo Rosario, ove si trovano anche S. Martino de Porres e S. Giovanni Macìas.
Beatificata da Clemente IX (12 febbraio 1668), Rosa fu canonizzata da Clemente X il 12 aprile del 1672. Due anni prima però lo stesso pontefice l’aveva proclamata patrona delle Americhe, delle Filippine e delle Indie occidentali. Ma se in America Rosa è il più alto simbolo femminile della santità, non meno amata è anche in Europa. Il suo nome infatti è tra i più diffusi ancora oggi.
A parte alcuni patronati specifici, come quello su Callao
(il porto di Lima), che la vede raffigurata con un’ancora, Rosa viene dipinta
solitamente con una corona di rose sulla testa o anche in grembo o su un
vassoio. Potrebbe talvolta essere confusa con S. Rosa di Viterbo o con S.
Teresa di Lisieux, sia per le rose che per il bambino Gesù. Tuttavia S. Rosa da
Lima è identificabile dall’abito domenicano.
[1]
Vedi Reginaldo Frascisco, Santa Rosa da Lima, Roma 1974; Gabriella
Anodal, Santa Rosa da Lima. Una donna alla conquista dell’America, Edizioni
Studio Domenicano di Bologna; Leonardus Hansen, Vita mirabilis Rosae de
Sancta Maria, limensis Tertii Ordinis Praedicatorum, Romae 1664; Domenico
Angulo, o.p., Santa Rosa de Santa Maria, Lima 1917.
[2]
R. Frascisco, Santa Rosa, cit., p. 52.
[3]
Ivi, pp. 124-125.
Frescos
de la volta de l'antiga església de santa Rosa de Lima, Museu Històric de
l'ajuntament de València. Els frescos són obra de Josep Vergara (València
1726-1799).
Santa Rosa de Lima
Biografía
Rosa de Lima, Santa. Lima
(Perú), 20.IV.1586 – 24.VIII.1617. Religiosa terciaria dominica (OP), santa.
Hija de Gaspar Miguel
Flores y de María Oliva. Su padre nació en 1525 en Puerto Rico, aunque algunos
lo hagan salmantino de Béjar. En la isla borinqueña permaneció hasta 1548,
fecha en que pasó a Lima. El 9 de marzo de 1557, a la edad de treinta y dos años,
obtuvo plaza de alabardero en la guardia del virrey del Perú. Tenía su casa en
arriendo a la espalda de lo que sería Hospital del Espíritu Santo, en la calle
de Santo Domingo, donde se veneraba la imagen de Nuestra Señora del Rosario que
habían llevado hasta allí los primeros dominicos que llegaron con Pizarro. De
robusta salud, alcanzó la edad de ciento dos años. María Oliva, nacida en Lima
de padres españoles, tenía dieciocho años cuando casó con Gaspar Flores en
1577.
Por tanto, éste tenía
cincuenta y dos y era ya suboficial de la guardia de honor del virrey. Aunque
la novia casó con dote proporcionada por la Hermandad de la Caridad, el número
y la categoría de los testigos de boda indican que el matrimonio no fue mal
visto a pesar de la diferencia de edad y que ambos cónyuges, si bien no andaban
sobrados de caudales, estaban bien relacionados con la elite limeña. Tuvieron
once hijos, aunque no todos llegaron a la mayoría de edad.
La santa fue bautizada el
día de Pentecostés de 1586, en la parroquia de San Sebastián, con el nombre de
su abuela Isabel, aunque su madre la llamó Rosa desde muy temprana edad. Su
padre obtuvo el retiro de su plaza como arcabucero a la edad de setenta y dos
años y, por intercesión del virrey, consiguió un empleo como administrador en
una mina. De esta forma, en 1597, la familia se trasladó a Quive (hoy provincia
de Canta, departamento de Lima), donde el arzobispo santo Toribio de Mogrovejo
le administró el sacramento de la confirmación, recibiendo entonces el nombre
de Rosa. De los cuatro años que residió en Quive, tres los pasó Rosa postrada
en la cama, aquejada de una parálisis.
Dedicada a educar a las
niñas de las mejores familias de Lima, María Oliva dio a su hija una formación
esmerada y así, Rosa aprendió canto y poesía, y a tocar el arpa, la cítara y la
vihuela, adquiriendo unos conocimientos muy superiores a los habituales en una
joven de su posición. Tenía, además, gran habilidad para toda clase de labores
domésticas y manuales: hilaba, cosía, tejía y bordaba. Asimismo, mostraba un
gran instinto para el cuidado de las plantas y flores, que cultivaba en el
huerto y jardín que ella misma había plantado en el patio de su casa. Con sus
labores contribuía a subvenir las necesidades de la prolija familia.
Un testimonio recogido en
la encuesta de beatificación la describe: “Era de peregrina hermosura, con brío
y gala, de talle bien dispuesto, dulce de carácter y discreta [...] Tenía el
rostro ovalado, sereno y apacible; pelo rubio y abundante, ojos grandes y
negros, frente despejada, ceja arqueada y bordoneada, mejillas rosadas,
barbilla prominente, manos blancas, pequeñitas y bien torneadas y regular
estatura”. Su madre se afanó siempre en desarrollar las dotes sociales de su
hija y en realzar su excepcional belleza natural, procurando con ello facilitar
un futuro matrimonio de provecho que garantizara una posición social aventajada
para la joven y, a la vez, sirviera de báculo en la ancianidad de su padre. Sin
embargo, ya desde su infancia, Rosa reveló una actitud devota que practicaba
con sus constantes visitas al templo del Convento de los dominicos cercano a su
casa, donde se veneraba la imagen de la Virgen del Rosario. Este fervor
religioso se proyectó en un carácter extremadamente humilde que reforzó
buscando refugio en la autoridad de sus confesores, lo que le permitía eludir
las intenciones de su madre. Con frecuencia, esto exasperaba el ánimo de ésta,
pero la apacible mansedad de Rosa y su abnegada entrega al trabajo del hogar
desarmaban todos los argumentos de reproche. El empeño de María Oliva de
asegurar un futuro acomodado a su hija pudo materializarse cuando consiguió
acordar un matrimonio de conveniencia para Rosa con el hijo de una de las damas
limeñas que frecuentaba. Pero, entonces, la Santa desveló el voto de castidad
que había formulado años antes con la aprobación de sus confesores, lo que
frustró los planes de su madre y, en último término, desató su enfado. Aunque
insistentemente trataron de persuadirla, Rosa manifestó el convencimiento de
dedicar su vida a la oración, siguiendo el ejemplo de santa Catalina de Siena,
cuya festividad se celebraba el día en que Rosa había nacido. A imitación de su
santa protectora, despojó su cuerpo de la superficial belleza que la había
adornado hasta entonces: se cortó la cabellera y quemó sus manos con cal viva.
También a imitación de santa Catalina, acabaría vistiendo el hábito de
terciaria dominica. Estas muestras de convicción terminaron por someter la
voluntad de sus padres. Tras ello, santa Rosa dio un paso más en su proyecto de
vida contemplativa y eremítica, y solicitó permiso para construir una celda en
un rincón del huerto de la casa familiar. Inicialmente rechazado, consiguió la
autorización de sus padres gracias a la intercesión del padre fray Juan de
Lorenzana, que era su confesor en la iglesia del Rosario del Convento
dominicano, y del influyente matrimonio amigo de la familia formado por Gonzalo
de la Maza, contador de la cruzada, y María de Uzátegui. Con la ayuda de su
querido hermano Fernando, construyó ella misma su celda. Su nueva morada estaba
hecha de adobe y era de cinco pies de largo, por cuatro de ancho y seis de
alto, tenía un pequeño altarcito con una cruz de cartón y ella la adornaba con
flores. Esta especie de ermita aún se conserva como venerada reliquia en la
casa natal de la santa, convertida hoy en santuario.
Muy poco después de que
Rosa comenzara a vivir encerrada en aquella celda, las damas que habían gustado
de la compañía de su madre se interesaron por visitarla en su retiro.
Probada su devoción, Rosa
fue invitada a ingresar en el Convento de las clarisas que acababa de fundar en
Lima María de Quiñones, sobrina del arzobispo santo Toribio de Mogrovejo. Su
madre rechazó la propuesta excusando necesitar la presencia de Rosa para atender
a la anciana abuela Isabel y carecer de recursos con que subvenir la dote
conventual. También sus confesores le recomendaron abrazar la vida en comunidad
y la observancia de una regla monástica, proponiendo en esa ocasión su ingreso
en el Convento de las agustinas. Llegaron a hacerse los preparativos, pero el
mismo día en que se había acordado que Rosa entrara en la casa de las
agustinas, ya de camino hacia ella, entró a orar ante la Virgen del Rosario de
la iglesia de los dominicos y, en el último momento, se arrepintió. Un último
intento de convencerla para que siguiera la vida de monja claustral provino de
Gonzalo de la Maza, quien aconsejó el ingreso en el Convento de las
franciscanas descalzas, que gozaban de rigurosa fama. Esta vez, Rosa puso como
excusa el parecer de sus confesores. Al parecer, de los cuatro a los que había
consultado, dos le aconsejaron que permaneciera en su casa. Finalmente, quizá
la intervención del dominico padre Lorenzana y de sor Catalina de Santa María y
sor Francisca de Montoya, ambas terciarias de Santo Domingo, así como la
devoción que sentía Rosa por la Virgen del Rosario y por santa Catalina de
Siena determinaron finalmente su ingreso en la Orden Tercera de Santo Domingo,
que se confirmó el 10 de agosto de 1606, en la iglesia del Convento de los
frailes predicadores. A partir de aquel día, Rosa pasó a llamarse Rosa de Santa
María y comenzó a ejercer el oficio de camarera de la patrona de la Orden, su
santa protectora, cargo que desempeñó hasta el final de su vida, manifestando
ostensiblemente su alegría y el arrobo místico que sentía al estar en presencia
de la venerada imagen.
Un rasgo característico
de la vida y de la actitud espiritual de Rosa fue su constante tendencia a
practicar una severa penitencia que, en muchas ocasiones, llegaba a imitar con
rigor la Pasión de Jesucristo.
En este aspecto, también
seguía Rosa el ejemplo de su devocionada santa Catalina de Siena, cuyos modelos
de penitencia fueron el ayuno casi permanente y, en último término, la
mortificación más extrema y sangrienta. Rosa comenzó a practicar el ayuno de
forma habitual desde muy niña. Se dice que ya a los seis años ayunaba a pan y
agua los miércoles, viernes y sábados, y que a los quince dejó de comer carne.
Su régimen alimenticio
hubo de manifestarse en su aspecto exterior y, en definitiva, en su salud, lo
que preocupaba e irritaba a su madre, que la obligaba a comer en su presencia.
No obstante, Rosa se las ingeniaba como podía para porfiar en su abstinencia, a
veces, con la ayuda de su confidente, la india Mariana, cocinera de la casa
paterna. Otras veces, cuando la obligaban a comer, lo compensaba ingiriendo
infusiones de hierbas amargas mezcladas con vinagre para remedar así a Cristo
en la Cruz. Al final de su vida, el ayuno llegó a ser en ella casi permanente y
durante largas temporadas se mantenía tan sólo con las especies sacramentales.
De la misma forma que se
resistía a ingerir alimento corporal, Rosa evitaba el descanso físico. Para
dominar el vencimiento del sueño, Rosa empleaba métodos inauditos, como era
encaramarse a una cruz de tamaño natural que había hecho colocar en su celda y
que tenía dos escarpias en los brazos para asirse a ella. Otras veces
permanecía por largo rato sosteniéndose sobre la punta de los pies. Cuando
finalmente había de acostarse, lo hacía en una cama que era más bien potro de
tortura y cuya descripción ha llenado muchas páginas de sus hagiografías.
También en esta costumbre se inició Rosa desde edad temprana y también por ella
entró en conflicto con su madre, que la consideraba una práctica atroz y, para
disuadirla, la obligaba a dormir en su mismo lecho. Tanta preocupación llegó a
sentir la madre por los padecimientos que había su hija de sufrir en la cama
con la que se penitenciaba el sueño, que buscó el apoyo de sus confesores.
Durante dieciséis años intentaron disuadirla, pero Rosa argumentaba con solidez
su deseo de perseverar. Tan sólo tres años antes de la muerte de la santa
consiguieron prohibirle este tipo de castigo, pero tanto suplicó Rosa que hubieron
de concederle un nuevo permiso para reanudar su penitencia nocturna durante la
cuaresma.
La flagelación era otro
de los ejemplos que encontró Rosa en santa Catalina. Con programada disciplina,
se azotaba con una cadena de hierro, golpeando cada día una parte diferente de
su cuerpo. Su madre buscó el amparo del padre Lorenzana para paliar al menos
este sacrificio y éste le impuso reducir el número de azotes. Entonces, Rosa
aplicó a sus castigos una contabilidad meticulosa. Aunque en muchas ocasiones
los ruegos de su madre calaron en las recomendaciones que le hacían sus
confesores sobre la necesidad de rebajar sus exageradas penitencias, Rosa
siempre porfiaba en su empeño. Parecía ignorar la verdadera intención de sus
confesores y se atenía a la literalidad de sus dictados, creyendo que
compatibilizaba así la obediencia debida a sus directores espirituales con su
propia opinión acerca de los martirios más adecuados.
Por ejemplo, cuando más
adelante se le ordenó que trocara la cadena de hierro por la disciplina de
cuerda trenzada y anudada y se conformara con el uso común de su orden, Rosa
tomó al pie de la letra el mandato de su confesor. En efecto, dejó de azotarse
con la cadena de hierro, pero comenzó a ceñírsela a la cintura como cilicio,
dándole tres vueltas alrededor de su cuerpo, cerrándola con un candado y
arrojando la llave al pozo de su casa. Todo tipo de suplicios usó la santa:
cotas de malla, cilicios, manojos de ortigas que se ponía sobre la piel y
camisas de arpillera que le llagaban un cuerpo ya malherido. Uno de los más
característicos fue la corona de espinas que comenzó a usar a los doce años. Al
vestir el hábito terciario, sustituyó la que había llevado desde niña por otra
confeccionada de metal y con forma de diadema para poder ocultarla bajo la
toca. Durante años la llevó todos los días sin conocimiento de su familia ni
confesores, hasta que por azar se descubrió. Al verla, su madre acudió al padre
Juan de Villalobos, rector del Colegio de la Compañía de Jesús en Lima, uno de
los confesores de Rosa, quien tan sólo consiguió convencerla para que limara un
poco los clavos de su tormento. Esta misma corona sería tomada por la
iconografía como atributo de su santidad.
Hasta once confesores
tuvo Rosa a lo largo de su vida —seis dominicos y cinco jesuitas—, si bien fue
el padre Lorenzana el que más estrechamente dirigió su alma. Aunque Lorenzana
era un prestigioso teólogo, la formación doctrinal de Rosa debía de limitarse a
lo escuchado en los sermones de los frailes predicadores.
Su biblioteca se reducía
apenas a la Vida de Santa Catalina de Siena, del beato Raimundo de Capua,
y a la Guía de pecadores y el Libro de oración y meditación, de
fray Luis de Granada. En sus Mercedes, santa Rosa cita algunos pasajes
del Cantar de los Cantares y eran conocidas las letrillas que
improvisaba, muchas de ellas vueltas a lo divino de coplas ajenas.
La caridad fue otra de
las facetas de la vida de santa Rosa. Abrió un dispensario en su casa de la
calle de Santo Domingo y con frecuencia visitaba el Hospital de Santa Ana que
fray Jerónimo de Loaysa había fundado para las mujeres enfermas. Allí atendía a
las más necesitadas, poniendo especial cuidado en aquéllas que, por sus
dolencias infecciosas, infundían más rechazo y se veían, por consiguiente, más
desamparadas, siguiendo una vez más el ejemplo de santa Catalina.
Rosa ejercía de
intermediaria en el reparto de cuantiosas limosnas a los pobres gracias a sus
buenas relaciones con la elite limeña. Gozó de la amistad de Jerónima de Gama,
María Eufemia de Pareja y Luisa de Melgarejo, que cada vez que encontraba a la
santa por las calles de Lima la saludaba de rodillas y, al marcharse, besaba
las huellas que dejaban sus pasos. Tanto llegó a extenderse la fama de sus
virtudes que, en cierta ocasión, la virreina le pidió a Rosa, a través del
padre fray Alonso Velásquez, uno de sus confesores, una de las dos matas de
romero que tenía en su huerto.
En 1614 abandonó Rosa su
celda y pasó a vivir en casa de Gonzalo de la Maza y María de Uzátegui, donde
confluyó todo el caudal de devociones que la santa recibía ya en vida. No
relajó allí Rosa su vida de extrema penitencia, pues informaban sus protectores
que la veían dormir sentada en una silla y pasar horas orando en la capilla
doméstica. Fue en esta casa donde comenzó Rosa a experimentar las visiones en
la que decía enfrentarse al Demonio. A lo largo de los tres años que pasó
acogida por sus protectores, propuso Rosa en varias ocasiones la fundación de
un convento bajo la advocación de santa Catalina. Sin embargo, no encontró eco alguno,
ni siquiera en don Gonzalo, ni en el doctor Juan del Castillo ni en el padre
fray Luis de Bilbao, otro de sus confesores. Dicho convento no sería finalmente
fundado hasta 1622, bajo el patrocinio de Lucía Guerrero de la Daga, que
ingresó en él como priora, y en el que ingresaría también la madre de Rosa, ya
viuda, y la hija de su hermano Fernando.
En julio de 1615 corrió
por la ciudad la noticia de que el corsario holandés Jorge Spilbergen pretendía
desembarcar en el Callao y dirigirse posteriormente a Lima con la intención de
saquearla. Aunque los enemigos fueron finalmente rechazados antes de entrar en
el puerto, falsos rumores provocaron el pánico de la población y prendieron en
Rosa la llama de su ansiado martirio. La santa reunió a sus hermanas terciarias
para velar ante el Santísimo Sacramento expuesto en la iglesia del Rosario,
haciendo ostensión de su deseo de entregarse en sacrificio para proteger el
altar de la profanación de los herejes. Más tarde, muchos atribuyeron que la
intercesión de Rosa había conjurado aquella amenaza, por lo que la imaginería
la representa portando la ciudad sostenida por el ancla.
El momento culminante de
su vida tuvo lugar en la Capilla del Rosario el Domingo de Ramos de 1617.
Estando Rosa orando ante
la Virgen, sintió ineludible la llamada del Niño Jesús. Una semana más tarde,
el Domingo de Resurrección, se colocaba en el dedo el anillo que representaba
su desposorio místico con Jesucristo. Sin mayor dicha que alcanzar en esta
existencia, poco tiempo más habrían de prologarse los padecimientos físicos de
santa Rosa. El régimen penitencial que a lo largo de su vida se impuso acabó
mellando su salud. Había padecido frecuentes vómitos de sangre, gota, ciática y
otros males que, unidos al ayuno y la penitencia, le produjeron un progresivo
agotamiento físico que explica en parte su prematura muerte. El día 28 de julio
del mismo año salió Rosa por última vez de la casa de don Gonzalo y se dirigió
a la de sus padres y allí mismo comenzó a presagiar su muerte. Tras permanecer con
sus padres por espacio de tres días, el 1 de agosto, dio comienzo la dolorosa
enfermedad que tendría como resultado su muerte. El 21 de agosto, después de
dolorosa agonía, se le administró el viático y la extremaunción y, rodeada de
su familia, protectores, directores espirituales, hermanas y discípulas, murió
el 24 de agosto de 1617 a la edad de treinta y un años.
Su velatorio en el
Convento dominicano fue multitudinario y acudieron el virrey, el arzobispo y
las más altas dignidades de la ciudad. Para evitar el atropello de los devotos
que acudían en busca de reliquias, fue necesario trasladar su cuerpo a la
capilla del noviciado e inhumarlo en secreto en el claustro, difundiendo el
falso rumor de que el entierro se llevaría a cabo al día siguiente. El marzo de
1619 sus restos fueron trasladados a la iglesia donde aún se venera. Abiertas
las consultas informativas sobre las virtudes y milagros de Rosa a iniciativa
del arzobispo Lobo Guerrero, en el proceso ordinario (1617-1618) y en el
proceso apostólico (1630-1632) declararon un total de 210 testigos, la mayor
parte de ellos pertenecientes a las elites criollas del virreinato del Perú. El
3 de marzo de 1637 la Sagrada Congregación de los Ritos autorizó a celebrar la
misa en honor de la Sierva de Dios Rosa de Santa María durante los meses de
agosto. El 2 de enero de 1668 se la nombró patrona principal de Lima y fue
beatificada por Clemente IX el 12 de febrero del mismo año. Clemente X la
proclamó patrona de toda la América española y posesiones oceánicas de España
el 11 de agosto de 1670 y, el 12 de abril de 1671, firmó el decreto de su
canonización. Su fiesta se celebra el 23 de agosto.
Bibl.: J. Parra, La
bienaventurada Rosa Peruana de Santa María, de la Tercera Orden de Santo
Domingo: su admirable vida y preciosa muerte, Madrid, 1668; A. de Lorea, Santa
Rosa, religiosa de la Tercera Orden de Santo Domingo, patrona universal del
nuevo mundo: historia de su admirable vida y virtudes, Madrid, 1671; J. A. Cata
de Calella, Vida portentosa de la esclarecida virgen Santa Rosa de Santa
María, vulgo Santa Rosa de Lima, Barcelona, Librería y Tipografía Católica,
1896; D. Angulo, Santa Rosa de Santa María. Estudio biobliográfico, Lima,
Sanmartí y Compañía, 1917; L. G. Alonso Getino, Santa Rosa de Lima,
Patrona de América. Su retrato corporal y su talla intelectual, Madrid,
Publicaciones del Consejo Superior de Misiones, 1943; J. Muñoz Garcia, Gaspar
Flores, padre de Santa Rosa de Lima, nació en el término de la antigua villa de
Béjar, Madrid Talleres Prensa Española, 1962; T. Hampe Martínez, Santidad
e identidad criolla: estudio del proceso de canonización de Santa Rosa, Cuzco,
Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de las Casas, 1998.
Jaime J. Lacueva Muñoz
SOURCE : https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/5968/santa-rosa-de-lima
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682),
Santa
Rosa de Lima, circa 1670, 145 x 95, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid
Bartolomé
Esteban Murillo (1617-1682): Rosa von Lima, im Museo Lázaro Galdiano Lazzaro
Baldi: Altarbild, 1668, in der Kirche Santa
Maria sopra Minerva in Rom
Rosa von Lima
Ordensname: Rosa von der heiligen Maria
Taufname: Isabella Flores de Oliva
Gedenktag katholisch: 23. August
nicht gebotener Gedenktag
gebotener Gedenktag im Dominikanerorden
in Peru: 30. August
Gedenktag
III. Klasse: 30. August, Todestag: 24. August
Name bedeutet: die
Rose (latein.)
Terziarin, Mystikerin
* 20. April 1586 in Lima in Peru
† 24. August 1617 daselbst
Isabella Flores de Oliva
war Tochter eines spanischen Ehepaares im damaligen spanischen Vizekönigreich
Peru. Da ihre Mutter nach der späteren Legende bei der Taufe eine Rose über
ihrer Tochter schweben sah, erhielt sie bei der Firmung durch Erzbischof Turibius
Alfons de Mogrovejo den Vornamen Rosa. Gegen den Willen der Eltern,
die die Hochzeit schon geplant hatten, wurde sie 1602 - oder 1606 - Dominikanerterziarin;
im Garten am Haus ihrer Eltern in Lima errichtete
sie eine Holzbaracke, in der sie fortan lebte. Sie fastete drei Tage pro Woche,
schlief auf einem Lager aus harten Holzplanken und Scherben und quälte sich mit
Bußübungen: sie trug eine schmiedeeiserne Dornenkrone auf dem Kopf und eine
Stachelkette um den Leib, verbrannte sich die Hände mit ungelöschtem Kalk, trug
eine eiserne Dornenkrone, geißelte sich. Schließlich schritten ihre Beichtväter
gegen diese Selbstgeißelung ein. Bei Rosas Hütte lebten der Legende zufolge
viele Moskitos, die die Menschen quälten, Rosa aber verschonten; sie erklärte
dies damit, dass sie sich mit den Tieren angefreundet habe, sie sängen gemeinsam
zum Lobe Gottes. Zum Erstaunen eines Besuchers begannen die Moskitos demnach
tatsächlich so zu summen, dass ihr Gesurre gemeinsam mit Rosas Gesang
wundervolle Harmonien ergab.
Schwerste körperliche und
seelische Schmerzen ertrug Rosa mit Hingabe: Herr, vermehre meine Leiden,
aber auch meine Liebe, so betete sie: denn sie wusste, dass es entscheidend auf
die Liebe ankam. Mit Handarbeiten, Hausarbeit, durch den Verkauf von Web- und
Stickarbeiten unterstützte sie ihre Eltern; aber auch bei der Arbeit betete und
meditierte sie, die lebendige Zwiesprache mit dem Heiligen Geist war fester
Bestandteil ihres Lebens. Den Klerus kritisierte
Rosa wegen seines oft ausschweifenden Lebensstils, die Kolonialherren für ihren
grausamen Umgang mit der indigenen Bevölkerung. Zwei schon beerdigte Tote
erweckte sie der Überlieferung zufolge zum Leben.
Rosa gründete 1614 im
Haus der Familie de la Manza das erste kontemplative Kloster Südamerikas, das
Kloster der Katharina
von Siena, benannt nach der von Rosa verehrten Heiligen. Sie selbst nahm
den Ordensnamen Rosa von der heiligen Maria an und betätigte sich in der
Krankenpflege, engagierte sich in der Glaubensverkündigung und ermahnte die
Priester zu einem ordentlichen, geistlichen Leben. Die letzten drei Jahre ihres
Lebens arbeitet sie als Haushaltbedienstete von Don Gonzalo de Massa, einem
Regierungsangestellten, dessen Frau besondere Zuneigung zu ihr gefasst hatte.
Kurz nach ihrem 31. Geburtstag sagte Rosa auf einmal voraus, binnen vier
Monaten zu sterben. Tatsächlich befiel sie eine schwere und schmerzhafte
Krankheit, an der sie wie vorhergesagt starb.
Rosa starb im Ruf der
Heiligkeit, bereits wenige Tage nach ihrem Tod wurde der Prozess zur
Heiligsprechug eingeleitet. Im Volk begann unmittelbar nach ihrem Tod die
begeisterte Verehrung. Schon 1669, zwei Jahr vor ihrer Kanonisation, wurde sie
zur Patronin von Peru ernannt. In Lima steht
ihr Denkmal, den 200-Sol-Schein der peruanischen Nationalbank ziert ihr Bild.
Rosa hat für Südamerika die Bedeutung, die Katharina
von Siena oder Teresa
von Ávila für Europa haben. Es gab wahrscheinlich in Amerika
keinen Missionar, der mit seinen Predigten mehr Bekehrungen erreicht hätte, als
Rosa von Lima durch ihre Gebete und Bußübungen, sagte Papst Innozenz
XI. über sie.
Kanonisation: Rosa wurde am 15. April 1668 durch Papst Clemens IX. seliggesprochen. Am 12. April 1671 sprach Papst Clemens X. Rosa heilig, damit wurde sie die erste Heilige Amerikas.
Attribute: Kranz von Rosen, Rosenstrauß, Anker
Patronin von Südamerika, Peru, der Philippinen und von Westindien;
von Lima;
der reuigen Sünder, der Gärtner und Blumenhändler; bei Verletzungen,
Entbindungen und Familienstreitigkeiten; gegen Ausschlag, Grind, Wunden und
Mückenstiche
Worte der Heiligen
In einem Brief an den
Arzt Castillo schreibt Rosa über die Liebe Christi, die alle Erkenntnis
übersteigt:
Der Herr und Heiland erhob seine Stimme und sprach mit unvergleichlicher
Hoheit: Alle sollen wissen, dass auf die Anfechtung die Gnade folgt; sie
sollen einsehen, dass die Größe der Gnadengaben in dem gleichen Maß wächst, wie
die Mühsale zunehmen; sie sollen erkennen, dass wir ohne die Last der
Bedrängnis nicht zum Gipfel der Gnade gelangen können. Die Menschen sollen sich
vor Irrtum und Selbsttäuschung hüten. Das ist die einzige Leiter zum Paradies,
ohne Kreuz findet niemand den Aufstieg zum Himmel.
Als ich diese Worte hörte, kam ein heftiges Verlangen über mich, als müsste ich mich mitten auf den Platz stellen und mit lautem Schreien allen Menschen jeden Alters, Geschlechts und Standes zurufen: Hört, ihr Völker, hört, ihr Stämme! Im Auftrag Christi und mit den Worten aus seinem Mund ermahne ich euch: Wir können keine Gnade erwerben, wenn wir keine Drangsale erleiden; notwendig müssen sich Mühen auf Mühen häufen, wenn wir Anteil an der göttlichen Natur erhalten (2. Petrusbrief 1, 4), die Herrlichkeit der Kinder Gottes und das volle Glück der Seele gewinnen wollen.
Der gleiche Stachel trieb mich an, die Schönheit der göttlichen Gnade zu
verkündigen. Das bedrückte mich mit Not, trieb mir den Schweiß aus den Poren
und ließ mich lechzen. Es kam mir vor, als könne meine Seele nicht länger im
Leib gefangen bleiben. Würde man sie aber festhalten, dann werde sie die Ketten
zerbrechen und frei, allein und ungehindert die ganze Welt durcheilen und
rufen: O wenn doch die Sterblichen erkennen wollten, wie erhaben die Gnade
Gottes ist, wie schön, wie edel, wie kostbar; welche Reichtümer sie in sich
birgt, wie viel Freude und Jubel! Ohne Zweifel würden dann die Menschen
mit Eifer und Fleiß danach streben, sich selber Leiden und Schmerzen zuzufügen!
Auf dem ganzen Erdkreis würden alle Menschen eher Krankheit und Qual als Glück
suchen, um den unendlichen Schatz der Gnade zu erlangen. Das ist Lohn und der
letzte Gewinn des Leidensmutes. Keiner würde sich über Kreuz und Mühe beklagen,
die ihm etwa begegneten, wenn er die Waage erkennen würde, auf der sie den
Menschen zugewogen werden.
Quelle: Rosa von Lima:
Epistula ad medicum Castillio. In: La patrona de America. Madrid 1928, S. 54 f;
zitiert nach: Monastisches Lektionar zum 23. August
zusammengestellt von Abt em. Dr. Emmeram Kränkl OSB,
Benediktinerabtei Schäftlarn,
für die Katholische
SonntagsZeitung
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Autor: Joachim
Schäfer - zuletzt aktualisiert am 19.10.2022
Quellen:
• Vera Schauber, Hanns Michael Schindler: Heilige und Patrone im Jahreslauf. Pattloch, München 2001
• Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, begr. von Michael Buchberger. Hrsg. von Walter Kasper, 3., völlig neu bearb. Aufl., Bd. 8. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999
• https://de.catholicnewsagency.com/news/1106/sechs-dinge-uber-die-heilige-rosa-von-lima-die-sie-vielleicht-nicht-wussten - abgerufen am 08.02.2024
• https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/14478-die-erste-heilige-amerikas -
abgerufen am 08.02.2024
korrekt zitieren: Joachim Schäfer: Artikel Rosa von Lima, aus dem Ökumenischen Heiligenlexikon - https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienR/Rosa_von_Lima.html, abgerufen am 21. 8. 2024
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet das Ökumenische
Heiligenlexikon in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte
bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://d-nb.info/1175439177 und https://d-nb.info/969828497 abrufbar.
SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienR/Rosa_von_Lima.html
