Santa Rosa de Lima, patron saint of Peru

Santa Rosa de Lima, patron saint of Peru

April 20, 1586. In Lima, part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Don Gerardo Flores, a former soldier born in Spain, and Doña María de Oliva, a humble seamstress born in Huánuco, received her fourth heiress. She was a delicate and beautiful girl, named Isabel. At that time, no one imagined the legacy that Isabel Flores de Oliva, better known as Santa Rosa de Lima, would leave. She became the first canonized saint of the American continent.

She was born in the capital but at the age of 12, Isabel and her family, mired in a serious economic crisis, moved to Quives, a town 60 kilometers away from Lima. Since then, the young woman began to emulate who would be her model in the religious sphere: Santa Catalina de Siena. Isabel fasted three times a week and self-inflicts heavy physical penances for the sins she committed. In addition, she hid the pain that a certain rheumatic disease caused her.

It was not until she was 25 that she received the name Rosa from the Catholic Archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo, the day of her confirmation. At the beggining, she did not like the idea, but then she humbly accepted his new name, since the Virgen del Rosario and the Niño Jesus "confirmed the name", according to José Manuel Bermúdez and Fray Pedro de Loaiza, biographers of Santa Rosa.

Interior of the Sanctuary of Santa Rosa de Lima, located in the Lima Center. Credit: Adrián Portugal / PromPerú.

Religious vocation
Santa Rosa de Lima wanted to be a nun, but her friends and family did not agree with it. Even her father forbade it. However, this was not an impediment for her to lead a life close to her religious beliefs, with much suffering in between -she self-flagellated to receive forgiveness for the sins of the world-, offering love and understanding to all. She always cared for the defenseless; she was moved by the Indian and the slave and offered serenity and care to the sick.

Rosa was very loved and admired for this religious vocation both in Quives and in Lima, where she returned and professed her beliefs until her last days of life. At the age of 31, on August 24, 1617, she joined her creator after battling tuberculosis. Beatified in 1668 by Pope Clement IX and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, every August 30 it is celebrated by crowds on the traditional festivity of Santa Rosa de Lima.