Official feasts used to be an important part of the human community. People would gather together to remember something sacred, express their faith and hope for the future, and / or just be together formally, recognizing each other as being part of a shared community. Few things express a desire for shared companionship and social intimacy more than dining together. Sadly, the gathering together for feasting is increasingly a relic of the past – at least here in the West.
It need not be so! Today we will remember the ancient feasts.
The Feast Day of St. Rose of Limia
This is a Christian religious celebration of Rose of Lima (born Isabel Flores de Oliva), a 16th and 17th century Spanish member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the poverty stricken of the city through her own private efforts. She is best known today and best remembered for being the first canonized saint of the Americas.
She is a patroness saint of a long list of vocations and locations, including embroiderers, sewing lace, gardeners, floristsc people ridiculed or misunderstood for their piety, for the resolution of family quarrels, against vanity, indigenous people, of the Americas, Latin America, Peru, Philippines, the Indies, Villareal, Santa Rosa, California; Santa Rosa, Laguna, Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija, Alcoy, Cebu, Daanbantayan, Cebu, Cabangan, Zambales, Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, Lima, and Sittard.
Rose of Lima (born Isabel Flores de Oliva; 20 April 1586 – 24 August 1617) (Latin: Rosa Limana, Spanish: Rosa de Lima), was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire, who became known for both her life of severe penance and her care of the poverty stricken of the city through her own private efforts.
Rose of Lima was born to a noble family and is the patron saint of embroidery, gardening, and cultivation of blooming flowers. She was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized as a saint.
As a saint, Rose of Lima has been designated as a co-patroness of the Philippines, along with Pudentiana; both saints were moved to second-class patronage in September 1942 by Pope Pius XII, but Rose remains the primary patroness of Peru and of the local people of Latin America. Her image was formerly featured on the highest-denomination banknote of Peru.
Biography
Frontispiece of Leonhard Hansen’s Vita Mirabilis (Credit: Women of the Book Collection, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University)
She was born as Isabel Flores de Oliva in the city of Lima, then in the Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire, on 20 April 1586. She was one of eleven children of Gaspar Flores [es], a harquebusier in the Imperial Spanish army whose family were from Baños de Montemayor, Cáceres, Spain and later travelled to Puerto Rico. His wife and Rose’s mother, María de Oliva y Herrera (b. 1560), was a criolla native of Lima. Her maternal grandparents were Francisco de Oliva and Isabel de Herrera. Rose’s siblings (in birth order) were Gaspar, Bernardina, Hernando, Francisco, Juana, Antonio, Andrés, Francisco and Jacinta, all born in Lima.
Plaque in Baños de Montemayor, Spain, dedicated to Gaspar Flores, the father of Rose of Lima
Her later nickname “Rose” comes from an incident in her infancy: a servant claimed to have seen her face transform into a rose. In 1597, Isabel was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima, Toribio de Mogrovejo, who was also to be declared a saint. She formally took the name of Rose (Rosa in Spanish) at that time.
As a young girl, in emulation of the noted Dominican tertiaryCatherine of Siena, she began to fast three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. When she was admired for her beauty, Rose cut off her hair and rubbed peppers on her face, upset that men were beginning to take notice of her. She rejected all suitors against the objections of her friends and her family. Despite the censure of her parents, she spent many hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily, an extremely rare practice in that period. She was determined to take a vow of virginity, which was opposed by her parents, who wished her to marry. Finally, out of frustration, her father gave her a room to herself in the family home.
Stained glass window by Harry Clarke, located in St. Michael’s Church, Ballinasloe, Ireland, depicting Saint Rose burning her hands in an act of penance
In addition to fasting, she took permanent abstinence from eating meat. She helped the sick and hungry around her community, bringing them to her room and taking care of them. Rose sold her fine needlework and took flowers that she grew to market to help her family. She made and sold lace and embroidery to care for the poor, and she prayed and did penance in a little grotto that she had built. Otherwise, she became a recluse, leaving her room only for her visits to church.
She attracted the attention of the friars of the Dominican Order. She wanted to become a nun, but her father forbade it, so she instead entered the Third Order of St. Dominic while living in her parents’ home. In her twentieth year, she donned the habit of a tertiary and took a vow of perpetual virginity. She only allowed herself to sleep two hours a night at most so that she had more hours to devote to prayer. She donned a heavy crown made of silver, with small spikes on the inside, in emulation of the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ.
For eleven years, she lived this way, with intervals of ecstasy, and eventually died on 24 August 1617, at the young age of 31, after a long illness. It is said that she prophesied the date of her death. Her funeral was held in the cathedral, attended by all the public authorities of Lima. Her feast day is on the 23rd day of August (the 30th day of August in the Traditional calendar).
Veneration
Monastery of Saint Rose in 17th-century Lima
Rose was beatified by Pope Clement IX on 10 May 1667, and canonized on 12 April 1671 by Pope Clement X, and was the first Catholic in the Americas to be declared a saint. Her shrine, alongside those of her friends Martin de Porres and John Macias, is currently located inside of the convent of Saint Dominic in Lima. The Catholic Church says that many miracles followed her death: there were stories that she had cured a leper, and that, at the time of her death, the city of Lima smelled like roses; roses also started falling from the sky. Many places in the New World are named after Santa Rosa.
Her liturgical feast was inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1729 for celebration initially on 30 August, because 24 August, the date of her death, is the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle and 30 August was the closest date not already allocated to a well-known saint. Pope Paul VI‘s 1969 revision of the calendar made 23 August available, the day on which her feast day is now celebrated throughout the world, including Spain, but excluding Peru and some other Latin American countries, where 30 August is a public holiday in her honor.
Early lives of Rosa were written by the Dominican Father Hansen, “Vita Sanctae Rosae” (2 vols., Rome, 1664–1668), and Vicente Orsini, afterward. Pope Benedict XIII wrote “Concentus Dominicano, Bononiensis ecclesia, in album Sanctorum Ludovici Bertrandi et Rosae de Sancta Maria, ordinero praedicatorum” (Venice, 1674).
There is a park named for her in downtown Sacramento, California. A plot of land at 7th and K streets was given to the Catholic Church by Peter Burnett, first Governor of the State of California. Father Peter Anderson built one of the first of two churches in the diocese to be consecrated under the patronage of St. Rose.
In the Caribbean twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago, the Santa Rosa Carib Community, located in Arima, is the largest organization of indigenous peoples on the island. The second oldest parish in the Diocese of Port of Spain is also named after this saint. The Santa Rosa Church, which is located in the town of Arima, was established on 20 April 1786, as the Indian Mission of Santa Rosa de Arima, on the foundations of a Capuchin Mission previously established in 1749.
On the Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia, there are two flower festivals supported by their Societies. Each society has a patron saint on whose feast day the grande fete is celebrated. For the Roses, it is the feast of St. Rose of Lima on 30 August; and for the Marguerites, it is that of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, 17 October.
Rose’s skull, surmounted with a crown of roses, is on public display at the Basilica in Lima, Peru, along with that of Martin de Porres. It was customary to keep the torso in the basilica and pass the head around the country.
She is also commemorated on 24 August in some places.
On the last weekend in August, the Fiesta de Santa Rosa is celebrated in Dixon, New Mexico, and the Sint Rosa Festival in Sittard, Netherlands. Also, in Sibbe, Netherlands, a maypole dedicated to Saint Rose is erected on the first Saturday after 23 August by the local Jonkheid.
▢5 liters of water 4 liters to boil the corn and the rest to dilute the potato flour or potato starch
▢Pineapple peels
▢3 cloves
▢1 star anise
▢3 cinnamon sticks or cinnamon chips
▢1/3 kg purple corn 2 to 3 ears
▢3 seeds sweet peppercorn allspice or guava pepper
For the mazamorra:
▢1 cup prunes
▢1 cup raisins
▢3 cups white sugar
▢1/2 cup peach dried apricots
▢1/4 cup sour cherries optional
▢1 fresh peach
▢1 pineapple pulp
▢1 cup potato flour or a cup of cornstarch
▢1/4 cup lime juice
▢1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Wash the pineapple carefully, if possible, with a brush under running water. Remove the crown, discard it and carefully peel the pineapple. For this recipe, we will use the whole pineapple, including its crust. Reserve the pineapple pulp and cut the peel into large pieces.
Wash the corn and partially degrade it; you don’t need to cut it completely.
In a pot over medium-high heat place the 4 liters of water, pineapple peel, corn, corn kernels, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and if desired 3 grains of sweet peppercorn.
Simmer covered for at least 1 hour until the corn drains of its color. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, the mixture should have reduced from about one to two liters. Strain and reserve the liquid, you can discard the rest of the ingredients. If you wish, you can use the remaining corn to prepare chicha morada, which is another delicious dessert that you can make with purple corn.
To prepare the mazamorra, in a clean pot, put the remaining cinnamon, add the purple corn, the dried fruits (prunes, raisins and peach dried apricots) and the sugar. Bring the liquid temperature to medium heat for at least 30 minutes, the idea is that the dried fruits are hydrated, so you should not rush this procedure.
When the dried fruits are tender, add the diced pineapple, diced peach, and sour cherries. Stir and let them cook.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, dilute the flour in water and stir very well. Check that there are no lumps. (If there are lumps, strain the mixture or blend if necessary). Add this mixture to the pot.
While stirring, cook for another five minutes until it passes through the bottom of the container and the mixture can see the bottom of the pot. Just before turning off add the lemon juice, stir once more and let stand.
Serve in sweets cup with cinnamon sprinkled. Likewise, it is very common to eat it accompanied by rice pudding, symbolizing the flag of Peru.
What is a prayer to say on the Feast Day of Saint Rose of Lima?
Admirable Saint Rose, you were truly a sweet flower blooming on a rugged soil; you were indeed a rose among thorns, bearing with meekness and patience the stings of envious tongues, and preserving perfect purity and modesty amid the alluring blandishments of a deceitful world. To the sufferings inflicted on you by others you added the voluntary tortures of fasting and watching, of the discipline, of the crown of thorns and of the hair shirt, to subdue the flesh and to make yourself like to your heavenly Spouse. By the merits which you have thus gained with your divine Bridegroom, obtain for me the grace to bear my afflictions with patience, to remain pure and modest, to be meek and humble, to be faithful to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and so to mortify my passions that I may be ever more pleasing and acceptable in the sight of my dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen. (Say 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and 1 Glory Be)
When is the Feast Day of Saint Rose of Lima celebrated?
This feast is celebrated annually on 23 August and on 30 August in some Latin American countries.
I hope that everyone who celebrates has a wonderful day!
Angelino Medoro, Posthumous Portrait of St. Rose of Lima (1617)
Melchiorre Caffà, St. Rose of Lima (1665)
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, St. Rose of Lima with the Christ Child (1670-1680)
St. Rose of Lima with the Christ Child (c. 1680-1700)
An Allegory of Saint Rose of Lima (c. 1730-60)
Aubrey Beardsley, The Ascension of Saint Rose of Lima (1896)
Temple, Sanctuary and Convent where she lived in Lima
She converted a little hut in the backyard into a hermitage, where she often went to pray.
Water well into which devotees toss letters in memory of St. Rose
Iglesia de Santa Rosa de Lima un Purmamarca, Argentina
Basílica Santuario de Santa Rosa de Lima in Buenos Aires
Statue of St. Rose of Lima in the Catedral de la Asunción de María Santísima in Guadalajara, Jalisco
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