Born Isabel Flores de Oliva in Lima in 1586, she took the name Rose and, against her family's hopes for a favorable marriage, devoted herself entirely to a life of prayer and penance modeled on Catherine of Siena, whom she deeply admired. She joined the Dominican Third Order, living most of her adult life in a small hut in her family's garden.
She practiced severe physical penances and reported frequent mystical experiences of union with Christ, while also spending long hours caring for the sick, elderly, and indigenous people of Lima out of her family's modest resources. She died in 1617 at only 31, and was canonized in 1671, becoming the first canonized saint born anywhere in the Americas.
Saint Rose of Lima
First Saint of the Americas
A Peruvian Dominican tertiary known for intense penance and mystical prayer, the first person born in the Americas to be canonized.
- Born
- 1586
- Died
- 1617
- Birthplace
- Lima, Peru
- Died in
- Lima, Peru
- Country
- Peru
- Canonised
- 1671-04-12
- Century
- 17th century
Categories
Why People Pray to Saint Rose of Lima
Saint Rose of Lima is invoked by those seeking a deeper life of prayer amid family expectations, and is honored throughout Latin America as a beloved patroness.
