Feast of St. Rosa of Lima (Peru)
The Feast of St. Rosa of Lima, celebrated annually on August 30, honors the life and legacy of Isabel Flores de Oliva, who became the first saint born in the Americas. A significant event in Lima, Peru, it attracts thousands of pilgrims who come to pay homage at her shrine in the Church of Santo Domingo. St. Rosa, known for her deep religious devotion and self-mortification, dedicated her life to Christ and to serving the poor and sick during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The celebrations feature a grand procession where a silver statue of St. Rosa, adorned with roses, is carried through the city, accompanied by hymns sung by children and adults dressed in ceremonial robes. While Lima is the focal point of the feast, it is also observed in various other regions of Peru and in some countries that share a historical connection through Spanish colonialism, such as the Philippines. This day serves not only as a religious observance but also as a cultural celebration, reflecting the reverence for St. Rosa, Peru’s patron saint.
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Feast of St. Rosa of Lima (Peru)
Feast of St. Rosa of Lima (Peru)
The Feast of Saint Rosa of Lima is an annual event on August 30 of every year in the Peruvian capital of Lima. It is also celebrated in other places around the nation, but it is known primarily as a Lima event.
Peru is a large nation on the west coast of South America. It has a population of nearly 30 million, more than 6 million of whom live in the capital and largest city of Lima. The vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic. Following Spain's conquest of Peru in the 16th century, Isabel Flores de Oliva, a daughter of Spanish immigrants, was born at Lima on April 20, 1586. She took the name of Rosa at her confirmation and decided to dedicate her life to Christ and to helping the poor and the sick.
Reputedly a woman of great beauty, Rosa took a vow of chastity in order to demonstrate her devotion and sought to make herself less attractive by rubbing her face with lye and pepper to ruin her complexion. She also adopted some of the practices of her role model, the 14th-century mystic St. Catherine of Siena, such as wearing rough clothing, fasting frequently, cutting her hair, and doing secret, severe penance. Historical records indicate that she joined a Dominican tertiary, or third order, which did not require that she become a nun but enabled her to commit herself to Christian service. Eventually, she increased the severity of her selfmortification, until she was eating very little and sleeping on a bed of broken glass, stone, and thorns. She had visions of Christ, to whom she prayed for the conversion of her country, and after her death in August 1617 several miracles were attributed to her. She was canonized St. Rosa by Pope Clement X in 1671, the first Christian saint born in the Americas and the patron saint of Peru.
St. Rosa has become immensely popular and has been widely venerated for centuries. On August 30 pilgrims come to worship at her shrine in Lima and to visit her wishing well, where they can pray for such benefits as a cure for an illness. A silver statue of St. Rosa is covered with roses and carried from the shrine in the Church of Santo Domingo to the city's cathedral in a grand procession. Children wear white and sing hymns, while adults in purple robes carry lighted candles. Her feast day is also celebrated in other Peruvian locations, although Lima is its center since she lived in that city. Her feast day is also observed in a few other countries, such as the Philippines, which were also once part of the Spanish colonial empire.