​Sta. Rosa De Lima Parish, Bagong Ilog Pasig City

 

Isabel Flores Y Oliva

Birthday                      :        April 20, 1586

Date of Death             :        August 25, 1617

Age                            :        31 years old

Date of Canonization   :        August 23, 1671

 

Where did her name “Isabel came from?

 

          Sta. Rosa was one of ten children born by Maria de Oliva and Gaspar de Flores, and was originally given the name “Isabel”, after an aunt and her own maternal grandmother.

 

Why Isabel called Rose?

 

          Isabel was three months old, her nursemaid testified that she saw a rose over her face, and from then on, she was called “little rose”. Of course, the change from “Isabel” to “rose’ was not very pleasing to the grandmother, but when the Archbishop of Peru confirmed her in that name when she was about nine years old, Grandmother Isabel accepted it as right, and Rose was called that for the rest of her life.

 

Her fight against temptation

 

          Rose had a fresh lovely complexion, and she was worried that this name had been given her as a tribute to her beauty. So sensitive was her conscience that she had genuine scruples over her name, and on one occasion, she rubbed pepper on her face in order to mar it. At another time, she cut her beautiful hair short, and put lime on her hands. This was her way- a way conditioned by the time and place- of fighting temptation to vanity.

 

Her model

 

Rose seemed 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 filler her soul.

 

Her Vocation

 

          As she grown to maturity, her parents were anxious to have Rose marry, and indeed there were several worthy aspirants for her hand. But Rose did not wish to marry, and to end all arguments and offers, she joined the THIRD ORDER of St. Dominic. Donned the habit, and took the vow of perpetual virginity.

 

          For many years Rose lived virtually 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 circle of silver studded on the inside with sharp points, in memory of the Lord’s crown of thorns. Other forms of penitence which she was inflicted on her body were floggings, the wearing of a hair shirt, and the dragging of a heavy, wooden cross. She rubbed her lips with gall and chewed bitter herbs to deaden her sense of taste. Both eating and sleeping were reduced to a minimum. Naturally her health was affected, and her manner of living offended her family.

 

          Finally, Rose began to tell of visions, revelations, visitations and voices; all the more her family deplored her penitential practices. She endured their disapproval and grew in spiritual fortitude. In spite of the rigors of her ascetic life, Rose was not wholly detached from the happenings around her.

 

          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 resulted in the judgment that her experiences were indeed supernatural.

 

          During an illness toward the end of her life she was still able to pray, “Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Thy Love in my heart.”

 

When was Sta. Rosa canonized?

 

          Rose of Lima was declared patroness of South America and the Philippines. She was canonized in 1671. Her feast day falls on August 23, and her emblems are an anchor, a crown of roses, and a city.