St. Rose of Lima

She was born Isabel Flores de Oliva (April 20, 1586-August 24, 1617). She was a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic in Lima, Peru, Spanish Empire. She was known for her life of severe penance & her care of the poor of the city through her own private efforts.

Rose of Lima was born to a noble family & is the patroness saint of embroidery, gardening, cultivation of blooming flowers, florists, embroiderers, sewing lace, gardeners, people ridiculed or misunderstood for their piety, the resolution of family quarrels, against vanity, & the indigenous peoples of the Americas. She was the 1st 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 main patroness of Peru & the local people of Latin America. Her image was formerly featured on the highest denomination banknote of Peru.

Her nickname “Rose” comes from a story in her infancy: a servant claimed to have seen her face change into a rose. In 1597, Isabel was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima, Toribio de Mogrovejo, who was also declared a saint. She then formally changed her name to Rose (Rosa in Spanish) at that time.

When she was a young girl, she copied Catherine of Siena. She started praying 3x a week & performed severe penances in secret. She was admired for her beauty. She cut off her hair & rubbed peppers on her face, to distract from her beauty. She was upset that men were starting to notice her, & not for her spirituality. She turned away all of her suitors. Her family wasn’t having any of that.

Much to her parents’ chigrin, Rose spent a LOT of time thinking about the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily. This is rare, & odd, for the time. She wanted to take a vow of virginity. But her parents didn’t want that! Out of frustration, her dad gave her a room to herself at the family home.

In addition to fasting, she permanently abstained from eating meat. She helped the sick & hungry around her community. She would bring them to the room, her dad built, to take care of the sick. To help her family financially, Rose would sell fine needlework she made. She would also take flowers to the market to sell as well.

To help the poor, she would make & sell lace & embroidery. This was in addition to all the prayer & she did penance in a small grotto she’d built. She was otherwise a recluse. She only left her room to go to church.

She attracted the attention of the friars of the Dominican Order. She wanted to become a nun. But her dad wasn’t hearing any of that noise. So instead, she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic, while she was living in her parents’ home.

When she was 20, she started wearing the habit of a tertiary & took a vow of perpetual virginity. A tertiary is a lay member of a religious order’s Third Order, who lives in the secular (worldly) world while they strive for Christian perfection by following the spiritual way of life associated with that particular order. The First Order is the clergy, the Second Order is the religious women in the community (official nuns).

She allowed herself only 2 hours a night of sleep, at most, so she could have more time to devote to prayer. She also wore a heavy metal crown made of silver, that had small spikes on the inside. This was to imitate the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus.

For 11 years, she lived like this. Throughout this time, there would be periods of ecstasy. She passed away on August 24, 1617, at the age of 31. She had been battling a long illness. It’s said that she prophesied her death date.

Her funeral was held in the cathedral. It was attended by all the public authorities of Lima. August 23 is her feast day. It’s August 30th in the Traditional calendar.

Rose was beatified by Pope Clement IX on May 10, 1667. She was canonized on April 12, 1671 by Pope Clement I. She was the first Catholic in the Americas to be officially declared a saint.

Her shine is inside of the convent of St. Dominic in Lima. The Catholic Church says that many miracles happened after her death: she cured a leper; & at the time of her death, the city of Lima smelled like roses; roses started falling from the sky.

Rose’s skull, surmounted with a crown of roses, is on public display at the Basilica in Lima, Peru.

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

Or enter a custom amount

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly

#10May1667 #12April1671 #1597 #20April1586 #24August1617 #Americas #ArchbishopOfLima #August23 #August30 #Basilica #Beatified #BlessedSacrament #Canonized #Cathedral #CatherineOfSiena #Convent #CrownOfThorns #CultivationOfBloomingFlowers #DominicanOrder #Embroidery #Embroilerers #fasting #FeastDay #FineNeedlework #Florists #Gardeners #Gardening #IndigenousPeoples #IsabelFloresDeOliva #Lace #LatinAmerica #Leper #Lima #Miracles #Nun #PerpetualVirginity #Peru #Philippines #Piety #PopeClementIX #PopeClementX #PopePiusXII #Pudentiana #Recluse #ReligiousEcstasy #Rosa #Roses #Saint #September1942 #SewingLace #Shrine #Skull #Spanish #SpanishEmpire #StDominic #StRoseOfLima #Tertiary #ThirdOrderOfStDominic #ToribioDeMogrovejo #TraditionalCalender #Vanity #VowOfVirginity

Vision Du Réel – La Muraille

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Over 107 years ago when the disease was not yet understood and under control when someone fell sick with leprosy they would be sent out of society to live alone in caves to avoid the spread of their affliction. It's only later that the disease was understood and became treatable.

The documentary did not address much about the construction of the sanatorium except to say that convicts that were sentenced to death for a crime were made to build the ramparts around the city. These were two and a half meters tall and broken glass was put on the top. The aim was to keep the sick in. The local community was afraid of the disease that they did not understand.

I say "the locals" but children of guards who were exposed to the community saw that they had nothing to fear, because this disease has a a genetic component. It can't be transmitted between individuals, except from generation to generation.

It's interesting to watch such a documentary today, because such a place, to a large extent has to reinvent itself. Leprosy has diminished and is less of an issue in Europe. As a result the hospital is less and less useful.

If I made such a documentary I would have spent more time trying to find archive footage, to see if I could understand more about how the place was when it was busy.

We do not see that many patients, or nurses in this documentary. We see a doctor or two. We see a few patients.

That's what I find interesting and different about these documentaries, in contrast to Discovery channel and other documentaries. The editing is slow. You have time to observe, to see, to listen, to experience, before it moves on.

In one sequence the guy in a wheel chair goes around the complex, we see him on one road, and then another, and then a third. We also hear laughter from the people watching this documentary.

I am so used to watching documentaries in solitude that the idea of people laughing during a documentary is almost new to me.

Next time I go to Spain I would like to take a little detour and visit the place we see in the film. It interests me. Is the place still busy or did the documentary reflect how it is today? How old are the patients and how much longer does it expect to be around? Can it be used for other health conditions?

Could it be used for hiking and cycling groups?

When writing people often ask "So what?" and I find myself asking the same question after certain documentaries. This is one of those documentaries. "So what happens next", "So how much longer will that community be around"? and more. An answer.

More information

Some history

• At its height, Fontilles had up to 400 patients. The place was largely self-sufficient and the patients worked the land, ran the bakery, had butchers, a shoe-maker, book-binding bar and restaurant, cinema and theatre, which have left hilarious as well as deeply moving memories and anecdotes. Of great importance, Fontilles houses a large library and a laboratory where research is currently carried out in collaboration with different universities.

Fontilles (Spain)

Although I went off on a tangent sometimes the value of documentaries is to increase awareness about a topic and encourage us to learn more. As demonstrated by the follow up research I did, quickily, the topic can, and is expanded.

#alicante #care #colony #compassion #empathy #health #isolation #leper #lepers #spain

Fall Of The Crow 25 - Petals Must Fall

"The death-cap grows - thrives - in the shade."

Fanart for Darkest Dungeon II by
Red Hook Studios

#fallofthecrow #darkart #fanart #inktober #inktober2023 #darkestdungeon #darkestdungeonfanart #leper #darkestdungeon2 #petalsmustfall

Why Would #Jesus Get Angry at this Poor #Leper?

https://ehrmanblog.org/why-would-jesus-get-angry-at-this-poor-leper
#christian #bible #sundayschool #atheism #sickness #mythology

My attempt at a stream of consciousness piece. Explores the point of view of the leper in Mark 1:40-45.

https://write.as/hdansin/leper

#writing #Leper

Today's #tarot draw is the #Leper, the #Traitor, and the #Overseer.  

The Leper is the physical aspect of the #Unclean Archetype, representing #persecution and #weaknesses. The Traitor is linked to the #Devil Major Arcana archetype in spirit and represents #evil, #violence, and #temptation. The Overseer is a spiritual representation of the #Emperor Major Arcana archetype and represents #authority, #assertion, and #structure.