Saint Rose of Lima

Rose of Lima, TOSD (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. 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, 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. 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.