Rose of Saint Mary

By Cayetano Bruno, S.D.B.

[Sealed and signed by the diocese of Lima, December 19, 1991.]

Introduction

This new "Life of Saint Rose of Lima" was edited and first printed in Peru, by the express wishes of its author, the Rev. Father Cayetano Bruno, SDB.

Father Bruno, a member of the Royal Academy of Language and of the Argentine Council of Ecclesiastical History, is profoundly knowledgeable about the life of our Saint, through his investigation of the Archives of the Canonization process and of the extensive existing bibliography.

Our desire is that You, gentle reader, may encounter in this work an amenable and attractive, as well as profitable, read, and that it may serve to increase your understanding of and admiration for this giant of Sanctity in Latin American and in the world...

It should go without saying that the life of sanctity, as it is here related, is only comprehensible to the "believer," that is to say, to one who can recognize the miracles grace works in such "souls" which are the object of a preferential love on the part of God.

We trust that in proceeding to read You shall feel attracted and as if carried by her immense love of God and complete surrender to Him to follow in her steps on the way to Sanctity, common goal of all Christians.

Lima, January 1992
5th Centennial Year of Evangelization

THE EDITORS

Prologue

Admire the spontaneous popularity of this Saint, whose life, nearly hermitic and of hair-raising macerations, more appropriate to the Middle Ages, disconcerts and repulses those who have even glanced at one of her monographs.

Because Rose of Lima, from the most tender age, mortified her flesh with extreme fasts, abstinences and hair shirts, merciless scourgings, crowns of hurtful thorns cap-style, bed bristling with sharp tiles. All with her gaze fixed on Jesus Crucified, whom she loved desperately and whose dolorous humanity she resolved to copy in her delicate flesh.

The same determination and industriousness that the common mortal applies to freeing the body from pain and making fatigue more bearable and the good life more comfortable, this singular maiden employed in tormenting herself, until she had firmly disrupted even the most subtle of nature's demands.

This notwithstanding, and Rose having cultivated a sanctity so removed from the preoccupations of yesterday and of today, her name reached far beyond the borders of Peru which raised her, eventually invading the American landscape with unforseen determination.

So in Mexico there is Saint Rose of Coxilahuaca and Saint Rose of Jauregui; in Nicaragua, Saint Rose of Piñon; in Honduras, Saint Rose of Aguan, Saint Rose of Aguan, Saint Rose of Copan and Saint Rose of Guaimaca; in Venezuela, Saint Rose of Anzoategui; in Colombia, Saint Rose of Cabal and Saint Rose of Osos; in Ecuador, Saint Rose of Chobos; in Peru, Saint Rose of Ataura, Saint Rose of Chonta, Saint Rose of Huayabamba, Saint Rose of Quives and Saint Rose of Mina; in Chile, Saint Rose of Arqueros, Saint Rose of Cato, Saint Rose of Catripulli and Saint Rose of the Andes; in Uruguay, Saint Rose of Cuareim. And many more.

There is hardly a region in Argentina without a settlement, parish, church or chapel named for her. So there is Santa Rosa in the province of La Pampa; Saint Rose of Calchines in Santa Fe; Saint Rose of Calamuchita and Saint Rose of Rio Primero in Cordoba. The old college of Saint Rose in San Juan de Cuyo, founded by Bishop-Friar Justo of Maria de Oro and regented by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and the monumental church of Saint Rose of Lima in Buenos Aires, inaugurated by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, during the International Eucharistic Congress of 1934, complete the picture of all this.

Furthermore, devotion to Rose of Lima has not diminished in America with the Saint's having been dead several centuries now. Her feast is more than popular, like her person, which continues to awaken sympathy perhaps because she was consistent to the core. She chose the way of the cross, and went straight for it without temperance or adjustment until it was too much...

The critic, the biographer, the historian panning Rosa's life for spots, deviations or accomodations will have to sharpen his imagination. She absolutely did not know them, giving herself to God, whether actively or passively, without the slightest reservation. And if there were excess deserving censure in her conduct, it was because she gave excessively, even to an inhuman degree, afflicting her flesh with aggressive macerations, and requiring her spiritual parents to rein her in.

For which she attracted the most dear rewards for all America. Are we not stuffed, smug, with the handsome blessings that Rose of Saint Mary gained from Heaven for us, by the mercy of her complete surrender to the Cross?

Saint Rose was born in Lima on April 30, 1586. And she died there on August 24, 1617, at thirty one years and nearly four months old; and the ordinary process for her beatification and canonization was opened eight days later. This was followed in 1630 with the apostolic process: one after another eyewitness sworn in one after another.

I am using precisely that immensity of material stored in the vault of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of the Secret Vatican Archives, specifically the manuscript volumes No. 1570 and 1573, which correspond to both processes, and which best serve to encompass the life and virtues of the Saint. [...]

THE AUTHOR

Buenos Aires, October 1986

Chapter one -- the girl

Saint Rose was born in Lima on April 30, 1586, to Gaspar Flores, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Maria Oliva, of Lima. She received the waters of baptism in the parish church of Saint Sebastian on the 25th of the following May.

She was called Isabel, in honor of her maternal grandmother, Isabel de Herrera. When the girl was getting around three months of age, her mother began to call her Rose, due to a strange happening mentioned often during the [canonization] process.

1.- The progenitors

The parents of the Saint, as well as her older brother Hernando, were witnesses in the processes, both ordinary and apostolic, due to the primary source information that only they could know.

Truthfully, the references from Gaspar Flores, then ninety-three years old, are scarce. By reason of his more than his advanced age, he remembered little of his important daughter.

He had come from Puerto Rico to Peru some seventy years earlier, and contracted marriage with Maria de Oliva "I would have been thirty-eight a little more or less," he declared on February 22 of 1618. Significantly younger than he, his consort was, on the other hand, copious in her reports the times she spoke.

Gonzalo de la Maza, accountant for the Holy Crusade, and Maria de Uzategui, his wife, were also significant witnesses. They spent time with the Flores family and with Rose in particular [...] -- de Uzategui expressed on October 9, 1617 -- "because of having had her in the house night and day for most of those five years." The consistent and familial treatment offered them the happy opportunity to introduce themselves in the past tense.

To both spouses "we should give complete faith and credence (...) because of their authority, credibility and reputation, and because of his being the Accountant for one of the his Majesty's minitries and among the most satisfactory and faithful servants he has in this realm," so explained Juan de Soto, lawyer to the Royal Court of Lima.

To the extent that Gonzalo de la Maza, reading the relevant certificate, could make sense of it, Gaspar Flores was "an arquebus of this kingdom's guard" beginning March 9 of 1557. The viceroy marquis of Cañete had given him this title "when the named company was formed."

Furthermore, wasting the pompous title of "gentleman of the Company of the arquebusiers of this Kingdom's Guard," Gaspar Flores lived and died extremely poor, and his maintenance fell to Rose.

A straightforward Catholic, he "usually" made his confession with the Jesuit father Antonio de Vega Loaiza, "and continues to do so to this day," according to the latter's testimony.

Mrs. Maria de Oliva was the daughter of Francisco de Oliva and Isabel de Herrera. When the Saint died she was fifty-one years old. She was born in Lima.

No less pious than she was without funds, like her husband, she must have brought little or no dowry to the marriage. When Rose died father Vega Loaiza testified of both:

"They are people of known piety and christianity, though poor and needy."

To make things worse, Mrs. Maria added to her pinched circumstances a regrettable flaw: according to the Dominican Friar Pedro de Loaiza, who heard Rose's confession, the same suffered a lot from the rages of her progenitor, who, "whether because of her rough moods, which she had often, or because God used her as an instrument to hew this Saint in patience, humility and suffering, treated her daughter, not only when she was a girl, but even when she was well grown, with the height of roughness."

In her defense, she was the mother of thirteen children, and she knew how to moderate herself to the voices of her confessors.

She testified twice in the ordinary process: on February 15 and March 1 of 1618. She must have pronounced the ritual words with well-justified complacency:

"She said she is the mother, as has been mentioned, of Rose of Saint Mary; but that will not stop her from telling the truth of what she might know or be asked, because she is a Christian, fearing God and her conscience. Although it is for the honor and glory of her daughter, she seeks only to serve Our Lord God and that his most holy name may be exalted."

Towards the end of 1628, her husband already dead, she became a nun in the new convent of Saint Catherine of Siena, which her daughter had previously tried to found. And she testified first in the apostolic process of Saint Francis Solano on October 23, 1629, where she said her name was Maria of Saint Mary, "a novice nun of this convent of Saint Catherine" and then again the apostolic process for her daughter, on March 21, 1631, presenting herself as "the doorkeeper of this convent [...], and that she is a very poor nun."

Of the thirteen children born of the Flores-Oliva marriage, the only one who appeared significantly in the processes was Hernando Flores de Herrera, only two years older than Rose. He reported very dear memories, demonstrating a unique affection for his holy sister.

Some of the others are mentioned only in passing, and little to nothing is known of the rest.

The Peruvian historian Ruben Vargas Ugarte collected what he could:

"Some must have died at a young age, because not even their names have been preserved. Those we know of were Bernardina, who was born in 1581; another girl, who died at the age of 14, according to what the Saint told Gonzalo de la Maza; Hernando, born in 1584; Francisco, who saw the light in 1590; Juana, who followed him in 1592; Andres, Gaspar, Antonio and Matias, who are mentioned summarily by their contemporaries."

2) The newborn

According to the text of the interview, and confirmed down to the details by de Maza the accountant, the Saint was born in Lima, "in some of its houses, below the convent of Our Lasy of the Rosary of the Order of Preachers, the street that runs behind the (hospital) of the Holy Spirit, on the last day of the month of April of 1586, at around four in the afternoon, and she was baptized in the parish of Saint Sebastian of this city, on the twenty-fifth of the month of may of the same year."

Saint Sebastian was the Family's parish. And it was Rose's until her death. Mr. Antonio Polanco baptized her.

The Saint received the name Isabel with the baptismal waters. "In consideration -- so presented her mother -- of Isabel de Herrera, mother of this witness and grandmother of the blessed girl."

In accordance with the customs of the time, the baptized child also took with her, in this case, the last name of the grandmother. Bartolome de Toro Montes de Oca, scribe to His Majesty, testified to this in the process:

This witness met Rose of Saint Mary, who was also called Isabel de Herrera."

Mrs. Maria recalled years later that it was a "good labor, no work," but that the child had such a thick sac[?] , that only the midwife could tear it. This did not happen with any of her other twelve children.

That midwife must have been a tough lady, because they called her the Warrior. Even she was stunned, exclaiming:

--"Oh, how lucky this little one must be, because I've never seen such a covering among the many babies I've delivered."

Mrs. Maria continued reminiscing with pleasure:

"Rose was extremely gentle ever since she was born, and she never cried, except just one time."

And it was while taking her out for a visit, that she saw her "inconsolable all afternoon, until I brought her back home."

The tiny thing did not wail again. But mother and grandmother resolved in agreement "not to take her out of the house (any more)."

The little one appeared so well-complexioned, that before she was eight months old, when her mother had no milk, she did not need a wet nurse. And something really strange, even miraculous:

"She never indicated a need to eat, because she was always calm, and at home she never made noise like other babies."

3) Rosica

The switch came when the child "was around three months old, thereabouts." And there was nobody better than Maria de Oliva to describe the deed in which she had been the principal actor. That all of America and the universal church exult in this fortunate name is due to her tenacity in plowing forward with the change.

In the ordinary as well as in the apostolic process Mrs. Maria abounded in complementary picturesque reminiscences of the happening, which are reproduced together here.

While a peasant girl, a house servant, was rocking her in a cradle, with the face of the blessed little girl covered, the servant uncovered her to see if she had fallen asleep; and she look so beautiful that she called some girls who were working" to come look.

These fell to exclaiming, childlike:

"--Oh, how pretty, how pretty this girl is!"

De Oliva, who was "taking her nap" in a nearby alcove that afternoon, came running to help. As far as she could, she explained later to the judges in the two hearings her maternal emotions upon seeing such an unfamiliar display:

"It seemed to her that the whole face had become a lovely rose; and in its center she saw the features of her eyes, mouth, nose and ears," as if she had put her little head "in a big rose of blazing color."

The vision passed away, but it left an indelible mark:

It happened suddenly without thinking, and then the rose disappeared, leaving her face very beautiful and prettier than I had seen it at other times."

Mrs. Maria, so absorbed in "such an extraordinary event..." took her in her arms, and started to do a thousand happy things, showing the utmost pleasure and contentment...; and she gave her many kisses, and repeated many times:

--"Life of mine, so long as God gives me life you will not hear any name but Rose from my mouth."

And she insisted on its fulfillment: "from then on" she had always called her "Rose" and not "Isabel."

We might imagine what the grandmother, whose name the baby had held, might feel. And the worry was warranted. There were "some differences" between the grandmother and the mother. The former called her offspring "Rosica." The latter, other other hand, "Isabelica."

The contention escalated such that her mother compelled her "not to respond any more to the name Isabel, but only to that of Rose."

In the questionnaire for the process the third question depicts the mother and the grandmother raising the stakes, and disturbing the house with only-too effective methods:

The blessed girl suffered many chores and persecutions over this, because her grandmother would flog and beat her when she responded to the name Rose of Saint Mary, and not to Isabel, and on the other hand her mother did the same when she responded to the name Isabel."

Did her grandmother and mother really go to such extremes in their unhinged ways?

The witnesses generally accepted this and the previous question in the questionnaire, having heard as such from reliable people. [...]

De Usategui, in whom the Saint confided, limited herself to testifying that, "seeing (her) burdened and mistreated by her mother," she went to her confessor.

De Oliva and her son Hernando say nothing about blows nor beatings: although the former, as shall be seen later, accused herself of similar treatments to get Rosa to go blonde. The latter said in his deposition that only when he was ten or eleven years old

4) Rose of St Mary

5) The little girl

6) The call

7) Her knowledge

Chapter two-- the first signs

The role of her family, particularly her mother, in Rose's sanctification was not slight. Mrs. Maria de Oliva loved Rose dearly, and she sacrificed for her, but in her own way. Because of this, and of being a malcontented woman, she gave her much to earn and suffer.

The first signs, if we except the ailments which were God's purifying works, were occasioned by her mother, determined to expose her to the demands of social life, from which the Saint always remained aloof.