St. Rose of Lima

Rose of Lima learned to give Christ an undivided heart within the ordinary burdens of home. Christened Isabel in 1586, she became known as Rose and helped support her family through sewing, embroidery, and work in the garden after their finances declined. She took St. Catherine of Siena as a model, resisted pressure to marry, and eventually lived as a Dominican tertiary while remaining under her parents' roof.

The small hut Rose built in the garden became a place of prayer, love of the Blessed Sacrament, penance, and long fidelity through spiritual darkness. Her mortifications were severe, but they do not stand alone. She also worked, obeyed, served the sick and poor, bore misunderstanding patiently, and desired above all to belong completely to Christ. Rose died in 1617 at only thirty-one. The city that had often misunderstood her came to honor her, and she became the first canonized saint born in the Americas.