Isabel Flores de Oliva was born in Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on 20 April 1586, the tenth of thirteen children of Spanish parents of noble stock settled in the New World. Her Indian nurse Marianna, struck by the child's extraordinary beauty, called her Rose; tradition holds that as an infant her face was seen transformed by a mystical rose, and the name was confirmed at her Confirmation in 1597. From earliest years she showed deep reverence and love for God, spending long hours before the altar of the Infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother, and advancing rapidly in obedience, study, and domestic work, especially needlework.
After reading the life of Saint Catherine of Siena she took that saint as her model. She began fasting three times a week, added secret penances, cut off her beautiful hair when vanity assailed her, wore coarse clothing, and roughened her hands with toil. She made a vow of virginity and for some ten years patiently resisted her parents' desire that she marry, winning their consent at last by prayer and steadfastness. Great temptations against purity, faith, and perseverance left her in desolation, yet the Lord manifested Himself to fortify her. She practiced perpetual abstinence from meat, lived on the coarsest fare, and filled her days with charity and industry—her exquisite lace and embroidery helping to support the household after her father's business failed—while her nights were given to prayer and penance.
With her brother's help she built a little grotto in the family garden and later, with her confessor's leave, lived there almost as a recluse, leaving only for the sacraments. In her twentieth year (about 1606) she received the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and took the name Rose of Saint Mary, expressing her tender devotion to the Virgin. Thereafter she redoubled her austerities: she wore a metal spiked crown concealed by roses and an iron chain about her waist; days passed with only a draught of gall mixed with bitter herbs; when she could no longer stand she rested on a bed of broken glass, stones, potsherds, and thorns that made her tremble with dread. Fourteen years this martyrdom continued. Our Lord revealed Himself frequently, flooding her soul with peace and leaving her in ecstasy for hours. She offered all her sufferings for offenses against God, for the conversion of sinners and the indigenous peoples, and for the souls in Purgatory. While praying before an image of Mary with the Child Jesus she heard the Child say, "Rose, give Me all your love." She often repeated, "My God, increase my sufferings, if You will, but increase my love for You."
In the maternal home she made a refuge for abandoned children and elderly, especially of Indian origin, caring for the sick with herbal remedies and bringing the Word of Christ into the houses she served. Tradition credits her prayers with turning aside a threatened Dutch pirate invasion of Lima in 1615. Examined in life by a commission of religious and learned men, her mystical experiences were judged true gifts of grace. She died in the night of 24 August 1617 after renewing her religious vows and repeating, "Jesus, be with me!" When her body was carried to the Chapel of the Rosary, the statue of Our Lady before which she had so often prayed seemed to smile upon her, and the crowd cried miracle. She was beatified by Clement IX on 15 April 1668 and canonized by Clement X on 12 April 1671, the first saint of the Americas.
May Saint Rose of Lima obtain for us a share in her burning love of the Crucified and teach us today the virtue of penitential charity toward the poor.
