Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin
Sermon by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876
God gave to the Christians of the Americas, and all over the world, a
beautiful example of holiness, at the end of the sixteenth and
the beginning of the seventeenth century, in the Saint whose
festival is this day commemorated by the Catholic Church. Her
native place was Lima, the capital of Peru. She was named Isabel,
but while yet in the cradle, she was called Rose, as her face, in
its loveliness, resembled a rose. She took the surname of St. Mary,
by order of the Blessed Virgin. Already in her childhood, her
conduct was holy. Her intention was to follow the example of St.
Catherine of Sienna, whose life she had read, and therefore she
entered the third order of St. Dominic. When five years old, she
consecrated her virginity to God, and was such a perfect hand-maiden
of the Lord, that during her whole life, she never offended Him by a
mortal sin, nor even intentionally by one that was venial. Her time
was divided between prayer and work. Twelve hours she gave to devout
exercises, two or three to sleep, the rest to work.
When grown to womanhood, her hand was sought by several, but she
always unhesitatingly gave the answer, that she was already promised
to a heavenly spouse. That, however, her parents might not further urge
her, she herself cut off her hair, as a sign of her consecration to God.
She treated her innocent body with extreme severity. From her childhood
she abstained from fruit, which, in Peru, is so delicious. Her fasts and
abstinences were more than human; for, when scarcely six years old, her
nourishment consisted almost entirely of water and bread. At the age of
fifteen, she made a vow never to eat meat, except when obliged by obedience.
Not even when sick did she partake of better food. Sometimes for five or
eight days, she ate nothing at all, living only on the bread of angels.
During the whole of Lent, she took only five citron seeds, daily. Incredible
as this may appear to the reader, it is told by unquestionable authority.
Her bed was a rough board, or some knotted logs of wood. Her pillow was a
bag filled with rushes or stones.
Every night she scourged her body with two small iron chains, in remembrance
of the painful scourging of our Saviour, and for the conversion of sinners.
When, however, her Confessor forbade her this, she, after the example of
St. Catherine of Sienna, bound, three times around her body, a thin chain,
which in a few weeks, had cut so deeply into the flesh that it was scarcely
to be seen. Fearing that she would be compelled to reveal it, she prayed to
God for help, and the chain became loose of itself. Hardly were the wounds
healed, when she again wore the chain, until her Confessor, being informed
of it, forbade her to do so. She then had a penitential robe made of horse-hair,
which reached below her knees, and occasioned her intense suffering.
She wore under her veil, in remembrance of our Saviours crown of thorns, a
crown which was studded inside with pins, and which wounded her head most
painfully. To attend the better to her prayers, she loved solitude above
everything.
To this end, she asked the permission of her parents to build a
small cell for herself in the corner of the garden. This cell was only five
feet long and four feet wide; but she lived more happily in it than many
others do in royal palaces. O, how many graces she obtained from heaven in
this place! How many visions she had there of St. Catherine of Sienna, her
Guardian Angel, the Blessed Virgin, and even of Christ Himself! She was also
frequently favored with visions in other places. The most remarkable of these
was one which she had on Palm Sunday, in the chapel of the Holy Rosary, before
an image of the Blessed Virgin. Rose, gazing at the picture, perceived that
the Virgin Mother, as well as the divine Child, regarded her most graciously,
and at last she heard distinctly from the lips of the divine Child, the
words: "Rose, you shall be my spouse." Although filled with holy awe, she
replied, in the words which the Blessed Virgin had spoken to the
Angel: "Behold, I am a handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to
thy word." After this, the Virgin Mother said: "May you well appreciate the
favor which my Son has accorded to you, dear Rose!"
I leave it to the pious reader to picture to himself the inexpressible joy
which this vision gave to Rose. It served her as a most powerful incentive to
the practice of all virtues. Among these virtues, surely not the least was
the heroic patience which this holy virgin showed, as well in bodily
suffering, as in interior, spiritual anguish. The Almighty permitted her,
for fifteen years, to be daily tormented, at least, for an hour, by the most
hideous imaginations, which were of such a nature, that she sometimes thought
that she was in the midst of hell. She could think neither of God nor of the
graces He had bestowed upon her; neither did prayer or devout reading give
her any comfort. It sometimes seemed as if she had been forsaken by God. In
this manner, God wished to prove and purify her virtue, as He had done in
regard to many other Saints. Her patience was also most severely tried by
painful diseases, as she sometimes had a combination of two or three
maladies at the same time, and suffered most intensely.
During the last three years of her life, she was disabled in almost all her
limbs; but her resignation to the will of God was too perfect to allow her to
utter a word of complaint. All she desired and prayed for was to suffer
still more for Christs sake. She, at the same time, encouraged other sick
persons, whom she served with indescribable kindness, as long as she was
well. She endeavored to comfort them when it was necessary to prepare them
for a happy death; for, her greatest joy was to speak of God and to lead
others to Him. One day when she was greatly troubled about her salvation,
Christ appeared to her and said: "My daughter, I condemn those only who
will not be saved." He assured her at the same time, first, that she
would go to heaven; secondly, that she never would lose His grace through
mortal sin; thirdly, that divine assistance would never fail her in any
emergency.
God also revealed to her the day and hour of her death, which took place in
her thirty-first year. After the holy sacraments had been administered to her,
she begged all present to forgive her faults, and exhorted them to love God.
The nearer the hour of her death approached, the greater became her joy.
Shortly before her end, she went into an ecstasy, and after it, she said to
her Confessor: "Oh! how much I could tell you of the sweetness of God,
and of the blissful heavenly dwelling of the Almighty!" She requested
her brother to take away the pillow that had been placed under her head,
that she might die on the boards, as Christ had died on the cross. When
this was done, she exclaimed three times: "Jesus, Jesus, be with me!"
and expired. After death, her face was so beautiful, that all who looked
at her were lost in astonishment. Her funeral was most imposing. The
Canons first carried the body a part of the way to the church; after them
the senate, and finally, the superiors of the different orders, so great
was the esteem they all entertained for her holiness. God honored her
after her death, by many miracles; and Clement X. canonized her in 1671
and placed her among the number of the holy virgins.
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
I. Have you been able to read without astonishment the different
means that St. Rose employed to give pain to her body, and constantly to
mortify herself? What do you think of it? I will tell you what I think.
We find in the lives of almost all the Saints, that they abstained from
all worldly pleasure, and exercised themselves in voluntary penances.
As, however, the people of our day will hear nothing of all this, and will
live in comfort, and still think that, by avoiding all mortifications of
the flesh, and by enjoying all the pleasures of the world, they will go to
the same heaven into which the Saints endeavored to enter by so many
voluntary austerities, I must come to the conclusion that either the Saints
acted very foolishly in being so severe to themselves, or that the world of
our day errs in imagining that it has found an easier way to eternal life.
What do you think? Whom will you follow? The world or the Saints? Can you
name to me a single one who has followed the world and yet entered the
Kingdom of God? Perhaps you hope to be the first. Take care; your hope will
deceive you.
II. St. Rose was assured by God that she would be saved, that she
would never lose His grace, and that heavenly assistance would never fail
her. Ah! what great and priceless favors! The chaste virgin had made
herself worthy by her holy life, of these graces, as much as was in her
power. Your tepid piety cannot promise you such graces; but it is your
duty to pray frequently and earnestly that God may grant them to you.
Pray therefore fervently and often to God that He may not condemn you,
but grant you life everlasting. Pray to Him humbly, that you may never
lose His grace by a mortal sin, and that He may grant you assistance in
all your needs. To obtain these graces endeavor to lead a Christian life.
Although this does not give you an infallible assurance of your salvation,
it gives you reason to hope that you will not go to perdition. Think on
Christs words: "I condemn no one who wishes to be saved." But who is he,
you perhaps ask, who will not be saved. According to the words, no one;
but according to the works, many, and they are all those who become guilty
of mortal sin, who continue in their iniquity, who defer their penance too
long. If we voluntarily do what we know will lead us to destruction, it may
in truth be said of us, that we wish to be condemned. If we do no penance,
after having committed sin, it may again be said, with truth, that we wish
to be condemned; because we do not make use of those means by which we may
escape hell. Examine yourself and see if you do not perhaps belong to those
unfortunate beings who will be condemned. If you do not desire to be one of
their number, avoid sin; and if you have committed it, do penance
immediately. "As often as a man becomes guilty of a mortal sin, so often
does he sentence himself to eternal misery," says St. Chrysostom.
During the whole of Lent, she took only five citron seeds, daily.
The Mystical Betrothal of Saint Rose of Lima by Nicols Correa; 1691; National Fine Arts Museum (Museo Nacional de Arte), Mexico City;
http://commons.wikimedia.org
Medall amb frescos de la volta de lantiga esglsia de santa Rosa de Lima, Museu Histric de lajuntament de Valncia. These frescos are the works of Josep Vergara (Valncia, 1726-1799).
http://commons.wikimedia.org
Saint Rose of Lima
Saint Rose of Lima - Emulating Jesus Christ Crucified - Patroness Against Vanity, Embroiderers, Florists, Gardeners, Needleworkers and People Ridiculed for their Piety
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