St. Rose the first canonized saint of the New World, was born at Lima in 1586. She received the name of Isabella in Baptism, but one day her mother saw a beautiful rose drooping over the baby’s cradle, and ever afterwards called her Rose. She was an obedient child; her mortifications were most severe. She prayed, worked, and wept for the conversion of sinners; she excelled in her love for holy purity.

She lived a life of simplicity and prayer in a small hut in a corner of her father’s garden; the birds would visit her and sing with her the praises of God. The Savior frequently appeared to her. Her devotion to the Passion of Our Lord was remarkable as were her own sufferings. Her bed was strewn with glass shards, with nails and thorns; she wore chafing hair cloth; her head was crowned with painful thorns skillfully concealed by roses. She died August 26, 1617. Her office was written by the eminent Cardinal Bona.