Saint Rose was born Isabel Flores y de Oliva in Lima Peru in 1586. Her father was a harquebusier (cavalryman) in the Spanish army, born in Puerto Rico. Her mother, Maria de Oliva was a native of Lima. Her nickname "Rose" was a testament to her holiness. When she was a baby, a servant claimed to have seen her face transformed into a rose. When she was 13, she was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima (Turibius de Mongrovejo who was also later proclaimed a saint) and formally took the name of Rose.

As a young person, and in imitation of Saint Catherine of Siena, Rose began fasting three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. She spent hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily, something quite rare in those days in the Americas. She regularly abstained from meat and spent her days making lace, fine embroidery and performing acts of charity. The lace and refined embroidery she sold to support her family and the poor. The fame of her holiness spread far and wide attracting the attention of the Dominican monks who invited her to become a nun. Her father refused and she instead entered the Third Order of St Dominic (wear the habit of a nun but live in the home of her family). She wore a crown of silver, with thorns on the inside in imitation of the crown of thorns worn by Christ, hidden by roses. She was a contemporary and friend of the Dominican monk Martin de Porres, who is also a saint.

Rose was a friend of the poor and frequently gave away everything she had to help a poor or sick person at her door. Renowned for her generosity and her great holiness, she also experienced feelings of great sadness as if God were far away and hours of ecstasy where she would rejoice in God's unending love. She cheerfully offered all these troubles to God. She endured these penances until her death as expiation for the sins of idolatry of her country (Peru in the 1600s was still quite pagan and quite Incan), for the conversion of sinners and for the respose of the souls in purgatory. She prophesized her death exactly, age 31, on August 24, 1617. Her funeral was conducted by the Archbishop and attended by all of the public authorities in Lima. Rose was beatified in 1667 and canonized in 1671 as the first saint from the Americas. She is the patron saint of the Philippines, embroiderers, gardeners and South America. 

The feast day of Saint Rose of Lima is August 23.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has a special devotion to Saint Rose of Lima.

Saint Rose of Lima is the patron saint of our parish.