Saint Rose of Lima

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 4pt 0cm 0pt;">Rose lived from 1586 to 1617, and in 1671 she became the first canonized saint of the New World. Of Spanish parentage, she was born in Lima, Peru, and stayed there all her life. While still young, Rose chose for herself a life of prayer and penance which she practised to the extreme, subjecting her body to austerities as well as deprivation of food and sleep. As a result, she endured interior periods of darkness and desolation as well as mystical experiences. She joined the Third Order of St Dominic and lived in a little hut in her parents' garden, working to help support them. She was ill for the last three years of her life and was cared for in the house of a government official and his wife. Her death at 31 ended a life noted for its constancy and devotion.<br /></p>
<p>©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong&gt;. Reprinted with permission.</p>