Rosa of Lima

Rosa Of Lima, the most noted of Peruvian saints, was a beautiful virgin, born in 1586 at Lima, who early displayed great fortitude in the enduring of physical pain, and manifested a strong inclination towards an ascetic life. Her parents permitted her to become a Dominican nun; but having entered a church to pray while on her way to the convent, she found herself unable to proceed farther, and consequently became a hermit, living in a cell which she built in the garden belonging to her parents. She inflicted cruel bodily mortifications on herself, and died in 1617. She was buried in the Dominican church, and was canonized in 1671. She ranks as the patroness of the state, and is annually commemorated, with great solemnity and pomp, on Aug. 26. See Acta SS. for Aug. 26.