Gifts of beauty

From the moment she was born, everyone knew that Rosa had been given the gift of physical beauty. What they didn’t know was that she had also been given other gifts of beauty.

She began to show these gifts as a little girl: respectful to her parents, industrious around the house, kind to all, generous to the needy, and very devout in prayer.

As she grew up, however, she began to manifest a gift of beauty that was very, very hard to recognize: the gift of being united to the sufferings of Christ in a very real way and to a very profound degree. Her family, her friends, and even the local Church authorities were very concerned about what she was doing. Before she was allowed to receive the Dominican habit, many worried about her health, her sanity, and what would come from all this.

What came from it was charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. When she finally entered into paradise, many miracles took place.

Less than sixty years after her death, St. Rose of Lima was canonized, in 1671 – the first native born American saint.