St. Rose
Patron saint of the Philippines, Latin America and florists, St. Rose of Lima was born to poor Spanish colonists on April 20, 1586. She died in Lima on Aug. 24, 1617. Her feast day is Aug. 23. Often depicted wearing a crown of roses, she got her name due to extreme physical beauty as a baby.
Rose took a vow of chastity even going to the lengths of applying lye and pepper to her face to make herself less beautiful. She embroidered things for sale to help her impoverished family and the other poor. Mystic and visionary, she was the first social worker in the Americas although she suffered from various mental and physical afflictions.
Miraculous events are attributed to her following death. Pope Clement X beatified her in 1667 and canonized her in 1671. She was the first person born in the Western Hemisphere to be so honored.
