St Rose of Lima

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so it was with St. rose of Lima. Everyone who saw her thought she was a beautiful child. One servant even thought he saw her face transformed into a rose Hence her nickname Rose. Born Isabel Flores de Olivia,  St. Rose grew up to be a very attractive woman. But from a young age she knew deep in her heart she wanted to be a nun. This, as you can imagine did not please her family. Her parents were Spanish colonists living in Peru. They had high hopes for their daughter to marry well but St. Rose had other ideas. Aware of her beauty and the fact she had many suitors riding up and knocking on the door Rose began to rub pepper on her face so that she came up in red blotches. She cut all her hair off and did everything to make herself less pretty.
Her parents were furious at the thought of their beautiful daughter taking a vow of chastity and a battle of wills ensued which Rose eventually won. Her Father agreed to let her live in one room of their house. When Rose was twenty she wanted to join the Dominicans but her Father once again refused. So instead she entered the Third order  of St. Dominic, donned the habit of a tertiary and took a vow of perpetual virginity.
St. Rose practiced many penances. She slept for only two hours a night so that she could pray more. She stopped eating meat, which at that time was a big part of ones diet. She wore a silver crown which had spikes on the inside which dug into her head reminding her of the crown of thorns Jesus wore.
From this room Rose tended to the poor, sick and needy. She was always kind to everyone. When her parents fell on hard times she would sell lace that she had made and flowers. Known throughout the area for her kindness when she eventually died at the age of 31 in 1617 the whole town turned out and the men of the town took it in turn to carry her body to her place of rest.