St. Rose of Lima
Patron of Peru, gardeners, Latin America, needleworkers
Saint Rose (1586–1617), the first canonized saint of the Americas, was born Isabel Flores y de Oliva in Lima, Peru. From earliest childhood she imitated the penances of Catherine of Siena: she sheared off her chestnut hair to discourage suitors, wore a crown of silver studded inward with thorns, and lived as a Third Order Dominican in a hermitage in her parents' garden, supporting the family by needlework and gardening when their fortunes failed. She nursed sick natives and slaves whom no one else would touch and died at thirty-one. Clement X canonized her in 1671 and Innocent XI named her patroness of all the Americas and of the Philippines.