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| Claudio Coello, St. Rose of Lima Spanish, 1683 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
In 1492 Columbus “sailed the ocean blue”, as everyone used
to know. Sailing west from Spain his three
small ships bumped into the islands of the Caribbean. They went ashore, met people whom they
thought resembled the people of India, took some samples and sailed home again,
thus becoming the first European ships to clearly record the existence of lands
to the west of Europe and Africa and make it home again.1
Three
more voyages by Columbus followed, during which the immensity of the find
became obvious. More and more people and
nations set sail, eager to carve out new territories for themselves to turn to
profit and within 150 years there were little colonies scattered up and down
the coasts and penetrating the interiors of what was now known as North, South
and Central America. But, the first
country to do this and thus to gain the largest land area was Spain, whose
queen in 1492, Isabella of Castille, had backed Columbus’ first voyage. Spain held this huge section of the earth
(with the exception of Brazil, which was claimed by the Portuguese) for more or less 300 years, losing colony after colony throughout the 19th century.
The earliest Spanish colonies were on the Caribbean Islands,
especially Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico.
From there they moved out to Mexico and the lands to the west, south and
north. In the United States we don’t
think about this part of our country’s history too much, but the states of
Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and the territory of Puerto
Rico are areas originally explored, named and settled by Spain and held for many years
by that country.
Along with Mexico, the richest of Spain’s colonies was probably Peru, center of the great Inca Empire (as Mexico had been the center of the Aztecs) and source of gold. The Incas were defeated by Pizarro in 1532, just 40 years after the first contact and the viceroyalty of Peru was established. In 1535 the Spanish viceregal capital was established in Lima to break administrative ties with the old Inca capital of Cuzco.
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| Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, St. Rose of Lima Spanish, c. 1660 Madrid, Museo Lazaro Galdiano |
Fifty-one years later, in 1586, a baby girl was born in Lima
to Gaspar Flores, a Spanish-born arquebusier who came to Peru via Puerto Rico and
his Peruvian-born wife, Maria de Oliva y Herrera. The baby was baptized with the name,
Isabel. She was so pretty that she was
nicknamed Rose because her nursemaid compared her to a rose. It seems astonishing that, a mere 50 years
from the founding of Lima, she was to grow up in what amounted to a very
European environment. She was confirmed
in 1597, when she took the name Rose as her confirmation name. From then on she was known primarily as Rosa
Flores. 2
During her teenage years she became aware of Saint Catherine of Siena, one of the most well-known of medieval female saints, whose
austerities and works of reparational penance and prayer were widely known.3 Rose
took Catherine as her model and from this point, modeled her own life very
closely on that of Catherine. She too
undertook austerities and penances that to our modern eyes seem wild: eating little, abstaining from meat, sleeping
little, punishing her body with scourging, holding her hands in the fire,
wearing a crown of silver thorns with sharp spikes pointed inward, while
placing roses in the spaces between the thorns on the outside.
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| Harry Clarke, Saint Rose of Lima Burning Her Hands in Penance Irish, c. 1925 Ballinasloe (Galway, IE), Church of St. Michael |
She aspired to become a nun, but her father
refused his consent. So, she withdrew,
as Catherine of Siena had done before her, to her own room in the family home,
which she left only to go to church or to care for the sick poor. She continued to contribute to her family
income and to provide for the poor by her embroidery, which suggests she was
very good at it.
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| Anonymous, Saint Rose of Lima with the Christ Child Colombian, 18th Century Puerto Rico, Private Collection |
She pledged herself to perpetual virginity and, to turn away
any suitors which her beauty (something agreed upon by all the sources)
attracted, she rubbed pepper and dirt into her skin. Eventually her father relented in his
opposition to her vocation to the extent of allowing her to become a Third
Order Dominican, again following the example of St. Catherine of Siena. After this she always wore the black and
white habit of a lay Dominican woman, which many misinterpret as that of a
nun.
,%20c.%201680-1700_Lima,%20Museo%20de%20Arte%20de%20Lima.jpg) |
| Anonymous, Saint Rose of Lima with Child Jesus Peruvian (Cuzco School), c. 1680-1700 Lima, Museo de Arte de Lima |
Finally, at age 31, in 1617, she died, worn out like her
model by her exertions. By that time,
however, she was well-known in Peru for her saintliness and her funeral was
hugely attended. Her canonization came
relatively quickly, as she was declared a saint in 1671, only 54 years after
her death. She was the first person born
in the Americas to be proclaimed among the saints and is the Patron of Peru, as
well as the rest of the Americas, North, South and Central.
Saint Rose in Art
I had not expected to find many representations of Saint Rose in art. My reasoning was partly that, due to her canonization at the end of the 17th century, there had been little time for an iconography to form before the kind of distinctive iconography I deal with in this blog became a thing of the past. This opinion was backed up by my personal recollections. All the images of Saint Rose that I had seen up to this point belonged to the soppy “holy card” images of the first half of the 20th century. I was surprised, therefore, to find that both assumptions were wrong and that, while not huge, there is a substantial group of images, some fine and all respectable, that do homage to her.One element that distinguishes Saint Rose from all other female Dominican saints are the roses that recall her name. She is usually shown with a crown of roses, representing the crown of spiky silver covered with roses that she wore in life. Or, she may be holding a rose or ruses. Another element is the image of the Infant Jesus. Like Saint Anthony of Padua, she is often shown holding Him or playing with Him. Further, again like her model Saint Catherine of Siena, she is often shown making a mystical marriage, taking the Infant Jesus as her spouse. In addition, she frequently, but not always, wears a very large rosary around her neck.
The images divide into groups illustrating certain themes. Among them are:
Saint Rose as One of a Group of Saints Celebrating Some Aspect of Catholic Faith
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| Giovanni Ceffis, Saints Pius V, Rose of Lima and Other Dominicans Italian, 1592 Verona, Basilica of Santa Anastasia |
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| Francois Spierre, Saints Francis Borgia, Luis Beltran, Cajetan, Rose of Lima and Philip Benizi French, 1671 London, British Museum These five saints were canonized on the same day, April 12, 1671
|
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| Anonymous Apulian Artist (possibly Ferdinando Sanfelice). Saint Nicholas Appearing to Saints Anthony of Padua and Rose of Lima Italian, c. 1743 Nardo, Church of Santa Maria della Purità |
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| Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Virgin and Child Appearing to Dominican Saints Italian, 1747-1748 Venice, Santa Maria del Rosario |
Saint Rose with the Madonna and Child
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| Jose Antolinez, St. Rose of Lima Before the Madonna and Child Spanish, c. 1650 Budapest, Szépmûvészeti Múzeum |
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| Gaspar de Crayer, Sketch of the Virgin and Child Crowning Saint Rose of Lima Flemish, c. 1660-1669 Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Anonymous Peruvian Alabaster Carver, Saint Rose of Lima Kneeling Before Christ, the Virgin and St. Joseph Peruvian, c. 1675-1700 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
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| Nicolas Correa, Mystic Marriage of Saint Rose of Lima Mexican, 1691 Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Arte
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| Luca Giordano, Vision of Saint Rose of Lima Italian, c. 1700 Naples, Chiesa della Pietà dei Turchini |
Saint Rose Alone with the Christ Child
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| Cornelis Schut, Saint Rose of Lima Flemish, c. 1650-1685 Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de Espaňa |
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Richard van Orley, Saint Rose of Lima
Flemish, c. 1690
Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium |
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| Blas Ametler Rotlan, Saint Rose of Lima (after Murillo) Spanish, c. 1800-1840 Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de Espaňa |
Saint Rose By Herself
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| Juan Rodriguez Juarez, Saint Rose of Lima Mexican, c. 1710 Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
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| Anonymous, St. Rose of Lima Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian,19th Century Salvador (BZ), Museu de Arte da Bahia |
Saint Rose Attacked by Demons
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| Cornelis Galle, St. Rose of Lima Attacked by a Demon in the Form of a Dog From Vita et historia S. Rosae Flemish,1672 Providence (RI), John Carter Brown Library
|
.jpg)
Saint Rose As a Witness to the Christian Faith
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| Anonymous Apulian Artist, Entombment of Christ with Saint Rose of Lima Italian, c. 1743 Nardo, Church of San Domenico |
Death of Saint Rose
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| Melchiore Caffa, Funerary Monument of St. Rose of Lima Maltese, 1665 Lima, Church of San Domingo |
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| Melchiore Caffa, Reduced, Gilded Copy of the Monument of St. Rose of Lima Maltese, 1665 Private Collection
Caffa was sufficiently sure of popular interest in Europe that he prepared several reduced copies of the monument for Saint Rose which he was commissioned to produce for the church of San Domingo in Lima for sale in Europe. |
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| Teofilo Castillo, Funeral of Saint Rose Peruvian, 1918 Lima, Museo de Arte de Lima Presumably this picture was painted to commemorate the 300th anniversary of her death in 1617. |
As can be seen from the above, works of art depicting Saint Rose are, by no means, confined solely to the
Spanish-speaking world, although some of the finest come from there. But, it must be remembered that the world of
New Spain and Peru was never cut off from the European world. At the center of the Empire Spain was a
two-way door, opening in both directions, with the Catholic faith as one of the
main hinges. Images traveled out from
Europe and in from the far-flung Empire.
The close relationships within Europe between what seem today to be very
distinct countries also account for much interaction. Spain and its monarchs were at the center of
a web of relationships that may seem strange to us today, after two centuries of
nationalism. Spain ruled not only
the Iberian peninsula but was, in addition, the ruler of the Low
Countries. Initially Spain ruled the entire area before the Dutch Republic broke away, and ruled what is now Belgium for much
longer. For a time, Spain also ruled
Naples and southern Italy. In addition,
the ruling families of Spain and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were closely
related, through a series of intermarriages.
And, finally, through another set of intermarriages across several
generations the royal Spanish Habsburgs were related to the French
Bourbons.
Thus, images originating in Spain could travel within Europe as well as within the Americas and into the Far East, through Spain’s colony of the Philippines. And, further, the Catholic culture of Europe could spread them into regions somewhat removed from these main lines, such as Germany. Hence Saint Rose’s iconography was able to spread around the entire world, as the examples below demonstrate.
Thus, images originating in Spain could travel within Europe as well as within the Americas and into the Far East, through Spain’s colony of the Philippines. And, further, the Catholic culture of Europe could spread them into regions somewhat removed from these main lines, such as Germany. Hence Saint Rose’s iconography was able to spread around the entire world, as the examples below demonstrate.
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| Philippine Ivory Carver, Saint Rose of Lima Hispano-Phillipine, Late 17th Century Private Collection |
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| Carlo Dolci, Saint Rose of Lima Italian, 1668 Florence, Galleria Palatina, Pitti Palace |
Oswald Onghers, The Virgin and Christ Child with Saint Rose of Lima
Flemish, c. 1675
Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen
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| Saint Rose of Lima with a Lamb Peruvian, 18th Century Moreton-in-Marsh, Oxfordshire (UK), Castleton House |
Saint Rose is one of the small number of saints with two
feast days. Although she died on August
24, her feast day was initially set on August 30 in order to avoid conflict
with the feast of one of the Apostles, Saint Bartholemew. In the revision of the liturgical calendar
promulgated by the Motu Proprio Mysterii
Paschalis in 1969 by Pope Paul VI it was moved to August 23, “the day
before her death”. However, because
August 30 was a well-established secular as well as religious date in Peru and
other Latin American countries no change was made and the date of her feast is
still August 30. August 24, 2017 is the 400th anniversary of her death.
© M. Duffy, 2017
___________________________________________________
- There is, as everyone probably knows, considerable debate over who was actually the first European to “discover” the Americas. This debate is rather silly. It scarcely matters that the Irish, or the Scandinavians or English or French fishermen landed in America first. We know for certain that the Scandinavians did attempt a settlement in Newfoundland (the very name implies something). The point surely is that these small scale “discoveries” made no real impact. The Scandinavians appeared to have stayed for a few years but found the land inhospitable and the natives fierce. So they left.4 However, the somewhat more advanced technology of the era of Columbus meant that the natives could be more easily subdued and true settlement attempted by first, the Spanish, and then by every European power of the early modern era. Portugal followed in Brazil, then France (in Canada), England (along the North American East coast and in the Caribbean), Holland (in what is now New York) and Sweden (in what is now Delaware and Southern New Jersey). European internal struggles affected the colonies, so that by the time the eighteenth century dawned, the primary colonial powers were Spain, Brazil, France and England, with Spain holding what was, by far, the largest territory.
- See my comments on the life and iconography of Saint Catherine of Siena for comparison at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/04/saint-catherine-of-siena-patroness-of.html
- Easily available biographies of Saint Rose can be found online at a number of locations. Some sites are relatively clinical, some are sites of popular devotion to the saint, all contain tidbits of information:
Aymé, Edward. "St. Rose of Lima. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13192c.htm
The website of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at Berkeley, which is illustrated by a series of what look like late 17th century engravings the source of which I have been unable to identify: https://www.dspt.edu/site/general/st.-rose-of-lima
A blog about Catholic saints also illustrated with the same series of as yet unidentified prints: http://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2015/08/saint-rose-of-lima.html
The Wikipedia article, which includes links to images, some of them additional to my own list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_of_Lima4. For a brief overview of the Viking settlement and the questions it raises see:
Linden, Eugene, The Vikings: A Memorable Visit to America, Smithsonian Magazine, December 2004, available at:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/
