2-989-871 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

St Rosa of Lima, Unknown date. In 1617 a thirty-one-year-old woman, born as Isabel Flores y de Oliva, died in her hometown Lima in Peru. Her life had been filled with prayer, penitence, and hard work among the poor. She was sainted by the pope in 1671 as Rosa of Lima. In South America there is an extensive cult around Saint Rosa. She is usually depicted in a nun’s habit and with a crown of roses or, as in this painting, with a crown of thorns on her head.