ROSE applied as postulant at the Saint Mary of the Roses, a convent managed by the Poor Clares in Viterbo City, Italy. She was 16 years old.
Her application was disapproved because the family could not afford to pay the dowry, wrote Fr. Anthony Netikat, CM, in Saints for Everyday. But Joan Caroll Cruz in Secular Saints cited that she was refused admission because the “Abbess speculated that the sisters did not want an evangelical preacher” in the community.
Rose smilingly said, “You will not have me now, but perhaps, you will be more willing when I am dead.”
Child of remarkable piety
Born in 1235, some 40 miles north of Rome to poor but pious parents, Rose showed remarkable holiness at an early age. She allegedly raised to life her maternal aunt when she was 3 years old.
At 7 years old, she requested her parents that she be allowed to live alone so she can pray for the conversion of sinners, undisturbed.
She became seriously ill when she was 10 but she recovered. On the vigil of the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, the Blessed Mother instructed her to join the Third Order of Saint Francis, but would still live at home and be an exemplar of holiness living outside of a convent.
In simple tunic with a cord tied around her waist, she roamed the streets preaching about God’s salvific grace and, exhorting people to avoid sin. Praising God, she led processions in Viterbo.
The political situation then was uncertain. Emperor Frederick II made Rome the ecclesiastical capital of the world. He was also in charge of all civil matters. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated the emperor. He was emboldened to conquer Rome in 1240, and occupied Viterbo and other surrounding regions.
Twelve-year-old Rose sided with Pope Gregory IX and criticized several people who sided with the emperor. Her actions were accompanied by remarkable miracles, which generated public attention. The Imperial Court considered her action a serious threat.
His father, so disturbed by retaliation, threatened Rose with severe beating if she continues her public denunciations of Emperor Frederick II. Unafraid of the threats, Rose replied, “If Jesus could be beaten for me, I can be beaten for Him. I do what He has told me to do and I must obey him.”
Rose’s activities were approved by the parish priest. Alarmed of the growing credibility of Rose, the emperor decided to put her to death. But afraid of public reactions, he decided to banish Rose and her family to Soriano nel Cimino town in January 1250.
In exile, Rose, who had a gift of prophecy, announced the emperor’s death 10 days in advance. So accurate was her prediction: On December 30, 1250, the emperor died in Apulia. Rose proceeded to Vitorchiano commune in Vitorbo province to free the inhabitants from the spell of a sorceress. She converted all the people and the sorceress herself, narrated Gregory Cleary in Saint Rose of Viterbo, Catholic Encyclopedia. Even the sorceress, when she saw Rose unscathed after three hours standing on a burning pyre, was convinced that she is a holy person.
When the pope’s authority was restored, Rose and her family returned to Viterbo.
Incorrupt after 764 years
Rose was 17 when she died on March 6, 1252. She was buried in Santa Maria in Podio church.
Pope Innocent IV ordered an inquiry for her canonization, but it was only undertaken during the reign of Pope Callistus III in 1454.
The church where her remains were kept was destroyed by fire in 1357. After 105 years, her body was found unharmed and remained incorrupt. Just as she predicted, her remains was ordered moved to Poor Clare’s monastery, where she was refused admittance.
In 1921 her perfectly incorrupt heart was extracted, secured in a reliquary and taken in procession throughout Viterbo City. Since then, every September 3, the eve of her feast, the people of Viterbo honor the saint with a procession, called La Macchina.
A massive 28-meter tower illuminated with 3,000 tiny electric lights and 880 candles was constructed, with the statue of the saint on top. The structure is carried by 100 volunteers called Facchini in the streets of the old medieval town of Viterbo.
A Web-based article said the tradition started on September 4, 1258, when the body of the saint was exhumed and transported to the Monastery of Saint Damian.
Saint Rose is the patron saint of Viterbo, Italy. She is also invoked by people in exile, in tertiary order and those rejected by religious orders.
Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.