St Rose of Lima Is Known by Her Confirmation Name

St Rose's Feast is today. She took Rose as her name in Confirmation. She was a Dominican Tertiary known for her penances and care for the poor.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

Born with the name Isabel, St. Rose of Lima was confirmed with the name Rose, which she connected to the Virgin Mary.

Name changes are common in the lives of the saints, as well as in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. A name change would often mark a significant shift in a person's life, whereby they became a "new" person.

Such was the case in the life of St. Rose of Lima, who was born with the name Isabel Flores de Oliva. Her parents gave her this name in honor of her aunt, Isabel of Herrera.

Interestingly, she quickly receive the nickname of Rose, because family members thought they saw a rose on her face when she was a baby.

Confirmation name

St. Rose of Lima didn't always like that name and struggled with it, until she was confirmed by the bishop with that same name.

Afterwards she cried in anguish to the Virgin Mary, as described in the 19th-century book The Lives of St. Rose of Lima, the Blessed Colomba of Rieti, and of St. Juliana Falconieri:

[H]aving entered the Chapel of the Rosary, she cast herself at the feet of the Blessed Virgin to make known to her her uneasiness. Our Blessed Lady immediately consoled her assuring her that the name of Rose was pleasing to her Son Jesus Christ and that as a mark of her affection, she would also honor her with her own name and that henceforth would she would be called Rose of St. Mary.

This made her at peace with the name and she began a new chapter in her life. She accepted the name and took ownership of it, letting it become her primary name.

She greatly desired to enter a Dominican monastery, but her father forbade it.

Instead, St. Rose of Lima lived at home and became a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. This means that she was technically a lay member of the Dominican Order and lived in the world, outside of a monastery.

She did wear a habit that is specific to members of the Third Order, and also made a personal vow of perpetual virginity.

St. Rose received a name change in her life and it united her more intimately with the Virgin Mary, drawing Rose into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.