Rose of Lima

Born 20 April 1586 to a noble family in Lima, she joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic and built a life around severe penance and private charity work for the city's destitute. Her devotion earned her sainthood—the first such recognition for anyone born in the New World. She became patron saint of embroidery, gardening, and flowering plants, and was named co-patroness of the Philippines alongside Pudentiana in 1942, though both were moved to second-class patronage that September. She remains primary patroness of Peru and Latin America's local people. Her image once appeared on Peru's highes…