Welcome back to another full week of saintly thrills and spills as Quiteria faces Rose of Lima in a battle of two faithful women. Second century martyr vs. 16th century nun.
On Friday, Philip the Deacon rolled past Onesimus 67% to 33% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen. By the way, did you know that the Bracket is updated daily? It's true! Click on the Bracket Tab to view an updated bracket and scroll down just underneath the bracket for a link to all the previous battles. This is all courtesy of our long-standing (suffering?) Bracket Czar, the Rev. Adam Thomas, who also supplies us with a plethora of puns each day when announcing the winner.
Stay tuned later today for an exciting newfangled edition of Monday Madness coming your way. You definitely don't want to miss it!
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Quiteria
St. Quiteria is a saint shrouded in mystery, about whom not much is certain but much is whispered. The facts are these: she was born in what is now Braga, Portugal, and was put to death in Aire-sur-l’Adour, France, in the second century. Her name and these facts are recorded in the Roman Martyrology. Here the stories diverge, but the devotion for her does not.
In the Western church, the tradition holds that she was born in Braga to the local Roman governor. Her father wanted her to marry and renounce Christianity. She refused, and instead fled into the forest with her sister, Liberata. Her father’s soldiers found them and beheaded them on the spot.
In Portugal, the story is more complex. The tradition says that Quiteria was the firstborn of nonuplet sisters (nine infants at once). Their mother, a noblewoman, panicked by having given birth to so many babies at once, and considering it a sign of common birth and animal-like nature, gave the babies to a servant to dispose of. Their father did not notice any of this happening.
Meanwhile, the servant went rogue and raised the girls herself with other local women in the village. The girls were reared as Christians, and learned to oppose the worship of Roman gods, and when they attained adulthood, they came before their father, who recognized them as his daughters. He then decided to exert some authority over them, and marry them off to nice Roman boys, but the nonuplets were not having this. When they refused, their irritated father locked them in the local prison tower.
They escaped and proceeded to travel the countryside while liberating prisoners, smashing pagan idols, and waging guerrilla warfare in the mountains of southern France against the Roman Empire. Quiteria was eventually caught and beheaded near Aire-sur-l’Adour, France, where her relics are now interred. Her sister Eumelia threw herself off a nearby cliff rather than be captured, and today the cliff is known as Penedo de Santa or Cliff of the Saint.
Quiteria’s feast is celebrated (hopefully with some nice empire-resisting) on May 22.
Collect for Quiteria
God of the unlikely journey, we thank you for the example of Quiteria, who, with her sisters, stood firm for what they knew to be right in the face of abandonment and opposition. Empower and guide us, who try to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to fear nothing except the loss of you, and to keep our eyes set on your reign in the world. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rose of Lima
Isabel Flores de Oliva was born in 1586 in Lima, Peru, to a noble family. She was one of eleven children and would have been reared with education and refinement so that she could marry well. Isabel had other ideas.
A beautiful child, Rose’s name comes from an account of a servant who saw the infant Isabel’s face transform into a rose. When Isabel was confirmed, she took the name of Rose and began to follow in the model of Catherine of Siena with strict fasting, acts of penance, and devotion to Christ.
Rose fasted three times a week. She limited her sleep to two to three hours a night, spending the majority of her waking hours kneeling in prayer. When she did sleep, she scattered rocks and broken glass on her bed to remember Christ’s suffering and death, even in her sleep. She eventually refused to eat meat at all. She wore a crown of thorns with silver spikes that embedded themselves into her flesh and skull.
When her parents invited suitors to court her, Rose, a well-regarded beauty in her community, cut her hair off, rubbed hot peppers into her face to inflame her skin, and refused to wash herself to discourage all suitors.
She wanted desperately to become a nun; her father forbade her. She instead took a perpetual vow of virginity. She wore the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic and used a room in the family home to care for children and elderly Peruvians who were sick. She lived this austere, penitential, and slightly unsettling spiritual life until her death at age thirty-one.
Rose’s spirituality is referred to as one of extreme mortification, that is, of acts undertaken to repent for sins and to share in the fullness of Christ’s Passion. Eve in her lifetime, various leaders of the Church investigated her spiritual practices. Yet, they only found a woman deeply dedicated to sharing in the sufferings of Christ, to constant prayer, and to caring for those who were most in need in her community. Dignitaries and religious leaders in Peru attended her funeral at the cathedral. Legend states that the city smelled of roses on the day of her funeral. In 1671, she became the first Roman Catholic in the Americas to be declared a saint. Her skull is in a golden chest at the Dominican Church of Santo Domingo.
Collect for Rose of Lima
Merciful God, you sent your Gospel to the people of Peru through Martin de Porres, who brought its comfort even to slaves; through Rosa de Lima, who worked among the poorest of the poor; and through Toribio de Mogrovejo, who founded the first seminary in the Americas and baptized many: Help us to follow their example in bringing fearlessly the comfort of your grace to all downtrodden and outcast people, that your Church may be renewed with songs of salvation and praise; through Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
82 comments on “Quiteria vs. Rose of Lima”
Having a 30 year old niece who is in danger of dying right now from anorexia, I feel we need to compassionately challenge rather than two-dimensionally praise self-mortifying forms of spirituality.
Can we have a third option please?
None of the Above?
I can't vote for either of these!
So today we get two saints of the "what I'll do to get out of marriage" type. One of whom may very well be mythical. And even though Rose of Lima is real, New World, and has a church named after her in my community, I find myself voting for Quiteria today. Solely because of this sentence: "Quiteria’s feast is celebrated (hopefully with some nice empire-resisting) on May 22."
I too am not sure for whom to vote. I am going to let this percolate in my mind for a while and decide after a few hours. I'll see which one sticks with me and then vote!
I don't believe that self mortification is pleasing to God. Quiteria's campaign to resist authority and live with her sisters in the mountains of Southern France sounds more admirable.
Disappointed in this year's lineup. There hasn't been one yet that I feel passionate about.
I totally agree with Lucio. None of theses.
This was a challenging choice. Both of these gals had some very difficult to read, circumstances.
Giving a child away… a part of me gets it and another part of me doesn’t. I have an adopted daughter. She was two days old when I brought her home. I understand only too well why those two sisters reacted the way they did when the biological daughters’ choices were not respected by their father. The sisters were Christians and did not want to marry Romans.
Like my daughter she felt rejected twice when her biological family entered her life at 18. Within ten years plus after having a relationship with her biological mom and grandmother she did not agree with my daughter’s choices. They had nothing more to do with her. Although she did not destroy property, she took an emotional hit!
Jesus works in ways I do not understand. I have discovered that many times there is great suffering. When I reflect on this painful time in both of our lives, we now understand. We are extra close and she loves me in a way that she did before-abandonment and rejection are no more.
My vote is with Quintero’s….
Voted for Quieteria. Not exactly for her but for the servant who went rogue and raised the girls herself with other local women in the village.
I guess on this one we need to look for the possible story behind the legend. I went with Rose as it is said she cared for those in most need in the community.
Also I like the name Isabel
God made us with the beauty we have! I don’t see intentionally undoing that beauty as saintly at all. I appreciate the ‘compassionately challenge’ comment down below. Challenging authority (admittedly not always compassionately) sounds more saintly.
And besides, one of our Churchwardens is named Quitterie.
I don't believe for a nanosecond that anyone in the 2d century gave birth to nonuplets who survived. Nonetheless I cast my vote for Quiteria, for the sake of her "empire-resisting."
Portugal or Peru? Beheaded or head with spikes? I agree with the other comments so far, neither really appeals, especially when the stories of female saints are often about self-mutilation, self-harm and/or being married off by their fathers for financial gain (as was usually the case, and in some places today, still is). Not even John Cabot has written a limerick for today (at 8:45am my time). Going to have to cogitate.
Quiteria had me at "waging guerilla warfare in the mountains of southern France". Plus, I'm just not feeling like self-mortification is what we need right now, but rather resistance.
Quiteria’s amazing liberation story gets my vote.
The white dots keep circling, but my vote is not registering. My dear daughter-in-law is a beautiful Rose, so of course I want to vote for St. Rose.
I sort of shared LuciD’s sentiment. Neither of these were too very inspiring. The Quiteria option was too much a fairy tale (9 babies?!?). Rose seems well motivated and Christ-loving, but all the self-denial along the backdrop of eating disorders and people actually starving…meh.
I’m voting for Rose, for “bringing fearlessly the comfort of your grace to all downtrodden and outcast people,” something that we as the church should be involved with. Not sure about Q as a competitor for the Golden Halo though.
Both saintly women today have questionable life stories. But I did recognize part of Quiteria's story as I believe we looked at her Cliffie sister, Eumelia, a couple years ago in Lent Madness. Their guerilla pressure against the oppressive empire is actually inspiring. Vive la resistance!
Please Update the 2025 Bracket.!!!!!!!!!
Ya'll, I'm with the sadly expected underdog on this one, Quinteria. Even though their motivations were the same, Quiteria fought the opressor. Rose basically oppressed herself. She renounced her flesh in order to build up her spirit, while Quiteria used her flesh to build up her spirit, as well as those around her. Just my thoughts.
Quiteria, only because Rose of Lima was in last year's bracket and therefore according to law (of the SEC) and custom should not have been eligible.
Rose of Lima has my vote only because I think the story of Quiterria being one of nine is probably highly mythological. Still, all that self mortification in a teen age girl is suspect and disturbing. I applaud both of them for being young women who stood up their fathers and to expected marriages.
The verifiable truth about either of these is mostly irrelevant. One fights empire, the other kneels on glass. Why would God appreciate glass-kneeling? My vote goes to Quiteria.
So today our choice is between a first-century legend whose story might well have had its roots in pre-Christian mythology, and a practicer of extreme self-mortification whose parents likely feared for her life, and who in our day would never pass a required psychological exam to enter a religious order.
Maybe in praise of uppity women throughout history, I'll vote for Quiteria -- also sadly noting that the one part of her story that may be true, the so-called "honor killing" of a daughter who wanted to choose her own path, is still way too common in many cultures worldwide.
But I'm also tempted just to abstain today and submit a write-in vote for Patrick. Maybe if he came back down to earth in our time, he could go to our nation's capital and drive out all the snakes, brain worms, and various and sundry invertebrates. Blessed Patrick, pray for us.
I attended St Rose school, grades 1-8. Gotta vote for Rose, despite her unhealthy asceticism. Many medieval saints, like Francis of Assisi, followed these practices. Thankfully, they are frowned upon today.
I was all set to vote for #2 over an apparently imaginary or imaginatively embroidered saint until I read about Rose. Bless her heart! But seriously - mortifying oneself to an early death greatly reduces the good one can do in the world. In this era, today, I have to go for the symbol of resistance to Caesar.
Amen!
I was going to vote for Quiteria anyway, because -- who knew there was a saint whose name started with Q (there's probably more than one, and it's a trivial reason, I know, but I'm in that kind of mood this morning). I think what fully decided me, though, was the last sentence and the collect.
Anyone who tries to smash the Roman Empire gets my vote ...