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.
123 comments on “Quiteria vs. Rose of Lima”
Both of these choices leave me non-paused. The "ick" factor is very high today.
I was planning to vote for Rose, because my grandma's church was St. Rose of Lima. When I read about her self-mortification, I just couldn't do it. I went with Quiteria, who at least was rebellious and like me, part of a multiple birth (I'm only a twin)
Look, I love a woman who resists an empire and/or runs off into the woods. (Life goals)
Plus, I feel like Rose could use some help? Like, this doesn't look healthy or pleasing to God.
I had to do 4 CAPCHA puzzles before it took my vote. I've not had any problems at all so far this year. Maybe it was just my turn. Ugh!!!
Not sure that either of these ladies are my ideal saint. Obsessive behavior is not ideal.
Rose is more than slightly unsettling. Not sure this behavior is worthy of celebrating on any level.
I voted for Quiteria because feisty women will save our world. And I am grateful that self-mortification is no longer in favor - no wonder Rose died at 31, likely brought on by anorexia, sleep deprivation, and possibly a brain infection from those spikes? Yikes! I find it interesting that today, and for several other days, the comments read heavily in favor of one candidate while the vote results show the other with a large lead. Sigh.
Surprised it wasn’t Patrick v. Gertrude since it’s March 17.
I voted for Rose because at least she was real, altho’ I can’t imagine that a loving God wants people to sleep on broken glass for him. As for Quinteria, nine infants surviving in that day and age seems apocryphal. In retrospect, wish I’d voted for neither.
In other news, I received today’s email on these two at 8:28A, a happy first! It followed Friday’s on Onesimus and Philip, which arrived at 5:50 this morning!
My Grandmama and Aunt were named Rose. Roselia ( grandmama) Rosetta ( my Aunt). And St. Rose de Lima church is not too far from my location. Even though, unfortunately, it closed.
Guy does not notice his wife just had 9 babies at once.
I'm with those who cherish resistance more than self-mortification. Though I seldom vote for martyrs, I picked the one who didn't actually do the martyring herself; being done in for resisting oppression sounds like it might have more to do with pleasing God, just sayin.
Would've loved to have had Patrick to vote for today, but Quiteria's obstinate rejection of Roman enslavement was good enough for me. I'm sorry that it looks like so many of the comments favor her and the votes don't!
I thought I would vote for Rose of Lima. However, after reading about her, I could not vote for her. Her act of extreme mortification grossed me out. I don't understand people who did things like that. I know God doesn't ask us to things like that to imitate Christ.
Neither of these women impressed me today.
Rose of Lima; strong and fierce,
Her crown of thorns which she did pierce
Through her flesh and brain
for Christ, she suffered a great pain,
Overcame her fears, cried a great amount of tears.
amen amen amen amen amen amen amen
This is a very hard choice. I love both of the options and they are very good people. But I think I have to go with Rose of Lima. She prayed and fasted and took her religion very seriously. She was a leader and was dedicated to sharing her life with God. AMEN
I normally don't go for martyrs, but dislike self-flagellation even more. I like the story of rebellion against empire in the second story of Quiteria, so that's why I chose her.
I speak for Steve from Steveland. He really likes Roses so he will like Rose of Lima and his grandmother was also named Rose.
I'm voting for Quinteria because they're both dreadful, but Q is losing, which makes sense. Whoever wins should lose in the next round, I hopoe.
This was a decidedly easy vote for me today. My home parish is St. CathArine of Siena and St. Rose has a place in the carved-wood reredos. . . an ever- constant visual reminder of devotional prayer, service to the poor and personal (if extreme) physical sacrifice. An exemplary Lenten saint if ever there was one!
PS . . .and it's no accident that our youngest grandchild bears her name as her own!
Agree with many commenters that this is not an inspiring pair. Once again, because of the writ-up, I vote. For Megan Castellan!
I agree with many here about those who self mutilated and mythological persons. Are you running out of saints who just did good for others? Maybe we need to nominate saints in our lives next year who live on this earth doing saintly things. I did go with Rose for helping the poor.
Quinteria deserves a vote simply because she is so wonderfully obscure and a surviving nonuplet. (Octomom, eat your heart out!) No further miracle needed.
Nonetheless, St. Rose, LA, is an adjoining community to mine, and Santa Rosa, CA, is a place of fond memories. Santa Rosa, FL, has a great beach, and Santa Rosa, NM, is the site of the Route 66 Museum. St. Rose's apparent anorexia nervosa is replicated in the 20th-century mystic, Simone Weil, who starved herself to death. There is also a Rose in Spanish Harlem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7F2sJjoJP8
Sanctae Quinteria et Rosa, orate pro nobis.
Like a few others, I'm skipping today's vote. In my opinion neither of these saints sets a good example for Christians. And one of these stories has no credibility at all.
I’m not voting for either of these. Quiteria seems to be mythical, and Rose is mentally ill. I want actual saints in the dance!
I prefer not to celebrate women who torture and bludgeon themselves in sacrafice to Christ; I would instead celebrate those who are in service. I hope March Madness will receive suggestions in the future of women who did other than suffer abhorrent treatment. Still, I appreciate the intent.
Had to go with Rose - my name saint!
We have to remember that all/most of these saints were nominated by we who participate in this.... I am not quite sure why people are objecting to the nominated persons.... someone clearly felt they should be recognized at this point in time, and obviously the people who choose to perceive them as significant at that point in the past also felt they deserved recognition.