308 



THREE TEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



stands, in April 1586. With her birth the miracles of her life 

 began. Her mother did not experience the same pains of travail 

 as she did with her other children. She imbibed devotion and 

 the sweet benedictions of grace from her mother's milk. Until 

 three months old, she was called Isabel ; at that period of her 

 life, a rosy blush appeared upon her face, so beautiful, that her 

 mother and nurse, when caressing her, ever after called her 

 Rose. Though christened Isabel, she was confirmed by the 

 archbishop Torribio, (afterwards a saint), at five years of age, 

 under the name of Rosa. Her young mind became scrupulous 

 of the validity of the confirmation, and applied in prayer to 

 the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, in the convent of Santo 

 Domingo, to have her doubts relieved. That sovereign lady 

 not only approved of the name Rosa, but bestowed her own 

 as a surname ; so that she was ever after known under the title 

 of Rosa de Santa Maria. 



In her tender infancy, she manifested a most decided aver- 

 sion to all the usual amusements of her age, avoided conversa- 

 tion, was habitually silent, and much devoted to prayer. When 

 scarcely five years old, she vowed eternal chastity, and conse- 

 crated her heart and affections to Jesus ! This precious rose 

 could not grow without thorns. The Lord caused great diffi- 

 culties and obstacles to be thrown in her way, for the mother 

 regarded her as a wayward child. She endeavored first by 

 kindness to convince her of her folly, but finding it vain, she 

 resorted to chastisement, and upbraided her with the epithet 

 of hypocrite. She ordered her to adorn her person, and on one 

 occasion, to wear a garland of flowers on her head, which the 

 infant saint obeyed, but hid within it a number of pins, to mor- 

 tify the flesh. Constancy triumphed over the importunity of 

 her relatives, and the confessor obtained the mother's per- 

 mission to allow the child of God to pursue the course of her 

 own inclinations. 



From the time she had attained six years of age, till her 

 death, she fasted three days in every week on bread and water ; 

 and when forced by her mother to eat, she mixed bitter herbs 

 and gall, or ashes, in her food. She lived one year on bread 

 and water taken once a day j and once existed fifty days on a 



