By Christina Hermoso
Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara will preside over a concelebrated high mass at 6 p.m. on August 23, at the Santa Rosa de Lima Parish in Bagong Ilog, Pasig City, in solemn commemoration of the Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima, the first canonized saint of South America, and the revered patroness of Lima, Peru; South America; and the Philippines.
Santa Rosa de Lima (Google Images / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Feast masses in honor of their patron saint will also be celebrated in Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Alcoy, Cebu; Villareal, Western Samar; Gamu, Isabela; and in Cabangan, Zambales.
Santa Rosa is considered as one of the most popular and widely venerated saints of the Roman Catholic Church. She is well venerated in the Philippines as well as in many parts of the world. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is a known devotee of Sta. Rosa de Lima.
Born in Lima, Peru in the year 1586, Sta. Rosa observed great reverence and pronounced love for all things related to God since her younger days. At the age of 20, she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic. She nurtured intense devotion to the Infant Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and the Holy Eucharist and religiously received Holy Communion every day up to the time of her death in 1617.