Saint Rose of Lima

Today, August 23, is the feast of Saint Rose of Lime (1586-1617), the first canonized saint born in the Americas and patron of the diocese and the city of Santa Rosa de Copán.

Bishop Santos celebrated the feast day Mass this morning in the cathedral. A local Catholic high school, Instituto Católico Santa Rosa de Copán, was out in force. After Mass they had a procession with their marching band and a statue of Santa Rosa.

Saint Rose is an interesting saint. She was quite beautiful and got the name from a maid when she was an infant – “How much like a Rose.” But she had decided to dedicate her life to Christ – but not as a nun. She joined the lay Dominicans, who followed the example of St. Dominic and his Order of Preachers, but continued to live in the world.

She resisted marriage – cutting her hair and, according to some accounts, disfiguring her face to chase away suitors. She lived a very ascetical life, given to prayer and fairly intense acts of penance. However, she was also known for her care of poor children and sick old people.

The city itself is on the midst of the ferias agostinos – the August festivities – with concerts, cultural events, coronations of the queen of Santa Rosa, the child queen of Santa Rosa, and even the queen of tobacco. (This reminded me of the Iowa pork queens.) These events are loosely organized by a volunteer committee.

But there has been a controversy brewing for the last few weeks that the bishop alluded to in his sermon this morning. These August festivities have a religious origin, the feast of Santa Rosa de Lima, but the festivities have a decidedly secular character, some of which are spoken of as “pagan.” There seem to have been a number of events, that got printed in the official program, that are something like big drinking parties. The local church has been denouncing this, saying the it promotes alcoholism among youth and adults. There are also charges that some events, some dance parties, promote sexual promiscuity. There are also concerns about drug addiction and prostitution. For me it has been hard to figure all this out, but it is an interesting part of life here in Honduras where the church takes a strong open stand about these issues and is taken seriously.

But that’s not all the bishop talked about in his sermon. He also talked about what looks like a campaign to undermine the credibility of the bishop and some priests who are speaking out strongly on issues such a mining.

Finally at the end of Mass the bishop invited people to join him and the priests of the diocese in a demonstration next Monday which will start at the bus terminal in the lower part of town and proceed to the central square. Pray for us.