Santa Rosa da Viterbo, Saint of the day for September 4th

(1233-6 March 1251)

History of Santa Rosa da Viterbo
Ever since she was a child, Rose had a great desire to pray and help the poor. Still very young, he began a life of penance in his parents' home. She was as generous to the poor as she was strict with herself. At the age of 10 she became a Secular Franciscan and soon began preaching on the streets about the sin and suffering of Jesus.

Viterbo, his hometown, was then in revolt against the pope. When Rose sided with the pope against the emperor, she and her family were exiled from the city. When the pope's team won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return. Her attempt at the age of 15 to found a religious community failed and she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father's home, where she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457.

Reflection
The list of Franciscan saints seems to have quite a few men and women who have accomplished nothing extraordinary. Rose is one of them. He did not influence popes and kings, he did not multiply the bread for the hungry and he never established the religious order of his dreams. But she left a place in her life for God's grace and, like St. Francis before her, she saw death as the door to a new life.