This pendant was inspired by Saint Rose of Lima and her crown of thorns. It was hand sculpted using a combination of jewelers wax and wild rose thorns I personally foraged and cast in solid sterling silver. It is approximately 1.5″ in diamter and comes on your choice of black satin cord or 20″ sterling silver chain.
St. Rose of Lima (1586–1617) was pivotal figure in the early Catholic Church’s expansion in Latin America, particularly in Peru. Born as Isabel Flores de Oliva, she was canonized in 1671, becoming the first person born in the Americas to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Rose’s life, though brief, embodied an intense form of Christian asceticism and mysticism that would leave an indelible mark not only on her native Peru but on the Catholic worldview concerning sanctity, sacrifice, and the role of women in spiritual leadership. Her practices of extreme mortification, devotion to the poor, and mystical union with Christ placed her within a unique tradition of Christian mysticism, characterized by its blend of European spirituality and local colonial conditions.
Rose’s spiritual practices were marked by extreme forms of asceticism, which set her apart from other religious women of her time. From an early age, she subjected herself to rigorous physical mortifications. One of the most emblematic forms of her mortification was her decision to wear a crown of thorns, a deliberate mimicry of Christ’s crown during the Passion. This crown, which she made from silver with sharp, inward-pointing spikes, caused her constant physical pain and was a visible sign of her participation in Christ’s suffering. She was also reported to have slept on a bed of broken glass, and fasted to the point of starvation. These acts of self-mortification were not simply expressions of religious fervor; they were also performances of sanctity meant to demonstrate her total submission to God’s will and her rejection of worldly pleasures.
Theologically, Rose’s asceticism can be understood within the broader Christian tradition of imitatio Christi, or imitation of Christ. Like many mystics before her, she sought to unite herself with the suffering Christ through physical deprivation and intense prayer. The concept of “spiritual marriage” was central to her mystical experiences, in which she envisioned herself as the bride of Christ, wholly devoted to Him and participating in His Passion. Her desire to suffer alongside Christ was a hallmark of her mysticism, paralleling the experiences of other women mystics such as St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Ávila, whose works Rose likely encountered through the influence of Dominican spirituality. For more information on the ascetic practices of the female mystics, see my chapbook Ecstasy: A Devotional Guide to the Female Mystics, available through Hadean Press.
References
- Bilinkoff, Jodi. Related Lives: Confessors and Their Female Penitents, 1450–1750. Cornell University Press, 2005.
- Christian, William A. Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain. Princeton University Press, 1981.
- Dussel, Enrique. A History of the Church in Latin America: Colonialism to Liberation (1492–1979). Eerdmans Publishing, 1981.
- Lavrin, Asunción. Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico. Stanford University Press, 2008.
- Poole, Stafford. Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797. University of Arizona Press, 1995.
Art: Rose of Lima by Carlo Dolci
