Santa Rosa

“ The spot was some 1500 feet lower than Santa Rosa, but still so sharp and penetrating is the chill of night in this region in contrast to the blazing, sweating days that I did not sleep a moment soundly after the first hour of evening. ”

“ Gozzi now describes the peculiar relations which subsisted between the several members of his host's family, and the progress of his flirtation with the little serving-maid. He admits that she bewitched him by her fantastic and wayward coquetries—as of an elf, a sprite, an enchanted butterfly—which contrasted curiously with her demure and serious demeanour in public. "Her behaviour at table and about the house would have done credit to Santa Rosa." In private, she was a creature of whim, caprice, extravagant and reckless folly. ”

“ Evidently the good frailes recked little of the idolatry into which he had plunged all who were present at his ministration.
As the eighteenth century advanced a still more lenient view seems to have obtained. In 1749 the case of Fray Juan de Santa Rosa, a Franciscan deacon, was an aggravated one, for he had administered the sacraments of baptism, the Eucharist, penitence and matrimony, but the Toledo tribunal only declared him “irregular” for promotion, suspended him from the diaconate for two years and imposed fifteen days of spiritual penance. ”

“ Before I left Santa Cruz, the Lord had graciously raised up many friends in that place. Time and again it has been my pleasure to return there, always to be warmly welcomed in many homes, and especially entertained by Sisters Green, Mary Perkins, Van Ness, and Brother Westlake and wife. The latter were traveling in gospel-tent work when first I met them. It was when making my home in Redding, where occurred the rescue of little Rosa. ”

“ The capabilities of Santa Rosa Valley had not been overlooked by the early missionaries, and the house now occupied by Don Raymond had been built by them. The object of these priests had been, first, to encourage the wild Indians of the country to settle near their mission-houses, and then gradually to domesticate them and employ them in bringing the land under cultivation ”

“ They place the Spanish mission of Santa Rosa in 3° 46′ north lat., and mark the route that leads from thence northward across the mountain chain to the Caño Anocapra, a branch of the Paraguamusi, which forms a connecting passage between the basin of the Rio Branco and that of the Caroni. Two maps of these Portuguese officers, embracing all the details of the trigonometrical survey of the bends of the Rio Branco, the Uraricuera, the Tacutu, and the Mahu, were most kindly communicated to Colonel Lapie and myself by the Count of Linhares. ”

“ The wife, who was sitting near a window, rose, and noiselessly stepped to the bed, and without a word printed a kiss on her husband's forehead, while the joy that flushed her features told that the prayer of thirty years had been answered, We sung a hymn and parted with tears of silent joy. In a little while he crossed the river where we may mingle our voices again by and by. There is not money enough in the California hills to buy the memory of that visit to Santa Rosa. ”

“ A life of prayer without work, is no longer, and ought not to be, the ideal of a life of piety; but the image of Santa Rosalia breathes forth a peace and a joy, which, once seen or felt, leave behind a light in the soul, like the assurance of an inner life, an inner joy, which the storms and mists of life cannot reach. An abundant spring of the freshest water bubbles up in the grotto of Santa Rosalia, has there its spring, and supplies the people throughout the whole neighborhood with an invaluable refreshment. ”

“ The daughter of a viceroy once climbed out of a palace window at night to take the veil of Santa Rosa.{118}
“When the Pope was deliberating her canonization, he was overwhelmed by a rain of roses; when it was finally celebrated, the streets of Lima were paved with silver bars.
“In 1720, when they dug to build her convent, a strong odor of roses emanated from the ground.
“We keep her roses blooming throughout the year; they grow from the same roots as those she cared for ”

“ He was the author of the History of the Piedmontese Revolution, a work which breathes the true spirit of national liberty, and exhibits its writer as a most determined foe to anything in the shape of foreign domination. Forced by his Government to expatriate himself in 1821, Santa Rosa went to Switzerland, but being, like Panizzi, compelled by the Austrian and Sardinian Governments to quit that country, he betook himself to France, taking up his residence in Paris, where he 45assumed the name of Conti, and became the bosom friend of Victor Cousin. ”

“ On the opposite side of this stream is Santa Rosa; here are several houses overlooking a small wooded plain between it and the main river, where men are always employed in cutting and charring wood, which is sent to Lima, fourteen leagues distant. The disease which the natives call [256] Uta, a species of cancer well known among chimney-sweeps in England, prevails in this place. ”

“ Excellent blankets, renowned in southern Peru for their weight and texture, are made here on hand looms. Notwithstanding the altitude—nearly as great as the top of Pike's Peak—the stocky inhabitants of Santa Rosa are hardy, vigorous, and energetic. Ricardo Charaja, the best Quichua assistant we ever had, came from Santa Rosa. Nearly all the citizens are of pure Indian stock.
They own many fine llamas. There is abundant pasturage and the llamas are well cared for by the Indians, who become personally attached to their flocks and are loath to part with any of the individuals. ”

“ To make the town, as planned by its founders, a perfect model, it wants nothing but houses and people to live in them. It was, perhaps, imagined that, being on the main line of communication across the Andes, this might become a place of some importance; but the traffic is very limited, and, such as it is, it is carried on by trains of horses and mules that travel to and fro between Valparaiso and Mendoza. The area of land fit for cultivation in the valley above San Felipe is small, and the resort of retail traders doubtless very limited. The result is that Santa Rosa is a town without houses. ”

“ Not only does this bulto stand on the Epistle side of the crucifix but, like the Marian advocation cited above as la mujer de San Juan, this figure's identity has been changed to suit local taste. Penitentes at Abiquiú refer to the image as Santa Rosa, the traditional patroness of the area following its first settlement by Spaniards.
Figure 50. Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores) . Size: 104.1 centimeters high. Date: Third quarter of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: South morada, left side of altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted ”

“ He graduated at Alcalá in December 1639, and resided in Madrid till 1654, when he removed to Toledo, took orders, and became chaplain to the primate Baltasar de Moscoso y Sandoval. He died at Toledo on the 28th of October 1661, while engaged on Santa Rosa, a play which was completed by Pedro Francisco Lanini. ”

“ When I spoke of their beggars, many not unlike Salvator Rosa's Job at the Santa Croce palace, I ought not to have omitted their eloquence, and various talents. We talked to a lame man one day at our own door, whose account of his illness would not have disgraced a medical professor; so judicious were his sentiments, so scientific was his discourse. The accent here too is perfectly pleasing, intelligible, and expressive; and I like their cantilena vastly.
The excessive lenity of all Italian states makes it dangerous to live among them ”

“ On the third night, Esteban sent for the priest and amidst the enormous shadows Manuel received the sacrament, and died.
Thereafter Esteban refused to come near the building. He would start off upon long walks, but presently drifting back, would hang about, staring at passers-by, within two streets of where his brother lay. The innkeeper failing to make any impression upon him and remembering that the boys were brought up at the Convent of Santa María Rosa de las Rosas, sent for the Abbess. Simply and soundly she directed all that was to be done. ”

“ On the following night, the remains of Salvator Rosa were deposited, with all the awful forms of the Roman church, in a grave opened expressly in the beautiful vestibule of Santa Maria degli An [Pg 121] gioli alle Terme. Never did the ashes of departed genius find a more appropriate resting place;—the Pinacotheca of the Thermæ of Dioclesian had once been the repository of all that the genius of antiquity had perfected in the arts; and in the vast interval of time which had since elapsed, it had suffered no change, save that impressed upon it by the mighty mind of Michael Angelo.—Lady Morgan. ”

“ I am so sorry that I did not do as your father said, and have never taught you [Pg 31] of Jesus, and now it is—too late!—I'm glad—the lady—told you.—Yes,—He paid—the fare!—I'm—going—to move—now—to that—beautiful land!"
"Oh, mother," sobbed Rosa, beginning to realize a little of the import of her words, "please, oh, please don't leave me! What could I ever do without you? Nobody loves me but you and grandpa, and I just can't stand it, if you go away." ”

“ In every soul He sees a pearl of greatest price."
"But Rosa left before I could explain anything to her about the way of salvation. Perhaps she will find no one to tell her, and her mother is almost dead. Oh, that I knew where she lives! All she needs is some one to guide her, then perhaps she would lead her mother and grandpa, and even Mrs. Gray into the light of His love.
"Why is it, father, that so few Christians speak of Jesus to those whom they meet? They talk fluently of everything else, but the mentioning of His name seemingly paralyzes their tongues. ”

“ This city is full of churches, with many thousands who profess to be the Lord's, yet Rosa in reality has never heard of Him. Every day of her life, as she goes upon the street, or is in a car, she comes into contact with some one who might lead her precious little soul to Christ. ”

“ In this legend we have the new, the spiritual element in the development of woman. All the paintings of Santa Barbara are represented with the tower of her imprisonment, a crown of spikes, a sword, arms or armor, and always the palm of peace. Palma Veccho put on canvas his ideal of the woman whose character warranted the legend, portraying her with dignity, poise, and serenity, as a product of Christian virtues blooming like a flower in the desert of paganism. ”

“ Then falling upon his knees, this prodigal of many years found in Jesus the true way to the beautiful land. He Himself said that no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. And an unspeakable peace filled his soul.
The last half mile of their walk seemed almost interminable both to Rosa and grandpa.
As the darkness began to gather, every shadow to [Pg 62] her excited imagination was transformed into a policeman coming to lock them up. ”

“ Which is the only canonized saint of American birth?
St. Rosa (1580–1617) , commonly called St. Rose of Lima. Her parents were wealthy Spaniards, and gave her in baptism the name of Isabel; but, it is said, her extreme beauty in childhood made them call her Rosa. Their fortune having been swept away, Rosa was taken into the household of the treasurer Gonsalvo, where she supported her parents by her labor while following her bent for asceticism. She refused every matrimonial offer, assumed the habit of the third order of St. Dominic, and lived a recluse in the garden of her protectors. ”

“ It is so often to explain the explanation! But one as well as another might do here. What the Santa Maria wanted was reassurance, general and large, stretching from the Canaries to India and Cathay and back again. He knew that, and after no great time spent with compass needle and circularly traveling polar star, he began to talk gold and estate, and the pearls and silk and spices they would surely take for gifts to their family and neighbors, Palos or Huelva or Fishertown! ”

“ It gives a soul to it all. The effect produced by the early morning and late afternoon light is very different. Santa Maria de la Sede, like all her earthly sisters, has a variety of expressions. At times she burns with animation, even a remnant of earthly passion may glow in her holy countenance, and again she is cold, impassive and nunlike in her gray garb of renunciation. ”

“ Rosa's tears were tears of ecstatic rapture and longing, of a great longing for something she could not name--the dear Virgin, the dear little Child Jesus, the dear guardian angel and all the dear saints. She knew them all; she knew the history of every martyr that now wore a halo. Her mother had read about them aloud to her again and again from the book of holy legends that she had brought out of the gaily painted chest in which she, as a girl, had kept her belongings.
How splendid it must be to live like those holy women. ”

“ Santa Maria is purely mestizo. In the morning, finding breakfast somewhat slow, we started for a walk, and passing by the old church, came shortly to the spot where the boy martyr was killed. From here we descended, over a long slope of gray tufa, to a pretty stream flowing through black basalt. The rock is hard and shiny with cells or air-bubbles scattered through its mass. Close by the water's edge we were shown some curious impressions, on the nearly level surface of the rock, which were said to be the imprints of the knees of the Holy Virgin as she knelt here to wash clothes in the brook ”