A Communion of Friends
St. Rose of Lima’s Feast Day reminds us today that spiritual friendships are a great blessing, and sanctity among friends can be a catching condition.
Many years ago, while on a trip to Lima, Peru, I visited the minor basilica of Santo Dominico where St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) and St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) are buried. Since at the time I knew only a few facts about St. Rose and St. Martin, I remember my awe while wandering the basilica and grounds. I prayed at the tomb of St. Rose in the crypt and then walked a short distance to the side chapel with the relics of St. Martin. While there, I learned that Martin de Porres and Rose were not only contemporaries but also dear friends. Later, I realized that St. Juan Macias--also their contemporary and also a Dominican--is buried there too. These three aren’t just famous saints who lived in the same place. They are three saints who lived alongside each other. They knew and supported one other in their vocations and desires to grow in holiness.
When we remember St. Rose of Lima, people often first explain her austere and rigorous penitential practices. Reflections on her life often admire her zeal and desire for sanctity (but stop short of encouraging the imitation of her penances). While her parents wanted her to marry advantageously for the family’s sake, Rose knew she had been called by God to devote herself to a life of prayer and spiritual marriage. She therefore went to great lengths to make herself a less desirable bride for her parents’ matchmaking.
She had a deep devotion to St. Catherine of Siena (1347-80) and viewed her as a role model. Both Catherine and Rose were third order Dominicans, both engaged in rigorous spiritual exercises, and both were influential (and beloved by many) in their home dioceses. And while St. Catherine was not Rose’s contemporary historically, she was surely Rose’s friend in the communion of saints.
Rose, Martin de Porres, and Juan Macias each occupied different places in the social hierarchy of colonial-era Peru but we know for a fact that Martin de Porres and Juan Macias often walked and spent time together engaged in their work. Martin de Porres lived across the street from Rose, and he frequently visited Rose in her small hermitage in her parents’ yard as her health worsened.
We might think of other saint “clusters,” historically, where a group of friends encouraged and supported each other’s desire for holiness as they strive to live virtuously. For example:
St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi
St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Peter Faber
St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross
St. Augustine and St. Ambrose
How do clusters of friends all become saints? It seems doubtful that the answer is simply down to chance or just that birds of a feather flock together. Instead, deep friendships that enrich friends spiritually can be seen as a providential gift of God for growth in holiness and to serve the needs of the Church in different eras. Or as C.S. Lewis put it in The Four Loves:
But for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say to every group of Christian friends, 'You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.' The friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others… At this feast it is He who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests.
Today, on the feast of St. Rose of Lima, we have an opportunity to reflect on our own friendships and thank God for them.
Our friendships can teach us to love, to edify, and to bear with one another. They can strengthen and console us. And of course, friendship helps us respond more readily with love to our Lord who calls us “not servants, but friends” (John 15:15).
St. Rose of Lima (and St. Martin de Porres, and St. Juan Macias), friends of each other and of God, please pray for us!
Hope Zelmer
Hope Zelmer is a writer and a former theology teacher and campus minister at Fenwick High School, a Dominican Catholic preparatory school in Oak Park, Illinois. Hope has written for publications such as FaithND, Church Life Journal, and FemCatholic. She holds a BA and MA in Theology from the University of Notre Dame.
