A contemporary of Saint Toribio is celebrated in the annals of the Church as the only American Saint of the Calendar, known to Catholics as Saint Rose of Lima, the patron of the Peruvian capital and of all Catholic America. She was born in 1586 in the city of Lima and was baptized by Archbishop Toribio with the name of Rosa. From her girlhood, she practised the most austere piety, devoting her young life exclusively to the duties of religion. She was very beautiful, and as she grew older many admirers sought her in marriage, her refusal being greatly resented by her parents, who treated the poor girl with cruelty in order to punish her. At last, however, they were won by her angelic goodness and permitted her to enter a convent of the Dominican order, where she remained until her death in 1617. The 30th day of August, her feast day, is still observed in Lima with great ceremony. The canonization of Saint Rose was decreed by Pope Clement X. in 1671, and its celebration took place in Lima during the government of the Count de Lemos, with such brilliant and imposing ceremonies as the City of the Kings was accustomed to provide in those days. The pontifical bull was read in the Cathedral, in front of a marble statue of the saint, which stood on a silver pedestal and was adorned with priceless jewels. The following day the image was carried in a procession to its present resting place in the Dominican church, where an altar is dedicated to Saint Rose. This church is one of the oldest and most interesting edifices in Lima, and has been as richly adorned with silver at various times as the Cathedral itself. A silver altar of Our Lady of the Rosary which stands at the foot of the presbytery, on the right, is superb; in the centre of the altar is the niche of the Madonna, of exquisite workmanship, her rosary being of large pearls. On the feast day of the Virgin this altar is beautiful beyond description. [Illustration: CLOISTER OF LA MERCED, CUZCO.] The Dominican order came into especial prominence in ecclesiastical matters in Peru during the seventeenth century through its persistent determination not to accept the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which was proclaimed throughout the Spanish possessions by order of King Philip II. The controversy rose to a great height in Spanish-America, and processions of thousands of people marched through the streets of Lima singing in chorus _La virgen fué concebida sin pecado original_.—“The Virgin was conceived without original sin.” So enduring was the impression created on the public mind by the controversy, that to this day the popular salutation in some of the country districts of Paraguay and Argentina is “_Ave Maria!_” to which the invariable response is “_Sin pecado concebida!_” It was not, however, until 1854, as is well known, that the Immaculate Conception was declared a dogma of the Church, by Pope Pius IX.