A Rose From Heaven
by a Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. True enough, but this popular line from William Shakespeare is commonly construed to mean that names are unimportant. We can see the effects of this view on the world today in the novel names parents give their children.
In the former code of Canon Law, the Church insisted that children be given a saint’s name at Baptism. This would remind the child to imitate the virtues and follow in the footsteps of their patron saint and also to ask for their intercession in Heaven. Additionally, it would be a witness to their Faith. 
In the present code, however, almost any name will do except those “that are foreign to Christian sensibility.” (Canon 855)
Names are very important in the sight of God. We have the angels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael all significantly named. Michael means, “Who is like to God?” This was the challenge hurled at Lucifer by the Archangel before he drove him into Hell. Gabriel is “The Messenger of God” and Raphael is “The Strength of God.”
In the Old Testament, God changed the name of Abram to Abraham “because I (God) have made thee a father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:5)
God also changed the name of Sarai—Abraham’s wife—to Sara, meaning happy, since at the age of 90, the sorrow of her bareness was taken away when God promised that “nations and kings” would spring from her. (cf, Genesis 17:16)
In the New Testament, Simon’s name was changed to Peter, (in Hebrew Cephas,) which means rock. This happened immediately after Peter proclaimed Christ to be “the son of the living God,” Our Lord told him that he would be The Rock on which He would build His Church, against which the gates of Hell would never prevail.
John the Baptist’s name was given from Heaven. His relatives were surprised and made a stir because no one in the family had the name, John. His father, Zachary insisted, however, because an angel had said to him in a vision, “Thou shall call his name John,” (Luke 1:13) which means, God has graced. And truly he was graced by being freed from Original Sin at the salutation of Our Lady.
Furthermore, the most significant of all names, the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Which means Savior, was announced from Heaven by an angel. “His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21)
A Name From Heaven
In 1586, the tenth of thirteen children of the Gaspar Flores family was born in Lima, Peru. There was something special about this child for her mother, Oliva, miraculously did not suffer the pains of childbirth unlike any others she bore before or after.
The child was christened Isabel after her maternal grandmother. Isabel is a variation of Elizabeth and means “devoted to God,” a perfectly wonderful name, yet it did not denote what God had in mind for this child of Gaspar & Oliva Flores.
One day when Isabel was three months old, Oliva looked into her crib and was overawed at what she saw—a rose suspended in mid-air above her child. She beckoned two of her daughters and a servant girl who saw the same thing.
Oliva then and there changed Isabel’s name to Rose. Later the Bishop of the diocese established that name for good at her Confirmation. Eventually, when Rose took the habit of the Third Order Dominicans, Our Blessed Lady gave her the name Rose of Saint Mary.
Why the name? What is the significance here? The rose is the Queen of Flowers, and Isabel was the outstanding flower of the Flores family and is now Saint Rose of Lima.
More significantly, the rose is a symbol of love from the lover to the beloved. At this point in time, the Peruvians were a downtrodden people. They were suffering greatly from poverty, sickness, and civil instability. God in His love for the people of Peru sent them a saint and as a sign of His love, He had her name changed to Rose. She would comfort, inspire, and heal them—in many cases by miracle.
Saint Rose herself overflowed with the love of God and divine love for her people. Like God’s love, her charity was universal, for no one, whatever class or rank, who appealed to her was left unaided.
Through vigorous penances and earnest prayer, she also worked miracles of grace as an ambassador before the throne of God, bringing down blessings upon Peru in numerous instances.
When Saint Rose died, she was only 31, yet she was well known and thousands of people of all classes came to pay her homage. For two and a half days, crowds continuously passed by her seemingly alive body. Her eyes would not close and she had a slight smile on her face, the skin of which was full of natural color.
On the third day, the people clamored that she not be buried but remain in the Church for veneration. The clergy however tricked the people to leave and secretly buried her in an unmarked church vault.
She is the first canonized saint of the New World and Patroness of South America and the Philippines.
God in His love gave Peru a saint, and for mankind He gives everyone at birth a guardian angel to watch over and protect them. Parents, to show their love for their newborn children, should have them baptized as soon as possible, and give them a name of a saint to be their model and patron.