Rose of Viterbo, Saint

ROSE OF VITERBO, Saint. - Born in Viterbo, where she also spent her brief life, most probably between 1233 and 1251.

She lived most of her 18 years in the obscurity of her humble family, at a time when Viterbo was afflicted by the heresy of the Patarenes and by political factions. In the summer of 1250, miraculously cured of a serious illness, following a vision of the Madonna she wished to be clothed in the habit of a Franciscan tertiary, and after a brief preparation in prayer and meditation on the passion of Christ, she began to walk the streets of Viterbo with a sacred image in her hand, publicly praising the names of Jesus and Mary and inviting everyone to frequent the churches. This fact aroused the wrath of the heretics, some of whom obtained from the podestà, who governed the city in the name of Emperor Frederick II, that the Saint together with her parents be driven out, on 4 Dec. 1250, in the depths of winter. She then reached Soriano al Cimino, and, Frederick II having died in those days (13 Dec.), passing through Vitorchiano she returned to Viterbo, from which she did not move until her death, which overtook her a few months later in her father's house, after she had asked in vain to be received among the Poor Clares. The fame of holiness and of miracles led to her body being transferred from the church of S. Maria to that of the nuns, and to Innocent IV on 25 Nov. 1252 from Perugia ordering the opening of the process of canonization. This was not carried to completion; nor did the one opened in 1457, at the wish of Callistus III, lead to the desired canonization. St. R. was nevertheless venerated as a saint in her city, in the Franciscan Order and by certain popes (cf., for example, the letter of Pius XII for the seventh centenary of St. R. of 25 Febr. 1952); her name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology by Baronius, and in her honor churches and altars were erected and public honors attributed to her. Her feast is celebrated on 6 March and the translation of her body on 4 Sept.

Pio Paschini

ROSA da VITERBO, saint - The oldest portrait of St. R., drawn on the verso of the parchment roll of the Vita I (first decades of the 2nd half of the 13th century) - Viterbo, Archive of the monastery of S. R.

FOLKLORE

Two annual festivals are celebrated in Viterbo in honor of St. Rose, patroness of the city: one has a strictly ecclesiastical character, on the day of her death (March 6); the other, popular and more solemn, on September 4, in memory of the translation of her body. On the evening of September 3, an immense structure shaped like a bell tower, with a wooden frame and an exterior of canvas or cardboard, over 20 m. high, variously decorated and painted, at the top of which the statue of the Saint shines among torches and candles, is carried on the shoulders through the streets of the city by 62 porters called "knights of St. Rose," dressed in white with a red sash at their waists and a white plume on their heads; having remained in cloister during the morning, before beginning the triumphal transport they receive the blessing from the bishop and make a visit to 5 churches, praying that everything may proceed without mishap (the fall or burning of the structure is taken as a sign of disaster: this happened, for example, in 1801 and in 1815 with deaths and injuries). Once they reach the square of the monastery of St. Rose, the mighty structure is set down here on trestles, amid the applause, the cheers and the emotion of the crowd that has devoutly followed it. Orchestras, races, jousts, illuminations and fireworks enliven the festival, which closes on September 5 with a poetry contest organized by the Accademia degli Ardenti to celebrate the praises of Rose. The use of the structure dates back to 1656, by vow of the Viterbese following a terrible plague, and the first procession took place in 1657; the designs for the construction, chosen by competition, vary each year and are collected in the municipal Pinacoteca (the oldest known is that of 1690). From the folkloristic point of view, the structure is a symbol of strength, protection and prayer, like other popular manifestations, such as the lilies of Nola, the candles of Gubbio, the cart of St. Rosalia in Palermo.

On the occasion of the festival of March 6, mementos of the Saint are distributed to the faithful, which are roses, small flowers and little trees, which tradition holds to have grown on her tomb, or parts of the casket and of the clothing: a special healing virtue for fever or headache is attributed to the water and to the ribbon of St. Rose. The iconography has served to increase the cult, which, although not very rich, counts happy representations (for example, the paintings of Benozzo Gozzoli on the walls of the church of St. Rose in Viterbo) that illustrate the most salient events of the Saint's life according to the traditional version of the life. Altars consecrated to her stand in Rome in the church of St. Catherine, formerly called that of St. Rose, and in that of Aracoeli (besides an oratory common to the two virgin saints Rose of Viterbo and Rosalia of Palermo), and also in Vitorchiano, Bolsena, Tivoli, Fabriano, Salerno and Foggia.

Giovanni Bronzini