Sittard is a city of gardens – public, private and secret and one of my favorites is the rose garden close to the historic square called The Jardin des Roses. It contains a variety of roses that bloom around a statue of St. Rosa van Lima, the patron saint of Sittard.

St. Rosa van Lima was born Isabella de Floresy y Olivia on April 20, 1586 in Lima Peru. In 1606 she entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic and was the first person to be canonized from the Americas in 1671. Isabella was born into prosperity but devoted herself to a strict religious life and lived in a hut in her parent’s garden. She become known as a mystic, for her knowledge of cultivating flowers and her embroidery.

During the second half of the 17th century, when Sittard was ravaged by an epidemic of dysentery resulting in many deaths, the Dominican father advised the people of Sittard to invoke St. Rosa against the deadly threat of the epidemic. In return the people promised they would build a chapel in her honor and hold a yearly procession. They have kept this promise ever since.