St. Rose’s Wishing Well

“Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.” Saint Rose of Lima

Every year, thousands of pilgrims visit the sanctuary of Saint Rose of Lima in Peru. They bring written letters to her and drop them in her wishing well. St. Rose’s wishing well is a symbol of faith for millions of believers who hope that what is written in those letters will come to pass. 

The tradition began because St. Rose used to do penance for the sin of others. One of those penances was to put a chain around her waist in order to flog herself. She would then throw the keys to the padlock into the well, and she would stay by the well all night praying for sinners. After her death, the faithful began writing letters to her, expressing their wishes, both spiritual and material. They would then throw the letters into the well, hoping for her help.

St. Rose of Lima has the honor of being the first person born in the Western Hemisphere to be canonized by the Church. She was born on April 20, 1586, and given the name Isabel de Flores. There are different accounts as to how she got the name Rose. One of them is that she was an exceptionally beautiful girl and a housemaid, gazing upon her when she was still an infant, remarked: “She’s as lovely as a rose,” and thus everyone in the household began to call her Rose. Another version is that when she was an infant, her grandmother had a vision of a beautiful rose just over the child’s face. Her grandmother called her Rose from that day on. All records do agree that it was at her confirmation when she officially took the name Rose.

Rose endured much misunderstanding from her parents and friends because she decided not to get married and to live a secluded life. Since she was very beautiful, she would make herself unattractive by rubbing her face with pepper and cutting her hair extremely short. In addition to the chain that she wore around her waist, she also wore a metal crown of thorns to imitate Christ. She wore the thorns beneath a crown of roses, using it as a personal penance and a symbol of her spiritual devotion to the Lord’s passion. To do her share in supporting the family, she did needlework and sold the flowers she cultivated.

Her parents denied her permission to enter a convent, but after many years of persisting, they finally gave her permission to join the Third Order of St. Dominic, which is a group of Roman Catholic laypeople who, inspired by St. Dominic, are incorporated into the Dominican Order to pursue Christian perfection. She was twenty years of age when she joined the order. She died at the age of thirty-one, and she was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671.

Even though the letters can be dropped into the wishing well any day, the tradition is to do it on her feast day, which is August 30th (even though in the United States we celebrate it on August 23rd). For those who cannot travel personally to Lima, Peru, the Archdiocese of Lima offers an online service through their email address santarosa.correo@gmail.com. Staff members will then print the messages and deposit them into the wishing well. You can also offer prayers to St. Rose from anywhere and at any time. I’m pretty sure she will intercede for all of us, whether we approach her with a written letter or an oral prayer.

Copyright © 2025 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.