Mistyczne zaślubiny św. Róży z Limy. Sojusz Korony Hiszpańskiej z Indiami Zachodnimi (XVII i XVIII wiek)
Spiritual Espousal of St. Rose of Lima. Alliance of Spanish Crown with West Indies (17th–18th Centuries)

Summary/Abstract: The article is a preliminary study of a complex iconographic problem of depicting spiritual espousal of St. Rose of Lima. Cult of the saint began to develop soon after the death of the tertiary, even before the beginning of a canonisation process. The impulse that intensified devotion around her was beatification of the Lima tertiary in 1668, followed, of course, by her canonisation in 1671. The saint’s popularity continued throughout the Viceroyalty period, and then, framed with national context, her cult continued to develop even during the Republic. To this day, St. Rose of Lima remains one of the most popular saints in Latin America. A number of her representations is enormous. Placing images of the saint in the context of the religious thought of the colonial period allows for a variety of interpretative paths of spiritual espousal. St. Rose was widely regarded as a privileged bride of Christ, and her life and attitude as models worth following by devout Christians. In the West Indies, a spiritual espousal scene had its own unique features and meanings. Characteristic elements included the presence of angels and the Holy Trinity, inscriptions and bestowal of a ring or flower on Rose by Jesus. They symbolised an idea of Christianisation of the West Indies, which had already borne its first fruit in a form of a privileged Indian saint who became the patron of these lands. The New World was deemed worthy of attaining the Kingdom of Heaven, because it zealously adopted Christianity. Spiritual espousal proved that the indigenous people of these lands were good vassals. Since they produced the Saint so privileged by God, they certainly showed their attachment to Christian values. Assuming that the monarch was the Lord’s choice, and that religion was an indispensable element associated with the Spanish Crown, the peoples of the New World showed, through Saint Rose, that they were worthy of being called good Christians, and spiritual espousal confirmed the link between the West Indies and the Spanish Crown.

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