From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
18 June =E2=80=93 Blessed Osanna Andreasi OP
=C2 Virgin, Mystic with a gift of prophecy and Stigmatist, Spiritual
Director, reformer, apostle of charity =E2=80=93 born on 17 January 1449 at Mantua, Italy and died in 1505 of natural causes. Patronages =E2=80=93 Mant= ua,
school girls.
Osanna was the daughter of the nobles Niccol=C3=B2 Andreasi, whose family
had originated in Hungary and of Agnese Gonzaga. She was reported to
have had a vision of angels at age six. Feeling called to consecrated
life, she rejected a marriage arranged by her father. Unable to
explain her attraction to religious life to her father, in 1463, at
the age of 14, she secretly received the religious habit of the Third
Order of St Dominic. She had been drawn to this Order from her
admiration of two members of the Order, the holy tertiary, Saint
Catherine of Siena and her contemporary, Friar Girolamo Savonarola,
who both represented to her lives of strict self-denial.
Returning home, Osanna explained that she had made a religious vow and
had to wear it until she had fulfilled her promise, which is an
ancient custom. She waited 37 years to complete her vows so she could
care for her brothers and sisters after the death of her parents.
A legend states that Osanna, like St Catherine of Siena, miraculously
learned to read and write. One day she saw a piece of paper with two
words and said, =E2=80=9CThose words are =E2=80=98Jesus' and =E2=80= =98Mary.'=E2=80=9D From that time
on, anything relating to the spiritual was within her grasp to read.
When Osanna was thirty years old, she received the stigmata on her
head, her side and her feet. She also had a vision in which her heart
was transformed and divided into four parts. For the rest of her life,
she actively experienced the Passion of Jesus but especially intensely
on Wednesdays and Fridays. Osanna confided these things in her
biographer and =E2=80=9Cspiritual son,=E2=80=9D the Olivetan monk, Dom Jero=
me of Mount
Olivet, as well as the fact that for years, she subsisted on
practically no food at all.
Osanna was a mystic who would fall into ecstasies whenever she spoke
of God, and a visionary who saw images of Christ bearing His cross.
She bore the stigmata along with red marks but there was no bleeding.
She helped the poor and sick and served as spiritual director for
many, spending much of her family's considerable fortune to help th=
e
unfortunate. She spoke out against decadence and criticized the
aristocracy for a lack of morality. She was a friend of another holy
member of her Order, the Blessed Columba of Rieti and is recorded to
have sought counsel from another, the Blessed Stephana de Quinzanis.
These phenomena brought Ossana to the attention of Mantua's ruling
family. Most notably, she was sought by Francesco II Gonzaga and his
wife, Isabella d'Este, as both a spiritual guide and a counsellor o=
n
matters of state. She frequently foretold events which later came to
pass and gained the reputation of a seer. When she died in Mantua on
18 June 1505, all the members of the nobility and clergy attended her
funeral, as her body was taken in procession to the Church of St
Dominic, where it was enshrined. Later, her remains were transferred
to the Cathedral of St Peter in Mantua, where they are still
venerated.
Her confidant, Dom Jerome (Italian: Girolamo de Monte Oliveto), wrote
a vita (biography) of her life in 1507, very shortly after her death.
Although Jerome noted that Osanna was not quick to discuss her
spiritual experiences, in the last years of her life she adopted
Jerome as a =E2=80=9Cspiritual son,=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9Cconceived in the Bloo=
d of Christ.=E2=80=9D
Jerome's account is especially unique due to his intimate relations=
hip
with his subject. The biography takes the form of a detailed report of
his conversations with Osanna. Jerome appended to his account Latin translations of 24 letters from Osanna, accompanied by documents
certifying their authenticity.
According to Father Benedict Ashley, OP, these letters express an =E2=80=9Cintense and constant physical and inner suffering=E2=80=9D made be= arable only
by =E2=80=9Csublime experiences of union with God which [Osanna] cannot describe except in broken and inadequate language.=E2=80=9D A special sourc=
e
of misery for Osanna was the degradation of the Church under the
abusive pontificate of Alexander VI.
In a response to a request by the Marchesa Isabella d'Este while on=
a
visit to Rome, through a papal brief of 8 January 1515, Leo X
authorised the celebration of her feast day in the City of Mantua. Her
local cultus was confirmed by Pope Innocent XII with a Papal bull of
24 November 1694 and extended to the whole of the Dominican Order two
months later.
https://anastpaul.com/2019/06/18/
Saint Quote:
O Lord, if I could fly to my people and tell them of your Goodness at
the top of my voice: oh, how many souls would be won!
--Saint Josephine Bakhita
Bible Quote:
What a man sows, he reaps. If he sows in the field of self-indulgence
he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field
of the Spirit he will get from it a harvest of eternal life.=C2 (Galatia=
ns 6:7-8 )
<><><><>
Peace, Love, and Perseverance
It was as if you opened to me the heart in your most sacred body. I
seemed to see it directly before my eyes. You told me to drink from
this fountain, inviting me, that is, to draw the waters of my
salvation from your wellsprings, my Savior. I was most eager that
streams of faith, hope, and love should flow into me from that source.
I was thirsting for poverty, chastity, obedience. I asked to be made
wholly clean by you, to be clothed by you, to be made resplendent by
you.
So, after daring to approach your most loving heart, and to plunge my
thirst into it, I received a promise from you of a garment made of
three parts: these were to cover my soul in its nakedness, and to
belong especially to my religious profession. They were peace, love,
and perseverance. Protected by this garment of salvation, I was
confident that I would lack nothing but all would succeed and give you
glory.
--St Peter Canisius from his writings describing his profound
spiritual experience
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