Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/138

126 B. OSANNA taught by tho Virgin Mary. Soon after this, the Blessed Virgin married her to Christ, Who put a ring on her finger. This ring Osanna could always see and foel,bnt it was invisible to others. In 1 476 she had for twelve years been praying earnestly to be made a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, and one day as she knelt before a crucifix, in a little chapel in the Vice Biocarelli, He gave her five wounds corresponding to His own. She foretold future events, and wonderful benefits were obtained by her interces- sion. Two contemporary Lives in the AA,SS. Pio. Razzi. A.B.M. B. Osanna (3) of Cattaro, April 28, + 15G5, O.S.D. Born at Comani, a village of Slavonia, not very far from Cattaro, afterwards subject to the Turks. Her parents were of the sect of the Gneco-Slavonian Church, called Ras- ciamL She was christened Catherine. From her earliest childhood she was devout and willing to fast. When she was old enough she kept sheep in the fields, and thus had leisure for contem- plation, which was always of a religious nature. Her mother, who was a poor untaught peasant, could only tell her that God had made the world and all the beautiful things in it, that He was born of a virgin and was crucified, and that a beautiful image of Him as a baby might at certain times be seen in the neighbouring town. The young shep- herdess longed very much to see it, and prayed earnestly that this good God would show Himself to her once. Her prayer was heard, for one evening as she was driving the sheep to the fold, she saw in a meadow, a beautiful child. She ran to embrace it, but it rose into the air and vanished, leaving her full of delight. She told her mother, who did not believe a word of it, and told her sharply not to tell silly stories. Soon afterwards, alone with her flock, on a hill, at midday, she saw the cruci- fied Saviour with all the appearance of agony, suspended in the air. After this she entreated her mother to take her to live in the town, where she might receive more instruction concerning the Lord Jesus. The mother accordingly placed her, as a servant, with a senator of Cattaro. Here her conduct won for her the regard of all the family. She was taken to confession, which was a new and wonderful thing to her. Her medi- tations during mass, and the sermons she heard on the Passion in Holy Week, made her consider that it would be a good thing to be shut . up in prison for life, so as to contemplate the sufferings of the Saviour perpetually. Not knowing how to carry out her idea, she went to a venerable matron, named Slavuooia, who, with the help of a Minorite friar, induced the bishop of the town to give her a little cell, to her great delight and the wonder and admiration of all the people. Here she remained seven years, and was then transferred to another cell near St. Paul's, where she remained for the rest of her life. At twenty-one, she took the habit of St. Dominic and with it the name of Osanna. Her rigorous fasting was modified by command of her confessor ; for nearly fifty years her bed consisted of two poles with five bars across them, like the steps of a ladder, a piece of wood for a pillow, and one single blanket for a covering. Her scourging and other torments were very edifying to the nuns who lived near, and to the other citizens. Although she could not read, she talked about the sayings and doings of the fathers and of things in the Bible, as if she had spent her whole life in the study of sacred books. She had great confidence in the words, *' Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews," as a charm in danger. In time of storms, inundations, earthquakes, etc., she used to run to the other re- cluses, crying, "Oh, my daughters, pros- trate yourselves and let us cry, 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews!*" In this manner she stopped an inundation which threatened to destroy the city. Once a great rock, loosened from the mountain, hung over her cell and seemed as if it must crush it to pieces. She cried out to God for help: two hands were seen to arrest the course of the rock aud put it gently down at the corner of the cell. When she died, a great concourse of people assembled to venerate her body. Pio. St. Osburg, abbess of Coventry.