A member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Mantua, Ozanne dedicated her life to God from childhood despite her parents' opposition. Favored with mystical visions and marked by the stigmata of the Passion, she endured slander and temptations before dying in 1505. Her cult was authorized by Pope Leo X.
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SAINT OZANNE, VIRGIN,
Vocations and mystical visions
From her childhood, Ozanne received divine communications and visions of the suffering Christ that invited her to a life of love and sacrifice.
Seeking from the Holy Spirit the light to know her duties well and the strength to accomplish them, she heard, within herself, a voice that said to her intelligibly: "My daughter, the good life consists of loving God with all your heart."
The good angel one day led little Ozanne, in spi Ozanne 16th-century Dominican virgin known for her stigmata and charity. rit, to the abode of heaven, where he showed her the glory of the Saints; when she returned to her senses, she offered herself to God, without any reserve, asking him as her only favor to be pleasing to him throughout the course of her life. Immediately Our Lord appeared to her, in the form of a little child ravishing in beauty, his forehead covered with beautiful curls of blond hair, but girded with a crown of thorns, and a heavy cross on his shoulders; he stretched out, smiling, his little arms toward the young virgin, and opening his divine mouth, he said to her: "Dear Ozanne, I am the Son of Mary: following my example, you must prepare yourself to suffer much; however, do not fear, I will never abandon you." He then disappeared, and the young child remained filled with a burning love for her God, and with the desire to endure much to please him.
From that moment on, the young girl gave herself more entirely and even more avidly to the exercises of the tenderest piety, to prayer, to the austerity of life, to the meditation of the Savior's passion, and to the frequenting of the Sacraments. The divine Savior became enamored of this virgin, so humble and so pure, with an admirable affection: he often descended toward her in a very familiar way, teaching her to understand the things of God. One day of the Purification, as she saw in spirit the offering that Mary made of her heavenly child, at the temple of Jerus Jérusalem Holy city where the Cross was lost and subsequently recovered. alem, and the child Jesus in the arms of the old man Simeon, the Virgin-Mother took him, turned toward her, gave him to her to kiss, and rested him on her heart: Ozanne received from this an inexpressible joy and consolation.
These signal favors of Jesus and Mary did not cease toward her throughout the extent of her life: she had the painful happiness of seeing herself ma rked with the stigmat stigmates de la croix Mystical marks of the Passion of Christ received by the saint. a of the cross, the crown of thorns, and the deicide lance; she received, more than once, in her ecstasies, when she was intimately united to her Beloved, communion from the hand of the angels; God often communicated to her the secrets of the future and placed in her hand the power to perform miracles.
Commitment to the Third Order
At fifteen, she refused marriage to dedicate herself to God and donned the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic despite family pressure.
If the pious virgin had given herself entirely to God, it is not because she had not been diverted from her path and pushed to give herself to the world. Her own parents, as happens, alas! too often, had been the first to solicit her toward a less perfect conduct. At the age of fifteen, they had proposed the state of marriage to her; but she had frankly answered them that she had irrevocably given herself, and that she hoped never to take herself back: Jesus alone was to possess her whole heart. Nevertheless, seeing herself, despite her well-expressed resolution, the target of new solicitations, in the hope of putting an end to them, she took the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Tiers Ordre de Saint-Dominique Religious order to which Magdeleine belonged. and wore it publicly. Her parents asked her for how long she had chosen this habit: "For all my life," she replied, "and I will take it with me into the earth when I die." They had enough religion to leave her in peace.
Life of Virtues and Charity
Ozanne distinguished herself by a radical love for God, active charity toward the poor, and a profound humility, hiding her mystical gifts.
The ardor of divine love grew so much in this holy soul that she no longer lived or acted except through it; this sacred love shone forth in all her words and in all her conduct. She was accustomed to say: "Yes, I would rather, loving my God, find myself with Judas in hell, than to be, without love, the first saint in paradise."
One can judge by this the love she had for her neighbor; for the love of neighbor is in a soul in proportion to its love for God. She assisted the poor beyond her means; she visited the sick, providing them with all the help that was in her power; she loved to console those who groaned in the anguish of affliction; she deprived herself to relieve the unfortunate, taking, as they say, the morsel from her own mouth to give them to eat.
Her charity rested on the foundation of a profound humility; she considered herself the last of creatures, the most ungrateful and the most unworthy, not knowing how to thank God for all the graces He had bestowed upon her and which His liberal hand poured out upon her daily, while she ceaselessly multiplied the number of her offenses. She felt an extreme repugnance for any kind of praise, and fled everything that could turn to her own glory, especially regarding the sacred stigmata with which the Savior had imprinted her, and which she hid a sacrés stigmates Mystical marks of the Passion of Christ received by the saint. s much as possible, for fear of being esteemed and honored for them.
Trials and spiritual combats
She endured slanders, accusations of madness, and violent demonic attacks, triumphing through prayer and trust in God.
This humble girl had what she desired: the contempt of men, the hatred of demons, persecutions, and mockery. She was easily slandered; she was treated as a hypocrite and a witch; they tried to pass her off as mad, and went so far as to entrust her to doctors to cure her deranged head. These vexations filled her soul with perplexity and anxiety; she fell prey to scruples and was tempted for a moment to give herself over to a fatal despair. The demons, animated against her with a strange fury, mistreated her more than once, overwhelming her with blows during the night and leaving her almost lifeless. They tried to inflame her soul with the impure fires of carnal concupiscence, telling her, in mockery, that she might as well restrain and conquer herself so much, since she was destined for the flames of hell. 'Go, cursed ones,' she said to them; 'yes, my sins deserve hell, but I trust in the merits of my Savior; He will have pity on my soul.'
Death and ecclesial recognition
She died in 1505 at the age of 56; her cult was authorized by Pope Leo X for the diocese of Mantua.
Finally, peace returned to her: prayer, confession, and trust in God had triumphed over everything; nothing could shake this soul, which relied solely on its love for the Lord. After having thus triumphed over the world, the demons, and herself; after having sustained so many battles from which she always emerged victorious; having reached the fifty-sixth year of her life, Ozanne 16th-century Dominican virgin known for her stigmata and charity. Ozanna felt that she was going to die. She gathered herself in her God, commended her soul to the sacred Spouse whom she had loved with all the affections of her heart, and then she fell asleep in the peaceful sleep of the death of the just, on June 18, 1505. Her body was buried with great pomp in the Dominican church, where God honored her with n Léon X Pope who authorized the office of Saint Ozanne. umerous miracles. Leo X permitted her of fice fo Mantoue Italian diocese where the cult of Ozanne was authorized. r the diocese of Mantua. The life of a Saint for every day of the yea abbé Chapin Author of the hagiographic biography. r, by Abbé Chapin.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.
Key Events
- Vision of the Christ child carrying his cross
- Refusal of marriage at the age of fifteen
- Taking the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic
- Reception of the stigmata (cross, crown of thorns, lance)
- Persecutions, slander, and accusations of witchcraft
- Died at the age of fifty-six
Miracles
- Celestial visions and ecstasies
- Invisible then hidden stigmatization
- Communion received from the hands of angels
- Gift of prophecy (secrets of the future)
- Power to perform miracles after death
Quotes
-
My daughter, the good life consists of loving God with all your heart
Inner voice -
Loving my God, I would rather find myself in hell with Judas than be the greatest saint in paradise without love.
Saint Ozanne