April 27: Blessed Osanna of Kotor

 

 

Innova, Domine, in cordibus nostris amorem tuae crucis ut, intercessione et exémplo Beâtae Hosânnae pro Ecclésiae unitâte patiéntis, dolorum tu6rum participes efficiâmur et gloriae. Per Dôminum.

Renew, O Lord, in our hearts the love of your cross, that by the intercession and example of blessed Hosanna, who suffered for the unity of the Church, we may be made partakers of your suffering and glory.

Catherine Cosie, of Komani, Montenegro, was the daughter of Greek Orthodox parents. As a young girl, she worked as a shepherdess. She is said to have experienced visions of the Child Jesus and of Christ on the cross that induced her to ask her mother to take her to a Catholic church in order to venerate images of the Savior there. Subsequently, with her parent's approval, Catherine took a job as a maid for a Catholic family in the city of Kotor (Cattaro). In this environment, she eventually became a Catholic herself. Several years later, Catherine heard a sermon on Good Friday that led her to become an anchoress in a cell adjoining one of Kotor's churches. Thereafter, she became a Third Order Dominican, taking the name Osanna. She experienced further visions of Christ in the different mysteries of his life, from his infancy to his resurrection and ascension. Afflicted by demonic manifestations, Osanna defended herself by making the sign of the cross and by invoking the name of Jesus. At the end of a final illness borne with heroic patience, she repeatedly uttered the name of Jesus before breathing her last.