Stephana de Quinzanis, TOSD (variant spellings include Stephanie, Stefana; also, Quinzani) (1457 – 2 January 1530) was an Italian sister of the

Third Order of St. Dominic The Third Order of Saint Dominic ( la, Tertius Ordo Praedicatorum; abbreviated TOP), also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Roman Catholic third order affiliated with the Dominican Order. Lay ...

stigmatic Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigma ...

and mystic. She was beatified by

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...

in 1740.

Life

She was born in 1457 in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, Italy, to Lorenzo de Quinzanis and his wife, who were a poor and pious couple. Her father became a member of the

while Stephana was very young. While accompanying him on visits to the Dominican monastery in nearby Soncino, she met the

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

, Matthew Carrieri, OP, who instructed her in the

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

. Carrieri told her that she would be his spiritual heiress, a statement she did not understand for many years. She began receiving visions of Dominican saints from age seven, at which point she made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In a subsequent miraculous experience in 1464, Christ appeared to her, accompanied by Mary and Dominican saints Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, and Catherine of Siena, presenting her with a wedding ring, signifying her

mystical marriage __NOTOC__ Within the Christianity, Christian tradition, bridal theology, also referred to as mystical marriage, is the New Testament portrayal of communion with Jesus as a marriage, and God's reign as a wedding banquet. This tradition in turn trac ...

. Carrieri died when Stephana was 14 years old; soon after he appeared to her in a vision, and she herself received the stigmata. De Quinzanis started to work as a servant for her living, but she continued in her formation in the Third Order, and at age 15 made her

profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...

at the Dominican priory in Soncino. Her devotion to the poor and sick led her to found a community of Third Order Sisters there. She served as its first prioress. Her counsel was sought by many, including

Angela Merici Angela Merici or Angela de Merici ( , ; 21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540) was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, in which women dedica ...

, foundress of the

Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of consecrated women that branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula, in 1572. Like the Angelines, they t ...

, also Augustine Fangi, as well as her fellow Dominican tertiary and mystic,

Osanna of Mantua Osanna of Mantua (also Hosanna) (17 January 1449 – 18 June 1505) was an Italian Dominican tertiary who gained notice as a stigmatic and mystic. Life Osanna was the daughter of the nobles Niccolò Andreasi, whose family had originated in H ...

. She participated in various stages of the

passion of Jesus Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

, which was attested to by 21 witnesses in 1497 in a still extant account, written in the vernacular, and entitled ''Relazione dell'Estasi della Passione''. Sources state that although Stephana was "ugly", she had magnificent hair. Grudging herself this one beauty, she pulled it out by the roots. De Quinzanis had a particularly intense devotion to

Saint Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

. In fact, to overcome the temptation of thoughts against purity, she once threw herself upon a cartload of thorns in imitation of the ''Doctor Angelicus''. Exhausted from this

penance Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...

, she prayed to Saint Thomas, and, according to legend, was girded by angels with a cord, which they tied so tightly around her waist that she cried out in pain. Though she had no formal theological training, she could discuss

mystical theology Mystical theology is the branch of theology in the Christian tradition ...

at the most profound level. She is therefore considered a

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

for theologians. It is said that she could read the hearts and minds of the people around her, and had the gift of

prophesy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pret ...

and

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...

. She lived in a nearly continuous

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

. She accurately predicted the date of her own death, which occurred from natural causes on 2 January 1530.

Veneration

De Quinzanis' tomb became a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

site almost immediately. Her intercession was often felt in the convent that she had founded, where the sisters obtained both material and spiritual help through her intercession. Her cult was popularized by the Dominicans Bartholomeo of Mantua and Battista of Salò, but their

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

vitae ''Vitae'' is a Latin word, meaning or pertaining to life. * Aqua vitae, archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol, distilled spirits * Arbor vitae (disambiguation), "tree of life" * ''De Brevitate Vitae'', work of Roman philo ...

'' have been lost, and only a later Italian version which combined the two texts has survived. Her ''cultus'' was confirmed by

on 14 December 1740.

References

External links

Patron Saints Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinzanis, Stephana de 1457 births 1530 deaths 15th-century Christian mystics 16th-century Christian mystics Religious leaders from Brescia Stigmatics Lay Dominicans Dominican Sisters Dominican mystics Founders of Catholic religious communities Burials in Lombardy Dominican beatified people Italian beatified people 15th-century venerated Christians 16th-century venerated Christians Angelic visionaries