Blessed Stephana de Quinzanis

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, stigmatic and mystic. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1740. She was born in 1457 in Brescia, Italy, to Lorenzo de Quinzanis and his wife, who were a poor and pious couple. Her father became a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic while Stephana was very young. While accompanying him on visits to the Dominican monastery in nearby Soncino, she met the stigmatic friar, Matthew Carrieri, OP, who instructed her in the catechism. 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. 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 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, foundress of the Ursulines, also Augustine Fangi, as well as her fellow Dominican tertiary and mystic, Osanna of Mantua. She participated in various stages of the passion of Jesus Christ, 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.