DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0315
DEATH OF SUOR OSANNA
275
on Saturday, and on Sunday to Mantua. Here we
have no further news since the last which I gave
you. Please kiss Federico for me.—Your wife,
Isabella.”1 Ferrara, April 19, 1505.
This was the errand which brought Machiavelli
to Mantua early in May. Unfortunately we have
no further information as to his visit, interesting as
it would have been to learn the impression which so
brilliant a lady and skilled a diplomatist as the
Marchesa made upon the author of the “Prince.”
His mission proved unsuccessful, for the salary
which the Florentines offered was far inferior to
that which the Marquis had received from the
Venetians, and after some prolonged negotiations,
Francesco finally declined the post.
The death of Suor O sanna, who breathed her last
in Isabella’s arms one day in June 1505, was a
great sorrow to the Marchesa. She had shared all
her joys and griefs with this saintly friend, and
the good Sister is said to have loved her exceed-
ingly. To Osanna’s prayers Isabella confidently
believed that she owed the gift of the long-desired
son, whose birth the holy nun prophesied some
months before the event, while in all private and
public calamities the Gonzagas always turned to her
for help and consolation. Now the Marchesa placed
a silver head on the Sister’s grave, and employed her
favourite sculptor, Cristoforo Romano, to raise a noble
monument to her memory in the Dominican church.
During the next few years Isabella endeavoured by
every possible means to obtain the beatification
of her sainted friend, an honour which was finally
bestowed upon Suor Osanna by Pope Leo in 1515.
1 D’Arco, op. cit. 277.
275
on Saturday, and on Sunday to Mantua. Here we
have no further news since the last which I gave
you. Please kiss Federico for me.—Your wife,
Isabella.”1 Ferrara, April 19, 1505.
This was the errand which brought Machiavelli
to Mantua early in May. Unfortunately we have
no further information as to his visit, interesting as
it would have been to learn the impression which so
brilliant a lady and skilled a diplomatist as the
Marchesa made upon the author of the “Prince.”
His mission proved unsuccessful, for the salary
which the Florentines offered was far inferior to
that which the Marquis had received from the
Venetians, and after some prolonged negotiations,
Francesco finally declined the post.
The death of Suor O sanna, who breathed her last
in Isabella’s arms one day in June 1505, was a
great sorrow to the Marchesa. She had shared all
her joys and griefs with this saintly friend, and
the good Sister is said to have loved her exceed-
ingly. To Osanna’s prayers Isabella confidently
believed that she owed the gift of the long-desired
son, whose birth the holy nun prophesied some
months before the event, while in all private and
public calamities the Gonzagas always turned to her
for help and consolation. Now the Marchesa placed
a silver head on the Sister’s grave, and employed her
favourite sculptor, Cristoforo Romano, to raise a noble
monument to her memory in the Dominican church.
During the next few years Isabella endeavoured by
every possible means to obtain the beatification
of her sainted friend, an honour which was finally
bestowed upon Suor Osanna by Pope Leo in 1515.
1 D’Arco, op. cit. 277.