Creation of a Narrative and an Iconographical Model of Conversion: Blessed Osanna of Kotor

This chapter examines how the Roman Catholic hagiographers perceived the Eastern Orthodox Christians using the example of the Blessed Osanna of Kotor (beata Osanna da Cattaro, blažena Ozana Kotorska, 1493–1565). We have an intriguing case of the identification of a young girl named Jovana, baptised as Katarina in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and then converted to Catholicism to become the Dominican tertiary and anchoress, taking the name Osanna, in honour of the famous Dominican female living saint from Mantua – Osanna Andreasi. Blessed Osanna of Kotor was revered as a living saint (santa viva) by the local community during her life. The place of her veneration, but also transformation, is the town of Kotor, a part of the Venetian Republic.