Blessed Mary of Oignies
![[Blessed Mary of Oignies]](saintm9r.jpg "Blessed Mary of Oignies; please do not write to ask abou the image")
- Also known as
- Marie d'Oignies
- Memorial
- 23 June
- Profile
- Born wealthy.
From her early youth, she felt called to the religious life.
Entered into an arranged marriage at age 14.
Convinced her husband to live chastely, and to turn their home into a leper hospice.
Mary gave away as much of her fortune to the poor as she could, and spent her days caring for lepers.
Had a great devotion to Saint John the Evangelist, and a high regard for her contemporary, Christina the Astonishing.
Later in life, she moved into a hermit's cell near the Augustinian house at Oignies; spent the rest of her life there, praying for souls in Purgatory, and giving advice to would-be spiritual students.
Noted for visions, especially of Saint John and her guardian angel, ecstacies, prophecies, and psychic gifts; ate no meat, dressed exclusively in white, may have been a stigmatist, and reported cut off pieces of her flesh to rid herself of desire for the world.
- Born
- 1167 at Nivelles, diocese of Leige, Belgium
- Died
-
23 June 1213 of natural causes; buried at Oignies
remains transferred to a silver reliquary in the church of Our Lady in Oignies in 1609
relics tranferred to the church of Saint Nicholas at Nivelle in 1817
- Patronage
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against fever
women in labour
- Representation
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praying for souls in Purgatory
protected from rain by the Virgin Mary sheltering her with her mantle
recluse visited by an angel
woman in white in a hermit's cell praying
woman in white in a hermit's cell spinning
woman in white with an angel by her side
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