“For Mother Ozanne in her own inimitable way within her vocation to the Benedictine life extends further and most richly the channel of graces that Mary, Queen of Heaven, obtains for us in Heaven. Her interaction with the natural world on the farm back at this community’s mother house of Regina Laudis and now on the farm lands here at Our Lady of the Rock, with pigs, bees, fig trees, hay bales, tractors, backhoes, etc., always helps mediate the Heavenly realm to those around her, to her sisters in the cloister, the islanders, the guests and friends of the monastic community, and with the monastic interns. All of her activities are carried out in a way to relay something of the heavenly realm to those around her and especially doing so with the cooperation of the human senses.”
—From the Jubilee Mass Homily of Father Ezekiel Lotz, OSB
MOTHER OZANNE'S SILVER JUBILEE
2025 is the Silver Jubilee Year of Mother Ozanne Schumann, celebrating 25 years of vowed life. At Mass on August 22nd, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, Mother renewed her Profession of Vows to God through the Community. Mother Abbess Lucia had proposed this Marian feast in her desire that the jubilee be celebrated in relation to a strong feminine holding of Our Lady. When Mother Ozanne came to Our Lady of the Rock from the Abbey of Regina Laudis in 2023, Mother Abbess perceived that the many gifts in which Mother excelled at the Abbey would find fullness of expression in relation to the feminine of the land and community of Our Lady of the Rock.
I feel strongly that Mother Ozanne's Jubilee needs be under the protection and auspices of Our Lady, Queen of heaven, Queen of creation.—Mother Abbess Lucia
Elisabeth Schumann grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut, within the Archdiocese of Hartford. She entered Regina Laudis in 1993, a few years after completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at the University of Connecticut. At her Clothing Ceremony she received the name Ozanne, after the 7th-century Irish princess who was a companion of the missionary Saint Columban. St. Ozanne became a nun at the Abbey of Notre Dame de Jouarre located in the Marne Valley, Northeast of Paris. Her beautiful tomb in the Merovingian Crypt of the Abbey has drawn countless pilgrims throughout the centuries.
Tomb of Saint Ozanne
Crypt of Notre Dame de Jouarre,
13th Century
The History of Regina Laudis is intimately connected to Notre Dame de Jouarre as our Foundress and first abbess, Lady Abbess Benedict Duss, entered there in 1936. During World War II, on August 27, 1944, when the American Third Army liberated the town and abbey, Mother Benedict was inspired to respond to the sacrifice of the American soldiers by founding a contemplative monastery in the United States. Thus Regina Laudis and eventually Our Lady of the Rock Monastery were born.
After making her First Vows in 2000 Mother Ozanne pursued studies in arboriculture and became a licensed arborist. In addition to her work in forest ecology and the care of trees, she worked in the kitchen, cultivated Abbey orchards, and raised pigs. She is known for her expertise in bee keeping.
On October 20, 2018, Mother Ozanne received the Blessing of Consecration to a Life of Virginity, conferred by His Excellency The Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair, S.T.D., Archbishop of Hartford.
She has brought her skills in arboriculture and land management to Our Lady of the Rock, where she teaches younger community members and monastic interns to drive big machinery and to care for pastures and farm animals. She organizes work days for visiting groups and projects for college students on retreat.
 Mother Ozanne beekeeping at Regina Laudis |
 Teaching Monastic Intern Sarah at Our Lady of the Rock |
Mother Ozanne’s poetry, inspired by her life of prayer and work, has been published in Image Journal and Small Farmer’s Journal. She holds sacred the life of the land as an expression of the life of God and is passionate about sharing the gifts of our wilder, native places with others. 
Recognizing Mother Ozanne's love of and gift for the Word, the two communities, Regina Laudis and Our Lady of the Rock, gave Mother the jubilee gift of participation in the week-long Glen Poetry Workshop, sponsored by Image Journal in July of this year.
Another extravagant jubilee gift from Regina Laudis was sending Mother Angele Arbib as an honored guest for the occasion. Mother Angele is an agent by profession and has assisted Mother Ozanne in navigating the world of publication. As Mother Abbess said, she wanted Mother Angele, as Mother Ozanne's agent, to celebrate the success of her poetry going public. Mother Angele and Mother Ozanne also share the bond of having received the blessing of Consecration at the same ceremony. It was a great joy for our community here to have Mother Angele with us, strengthening the bonds between our communities
Hay Field Mowed by Mother Ozanne
The Jubilee Mass was celebrated by our Chaplain in Residence, Father Ezekiel, OSB, who was also the homilist. Mother Ozanne's family members and friends traveled from the East Coast to celebrate the jubilee with her. We were pleased to welcome Luke Williams who mentored Mother in her formation as a licensed arborist in Connecticut. They were joined by new friends and colleagues Mother has made since arriving at Our Lady of the Rock. After the Homily Mother Ozanne, in a loud clear voice, renewed her Vows and then kneeling, sang the Suscipe: "Receive me Lord, according to your word and I shall live, and do not disappoint me in my hope." Father Ezekiel then blessed Mother, praying this Collect:
“ O God who didst command Blessed Benedict, withdrawn from the turmoils of the world, to wage warfare under Thee alone, grant we beseech Thee, unto Thy handmaid, who hastens to Thy service under his teaching, the constancy of perseverance, and perfect victory unto the end. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Mother Ozanne and her family at reception
The community and guests enjoyed an outdoor meal surrounded by hay bales harvested this summer under Mother Ozanne's direction. The potluck meal made up of delicious contributions of our guests, was coordinated by Mother Hildegard and Mother Catarina. Our monastic interns had worked tirelessly setting up tables and chairs under the shade of our barn for which we were all grateful. The fruit of our land was celebrated with the offering of our pigs in bratwurst and sauerkraut made from cabbage from Mother Dilecta's garden by monastery friend Joel Rummel .
ENJOY THIS GALLERY OF THE JUBILEE CELEBRATION &
A GLIMPSE OF MOTHER OZANNE'S WORKS
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Mother Prioress Noëlla's Prayers of the Faithful for the Jubilee Mass
For Mother Ozanne celebrating 25 years of Vowed Life during the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope, may the words of the Suscipe she has just sung strengthen and sustain her: Receive me Lord, according to your word and I shall live, and do not disappoint me in my hope. Let us pray to the Lord
May Our Lady be a channel of Grace for Mother Ozanne and all gathered here in celebration. Let us pray to the Lord.
For the members of the Schumann family present with us here today and those celebrating with Mother Ozanne from afar: Amy, Lisa and Eddie, Nancy, Kurt and Jodi, Margaret, Natasha, Sam, Mark, Adele, Benjamin, Andrew, and Milo. Let us pray to the Lord.
In gratitude for the masters who recognized and fostered Mother Ozanne’s innate gifts, especially Luke Williams mentoring Mother in her formation as a licensed arborist and Al Avitabile in beekeeping, allowing her to extend Grace and be a Benedictine presence within these professions. Let us pray to the Lord.
We offer this prayer written by Mother Ozanne and Mother Angele (present with us from Regina Laudis) for their Consecration Ceremony in 2018, and as relevant today: Lord God, Father of all creation, before the beginning of time you prepared a dwelling place for your Son in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: make us worthy to be a home for those who cry out for healing, that firmly rooted in this land and under the mantle of the Queen of Praise, we may stand together with hearts pierced and open to redemptive love that casts out all fear. For this grace for all of us, let us pray to the Lord.