July 26th - St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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July 26 – St Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

Uniting the blood of kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of Anne’s illustrious origin is far surpassed by that of her offspring, without compare among the daughters of Eve. The noblest of all, who have ever conceived by virtue of the command to “increase and multiply,” beholds the law of human generation pause before her as having arrived at its summit, at the threshold of God; for from her fruit God himself is come forth, the fatherless Son of the Blessed Virgin, and the grandson of Anne and Joachim.

Before being favored with the greatest blessing ever bestowed on an earthly union, the two holy grand-parents of the Word made Flesh had to pass through the purification of suffering. Traditions which, though mingled with details of less authenticity, have come down to us from the very beginning of Christianity, tell us of these noble spouses subjected to the trial of prolonged sterility, and on that account despised by their people; of Joachim cast out of the temple and going to hide his sorrow in the desert; of Anne left alone to mourn her widowhood and humiliation. For exquisite sentiment this narrative might be compared with the most beautiful histories of Holy Scripture.

“It was one of the great festival days of the Lord. In spite of extreme sorrow, Anne laid aside her mourning garments, and adorned her head and clothed herself with her nuptial robes. And about the ninth hour she went down to the garden to walk; seeing a laurel she sat down in its shade, and poured forth her prayer to the Lord God, saying, God of my fathers, bless me and hear my supplication, as thou didst bless Sara and didst give her a son!

“And raising her eyes to heaven, she saw in the laurel a sparrow’s nest, and sighing she said: Alas! of whom was I born to be thus a curse in Israel?

“To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the birds of the air; for the birds are blessed by thee, O Lord.

“To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the beasts of the earth: for they, too, are fruitful before thee.

“To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the waters; for they are not barren in thy sight, and the rivers and the oceans full of fish praise thee in their heavings and in their peaceful flowing.

“To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me even to the earth, for the earth, too, bears fruit in season, and praises thee, O Lord.

“And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by, and said to her: Anne, God has heard thy prayer; thou shalt conceive and bear a child, and thy fruit shall be honored throughout the whole inhabited earth. And in due time Anne brought forth a daughter, and said: My soul is magnified this hour. And she called the child Mary; and giving her the breast, she intoned this canticle to the Lord:

“I will sing the praise of the Lord my God: for he has visited me and has taken away my shame, and has given me a fruit of justice. Who shall declare to the sons of Ruben that Anne is become fruitful? Hear, hear, O ye twelve tribes: behold Anne is giving suck!”

The feast of St. Joachim, which the Church celebrates on the Sunday within the octave of his blessed Daughter’s Assumption, will give us an occasion of completing the account of these trials and joys in which he shared. Warned from heaven to leave the desert, he met his spouse at the golden gate which leads to the Temple on the east side. Not far from here, near the Probatica piscina, where the little white lambs were washed before being offered in sacrifice, now stands the restored basilica of St. Anne, originally called St. Mary of the Nativity. Here, as in a peaceful paradise, the rod of Jesse produced that blessed branch which the Prophet hailed as about the bear the flower that had blossomed from eternity in the bosom of the Father. It is true that Sephoris, Anne’s native city, and Nazareth, where Mary lived, dispute with the holy City the honor which ancient and constant tradition assigns to Jerusalem. But our homage will not be misdirected if we offer it today to Blessed Anne, in whom were wrought the prodigies, the very thought of which brings new joy to heaven, rage to Satan, and triumph to the world.

Anne was, as it were, the starting point of Redemption, the horizon scanned by the prophets, the first span of the heavens to be empurpled with the rising fires of aurora; the blessed soil whose produce was so pure as to make the Angels believe that Eden had been restored to us. But in the midst of the aureola of incomparable peace that surrounds her, let us hail her as the land of victory surpassing the most famous fields of battle; as the sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception, where our humiliated race took up the combat begun before the throne of God by the Angelic hosts; where the serpent’s head was crushed, and Michael, now surpassed in glory, gladly handed over to his sweet Queen, at the first moment of her existence, the command of the Lord’s armies.

What human lips, unless touched like the prophet’s with a burning coal, could tell the admiring wonder of the Angelic Powers, when the Blessed Trinity, passing from the burning Seraphim to the lowest of the nine choirs, bade them turn their fiery glances and contemplate the flower of sanctity blossoming in the bosom of Anne? The Psalmist had said of the glorious City whose foundations were now hidden in her that was once barren: The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains; and the heavenly hierarchies crowning the slopes of the eternal hills, beheld in her heights to them unknown and unattainable, summits approaching so near to God, that he was even then preparing his throne in her. Like Moses at the sight of the burning bush on Horeb, they were seized with a holy awe on recognizing the mountain of God in the midst of the desert of this world; and they understood that the affliction of Israel was soon to cease. Although shrouded by the cloud, Mary was already that blessed mountain whose base, i.e., the starting point of her graces, was set far above the summits where the highest created sanctities are perfected in glory and love.

How justly is the mother named Anne, which signifies grace, she in whom for nine months were centered the complacencies of the Most High, the ecstasy of the Angelic Spirits and the hope of all flesh! No doubt it was Mary, the daughter, and not the mother, whose sweetness so powerfully attracted the heavens to our lowly earth. But the perfume first scents the vessel which contains it, and even after it is removed, leaves it impregnated with its fragrance. Moreover, it is customary to prepare the vase itself with the greatest care; it must be all the purer, made of more precious material, and more richly adorned, according as the essence to be placed in it is rarer and more exquisite. Thus Magdalene enclosed her precious spikenard in alabaster. The Holy Spirit, the preparer of heavenly perfumes, would not be less careful than men. Now the task of blessed Anne was not limited, like that of a material vase, to passively containing the treasure of the world. She furnished the body of her who was to give flesh to the Son of God; she nourished her with milk; she gave to her, who was inundated with floods of divine light, the first practical notions of life. In the education of her illustrious daughter, Anne played the part of a true mother: not only did she guide Mary’s first steps, but she cooperated with the Holy Ghost in the education of her soul, and the preparation for her incomparable destiny; until, when the work had reached the highest development to which she could bring it, she, without a moment’s hesitation or a thought of self, offered her tenderly loved child to him from whom she had received her.

Sic fingit tabernaculum Deo, thus she frames a tabernacle for God. Such was the inscription around the figure of St. Anne instructing Mary, which formed the device of the ancient guild of joiners and cabinet-makers; for they, looking upon the making of tabernacles wherein God may dwell in our churches as their most choice work, had taken St. Anne for their patroness and model. Happy were those times, when the simplicity of our fathers penetrated so deeply into the practical understanding of mysteries, which their infatuated sons glory in ignoring. The valiant woman is praised in the Book of Proverbs for her spinning, weaving, sewing, embroidering, and household cares: naturally then, those engaged in these occupations placed themselves under the protection of the spouse of Joachim. More than once, those suffering from the same trial which had inspired Anne’s touching prayer beneath the sparrow’s nest, experienced the power of her intercession in obtaining for others, as well as for herself, the blessing of the Lord God.

The East anticipated the West in the public cultus of the grandmother of the Messias. Towards the middle of the sixth century, a Church was dedicated to her in Constantinople. The Typicon of St. Sabbas makes a liturgical commemoration of her three times in the year: on the 9th of September, together with her spouse St. Joachim, the day after the birthday of their glorious daughter; on the 9th of December, whereon the Greeks, a day later than the Latins, keep the feast of our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, under a title which more directly expresses St. Anne’s share in the mystery; and lastly, the 25th of July, not being occupied by the feast of St. James, which was kept on the 30th of April, is called the Dormitio or precious death of St. Anne, mother of the most holy Mother of God: the very same expression which the Roman Martyrology adopted later.

Although Rome, with her usual reserve, did not until much later authorize the introduction into the Latin Churches of a liturgical feast of St. Anne, she nevertheless encouraged the piety of the faithful in this direction. So early as the time of Leo III and by that illustrious Pontiff’s express command, the history of Anne and Joachim was represented on the sacred ornaments of the noblest basilicas in the Eternal City. The Order of Carmel, so devout to St. Anne, powerfully contributed, by its fortunate migration into our countries, to the growing increase of her cultus. Moreover, this development was the natural outcome of the progress of devotion among the people to the Mother of God. The close relation between the two worships is noticed in a concession, whereby in 1381 Urban VI satisfied the desires of the faithful in England by authorizing for that kingdom a feast of the blessed Anne. The Church of Apt in Provence had been already a century in possession of the feast; a fact due to the honor bestowed on that Church of having received almost together with the faith, the Saint’s holy body, in the first age of Christianity.

Since our Lord, reigning in heaven, has willed that his blessed Mother should also be crowned there in her virginal body, the relics of Mary’s mother have become doubly dear to the world, first, as in the case of others, on account of the holiness of her whose precious remains they are, and then above all others, on account of their close connection with the mystery of the Incarnation. The Church of Apt was so generous out of its abundance, that it would now be impossible to enumerate the sanctuaries which have obtained, either from this principal source or from elsewhere, more or less notable portions of these precious relics. We cannot omit to mention as one of these privileged places the great Basilica of St. Paul outside the walls; St. Anne herself, in an apparition to St. Bridget of Sweden (Cap. CIV), confirmed the authenticity of the arm which forms one of the most precious jewels in the rich treasury of that Church.

It was not until 1584 that Gregory XIII ordered the celebration of this feast of July 26 throughout the whole Church, with the rite of a double. Leo XIII in 1879 raised it, together with that of St. Joachim, to the dignity of a solemnity of second class. But before that, Gregory XV, after having been cured of a serious illness by St. Anne, had ranked her feast among those of precept, with obligation of resting from servile work.

Now that St. Anne was receiving the homage do to her exalted dignity, she made haste to show her recognition of this more solemn tribute of praise. In the years 1623, 1624 and 1625, in the village of Keranna, near Auray, in Brittany, she appeared to Yves Nicolazie, and discovered to him an ancient statue buried in the field of Bocenno, which he tenanted. This discovery brought the people once more to the place where, a thousand years before, the inhabitants of ancient Armorica had honored that statue. Innumerable graces obtained on the spot spread its fame far beyond the limits of the province, whose faith, worthy of past ages, had merited the favor of the grandmother of the Messias; and St. Anne d’Auray was soon reckoned among the chief pilgrimages of the Christian world.

More fortunate than the wife of Elcana, who prefigured thee both in her trial and by her name, thou, O Anne, now singest the magnificent gifts of the Lord. Where is now the proud synagogue that despised thee? The descendants of the barren one are now without number; and all we, the brethren of Jesus, children, like him, of thy daughter Mary, come joyfully, led by our Mother, to offer thee our praises. In the family circle the grandmother’s feast day is the most touching of all, when her grandchildren surround her with reverential love, as we gather around thee today.

Many, alas! know not these beautiful feasts, where the blessing of the earthly paradise seems to revive in all its freshness; but the mercy of our God has provided a sweet compensation. He, the Most High God, willed to come so nigh to us, as to be one of us in the flesh; to know the relations and mutual dependencies which are the law of our nature; the bonds of Adam, with which he had determined to draw us and in which he first bound himself. For, in raising nature above itself, he did not eliminate it; he made grace take hold of it and lead it to heaven; so that, joined together on earth by their Divine Author, nature and grace were to be united for all eternity. We, then, being brethren by grace of him who is ever thy Grandson by nature, are, by this loving disposition of Divine Wisdom, quite at home under thy roof; and today’s feast, so dear to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, is our own family feast.

Smile, then, dear mother, upon our chants and bless our prayers. Today and always be propitious to the supplications which our land of sorrows sends up to thee. Be gracious to wives and mothers who confide to thee their holy desires and the secret of their sorrows. Keep up, where they still exist, the traditions of the Christian home. Over how many families has the baneful breath of this age passed, blighting all that is serious in life, weakening faith, leaving nothing but languor, weariness, frivolity, if not even worse, in the place of the true and solid joys of our fathers. How truly might the Wise Man say at the present day: “Who shall find a valiant woman?” She alone by her influence could counteract all these evils; but on condition of recognizing wherein her true strength lies: in humble household works done with her own hands; in hidden, self-sacrificing devotedness; in watchings by night; in hourly foresight; working in wool and flax, and with the spindle; all those strong things which win for her the confidence and praise of her husband; authority over all, abundance in the house, blessings from the poor whom she has helped, honor from strangers, reverence from her children; and for herself, in the fear of the Lord, nobility and dignity, beauty and strength, wisdom, sweetness and content, and calm assurance at the latter day.

O blessed Anne, rescue society, which is perishing for want of virtues like thine. The motherly kindness thou art ever more frequently bestowing upon us have increased the Church’s confidence; deign to respond to the hopes she places in thee. Mayest thou become known throughout the whole world. As for us, who have long known thy power and experienced thy goodness, let us ever seek in thee, O mother, our rest, security, strength in every trial; for he who leans on thee has nothing to fear on earth, and he who rests in thy arms is safely carried.

Let us offer the blessed Anne a wreath gathered from the Liturgy. We will first cull from the Menæa of the Greeks, as being the earliest in date.

Mensis Julii Die XXV
Ex Officio Vesperatino

Eu splendida solemnitas et dies clara, universo mundo jucunda, venerabilis atque laudana dormitio Annæ gloriosæ, ex qua prodiit Mater Vitæ.
O brilliant solemnity, day full of light and joy to the whole world! This day we celebrate the venerable and praiseworthy passage of the glorious Anne, of whom was born the Mother of Life.

Quæ prius infecunda et sterilis, primitias nostræ salutis germinavit, Christum rogat ut culparum veniam largiatur his qui cum fide eum collaudant.
She who was once unfruitful and barren brought forth the first fruits of our salvation; she beseeches Christ to grant pardon of their sins to them that sing his praises with faith.

Salve, avis spiritualis, verni nuntia gratiæ. Salve, ovis agnam parta, quæ Agnum tollentem peccata mundi, Verbum, verbo genuit.
Hail, spiritual bird, announcing the spring-time of grace! Hail, sheep, mother of the ewe-lamb, who by a word conceived the Word, the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world!

Salve, terra benedicta, quæ virgam divinitus germinantem mundo florescere fecisti. Sterilitatem tuo partu fugasti, Anna in Deo beatissima, avia Christi Dei, quæ fulgentem lucernam, Dei genitricem, edidisti: quacum intercedere digneris, ut animabus nostris magna misericordia donetur.
Hail, blessed earth, whence sprang the branch that bore a Divine Fruit. Thy fruitfulness put an end to barrenness, O Anne, most blessed in God, grandmother of Christ, our God, who didst give to the world a shining lamp, the Mother of God; together with her deign to intercede that great may be the mercy granted to our souls.

Venite universæ creaturæ, in cymbalis psalmorum Annæ piæ acclamemus, quæ e visceribus suis genuit divinum Montem, et ad montes spirituales ac tabernacula Paradisi est translata. Ad ipsam dicamus: Beata alvus tua quæ vere gestavit illam quæ in ventre suo portavit lumen mundi: gloriosa ubera tua, quibus lactata est ea quæ Christum, cibum vitæ nostræ aluit. Hunc deprecare, ut ab omni vexatione et incursu inimici liberemur, et animæ nostræ salventur.
Come all ye creatures, let us cry out to holy Anne with cymbals and psaltery. She brought forth the mountain of God, and was borne up to the spiritual mountains, the tabernacles of Paradise. Let us say to her: Blessed is thy womb wherein she rested who herself bore the Light of the world; glorious are thy breasts which suckled her who fed Christ the food of our life. Beseech him to deliver us from all harassing attacks of the enemy, and to save our souls.

Let us turn to our Western lands and join in the chants of the various churches. The Mozarabic Liturgy thus interprets the feelings of the once barren woman, after her prayer had been so magnificently answered:

Antiphona

Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo: quia exandisti verba oris mei.
I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; for thou hast heard the words of my mouth.

℟. In conspectu Angelorum psallam tibi.
℟. In the sight of Angels I will sing praise to thee.

℣. Deus meus es tu, et confitebor tibi: Deus meus, et exaltabo te.
℣. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: my God, and I will exalt thee.

℟. In conspectu.
℟. In the sight.

℣. Gloria et honor Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
℣. Glory and honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

℟. In conspectu.
℟. In the sight.

Apt shall next speak in the name of all Provence, and tell of its glorious honor:

Antiphon

O splendor Provinciæ, nobilis mater Mariæ Virginis, et Davidis filia; avia Redemptoris, nobis open feras veniæ ut vivamus cum beatis.
O glory of Provence, noble mother of the Virgin Mary, daughter of David, grandmother of our Redeemer, bring us the grace of pardon, that we may live with the blessed.

Responsory

Hæc est Mater nobis electa a Domino, Anna sanctissima, Britonum spes et tutela: * Quam in prosperis adjutricem, in adversis auxiliatricem habemus.
Behold the mother chosen for us by our Lord, most holy Anne, the hope and protection of the Bretons. * In prosperity of our helper, in adversity our succor.

℣. Populi sui memor sit semper; adsitque grata filiis suis, terra marique laborantibus. * Quam in prosperis.
℣. May she be ever mindful of her people, ever gracious to her children, whether on land or toiling o’er the sea. * In prosperity.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Quam in prosperis.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. * In prosperity.

Let us all unite with Brittany in the following hymn:

Hymn

Lucis beatæ gaudiis Gestit parens Ecclesia, Annamque Judææ decus Matrem Mariæ concinit.
Mother Church exults with the joy of this blessed day, and sings the praise of Anne, the beauty of Judea, the mother of Mary.

Regnum piorum sanguini Jungens Sacerdotes avos, Illustris Anna splendidis Vincit genus virtutibus.
Uniting the blood of holy kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of her ancestry is far outstript by Anne’s resplendent virtues.

Cœlo favente nexuit Vincli jugalis fœdera, Alvoque sancta condidit Sidus perenne virginum.
‘Neath heaven’s smile she ties the nuptial bond; and in her holy tabernacle hides the unwaning star of virgins.

O mira cœli gratia! Annæ parentis in sinu Concepta virgo conterit Sævi draconis verticem.
O wondrous grace of heaven! Scarce is the Virgin conceived in the womb of her mother when she there crushes the head of the cruel dragon.

Tanto salutis pignore Jam sperat humanum genus: Orbi redempto prævia Pacem columba nuntiat.
With such a pledge of salvation mankind finds hope at length; the dove has come foretelling peace to the redeemed world.

Sit laus Patri, sit Filio, Tibique Sancte Spiritus. Annam pie colentibus Confer perennem gratiam. Amen.
Praise be to the Father, to the Son, and to thee, O holy Spirit! To them that lovingly honor blessed Anne, grant everlasting grace. Amen.

We will conclude with these beautiful formulæ of praise and prayer to our Lord, from the Ambrosian Missal of Milan:

Preface

Æterne Deus, qui beatam Annam singulari tuæ gratiæ privilegio sublimasti. Cui desideratæ fœcunditatis munus magnificum, et excellens adeo contulisti; ut ex ipsa Virgo virginum, Maria, Angelorum Domina, Regina mundi, maris Stella, Mater Filii tui Dei et hominis nasceretur. Et ideo cum Angelis.
It is right and just to give thanks to thee, O eternal God, who by a singular privilege of thy grace, hast exalted the blessed Anne. To whose desire of fruitfulness thou didst give a gift so magnificent and so far surpassing all others, that from her was born Mary, the Virgin of virgins, the Lady of the Angels, the Queen of the world, the Star of the sea, the Mother of thy Son, who is both God and Man. And, therefore, with the Angels, &c.

Oratio Super Sindonem

Omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, qui beatam Annam, diuturna sterilitate afflictam, gloriosæ prolis fœtu tua gratia fœcundasti; da, quæsumus: ut, pro nobis apud te intervenientibus ejus meritis, efficiamur sincera fide fœcundi, et salutiferis operibus fructuosi. Per Dominum.
O Almighty everlasting God, who didst give to blessed Anne, after the affliction of a long barrenness, the grace to bear a glorious fruit; grant, we beseech thee, that, as her merits intercede with thee for us, we may be made rich in sincere faith and fruitful in works of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary

by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877

St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin, was a native of Bethlehem, a city two miles distant from Jerusalem, frequently mentioned in Holy Writ. Having passed her youth in unstained purity, she was married to a man named Joachim, who was born at Nazareth in Galilee, with whom she lived in such love and harmony, and at the same time so piously, that one could justly say of them what St. Luke writes of Zachary and Elizabeth: "They were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame." They divided their income into three parts, the first of which was used for the honor of God and to adorn the Temple, the second to assist the poor, and the third for their own subsistence. They employed the day in prayer, work suitable to their station in life, and charitable deeds.

Their only grief was, that, although so long married, they had no issue; and a barren marriage was at that time considered a disgrace, nay almost a sign of a divine curse. Saddened by this sorrow, St. Anne, as well as her spouse, prayed with many sighs and tears, that God would take pity on them and remove the disgrace that was weighing them down. But when, after having prayed long and earnestly, they were not heard, they determined to bear patiently the will of the Almighty. As, however, St. Anne knew that God required continual prayer, and that He had not given to men a certain time to ask for grace, she ceased not to implore heaven with great confidence, for all that she believed was for His honor and her own salvation. Being one day in the Temple, she felt her distress so deeply, that she wept bitterly, but she remembered, at the same time, that there had been another Anne, spouse of Elcana, who had been afflicted as she was, but whose prayers God at last had answered, making her the mother of the great prophet Samuel. While thinking of this, she perceived in herself an invincible desire to beg the Lord for a like grace. Hence she repeated her prayer with earnest fervor, promising at the same time, that if God would grant her a child, she would consecrate it in the Temple to His divine service, as the above-mentioned Anne had done.

God answered the trusting, tearful prayer of His servant, and sent her, according to the opinion of the Holy Fathers, an angel, who announced to her that she would give birth to a child which, blessed among women, would become the mother of the long expected Saviour of the world. It is also believed that the angel told St. Anne the name which she should give to the blessed fruit of her womb. The same revelation was made to St. Joachim, and the happiness of both and their gratitude to the Almighty can be easily imagined. Their happiness was crowned when St. Anne gave birth to her who was elected by God from all eternity to become the mother of His only Son. Who can describe the joy with which Anne pressed her newborn child to her heart, or the solicitude and love with which she brought it up? The knowledge that her blessed daughter was chosen by God to so great a dignity was incentive enough to have nothing undone for her welfare. The mind of the blessed child was so far beyond her years, and her whole being so angelically innocent, that her education was an easy task, and St. Anne deemed herself the happiest mother in the world, because God had entrusted to her so priceless a child. The graces which, through the presence of the Blessed Virgin, she received from Heaven, cannot but have been innumerable. For if, in after times, the house of Elizabeth and Zachary was, by a visit from Mary, filled with heavenly blessings, who can doubt that St. Anne, who was the mother of the Blessed Virgin, was gifted with extraordinary graces?

Knowing, however, that Mary was not only a precious treasure lent her by heaven, but also had consecrated herself to the service of the Almighty, St. Anne did not fail to return to God what she had received from Him and to offer willingly what she had so willingly promised. Hardly had Mary reached the age of three years, when Anne and Joachim went with her to the temple at Jerusalem, and presenting her to the Priest, consecrated her through him to the Almighty. Nothing could have been more painful to the pious parents than to separate from so perfect a child; but as they were more zealous for the glory of God than for their own joy, even though it was so pious, they made this sacrifice without complaining. Thus Mary was received among the number of those who, under the direction of the priests, served God in the Temple, and were led in the path of virtue. After they had piously offered this agreeable sacrifice, the parents of the Blessed Virgin returned home, and spent the remainder of their days in good works, which were continued by St. Anne, when she became a widow by the death of her holy spouse. As she had been an example to the virgins before her marriage, as well as a perfect model of a wife, so also was she in her widowhood, a shining light, for all those qualities which St. Paul afterwards required of a Christian widow, in his first Epistle to Timothy. She went frequently to Jerusalem to see her holy daughter, and died, according to several authors, in the 79th year of her age. Mary, who at that time still lived in the temple, closed her eyes.

As one cannot give to the Blessed Virgin a higher title than to call her Mother of God, thus St. Anne cannot be more exalted than when she is called the mother of her who bore the Son of God. And for the very reason that she was chosen to be her mother, we must believe that the Almighty favored her here upon earth, with grace above all the Saints, and raised her to high glory in heaven. Hence we may rightly suppose, that her intercession with God is most powerful; and this is also testified by many examples.

Practical Considerations

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When St. Anne perceived that, notwithstanding her many prayers, the Almighty gave her no issue, she submitted to His divine will, and bore her trial with patience. Thus also should Christian people act, when God proves them in a similar manner, for all He does is the best for them. He has His reasons for acting thus, and these reasons are just. Perhaps they would go to perdition if they had children, as many a parent sins greatly in regard to his children, and is condemned on their account. When St. Anne at length received from God what she had so constantly prayed for during many years, she gave due thanks to Him, educated her daughter piously, and early consecrated her to the service of Heaven. Thus should all Christian parents act. Their greatest care should be to teach their children early to serve God and bring them up for heaven. If one of their children has a calling for a religious life, they must not oppose it, nor, by any unrighteous means, keep the child from it. St. Anne deprived herself of the great comfort which her daughter's presence gave her, when for the love of God, she consecrated her, by the hands of the priest, to the service of the Most High. Why shall not Christian parents do the same and willingly consecrate their child to God, to whom it belongs much more than to themselves? They may commit great sin, and may even draw upon themselves eternal condemnation, and may be the cause of their child's destruction, if they oppose the divine call.

St. Anne prayed long, yet was not heard. She, however, complained not against God, but continued in her prayers with undiminished confidence until she at last received what she had asked. God has many reasons for not always hearing our prayers immediately. We sometimes pray when we are not in a state of grace; or we live in sin without repenting, or without the intention of bettering our life. In such cases, our prayers cannot be acceptable to God. We also sometimes pray without devotion and reverence. And can such a prayer have power? At another time, we pray only for things which God knows to be hurtful to us, although we may imagine that they are for our good. In such cases, God bestows a grace upon us by not hearing us. Often also the Almighty does not hear us, in punishment of our iniquities. We have so often offended Him, and have forfeited His grace, that we cannot reasonably expect that He should grant our request immediately. We have so frequently been deaf when God called to us; how can we ask that He should directly hear us? "What right have we," asks St. Salvianus, "to complain, when God does not hear us, or, so to speak, despises our prayers when we have so often not listened to Him, and so frequently despised His laws? What is more just than that He should not listen to us, because we heard not Him, and that He should despise our prayers, as we did His laws?"

Further, God does not always hear us immediately, in order that we may pray more fervently and esteem so much more highly the favors He bestows. He does it also to try our patience and our trust in His mercy, or that we may be more deserving of His grace by continual prayers. Finally, besides other reasons, He may do it also to give us something better than we asked for. When all this is rightly considered, tell me, can you justly complain when the Almighty hears not your prayers immediately? Continue in them. Perform them in the right spirit, and you will experience the truth of the words of St. Bernard: "God either gives us what we ask, or something else, which is more useful to us."

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St. Anne
Taken from the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia

Anne (Hebrew, Hannah, grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna) is the traditional name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

All our information concerning the names and lives of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, is derived from apocryphal literature, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Protoevangelium of James. Though the earliest form of the latter, on which directly or indirectly the other two seem to be based, goes back to about A.D. 150, we can hardly accept as beyond doubt its various statements on its sole authority. In the Orient the Protoevangelium had great authority and portions of it were read on the feasts of Mary by the Greeks, Syrians, Copts, and Arabians. In the Occident, however, it was rejected by the Fathers of the Church until its contents were incorporated by Jacobus de Voragine in his "Golden Legend" in the thirteenth century. From that time on the story of St. Anne spread over the West and was amply developed, until St. Anne became one of the most popular saints also of the Latin Church.

The Protoevangelium gives the following account: In Nazareth there lived a rich and pious couple, Joachim and Hannah. They were childless. When on a feast day Joachim presented himself to offer sacrifice in the temple, he was repulsed by a certain Ruben, under the pretext that men without offspring were unworthy to be admitted. Whereupon Joachim, bowed down with grief, did not return home, but went into the mountains to make his plaint to God in solitude. Also Hannah, having learned the reason of the prolonged absence of her husband, cried to the Lord to take away from her the curse of sterility, promising to dedicate her child to the service of God. Their prayers were heard; an angel came to Hannah and said: "Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world". The angel made the same promise to Joachim, who returned to his wife. Hannah gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary). Since this story is apparently a reproduction of the biblical account of the conception of Samuel, whose mother was also called Hannah, even the name of the mother of Mary seems to be doubtful.

The renowned Father John of Eck of Ingolstadt, in a sermon on St. Anne (published at Paris in 1579), pretends to know even the names of the parents St. Anne. He calls them Stollanus and Emerentia. He says that St. Anne was born after Stollanus and Emerentia had been childless for twenty years; that St. Joachim died soon after the presentation of Mary in the temple; that St. Anne then married Cleophas, by whom she became the mother of Mary Cleophae (the wife of Alphaeus and mother of the Apostles James the Lesser, Simon and Judas, and of Joseph the Just); after the death of Cleophas she is said to have married Salomas, to whom she bore Maria Salomae (the wife of Zebedaeus and mother of the Apostles John and James the Greater). The same spurious legend is found in the writings of Gerson (Opp. III, 59) and of many others. There arose in the sixteenth century an animated controversy over the marriages of St. Anne, in which Baronius and Bellarmine defended her monogamy. The Greek Menaea (25 July) call the parents of St. Anne Mathan and Maria, and relate that Salome and Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist, were daughters of two sisters of St. Anne. According to Ephiphanius it was maintained even in the fourth century by some enthusiasts that St. Anne conceived without the action of man. This error was revived in the West in the fifteenth century. (Anna concepit per osculum Joachimi.) In 1677 the Holy See condemned the error of Imperiali who taught that St. Anne in the conception and birth of Mary remained virgin (Benedict XIV, De Festis, II, 9). In the Orient the cult of St. Anne can be traced to the fourth century. Justinian I (d. 565) had a church dedicated to her. The canon of the Greek Office of St. Anne was composed by St. Theophanes (d. 817), but older parts of the Office are ascribed to Anatolius of Byzantium (d. 458). Her feast is celebrated in the East on the 25th day of July, which may be the day of the dedication of her first church at Constantinople or the anniversary of the arrival of her supposed relics in Constantinople (710). It is found in the oldest liturgical document of the Greek Church, the Calendar of Constantinople (first half of the eighth century). The Greeks keep a collective feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne on the 9th of September. In the Latin Church St. Anne was not venerated, except, perhaps, in the south of France, before the thirteenth century. Her picture, painted in the eighth century, which was found lately in the church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome, owes its origin to Byzantine influence. Her feast, under the influence of the "Golden Legend", is first found (26 July) in the thirteenth century, e.g. at Douai (in 1291), where a foot of St. Anne was venerated (feast of translation, 16 September). It was introduced in England by Urban VI, 21 November, 1378, from which time it spread all over the Western Church. It was extended to the universal Latin Church in 1584.

The supposed relics of St. Anne were brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in 710 and were still kept there in the church of St. Sophia in 1333. The tradition of the church of Apt in southern France pretends that the body of St. Anne was brought to Apt by St. Lazarus, the friend of Christ, was hidden by St. Auspicius (d. 398), and found again during the reign of Charlemagne (feast, Monday after the octave of Easter); these relics were brought to a magnificent chapel in 1664 (feast, 4 May). The head of St. Anne was kept at Mainz up to 1510, when it was stolen and brought to Düren in Rheinland. St. Anne is the patroness of Brittany. Her miraculous picture (feast, 7 March) is venerated at Notre Dame d'Auray, Diocese of Vannes. Also in Canada, where she is the principal patron of the province of Quebec, the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré is well known. St. Anne is patroness of women in labour; she is represented holding the Blessed Virgin Mary in her lap, who again carries on her arm the child Jesus. She is also patroness of miners, Christ being compared to gold, Mary to silver.

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The Efficacy in Heaven of Good St. Anne

gloria.tv | July 10, 2024

“It is certain that Mary’s soul was the most beautiful that God had ever created; nay more, after the work of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, this was the greatest and most worthy of Himself that an omnipotent God ever did in the world.”

Miraculously St. Anne conceives & nurtures the Mother of God

These are the words of the Redemptionist founder St. Alphonsus Liguori, famed for his strong devotion to Our Lady. He notes that Mary was in the mind of God for all eternity, and “the reason why God did not destroy the human race after the first sin was His singular love for this holy Virgin, who was eventually to be born of the race.”

Given Our Lady’s unique role in salvation history, it would have been understandable for God to create her directly, as He did our first parents. However, because He chose to become incarnate through the cooperation of His Mother, it was more fitting for Our Lady, who imitated her Son in everything, to also have a mother.

Who is this mother of the Mother of God? Even if nothing else were known about her, the fact that God entrusted her with Mary, the Ark of the Covenant, speaks volumes.

Her name, Anne, also reveals much about her character. St. John Damascene wrote that, “St. Anne is a generous mother, a compassionate mother, a gracious mother, because the word ‘Anne’ means ‘generous, merciful, gracious.’”

Except for Jesus Christ, it is difficult to imagine anyone more closely united to Our Lady than St. Anne. For this reason, we should not hesitate to turn to her. Indeed, we have good reason to hope that she will teach us about her Daughter and help to pave the way for the Reign of Mary. While still on Earth, she understood that her Daughter’s role was not to shine before the world. Now, she rejoices in Heaven, knowing that Our Lady’s splendor will soon be made known to mankind.

“To Jesus through Mary,” as St. Louis de Montfort preached in True Devotion to Mary. “It is by the Most Holy Virgin Mary that Jesus has come into the world, and it is also by her that He has to reign in the world.” These are first words of the Introduction of his landmark work. During the glorious era to come, men will come to Christ to give Him due glory through His Mother.

Referring to St. Anne, mother of the Mother of God, Pope Gregory XV affirmed: “The more love we show to the mother of Mary, the more we merit the intercession and aid of the Holy Virgin who brought forth the only-begotten Son of God.” It is impossible to imagine how efficacious her intercession in Heaven must be.

The goal of this series, therefore, is to inspire greater devotion to St. Anne.


A brief history

Tradition provides only a rough outline of St. Anne’s life. We know that she descended from a noble Jewish family and married St. Joachim while still a young woman. They led virtuous lives, and were known for their generosity. Despite this, they remained childless for many years, which was certainly a great trial. Many persons, including Temple priests, believed the holy couple was being punished by God for infidelity.

St. Anne instructed her daughter until age 3, when she went to the temple

Undeterred, the humble Sts. Anne and Joachim both continued to pray for a child, promising to dedicate this child to His service. This moved Our Lord to reward their patience and generosity, granting their request in a more marvelous way than they could have imagined.

After the Mother of God was born, the couple lived with her in their home for three years before bringing her to the Temple of Jerusalem. St. Joachim died shortly afterward, and it is not known how St. Anne passed her final days. Some have suggested that she remarried and had other children, which seems improbable since she was aware of the great gift God had given her in her daughter Mary. Others have proposed she lived a solitary and penitential life for several years before commending her soul to God.

Volume I of The Mystical City of God provides additional insight into St. Anne. Ven. Mary of Agreda calls her and St. Joachim “two bright luminaries sent to announce the approaching dawn of the Sun of Justice, Christ our Salvation” (n. 166).

She writes that St. Anne was “a most chaste, humble, and beautiful maiden” who, from childhood, “led a most virtuous, holy and retired life.” She was blessed with a profound understanding of Scriptures, and always prayed for the coming of the Messiah (n. 167).

Just as he did for Our Lady, St. Gabriel appeared to St. Anne several times over the course of her life. First, this he came to inform her of her marriage to St. Joachim (n.168).

Twenty years later, he returned to St. Anne, this time to give her the good news that she would conceive Our Lady. He told her that this privileged child, who was to be given the name of Mary, would become the Mother of God.

This meant that St. Anne was the first person to learn this glorious truth, long before her spouse. The long wait of the Patriarchs and Prophets would shortly be over. The Messiah would arrive, for the Mother of God would soon be born, the fecund fruit of St. Anne’s long barren womb. This great secret St. Anne kept in her heart and told no one. But what joy and consolation must have been hers to know that her daughter would be the Mother of God.

After conceiving and bearing Our Lady, St. Anne grew in sanctity so that she could raise her Daughter properly. She loved Our Lady with both a natural and supernatural love, “embracing and caressing her in the same way as other mothers do with their daughters, but always with a proper reverence” (n. 325).

St. Anne died a holy death and had the privilege of being with her Daughter during her last moments. Our Lady prayed: “Dismiss, O Lord, in peace thy servant [my mother Anne], who has with invincible faith and confidence, desired to fulfill thy divine pleasure” (n. 718). Since these words come from the Queen of Heaven herself, they say much about St. Anne’s great holiness.

Our Lady loved St. Anne while she was on Earth and it is certain that now, in Heaven, she has a still greater love for her holy mother. Obedient to her mother on earth, the Virgin Mary responds likewise with haste to her mother’s requests in Heaven.

What better way to honor Our Lady than to honor St. Anne?


To be continued


Sources:
Booklet, Good St. Anne (TAN Books)
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Glories of Mary
Mystical City of God, Volume 1 (Conception)