St. Anne's Prayer To God
© by Sheila M. Coyle
Long ago, French settlers tilling the fertile hillside decided to build a little chapel, and dedicate it to St. Anne. They sought permission from the church and the missionary Father Vignal came and blessed the site. One of the men, a worker, suffered from a painful disease, but was cured upon the blessing of this site. The miraculous healing affirmed to the parishioners that the construction of the church was truly an endeavor blessed by God.
It was the beginning of many miracles to come at St. Anne-de-Beaupre Shrine. Today, if you visit this massive structure of towering steeples, and stand in the back of the church near the red flickering votives, you will have trouble viewing the front altar. What you can see are the rows of confessionals going up either side of the church, the pillars supporting the basilica and the stone angels kneeling in front of the relic of St. Anne.
An important part of a pilgrimage, besides praying for your petitions is to view the relic of a Saint. When I was at St Anne's Shrine a relic of her forearm was displayed in a glass case on a side altar. It does not state anywhere, at least that I could find, that the skin was torn off her body while she was alive, or that she was tortured as a living martyr.
Anne was a Jewish woman, the grandmother of Jesus, and the mother of Mary. The ancient gospel of James states that Anne was born in Bethlehem and married Joachim, a man from Nazareth in Galilee. Joachim was a shepherd who supplied the temple in Jerusalem with sheep from his flock. The temple used these sheep for its sacrifices, and although Joachim's business prospered and he and Anne loved each other, and even more deeply in time, they did not have children. They were married twenty years, and you can imagine Joachim going to the temple with sheep for dedications such as the birth of a child, and the unkind remarks and persecutions because he and Anne had no children. They felt that the persecutions were from God and that they were being punished, until an angel appeared and told them that God would give them a child, a daughter, who would be filled with The Holy Spirit. This child was named Mary, from the name Miriam, who was a sister to Moses.
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