Her Titles and Symbols in Art

TITLES

     In the glorious Middle Ages, St. Anne was fondly called: Comfortress of the Sorrowing-----Mother of the Poor-----Health of the Sick-----Patroness of the Childless-----Help of the Pregnant-----Model of Married Women and Mothers-----Protectress of Widows-----Patroness of Laborers.

   Comfortress of the Sorrowing. St. Anne was spared neither trials nor bitterness. God tested her severely, especially by ordaining that she would have to wait so long for Mary, her child of predilection. For years, hidden sorrow was her daily bread.

   Mother of the Poor. St. Anne's love for the poor is evident from the praise bestowed upon her by St. John Damascene, who relates that she and St. Joachim distributed one third of their possessions to the poor. St. Anne still continues her charity in Heaven by assisting the poor, often in a wonderful manner. Nor does St. Anne forget the dying, the poorest of the poor. These, above all others, experience her motherly protection.

   Health of the Sick. The number of cures wrought through the intercession of St. Anne is countless. Day after day the churches dedicated to her, as that at St. Anne de Beaupré, have resounded with the suppliant voices of her clients. Sight has been restored to the blind, hearing to the deaf, soundness to the bodies of the infirm and crippled.

These are the exterior signs of the power and maternal goodness of St. Anne, but what shall we say of the interior cures of spiritual ailments known to God alone? How many times has the good Saint strengthened a wavering courage, given a new vitality to a languid spiritual life, opened a mind to the light of the true Faith? Numberless prodigies of this kind have taken place at the Shrine of St. Anne, unknown to men for the most part, but known to God, whose loving Providence seems to take delight in granting multiplied graces through the intercession of good St. Anne, so that the ex votos, the mute testimonies of innumerable physical cures, could well be supplemented by testimonials of spiritual favors, were such a thing possible.

   Good St. Anne, like a true and faithful mother, does not turn a deaf ear to the pleas of her children; and as a mother's heart is deeply touched at the sight of the afflictions of her children, so is St. Anne's motherly heart touched by the petitions of those who come to her seeking solace and comfort.

   Patroness of the Childless. Childless mothers invoke good St. Anne because, only after many years of married life, did this Saint finally receive from God the child of grace, Mary. Full of compassion for those in like sorrow, she intercedes with God and, if it be His holy will, obtains for them the favor which completes the happiness of conjugal union.

    Help of the Pregnant. This office of good St. Anne is connected with the foregoing. As she obtains for women the much-desired favor of motherhood, so she will also guard the fruit of the womb, so that the child may receive holy Baptism. She assists mothers when they are in their great anxiety, and she obtains a happy delivery.

   Model of Married Women and Mothers. St. Anne is the shining example of all Christian women. This was her vocation on earth as wife of St. Joachim and mother of the Blessed Virgin. She is, indeed, the patroness of Christian women and mothers, their special protectress and advocate, having herself borne the heavy burdens of the married state and tasted all the bitterness which makes this vocation difficult. In every family where good St. Anne is invoked, she shows herself a loving protectress, and never has she been venerated or invoked in vain.

   She obtains for women, particularly in our misguided age, the light to understand the high purpose of Matrimony. God instituted this Sacrament for the propagation of mankind. Since the Fall, the state of Matrimony is, especially for the wife, a state of penance, of labor, of submission. But although children are often a source of much trouble and care to parents, particularly to the mother, they are, nevertheless, to be regarded as a blessing, "the blessing of children," for they are a gift of God, a pledge of His Fatherly goodness. This is the sublime, the sacred purpose of Matrimony: to bring forth children who will be children of God, heirs of Heaven, who are destined to possess forever the places of the Fallen Angels! The hope of the Church is in good Christian mothers; their sons and daughters will fill the sanctuaries and convents.

   Protectress of Widows. Difficult is the state of the Christian widow. Bereft of her husband, her staff and the support of her children, she stands alone in the world-----if poor, doubly needy. Is it any wonder, then, that Holy Scripture, after recommending to our charity the poor and orphans, also begs our compassion for widows? Their patroness, good St. Anne, will lovingly shield and protect them in their many dangers and temptations, both spiritual and temporal. Hence, Christian widows feel drawn to place themselves under her powerful protection.

Originally published by the Benedictine Convent of Perpetual Adoration, Clyde, Missouri in 1958. Revised edition published in 1963. Retypeset and re-published by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. in 1998. Updates and additions made to information on shrines by the Publisher, 1998.

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