Day of Prayer and Reparation

Call for Reparation

Dear Friends

As you know, there have been a number of instances where Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament has been horribly violated and desecrated of late. I have posted about two of them, but there have been others.

I just learned from reading Te Deum Laudamus that Fr. John Trigilio of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has called for a day of prayer and fasting on this Friday, August 1, 2008 in reparation for these horrible acts. It is the First Friday of August and the Solemnity of Our Holy Father Alphonsus Liguori, who was so greatly devoted to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Trigilio is specifically requesting that people make a holy hour of reparation. Additionally one may assist at Mass or at a second Mass, say the rosary, abstain from valid pleasures (in addition to the regular Friday abstainence from meat), offering up suffering (such as enduring discomfort from the heat or bodily pain in silence), pray extra devotions such as the Rosary or Stations of the Cross, or give alms in reparation.

To understand the gravity of these sins, they are worse than the abuse of children, one of the most horrible crimes we can imagine. The reason they are worse is because they are direct attacks against Our Lord. Remember, the Blessed Sacrament is not a symbol or a sign. The Blessed Sacrament is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. No Catholic can deny this. To look upon the Blessed Sacrament is to look upon the Face of Christ Himself though under the sacramental veils. Catholics have died rather than allow the Blessed Sacrament to be desecrated. We must, at the very least, make reparation for these most grave sins.

At the same time as we are making reparation for the sins, we must pray for the sinners who have committed these heinous acts. It is not for us to judge them, to name them as evil or depraved or call them sick. It is for us to pray for them and to love them as Christ asked us. If we judge them, we sin, and sin gravely ourselves, for to judge another is contrary to a direct prohibition of Christ Himself and is always grave matter and thus most likely mortal sin.

I know that many of you have already made holy hours and offered prayers for this intention. But let us redouble our efforts, for we can never make sufficient amends and reparation. Let us keep in mind the words Holy Church puts in the mouth of our Lord from the Reproaches of Good Friday:

"My people, what have I done to you?

How have I offended you?

Answer me!"

May God bless you,
Fr. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.

Update

Dear Friends,

First, I would like to wish a

Blessed Feast of Saint Anne to All !

May the dear Mother of Mary and Grandmother of Jesus

be the delight of our hearts today and always.

Secondly, I would like to let you know that progress is being made and Evening Devotions will soon be up and running again thanks to your continued prayers.

Thirdly, I must once again ask for your prayers of reparation for the desecration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, this time by professor Paul Z. Myers of the University of Minnesota, who yesterday, wrote: “I pierced it [the Host] with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash.”* Once again, I ask everyone who reads this blog, whether regularly or occasionally to take a moment each day and pray the Hail Mary and the Saint Michael Prayer for Mr. Myers and for Festes (mentioned in a previous post). Consciously direct your thoughts to them as you do so asking God to surround them with love and mercy. I also ask those of you who are able to make a Holy Hour of Reparation for the sins and blasphemies of these men and for their conversion.

I want to thank all those who have prayed for Festes and made Holy Hours of Reparation. I know there were many of you from all those who wrote and from the fact that the hard drive crashed. That is proof positive that your prayers are having an effect so keep at it. Better to have a hard drive crash than to lose one soul!

May the Most Holy Redeemer together with Our Lady and Saint Anne bless you.

Fr. Scott, C.Ss.R.

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For your convenience here are the prayers:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. Rebuke him, O God, we humbly pray and beseech thee. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast unto hell, satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world and seek the ruin of souls. Amen.
+
My Jesus, for all the blasphemies and outrages Thou hast received, we console Thee and implore Thy mercy upon us and those who offend against Thee.
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For the sake of Thy sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

* See full article here http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=28704 .

Notice

Dear Friends,

It seems as though this blog must be doing much good for just as we were to begin the Novena to Saint Anne the hard drive on my computer crashed. I truly think it was the old prince of darkness behind it since it seems that there is nothing wrong with the drive and everything is almost back in working order. For some reason he is very afraid of the Novena to Saint Anne. Of course, this means that we must persist in our prayers to our good and loving Saint. I will post all of the meditations for Saint Anne's Month as well as the Novena Prayers and posts on the Shrines of St. Anne as originally planned. We will just have a Novena in Thanksgiving to God for the goodness of Saint Anne and for all the blessings He has bestowed through her intercession.

May Good Saint Anne continue to hear the prayers we pour forth and intercede for us!

In Jesus and Mary,

Fr. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.

The Seventeenth Day of July

St. Anne Leads Mary to the Temple.

Of all the acts of virtue performed by the holy spouses Joachim and Anne, by means of which they grew in favor with God and enriched themselves with so many merits, there is none more striking than the sacrifice which they made in separating them selves from their only and beloved Daughter on the day of her Presentation. In order to understand how agreeable this sacrifice was to God, we must consider how dear to her parents was this only Daughter sent to them in their old age, as the fruit of so many prayers and tears. In fact this lovely Child of three years old must have been charming in the eyes of every one who beheld her, combining as she did a perfect use of reason and sublime holiness with the graces of person natural to her tender age. How hard then must it have been for her parents to allow her to depart!

From the time of her birth they had lived only for her; they lived more in her life than in their own; it had become a necessity to them to see her every moment, to gaze at her, to speak to her, to hold her in their arms: how then could they accustom themselves to live without her? How sad would their home be when Mary should no longer be there! Very soon they would miss seeing her come of a morning, to kneel and ask their blessing, and then throw herself into their arms; they would no longer have her beside them at table; her voice would not resound in their ears, that voice which thrilled through them and which seemed to them like an echo of the angels voices singing the praise of God! However, they had vowed her to God and did not wish to draw back; they had ever looked on her as a sacred deposit and not as their own property and they would have thought themselves guilty of retaining what was not theirs, even of sacrilege, had they kept her with them beyond the appointed time. The harder was the sacrifice, the more did their spirits rejoice in giving her to God and thus honoring the Lord by an offering of what was dearer to them than their own eyes or their life, a part of their very selves, as the Wise Man expresses it. By this they showed themselves to be parents worthy of Mary who, uniting her will to that of the Heavenly Father, was one day to sacrifice her only Son for the glory of God and our salvation; and worthy too of being grandparents of JESUS Himself who, for love of us, was to make Himself obedient even unto the death of the Cross. Likewise these two holy spouses gave a great and important lesson to those parents who, through an excessive and too purely natural tenderness, oppose the religious vocation of their children, and even go so far as purposing to plunge them into the whirlpool of worldly pleasures, under the pretext of trying their vocation, but in reality in order to make them lose it. What would have happened if Mary’s parents had acted thus, and if (by impossibility) the holy Child had, through their fault, resist ed the call of the Holy Ghost? How many daughters would now be in Heaven and would have won their mother’s entry there, if they had but followed the attraction of grace, but now, in a like condemnation, they curse those mothers and reproach them with their ruin!

But what a glory was it not to the good St. Anne and her holy husband, through their generosity, to have contributed to the happiness and glory of the Queen of the universe! What a claim it gave them to the eternal gratitude of their beloved Daughter! For if it be true that Mary had been predestined from all eternity to the unparalleled honor of the Divine maternity, it is also true that she, on her side, was to do her utmost to fit her self for her high destiny; it is equally and undoubtedly true that her consecration to God from her earliest childhood, a consecration for which she was indebted to her pious parents, greatly contributed to forwarding God’s designs on her. Lastly, it is also true that the sublime act of Anne and Joachim drew down graces not only on their own heads, but also on hers, in direct proportion with the suffering this act caused them, and the love which prompted it.

EXAMPLE.

The following is from the Annales de Ste Anne as written by Mlle. Levinia Dorion of Ayhner.

For three years and nine months, I had kept my bed, suffering from a white swelling in the left knee. Several doctors had attended me and had finally declared my case incurable. I had lost all hopes of benefitting by human aid, but on the other hand, my heart was filled with great faith in St. Anne and an intense desire of making a pilgrimage to St. Anne de Beaupre. At first I saw no means of carrying out this desire, but finally, after praying fervently to St. Anne, I was enabled to do so.

Just a few days before starting on my journey, I was so worn out with weakness and suffering that my doctor had pronounced amputation to be absolutely necessary.

However I set forth. I was carried to the railway station at Ayhner, from the train to the boat and from the boat to the church, where I was laid in the center aisle at the feet of the statue. The journey had fatigued me so much that my weakness was extreme and I lay as one dead. The time for Holy Communion having arrived, I perceived that something extraordinary was passing within me. I felt my heart more filled than ever with confidence and offered up the most fervent aspirations to Heaven, whilst a thrill of happiness penetrated my whole being. Immediately afterwards I felt my former strength gradually returning to me.

In obedience to some inexplicable impulse I rose, quite unassisted, and approaching the altar rail received Holy Communion. I then returned to my place and falling on my knees remained in prayer for a quarter of an hour. Kneeling on the very knee that had caused me so much suffering, I offered up my most fervent thanksgiving for the grace I had received. I was perfectly cured. This happened, July 3ist 1883. All glory to the great St. Anne!

PRAYER.

My beloved Patroness, thou knowest how far I am from possessing thy generosity, how weak, tepid and cowardly I am in the divine service; thou knowest that for many months, nay years, God has been daily and in vain asking of me the sacrifice of this affection, this entanglement, this relation, this pleasure, this sensuality, this frivolity, the source of all my sins, or, at any rate, of my remaining stationary, if nothing worse, in the way of Christian perfection. I beg of thee, great Saint, for the glory of JESUS and the honor of Mary, whom thou didst so generously offer to the Lord at the first dawn of her life, to obtain for me, by thy good and powerful prayers, the strength to surmount whatever obstacle is keeping me from giving my whole love to God. Do this, and thou wilt have won for me both peace of soul and eternal salvation.

Good St. Anne, obtain for me generosity in God’s service which may resemble thine.

PRACTICE.

Invoke the help of St. Anne whenever God or your own conscience demands some painful sacrifice of you: she knows well how to make it easier for you.

Solemn Novena of Saint Anne

Tomorrow, July 17th, is the first day of the Solemn Novena of Saint Anne. Countless people throughout the world will be joining together in prayer for their own intentions and the intentions of all those making the novena. The Solemn Novena concludes on July 25, the eve of the Feast of Saint's Joachim and Anne. In some places the Solemn Novena commences on July 18 and concludes on the feastday itself.

Beginning tomorrow there will be a special Novena post in addition to the regular daily post that will continue through the end of July. Each post will focus on a different shrine dedicated to Saint Anne where pilgrims will be gathering especially during these nine days in preparation for her feast and in celebration of her feast itself. There will also be a link to a page with the novena prayers.

I have three things to ask of you:

1. Prepare your intentions for the Solemn Novena and write them down. Place them in your prayerbook or at the place you say your prayers so you will not forget them each day when you pray the novena prayers. Please include my intentions as well as those of all who are connected via this "blog novena."
2. Tell your friends, family members, co-workers, church members, neighbors about the novena and give them the link to the blog. Let us "storm heaven" and St. Anne with our prayers.
3. If you know of a shrine dedicated to St. Anne or a parish that is holding novena devotions or celebrating the Feast of St. Anne with special solemnity, please email me with the complete name and location along with a link to their website or the schedule of services at JScottBaileyCSsR (at) gmail (dot) com [replace at with @ and dot with . ]

May Jesus, His Mother, and His Grandmother bless you and watch over you.

Fr. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.

The Sixteenth Day of July

First Lessons Given by St. Anne to Mary.

Founding our statement on the authority of the Doctors of the Church, and especially of St. Alphonsus, we have already said that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the very first instant of her life, was endowed with the full and entire use of her reason. For we cannot doubt that the Queen of Angels enjoyed the same privilege as was granted to St. John the Baptist, three months before his birth, by means of Mary. St. Anne early perceived the miraculous spiritual precocity of her beloved Daughter and hastened to impart to her the first principles of religion and piety. She told her of the creation of the world, of the disobedience of our first parents and the misfortunes which resulted therefrom; she recounted the promise of a Redeemer and related the history of the Patriarchs and Saints of the Old Testament.

These things had already been revealed to the holy Child by the Holy Ghost, but nevertheless she listened silently and attentively to her Mother’s lessons imprinting them on her memory and meditating on them in her heart. Anne taught her little Daughter also what she herself knew so well; how to pray, and the blessed Child who knew this still better than her Mother, nevertheless redoubled her assiduity, day and night beseeching the God of Abraham to hasten the coming of the Savior and the redemption of the human race. Also on learning from her Mother that, according to the opinion of the doctors of the Law and the revelations made to various holy souls, the day of mercy was drawing near, when a descendant of David was to become the Mother of Christ, she prayed to be spared long enough to behold this admirable women, to kiss her feet and minister to her. These humble and fervent prayers offered by the Daughter and the Mother were most agreeable to God and most efficacious, for who can tell how many favors they were the means of obtaining for the human race?

On joyfully perceiving the happy result of these lessons, Anne resolved to make known to her beloved Daughter how she had obtained her from the Lord; she spoke to her of the sadness in which she and St. Joachim had passed the greater part of their life, on account of their having no posterity who might love and praise the God of Abraham when they themselves should have passed away. She told her of their nights spent in prayer and weeping; and lastly, of the joy that filled their hearts when they knew that God had granted their heart’s desire. Like oil poured in abundance on burning coals, this revelation kindled in the little Mary’s heart, a redoubled veneration, gratitude and love for her holy parents, since she perceived how doubly she was indebted to them for her life. This revelation, too, increased the warmth of her love of God and strengthened her resolution of being His entirely and for ever. Her Mother would then speak to her of the miraculous birth of Isaac and Samuel, and at last imparted to her that, like the mother of that prophet, she herself had promised God to consecrate to Him her Child if He would but vouchsafe to bestow one on her. Imagine the Child’s delight on hearing this! From that time forward she longed for the day when she might dwell entirely in the house of God. In her heart, she sang with the Psalmist: "How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. For the sparrow hath found herself a house and the turtledove a nest for herself—Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, O Lord; they shall praise Thee for ever and ever. When shall I go, when shall I appear in the presence of the Lord?"

Thus, hardly had Anne received the Child so ardently desired and so altogether lovely, than offering to God the sacrifice of her own happiness in beholding her, embracing her, speaking to her, she herself inspired her with the wish to leave all and give herself entirely to her Creator; and the sweet Child, on her part, worthy of so holy a Mother, only sighed for the day when she should by her own act, deprive herself of the caresses and sweet innocent pleasures that were hers under her parent’s roof, although still of an age when a parent’s care and companionship seem the most necessary to a child. St. Joachim was in no way behind his spouse and Daughter. When the Holy Ghost inspires such lovely sentiments in several hearts at once, it is a sign that He is preparing the way for some great event.

EXAMPLE.

Abbé Gosselin writes that on Sept. 30th, 1874, he was a witness of an extraordinary miracle. A young girl from the parish of St. Croix, Caroline Lemay by name, who, for several years had been entirely unable to walk, had arrived at St. Anne’s, the previous evening. Stretched nearly motionless on a bed and worn to a shadow, many persons were heard remarking that St. Anne would have a hard task to perform if she enabled this girl to wear the clothes she had brought with her, for this courageous girl had such faith and confidence in the intercession of St. Anne, that she had brought with her the dress she looked forward to wear on her return. The next morning, she had herself carried to the church where she heard the first Mass. After having given her Holy Communion, the Curé made her venerate the relic and she immediately experienced considerable relief. Abbé Gosselin then said the second Mass and after the Elevation she left her couch. At the termination of the Mass, she walked several times round the church and then partook of food with an excellent appetite. A few days later, she was strong enough to walk down the long quay leading to the steamboat.

PRAYER.

This is indeed why I myself, who by my baptism was called to a state of holiness, have nevertheless remained a most miserable sinner! From my earliest childhood I have heard the voice of the Holy Ghost inspiring me to walk in the sweet and peaceful paths of innocence and piety; and yet even then I commenced to wander along the broad way that leadeth to destruction. I heard this voice again in youth and again closed my ears to it as inopportune; I plunged into turbulent pleasures to drown the sound of that voice; I rejected the gentle yoke it would have placed on me; I deliberately chose to wear the heavy chain of vice and sin. In riper years, under a more guarded exterior, my faults have but increased, for of virtues I have none. Thus has my life flowed on in uselessness, sin, trouble and remorse: for who ever found repose when resisting the inspirations of God? God forbid that I should lose courage entirely. Good St Anne, obtain for me that if my life be longer spared, I may give myself entirely to God and strive to correct my faults. Do thou and thy beloved Spouse intercede for me with JESUS and with the aid of Mary and Joseph, obtain for me the grace of being faithful to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, so that I may welcome these as heavenly messengers and enter resolutely on the way which will eventually lead me to life everlasting.

St. Anne, obtain for me the same fidelity to divine inspirations as that shown by thee and Mary.

PRACTICE.

Every Christian, from the very fact that he is a Christian, has a high and noble destiny awaiting him, for he is bound to aspire to a holiness conformable to his state of life. It is from resistance to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost that so few attain this state of holiness.

The Fifteenth Day of July

St. Anne Beside Mary’s Cradle (continued).

Beside Mary’s cradle, Anne did not merely dream of the future as mothers so often do, but she also prayed. If mothers only knew the power they hold over the happiness and welfare of their children through prayer! How many children have owed their great and beautiful vocation, their holiness, their life’s happiness, their predestination, to the prayers of a good mother gathered up by that mother’s Angel-guardian and presented to God! What superabundant glory and joy for the mothers of St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Dominic, St. Francis Xavier, St. Aloysius, St. Teresa, St. Francis of Sales, St. Alphonsus, for the mothers of an infinite number of good priests, religious and other Elect, to be able to say eternally: "This Saint who has contributed so much to the divine glory, and who is now shining in the front ranks of the just, amid the Archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim, this Saint is my child, and after God it is to me that he owes this happiness" (St. Teresa of Avila).

Had St. Anne anything to do with the perfection, the holiness, the eternal glory of her Blessed Daughter? We cannot doubt it. She had obtained her from God, through continual prayer joined to rigorous fasts and abundant almsgiving, and no sooner did she receive this Child whom she had so ardently desired, than she devoted her life to her alone, so as to assure her the greatest possible amount of happiness. And as in her eyes, holiness and happiness were one and the same thing, and God alone can communicate happiness to his creatures, Anne, in order to assure that happiness to her Daughter, now offered to God the same prayers, fasts and good works which formerly she had offered with a view to obtaining her.

But was not Mary full of grace from the very first moment of her existence? Doubtless; she was filled with it in the sense that she possessed all the grace necessary for a Child destined to be the Mother of God, but not all the grace and all the virtues necessary for her at the moment when she should become really the Mother of God.

Like the dawn of the morning, to which she is compared in Scripture, and like the rose she was to increase in splendor and beauty continually, even until the day of the Annunciation and the day of her blessed death. And who can tell the favors obtained for her by her holy Mother’s prayers, thus aiding her to attain to sublime perfection? The prayer of a mother for the spiritual welfare of her child is ever agreeable to Him Who has ordered us to call Him our Father!

How many times kneeling by the cradle of her Daughter, Anne’s prayers mounted to the throne of God, couched in language like the following: My God who didst vouchsafe to send me this child when all hopes were at an end, Thou knowest how dear she is to me. Dear Lord! grant me the crowning grace of keeping her as pure as she now is; take her from me now rather than let her ever be defiled by sin. Thou, Author of every perfect gift, bestow on her Thy choicest favors: I ask for her neither riches, nor a noble alliance, nor earthly prosperity, for perchance she might be led away by the allurements of the world. But grant her the fear of Thee, inviolable purity, love of the poor and a spirit of piety.

These prayers emanating from so pure and humble a heart, ascended straight to Heaven, whence they returned like a celestial dew falling on Mary’s head and making her in crease in holiness day by day. What glory was it not for the blessed Anne thus to have contributed to Mary’s sanctification, that is to say, to the completion of the most beautiful piece of creation that ever sprang from God’s hand!

EXAMPLE.

The pilgrimage from Ange Gardien de Ronville, which took place in July 1880, was singularly fertile in miraculous favors received. What is especially notable is that they were instantaneous and complete. From among them are the three following:

A woman had for many years been afflicted with sores on her hands and arms. Immediately on plunging them in the water from St. Anne’s fountain, the wounds were completely cured, leaving not the slightest trace of their ever having existed. The parish priest and many others attest to these facts, having seen her before and after her miraculous cure.

Another most striking miracle was that performed on a child three and a half years old. For two years she had seen nothing and her father carried her in his arms on this pilgrimage. At the very moment when the holy relic was about to be held to her lips, she exclaimed: "Good St. Anne, please cure me." She instantaneously recovered her sight. Her name is Marie Louise Laroque.

A woman from Stanbridge, in the parish of Bedford, Mme Solyme Davignan, had, for seven years, been obliged to walk with one knee on a chair which she pushed before her. On entering the church of St. Anne de Beaupre, assisted by two persons, she felt herself instantaneously cured.

PRAYER.

A Mother’s Prayer for Herself and Her Children.

Glorious Mother of the Queen of Angels, my patroness and my model, I beseech thee from the throne where God hath placed thee, to cast down a loving look on thy humble servant. Thou knowest how weak I am, how filled with imperfections, how worldly, how utterly unlike unto thee. Good St. Anne, ask Our Lord to grant me the virtues necessary for a good mother; tenderness allied with firmness, an unceasing vigilance, an inexhaustible patience, a courage proof against all tribulations and difficulties. Obtain for me so lively a faith that I may prize my children’s souls far higher than their bodies, that I may consider them more as made in the image of God than as being of my own blood, so that I may long more ardently for their salvation than for any other temporal advantage. Permit me to consecrate these beloved beings to thee; do thou take them under thy protection and recommend them daily to JESUS and Mary, so that their innocence being preserved, they may daily increase in virtue and piety, may glorify their Heavenly Father in this life, and in union with thee may sing praises in the next to all eternity.

Prayer of a Child for its Mother.

Beloved St. Anne, holy Mother of Mary, be thou the refuge and consolation of my good mother.

PRACTICE.

"It is a bad son who never prays for his mother," said a holy man. It is but a sorry mother, we would add, who never prays for her child, or her child’s soul. Children pray daily for your parents. Parents pray daily for your children.

The Fourteenth Day of July

St. Anne Beside Mary’s Cradle.

A great orator has said that except the gaze which God directs over the world, there is nothing finer than the glance cast by an old man on a child. Perhaps there is something still finer: a mother’s gaze on her child when that mother is a Saint and knows that her child will be a Saint. This can but rarely be met with, but it has been seen: for example, such was the gaze bent on St. John the Baptist by Elisabeth; and, more particularly, that bent on Mary by St. Anne.

Leaning over her child’s cradle, a mother loves to look into the future of that little being, to weave for it a golden existence, to picture it rich, powerful, honored, happy; princes then destine their daughters to illustrious alliances, they dispose of them before even knowing them; see in them instruments of their own ambition, and build hopes without end on these little fragile beings whom a breath might destroy. What hopes and thoughts then filled the mind of St. Anne when she contemplated her beloved Daughter sleeping in her cradle? She too formed ambitious dreams and foresaw a future full of glory and happiness. But the ambitious dreams, hopes and aspirations of St. Anne were those formed by a saintly Mother for a saintly Daughter. She rightly looked on her child as the temple of the Holy Ghost; she knew perfectly that Mary was very agreeable to God. The love she bestowed on her Child was therefore all the more tender and ardent; but it was a love full of respect and veneration, like that of the holy Levites for the Ark of alliance in which the Lord reposed. Looking on herself not as the proprietor but only as the guardian of this unique treasure, she was far from wishing to dispose of it independently of God, as mothers do too often, thus counteracting the divine plans which would have led their children to true happiness. Anne, therefore, entrusted her Child’ future entirely to God. But she loved to picture that future according to her own inclinations. She did not picture Mary to herself as rich, or as seated on a throne, but as a Saint and a great Saint, attaining the perfection of Sara, Rebecca, ancestresses of the Hebrews; of Judith, of Esther, of Deborah their deliverers; of Anna, the mother of Samuel, and of the prophetess Anna, Daughter of Phanuel who lived in the temple and whose piety was known to all. Such was the ambition and such were the wishes of the saintly Mother; such was the object of her prayers. She would not have dared to aspire any higher. She knew that the time had come when the Savior was to appear on earth, that His coming was expected day by day, that He was to be born of the race of David of whom Joachim was directly descended; but never did it enter her mind that her Savior would consent to become her Grandson. She would have thought herself too blessed if her beloved Daughter had been found worthy of being the handmaid of the handmaid of the Messiah and of washing their feet. These holy dispositions were most agreeable to the Most High and not only increased the merits of the happy Mother, but also drew down many graces on the sacred head of her august Child. How much more numerous would Saints be in the Church of God, if all mothers resembled St. Anne a little more! How many scandalous sinners would be models of virtue, if they had a mother worthy of the name!

EXAMPLE.

A lady from St. Julie de Somerset writes to the shrine of St. Anne as follows:

On June, 3rd 1879, I was suddenly taken with dyspepsia and no medical treatment succeeded in relieving my sufferings. For eighteen months I remained between life and death, my relations and friends all considering this to be my last illness.

All this time I had not ceased praying to St. Anne, asking her, for my children s sake, to give me back my health. I asked my friends to join their prayers to mine and many novenas and Communions were offered for me. I also had several Masses said for my intention. St. Anne, however, appeared to turn a deaf ear to all our entreaties. I did not lose faith, for I knew St. Anne to be so good and so powerful that she could obtain for us what we asked, if she only judged it beneficial to us. Our perseverance was rewarded. At the end of those eighteen months of suffering, a great amelioration took place, and I found myself able to take some slight nourishment. Gradually my strength increased until my health gradually improved. In July, 1882, I was enabled to visit the Sanctuary of St. Anne de Beaupre and pour forth my heart in gratitude to that powerful protectress who had so signally favored her unworthy servant. On my return, my health improved rapidly and continues excellent.

PRAYER.

Glorious St. Anne, patroness and model of Christian mothers, pray for those mothers; obtain for them the gifts of the Holy Ghost, so that they may worthily fulfil the duties of their state of life, to the glory of JESUS-CHRIST, giving to God as many elect as He has given them children. Obtain for them the gift of Understanding, so that they may realize what honor God has done them by entrusting them with the education of a soul created to His image, purchased with the blood of His Son and destined to praise Him to all eternity; the gift of Wisdom where by they may esteem their children’s salvation above their worldly prosperity; the gifts of Counsel and Prudence, so that they may know how to choose and employ the best means of rendering their children worthy of being children of God and keep them from all dangers that might imperil their innocence; the gift of Fear, so that they may know how to inspire them with the fear of offending God. The gift of Piety, so that from their very earliest years, they may impart to them a tender filial love of God their Father in Heaven. Pray also for Christian children, so that by their docility, their respect, their love for the authors of their being, they may be the joy of their parents on earth and their crown in eternity.

Great St. Anne, in these sad and trying times, be thou more than ever the consolation and support of mothers and the protectress of their children.

PRACTICE.

Christian mothers, learn from St. Anne what you should have in view in bringing up your children. Christian children, to whom God has given a pious mother, look on her as the most precious gift He has be stowed on you here below.

The Thirteenth Day of July

Birth of Mary (continued.)

Besides the relations, friends and neighbors who thronged to offer their congratulations on the occasion of Mary’s birth, the house of Joachim and Anne was visited by a numerous cohort of invisible beings. First there were legions of Angels from all the choirs, attracted by the splendor which shone forth from the lovely soul of the blessed Child and by the divine odor of the graces with which she was filled, and which inspired her to make acts of sublime virtue. Spiritual things are as open to the gaze of Angels as corporeal things are to ours; and even as the angels of darkness are attracted by the foul odors that emanate, as it were, from the sins of pride, of hatred, of lying, of impurity, so are the Angels of light attracted by the sweet perfume of the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, the rose of charity. Perceiving that the Daughter of Anne had been preserved from original sin and its consequences, they foresaw her noble destiny. What specially attracted them was the burning furnace of divine love which was kindled in her heart and of which they would have been jealous had not they themselves been so filled with charity towards God and towards fallen man, that they rejoiced at whatever could procure glory to their Lord or the redemption of poor human kind.

Did these happy spirits make themselves visibly manifest to Mary’s parents? It cannot br said; yet it cannot be doubted but that these latter experienced the happy effects of so holy a companionship. Every pious soul has remarked that while in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament a certain indefinable well-being is experienced, a peace, a sweet joy, a something indescribable which is never felt elsewhere. In the world, in the domestic circle a more keenly perceptible joy may sometimes be experienced, but this joy only affects the soul superficially, whilst the joy felt at the foot of the altar penetrates the whole being like oil poured upon a garment. Whence comes this joy? Doubtless the real presence of Our Lord is the principal cause, but it also arises from the presence of the Angels, who, according to St. Chrysostom, are always flocking in great numbers around the tabernacle. The salutary effects of their presence makes itself felt by each person in proportion with the purity of his conscience and the amount of divine love that reigns in his heart amidst these Angels. Joachim and Anne, who were so pure, so detached from earth, so loving, were like grains of incense amid burning coals: they, as it were, exhaled a fragrance similar to that which floats of an evening above an incensed altar.

But this was not all: the house of Anne was visited by far nobler beings than the Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, even by the three adorable Persons of the Eternal Trinity, who took delight in the heart of the infant Mary, which was a worthy sanctuary of their own holiness.

The Father, Son and Holy Ghost took up their abode in this heart and dwelt there, not only because therein was their delight, but also that they might vie with one another in bestowing their choicest gifts on the happy Child and thus render her more and more worthy of her high destiny. For God, who is infinite activity in perfect repose, is nowhere idle: in Heaven he is guiding the stars in their orbits; on earth, he is causing our harvests to spring up and ripen; and in the hearts of the just he is constantly performing a work worthy of him, viz. the sanctification of each particular soul. But we also believe that whilst preparing in Mary a dwelling fitted for the reception of that Majesty that would deign to become Flesh within her womb, God bestowed most bountiful gifts on the father and mother of His well-beloved. By means of prayers and fasts, the first Anne had obtained a son who became the prophet Samuel, and having consecrated him to God, the high-priest Heli blessed her and desired of God that He would send her other children as a recompense for the offering she had made to God of her first born. And these desires were granted. We may therefore well believe that the august Trinity took delight in bestowing graces on the two holy spouses who, by their prayers and good works, had merited the happiness of having a Child in whom the Father found so perfect a Daughter, the Holy Ghost so accomplished a Spouse, and whom the Son already looked on as His Mother.

EXAMPLE.

Anne Franchet, Viscountess of Tonqueduc had for a long time been suffering from very severe intermittent fever, the attacks of which occurred with little or no intermission. She also took a severe cold accompanied by a most painful sore throat. When the illness first attacked her, she proposed making a pilgrimage, and, on finding that she was growing worse, she became still more eager to accomplish her vow, being persuaded that St. Anne would relieve her. Her husband could not refuse complying with her wishes and took her himself to the shrine. The sick woman s faith met at first with a severe trial; for, having satisfied her devotion at great length, and the hour of departure having arrived, instead of feeling any relief, her sufferings had increased. The pilgrims entered their carriage therefore with heavy hearts, since St. Anne had not seen fit to listen to their ardent prayers. On arriving at Meriadec, on the road to Vannes, the viscountess remembered that she had omitted drinking any of the water of the fountain, and wished to repair her negligence. The carriage was stopped and a footman sent back for some in all haste. On his return, in spite of her being at the moment in the greatest state of suffering from an access of her fever, she would not delay drinking the St. Anne’s water. Hardly had she put it to her lips when the fever left her as if by enchantment. The Viscount who had recently been converted from Calvinism was so struck by this miracle and so rejoiced at it, that he immediately had an official report of it drawn up.

PRAYER.

He who has Mary has all. For where Mary is there will JESUS hasten, accompanied by the heavenly Father, the author of every good and perfect gift, and the Holy Ghost. Who is the giver of grace. As for the Angels of light, they watch over those whom their Queen loves. How happy should I be, then, if I could draw down on myself the loving regards of that Mother of Mercy! My powerful protectors, Joachim and Anne, this is my most ardent wish and you can obtain it for me. Say one word in my favor to your beloved Daughter; tell Mary that I would rather be the least of her servants than command the whole world; beg of her not to reject me because of my unworthiness. Thus you will have saved a soul, and what could be more worthy of the father and mother of Her through whom salvation has come to us?

Glorious parents of Mary, obtain me the grace of loving her tenderly and constantly.

PRACTICE.

Follow St. Alphonsus advice and invoke the intercession of the St. Joachim and St. Anne in order to obtain a tender and constant love for Mary.

The Twelfth Day of July

Birth of Mary.

When a child is born into the world its mother rejoices, said Our Lord on one occasion; but, alas, how often, we may add, would her joy change to sorrow if she could foresee the anguish, the suffering of which this beloved being would be the cause. On the day of Mary s birth there was, neither for her nor for her holy Mother, any reason to weep, but, on the contrary, every reason to rejoice. Certainly this was not because the blessed Child would have nothing to suffer here below, but because her destiny was so dazzling, so sublime, that had good St. Anne foreseen it, she would have died with joy. The day on which St. Anne brought forth her holy Child was the first beautiful one that had risen on our earth since the fall of Adam, and, with the exception of that of our Savior’s birth, the most beautiful one that ever dawned. It was the signal for immense rejoicing, not only for Joachim and Anne, but also for all the human race, and even for the Angels. It was a source of infinite glory to the august Trinity, and throughout all realms the spirits of darkness alone deplored it, as they had good reason to do. And may we not think that the august Father and venerable Mother of the blessed Child had some presentiment of her future greatness, and the great benefits she would bestow on poor humanity? They were well aware that, like Isaac, she was a Child of blessing, the fruit of grace rather than of nature, more the fruit of their prayer, of their pious tears, than of their blood. It is far from improbable too that, like the birth of Isaac, that of Jacob, that of Moses, that of John the Baptist, like that of many of the Saints of the New Testament, the birth of Mary was accompanied by signs which foretold happy results for Israel and for all the nations.

It was the custom among the Jews that on the occasion of the birth of a child, the parents, neighbors and friends came to visit the mother and to congratulate her on God having blessed her and, as they said, visited her with His goodness. The relations and friends of Joachim and Anne, on the great day of Mary’s birth, did likewise; and they hastened the more to do so as the age of the two holy spouses, as well as their virtues, their mode of life more angelic than human, everything in fact, gave them reason to believe that the child just born of them was destined like Judith, like Deborah, like Esther, to contribute to the Lord’s merciful designs for His people. They asked her name and learned it was Mary. Doubtless they could not foresee the marvelous glory in store for that name, how it was to be venerated, loved, extolled throughout all future ages. Nevertheless they drew a happy augury from the name, for was it not that of Moses sister, who had watched over the cradle of the young Prophet, who had been exposed on the shores of the Nile, and afterwards had aided him in the deliverance of the Hebrew people? And they said to the happy parents: "Blessed be the Lord who hath not suffered your family to want a successor, but hath given you one to comfort you and cherish your old age. Better shall she be to you than seven sons. May she be like Leah and Rachel who built up the house of Israel, may she be an example of virtue and may her name be famous in the house of David; and by this Child may your race be multiplied and your house increase like that of Judah our ancestor."Amen! Amen! replied the noble Joachim and his worthy spouse; and these good wishes, which were amply and magnificently fulfilled in a spiritual sense, fully made up to them for the long borne reproach of their sterility.

EXAMPLE.

The following example is given in the words of the prelate who guarantees its truth.

"We, Réné du Louet, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See, Bishop and Count of Cornwall, make known to the faithful that Jane Baumin, a native of the village of Kerbranguen, in the parish of Kerrien, in the bishopric of Cornwall, having at about the age of sixteen lost the use of her legs and the power of speech, remained deprived of the use of her limbs and dumb during the space of about four years, without either walking or speaking, although all the natural remedies suggested by medical art had been employed for her relief. Having been vowed to St. Anne by her father, named John Baumin, the said John Baumin and his daughter accompanied by one William Hellon, set out towards the chapel of St. Anne d Auray, June 19th, 1665, arriving there the 20th of the said month, about eight o’clock in the evening. The two men carried her like a child to the holy shrine where she prayed before the miraculous picture and after wards the same Hellon carried her to the inn where she passed the night. The next day, June 21, being again carried to the church where she made her confession by means of signs, and, after receiving Holy Communion, she continued her devotions without experiencing any relief. After a time the above mentioned Hellon carried her to the fountain which is in close proximity to the chapel, and there she commenced bathing her legs, and invoking the aid of St. Anne. Instantaneously she rose and began to walk in the sight of all the assembled people, and quite unassisted she returned to the church to pour out her grateful thanks to God and to St. Anne before the picture, returning afterwards to her own parish where every one was filled with admiration and where the parish priest published this miracle from the pulpit during the announcements at High Mass, the said Jane Baumin being present and in perfect health. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, we have declared and by these presents now declare that the miracle worked on Jane Baumin, June 21st, 1662, is well and duly authenticated and we permit of its being published to the glory of God and the honor of the glorious St. Anne through whose merits it pleased Him to perform it."

This first cure greatly increased the confidence of Jane Baumin, who, the following year, recovered her powers of speech whilst praying before the miraculous picture of St. Anne on Corpus Christi Day, June 12th, 1664.

PRAYER. (Of St. John Damascene)

O blessed amongst women; blessed was the house of David whence thou didst issue; blessed was thy womb whence God vouchsafed thou shouldst bring forth the Ark of all holiness, the Virgin of virgins, from whom He had determined that He should Himself be born in a manner worthy of her infinite purity! Yes, happy art thou and threefold happy since thou didst give birth to that Child filled with all heavenly benedictions, to that Daughter whose name is worthy of all veneration, to that Virgin from whom Christ sprang like a flower of life, He whose birth eclipsed every other happy event which the world had ever rejoiced over. Most blessed Mother, we rejoice with thee; for it was the Hope of the human race, so often promised, to whom thou didst give birth! Yea, blessed art thou and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! Every pious and loving heart blesseth thee and every tongue joyfully extolleth her to whom thou hast given birth and who, in her turn shall give birth to our sweet JESUS. Blessed couple, Joachim and Anne, in this day which is so joyful a one for you, deign to impart to us a share of your happiness; intercede for us with your beloved Daughter, so that she may bless us together with her Divine Son JESUS, Our Lord and our God who liveth and reigneth, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end.

O Mary! blessed art thou among women and blessed is St. Anne, from whom thou wert born without any stain of sin.

PRACTICE.

The Queen of Angels rejoices whenever, like Elizabeth, we felicitate her on having given birth to the Divine Redeemer; and she is also honored when we felicitate her well-beloved Mother St. Anne, on having brought her forth. Let us then often address St. Anne.

THe Eleventh Day of July

The Immaculate Conception of Mary (continued).

The holy king David had resolved to place the Ark of the Covenant in his town of Jerusalem; but frightened at the punishment of Oza, who was struck dead for having dared to touch the Ark in spite of the divine prohibition, he caused it to be carried into the house of the Levite Obededom, where it remained three months. Now, during these three months so many blessings descended on this Levite and everything belonging to him, that David, reassured, had the Ark carried with great pomp to his capital, and at once resolved on building a magnificent temple in which to place it, which temple was afterwards built by his son Solomon.

Every one knows that the Ark of the Covenant, in which God dwelt, was the figure of Mary, the well-beloved of the Eternal Father, the Sanctuary of the Holy Ghost, and in whom God the Son deigned to enter to take on Himself human flesh. This is the reason why the Church, in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin bestows on her the title of "Ark of the covenant." But if the original Ark, which was only a gilded wooden coffer holding the tables of the Law written by God’s finger, drew down so many blessings on the house where it dwelt for three months, what graces, must we believe, what heavenly favors must have descended on the holy Anne during the nine months when, not merely in her house but within her womb, dwelt the true Ark, the living Ark, Mary, the eldest Daughter of the Father, the affianced Spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Mother of the Eternal Word! According to the opinion of the Saints, Mary was not, during this period, like other children, without the use of reason; in order that she might love God from the very first moment of her existence, the Lord had endowed her with the use of all her faculties, so that, having a sublime knowledge of the divine goodness, she might at once commence to love Him more than all the Angels and Saints together; so says St. Alphonsus. And how could God do otherwise than cast down loving looks not only on Mary, but also on her happy Mother, the dear St. Anne, the loving temple in which so pure a fire was burning, whence rose to Him such delicious songs of praise, whence exhaled acts of love, of gratitude, of blessing a thousand times sweeter than the smoke of the incense rising before the golden altar in Solomon’s temple? Mary, who was like an embodied blessing, blessed every place by which she passed. Later on we shall see her, by her presence and words alone, sanctifying the holy precursor while still in his mother’s womb, filling him, as well as Elizabeth herself, with the spirit of prophecy and impressing on the fortunate child the triple seal of predestination, virginity and martyrdom. Can it be doubted, then, that she drew down choicest blessings on the happy Mother who had been judged worthy to give her birth? We have already said that Mary’s holy soul enjoyed the use of intellectual faculties from the first moment of its creation. From that first instant, she understood all the mysteries of religion, the depths of divine goodness, the power of prayer; and she immediately commenced praying not only for herself, but for all mankind. But who can have been dearer to her than her father and mother? To whom did she owe more? For whom then can she have prayed more, or more fervently? Happy Joachim, happy Anne, to have been parents of such a Daughter, still happier to have been, after God, the dearest object of her affections and the first to profit by her intercession? And if, following the example of the Heavenly Father, this glorious Virgin makes the dew of Heaven, I mean grace, to fall on the just and the unjust, who can doubt that she has made torrents of these salutary waters come down on those venerable heads which are so dear to her?

EXAMPLE.

There was a wonderful miracle that was performed in favor of the venerable parish-priest of St. Anne’s, the Rev. Father Tielen, onetime Rector of the Redemptorist Order there. The auxiliary chapel, which was constructed with the materials and on the site of the old church, was being built and was approaching completion. A scaffolding had been erected, some thirty-five feet high, for the purpose of enabling the workmen to put up the woodwork of the ceiling, and on this scaffolding the Rev. Father was standing and giving some directions, when the center support gave way and the whole structure yielded and gradually fell to the ground. The two workmen who happened to be on it managed to let themselves slide down to the ground uninjured and the Father falling straight down found himself on his feet, but alas, not in safety. A number of planks had been piled on the scaffolding and the first one that fell struck him on the forehead, knocking him down, while the following planks fell heavily on his body, and hatchets and chisels fell close to his head, without injuring it however. Last of all, five planks fell on his left foot, crushing it and putting the ankle-bone out of joint. Had not St. Anne visibly protected her pastor, he would inevitably have been killed.

After extricating him from the mass that had fallen on him, the Father was carried to his cell where, the doctor being unfortunately absent from home, he had to wait four days before the dislocated and swollen joint could be set. A few days afterwards, erysipelas set in and, after successively attacking different parts of the limb, it caused fifteen enormous abscesses to form, seven of which had to be lanced. The doctor called in a celebrated surgeon from Quebec for consultation, and they decided that amputation of the leg would be necessary. It was then that addressing St. Anne, the good Father said to her: "How is it that so many sick and infirm come daily to St. Anne to seek for healing and yet she will allow her own parish-priest to have his leg cut off! Surely her honor is at stake and she will never permit this."

A novena to St. Anne was commenced by the whole parish, a High Mass was sung, and the leg was rubbed with the miraculous oil.

The next day the doctor arrived and on loosening the bandages remained quite over come with astonishment. "What has happened to the leg?" he exclaimed, "there is no longer any necessity for amputation, I will do nothing more to it." The novena was continued and on the last day of it the leg was quite well, only the seven wounds made by the incision of the abscesses were not closed, and a humorous discharge flowed constantly from them. The doctor probed the wounds everyday and became of opinion that the bones must be affected.

A second novena was commenced, for the cure of the wounds. A fresh consultation of doctors took place, and the day but one before the close of the novena, it was decided by them to inject some powerful chemical substance into the wounds by means of a syringe, in order to reduce the inflammation. On the last day of the novena, the doctor arrived with his instruments and everything requisite for performing the prescribed injections, but, on examining the wounds, he found them all closed! St. Anne had waited to the last moment in order to show that what is impossible to human science and art is of easy performance to her. After five months of medical treatment, the leg was entirely cured, and having gradually strengthened, there now remains only a slight stiffness of the foot, unaccompanied however by pain, arising from the muscles of the foot having been severed.

PRAYER.

Happy they who are under the protection of Mary and who have a share in her prayers! A Saint has said: "He for whom Mary prays can never perish eternal ly." O glorious parents of that Queen of Mercy, she will never refuse to pray for those recommended to her by you! Vouchsafe then to recommend me to her and beg of her to inscribe me among her servants and clients: thereby shall I be inscribed in the book of life. If you will do this, Mary will grant me her favor and I shall be saved. I feel confident of obtaining your intercession, since it will be to the honor of your ever blessed Daughter and to the glory of JESUS.

Good St. Anne, plead for me with Mary.

PRACTICE.

Have recourse to St. Joachim and St. Anne in order to obtain a sincere and constant devotion to Mary.

The Tenth Day of July

The Immaculate Conception of Mary.

When the time had arrived for God to grant the favor besought by the holy spouses Joachim and Anne, their prayers, their fasting, their sighs and, more especially, their love of God and zeal for His glory, were presented to His divine Majesty, weighed in the balance of divine justice and judged to be somewhat in proportion with the favor they had so long been imploring. I say: somewhat in proportion, for, strictly speaking, even had all men, from Adam downwards, been as perfect as our two Saints, had they passed their whole lives in incessant prayer, and shed sufficient tears to fill the ocean-bed, it would have been but little in comparison with seeing the birth of the Mother of the Redeemer. Happily, our Savior desired this birth still more ardently than did the holy spouses, and He was pleased, so to speak, with the gentle violence done Him by their prayers. At length the supreme Creator bestowed on Joachim and Anne the same benediction as He had formerly bestowed on Abraham, which he had successively handed down to Isaac, to Jacob, to David; and the Queen of the universe, the Mother of the Desired of nations was conceived.

As a daughter of Abraham, according to nature, she would have to suffer the sad consequences of original disobedience, to be marked with that stain which was common to all our race, and, if only for an instant, bear the shameful bondage of Satan and the weight of the divine anger. But such stain and bondage could but be eminently repugnant to the Majesty of the Father Who had from all eternity elected her to be His eldest Daughter; to the holiness of the Son, who was to take human flesh from her and already looked on her as His Mother; to the goodness of the Holy Ghost Who having chosen her from among all creatures to be preeminently His Spouse, owed it to Himself to endow her in a manner worthy of Him.

Therefore any birth-stain must not exist, the Daughter of Joachim and Anne must be immaculate, all pure, all beautiful and full of grace from the first moment of her existence. What glory for these Saints to have engendered such a privileged creature! What glory to have contributed by their prayers, their desires, their good works, to the construction of a temple worthy of the holiness of the Most High! What a strict union had they thus contracted with the three Divine Persons of the adorable Trinity! What a sacred right had they acquired to the gratitude of the whole human race! What admiration and veneration have not the holy Angels for St. Anne! How terrible has she not become to the powers of Hell! She is like a lighted censer shedding a balmy odor wherever she passes; like a coffer of precious wood where lie the crown and jewels of a great monarch; like a golden casket enclosing the titles of nobility of some great but fallen family, destined to rise from its diminished state and be elevated to a hitherto unknown height of glory and prosperity! For, by giving us Mary, the Lord bound Himself to give-us JESUS. And JESUS means the deliverance, the elevation of men to the sublime dignity of children of the Heavenly Father and fellow-citizens of the Angels; the coming of JESUS means the promise of so glorious, so dazzling a future, that, in her transports of joy, the Church does not hesitate to proclaim that fault happy which won for us the being raised from our fall by so great a Redeemer.

EXAMPLE.

The following event which took place in 1768 was attested by the parish-priest of Deschambault, by Monsieur de la Gorgediere, the lord of the parish, and by many other witnesses.

In the month of November 1767, Marie Josephte Arnaud, wife of Honore Lavoie of Deschambault, had been attacked by so violent a pain in both her legs that she at once became incapable of walking. Her legs swelled in so extraordinary a manner that she frequently could not stop in bed, but would lie on the floor. Her state became so precarious that in the following January she received the last Sacraments, Dr. Dubarry believing her to be near death. One leg was enormously swollen and her sufferings were terrible. The doctor punctured her leg and desired the operation to be renewed from time to time. A quantity of water came from the incisions, but, on the swelling diminishing, it was found that the muscles of her leg were so contracted that she could neither put her foot to the ground nor even sit down.

As her pain went on increasing, and her other leg began to be attacked, she resolved to make a pilgrimage to St. Anne’s. On arriving there, she was carried into the church by her husband and placed on a bench, whence she could not move even by the aid of crutches. After having made her confession and prayed for half-an-hour, her husband carried her back into her carriage and took her to a neighboring house to pass the night.

The next morning, her husband took her back to church where Mass was said for her intention. The time for Holy Communion having arrived, she felt somewhat easier and, aided by her crutches, managed to drag her self to the Holy Table, whence she afterwards returned to her seat in the same painful manner.

After Mass she venerated the relics of St. Anne and requested that the gospel of St. Anne might be read over her. She remained praying before the altar for half-an-hour and then was taking up her crutches to drag her self away when, to her great astonishment, she found she had no further need of them. Standing upright she began to walk with a firm and steady step, as well as she had ever done in her life. In order to make sure of the miracle she, at the request of her parish priest, walked to the end of the church and back, and afterwards she walked to the presbytery and back again to the church to resume her thanksgiving.

On her return to Deschambault, the whole parish assembled in the church and sang a Te Deum, in thanksgiving.

PRAYER.

My beloved protectors, Joachim and Anne, like the holy patriarch Noah, you reconciled the world with God in a time of anger. The human race was plunging deeper and deeper into a deluge of iniquity and heaping on its own head the clouds of divine anger and malediction; your prayers, your good works, your penance appeased the wrath of God; and, in token of peace, He sent you Mary, that chaste dove, bearing to earth, not an olive-branch but salvation and abundant redemption. And in the same way as, when rejoiced by the odor of Noah’s sacrifice, God made a covenant with him, giving him the rainbow as a sign; so did He, when rejoiced by the odor of your virtues, hasten the hour of the new and eternal covenant promised by the prophets; giving you Mary, the ever-blessed Virgin, as a pledge of that covenant, after sending whom He could not refuse to give us JESUS. After such striking proofs of your power with God, can I hesitate in trusting you? To you I commend the care of my salvation: intercede for me, reconcile me with my Judge, JESUS, Who vouchsafed to take human flesh from your august Daughter; obtain for me repentance and the pardon of my sins, as well as the graces of which I stand in need that I may grow in holiness.

St. Joachim and St. Anne, obtain for me by your prayers that I may attain to that degree of perfection which God requires of me.

PRACTICE.

Pious readers, without doubt you love JESUS and Mary. Would you grow in that love and render yourselves most agreeable to them? Then love and revere St. Joachim and St. Anne, and make them known to others.

THe Nineth Day of July

The Time of Trial.

Many are the tribulations of the just, says the Psalmist. For the just living under the Old Dispensation, there could hardly be a greater trial than that of having no posterity. For, as we saw yesterday, in entering the marriage state, they had principally in view the preserving and multiplying the holy nation, the only one which served the true God and praised His Name. This trial was still more severe for the spouses of the family of David, for they had reason to hope that the promised Savior would be of their blood. For many long years, St. Joachim and St. Anne had to bear this trial: according to tradition twenty years passed without their union being blessed by any offspring. We can better enter into how great a trial this was to St. Anne especially, by recalling the example of that other Anne or Anna, the mother of Samuel, who, being also barren passed even the days of the greatest rejoicing in fasting, prayers and groans, incessantly beseeching God to give her a son and promising to consecrate that son to the service of the temple. According to tradition, our Anne acted in a similar manner; to prayers and fasting she added, with the consent of her holy husband, the vow of consecrating to God the child whom He would vouchsafe to send them And even as God granted the prayers of the first Anne, by sending her the prophet Samuel, so did He grant those of the second by sending her Mary.

Why did the Lord decree that the parents of the glorious Virgin should undergo the trial of barrenness? For many reasons which all redound to the glory of their blessed Daughter as well as to their own. Firstly, it was fitting that the birth of such a Child as Mary should have a miraculous character, as had that of Isaac, Jacob, Samuel and John the Baptist. Secondly, it was fitting that the birth of her who was to be called the Mother of Grace should be due to grace or to a special effect of divine goodness rather than to nature; and that the Mother of all purity should be born of parents whose flesh had been subdued by age, prayers, fasts and other austerities. Thirdly, however holy Joachim and Anna were at the time of their marriage, they were not yet sufficiently so to give such a Daughter as Mary to the world. By multiplying their fasts, their alms, through so many long years, in order to obtain this grace from God s goodness, they made rapid progress in perfection and in the love of God, and at length arrived at the requisite degree of purity and holiness desired by the Holy Ghost. Fourthly, by granting this Child of blessing to their prayers and good works, God made them appreciate the worth of the gift He was bestowing on them and, at the same time, placed the whole of the human race under a deep debt of gratitude towards them. Besides, He made them more glorious in our eyes: we should not be so filled with admiration and the sense of our indebtedness towards them if the birth of Mary had cost them no effort. Fifthly, we may add that God hereby gives us a high idea of the power of prayer. If prayer could obtain the birth of Mary, what can be impossible for it to obtain? If, says JESUS-CHRIST you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible to you. Let us here admire how beautiful are the ways of divine wisdom. St. Paul assures us that "to them that love God, all things work together for good." How completely is this saying verified in the Blessed Virgin’s holy parents! Devout souls, you too must believe that it will be so in your own case, if you but truly love the Heavenly Father. If trials overtake you, bear them patiently and believe that He has only your spiritual advantage in view; pray to Him with humility, confidence and perseverance; to prayer add penance, almsgiving and other good works; and then, one day, together with the Psalmist, with Joachim and Anne, you will rejoice over the remembrance of your days of trial.

EXAMPLE.

On July 28th, 1874, a young girl of St. Joseph-de-Levis; aged 24, Flore Brulotte by name, went on a pilgrimage to St. Anne de Beaupre to ask her cure. Her malady was consumption of the worst type, the doctors pronouncing her case incurable, and she was also suffering from nearly total loss of voice.

During the night after her arrival, she coughed so dreadfully and so long, that the Sisters of Charity, at whose convent she was stopping, thought it would be impossible for her to get to the church the next morning. However her faith and courage gave her the strength to rise and go to Mass. She approached the Holy Table and received the God of all goodness. At the very moment when the Holy of holies descended into her heart, she felt a most extraordinary sensation, as she herself afterwards related. It seemed to her as if something within her chest suddenly swelled out. She was immediately able to take a deep breath and her voice returned, so that she was able to sing a hymn of thanksgiving to Good St. Anne. The slight cough that remained soon disappeared, as well as all traces of the cruel malady that was wearing her away, and she has ever since been in perfect health.

PRAYER.

Glorious Patron, since it is the holy Will of Our Lord that we should suffer, I will submit to His law. Born in sin and having myself many times sinned and merited Hell, it is but just that I should suffer; and it is better for me to suffer here than, after death, to fall into the hands of divine justice without having appeased the divine wrath by means of penance. St. Paul, also, says that we must enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation. Why should I then not have to pass by this road which was trodden by all the just, even by JESUS, the Chief of the just, and by Mary His Mother, the Mother of all the elect? From this moment then I accept whatever trials it may please God to send me now and henceforward; I unite them to the sufferings of JESUS; I place myself in those hands which were wounded for love of me. Do thou, good and beloved St. Anne, together with thy saintly spouse, obtain for me courage, resignation, perseverance in prayers and good works, the strength to stand beneath the salutary burden of the Cross. I ask these graces of JESUS and Mary by your merits; by your prayers I hope to obtain them.
St. Joachim and St. Anne, pray for me, so that by patience under suffering, I may become worthy of the promises of JESUS-CHRIST.

PRACTICE.

Patience under suffering is the shortest road to Heaven, and a great sign of predestination. When crosses overtake you then, do not ask St. Anne to deliver you from them but rather to give you patience to bear them.

The Eighth Day of July

The Marriage of St. Joachim and St. Anne.

In proportion as the time approached when God had resolved to send His Son on earth, it is but natural to believe that the Holy Ghost, whose most perfect work was the Incarnation of the Word, should take more active measures to purify, to sanctify the royal blood whence Our Savior was to be born. According to the universal opinion of the doctors of the Church, it was fitting that His Mother should be the purest, the most beautiful and the highest in grace of all creatures. It was but fitting that so precious a flower should spring from a beautiful stem and, although it sometimes happens that a pious child is the offspring of an irreligious father, it was nevertheless necessary, as we have already remarked, that the Mother of God should have Saints for parents. It was for this reason that the Holy Ghost chose Joachim, otherwise called Heli, from among all the sons of David to be the father of that admirable Virgin, giving him the pious Anne, a daughter of the same family, as a wife. From their very childhood, He bestowed the most precious gifts on them, so that, progressing step by step in virtue, they might, by the time of their marriage, be worthy of their sublime calling of being the grandparents of our Redeemer. He Himself disposed the relatives of both Saints to favor the union of two young people so admirably adapted to one another.

They neither of them possessed qualities that would enable them to shine in the world: they were not rich and the nobility of their race had long been forgotten. But, if over looked by the world, they were endeared to God and the holy Angels by their innocence, their piety, their submissiveness to their parents, their universal charity, their life of recollection. With what purity of intention did they not prepare for that union, the results of which were so blessed for earth and so glorious for Heaven! As we see by the example of Tobias and Sara his wife, marriage was held in high esteem by the just of those days; it was neither contracted with a view to the increase of worldly goods, nor satisfaction of mutual inclination, but in order to accomplish the divine will which was manifested through the parents of the parties. It was also contracted in order that there might be mutual aid in bearing the burden of life, and for the continuance of the only race which, at that period, worshiped the true God and blessed His Name. Now, we may well think that Joachim was quite as holy as Tobias, whilst St. Anne was in no way inferior to that chaste Sara who called on God to witness the purity of her intention in accepting a husband.

Doubtless some such formula as the following was pronounced by Anne’s father when, placing his daughter’s hand in that of St. Joachim, he blessed them both, saying: "The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you, and may He join you together, and fulfil His blessing in you." Never was prayer more agreeable to God, or more magnificently granted.

The benediction, or promise in question, had been given to Abraham by the Lord in these terms: "In thee shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed," that is to say, blessing shall be heaped on them by means of thy Offspring. This Offspring of Abraham means Our Savior. From the marriage just contracted would be born Mary, and from Mary the Savior Himself. And thus the blood of Joachim and Anne, passing through the most pure heart and veins of Mary, was to become the blood of JESUS, that blood which, by being shed on Calvary, was to purify the earth and our souls, reconcile us to God, open Heaven to us; the blood transmitted by Joachim and Anne to Mary, was to form that Divine Flesh which, until the end of time, was to be mystically immolated on every altar in the world for our salvation, and to serve as spiritual nourishment to all God’s children.

EXAMPLE.

At the commencement of the last century, an Irish Catholic family embarked on board a vessel in England in order to come to America. At the entrance of the gulf of St. Lawrence, a furious tempest arose, struck and dismasted the vessel and completely wrecked it. Nearly all the passengers were lost, and among them, was the father of the family we are speaking of; but the mother and daughter, both of whom wore a picture of St. Anne, escaped from death. Each was ignorant of the fate of the other, for each, after being driven about on a spar from the ship, was rescued by a different vessel, arriving in Quebec the one two days after the other.

The mother, who was on board the first vessel that arrived, believed that her daughter had perished as well as the father. The double loss proved to much for her, her mind gave way and while in such a state, she tried to put an end to her life.

The daughter having arrived in Quebec in due time, found herself, at fifteen years of age, alone in a strange land.

She learned that a woman, who had escaped from the same shipwreck as herself, was near at hand in an insane asylum and that this women had been driven mad by some terrible misfortune. Her heart at once told her that this poor madwoman must be her mother, and that she herself was not an orphan. She hastened to the establishment pointed out to her and asked for the stranger, who proved to be her mother. The daughter wished to throw herself into her mother’s arms, but the unfortunate woman, instead of recognizing her child, gazed at her quite frightened and fled away.

The young girl did not lose courage, know ing that the issues of life and death are in the hands of God. A great miracle had recently been worked at St. Anne de Beaupre and she determined to hasten thither and to have her mother likewise conveyed there. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which was offered by the priest for the poor woman’s recovery, the woman was struggling fearfully before the altar whilst her daughter was praying with all possible fervor. Gradually a great change took place in the face and behavior of the madwoman. She was no longer agitated but appeared calmer whilst tears began to flow and she frequently murmured: "Save me, save me." After the Mass the priest approached the mother and daughter saying to the latter: "Pray with full confidence, for your mother will be restored to you." He then gave them the relic to kiss and the mother, seizing it with feverish eagerness, pressed it to her lips and her heart. On returning the relic to the priest, she said: "How thankful I am to you, and how happy I am, but is my daughter still living? I fancy she appeared to me in the form of a beautiful Angel. "Your daughter lives and you shall see her presently," said the priest. On a sign from him, the daughter threw her arms around her mother who was thus restored to her right mind and to her daughter’s love.

PRAYER.

Venerable Joachim and ever blessed Anne, under what a debt of gratitude is the whole Church towards you! Verily you are the blessed by the Lord, you who were found worthy, not by your riches, nor by the splendor of your birth, but by the greatness of your virtues, to contribute so intimately to the great work of our redemption. How pure must you have been, how holy, how detached from all earthly affection! The day of your union was a blessed day! For all the children of Adam, it was a forerunner of the day of deliverance, the signal for innumerable benefits, since it was the announcement of the approaching birth of Her who is justly called: "Mother of divine grace" and "Cause of our joy." Yes, it is of you above all, that it may be said that you are dear to God and to men, and that your memory is blessed! I resolve to honor you all the days of my life and to lead all others to honor you. O you, who are so powerful with JESUS and Mary, obtain from them the grace that I may imitate your purity of heart, your mortification, your recollection, and that like you, I may perform all my actions for the greater glory of God, for my own salvation and for that of my neighbor.

St. Joachim and St. Anne, obtain for me a perfect purity of intention.

PRACTICE.

Those young people, who are called to the marriage state, will here see what are the marriages which God blesses. All the faithful will recognize the gratitude they owe to Mary’s holy parents, and will take the resolution of daily honoring them by, at any rate, some short prayer.

The Seventh Day of July

How Dearly St. Anne Loves Christians.

In order to picture to ourselves the extreme tenderness felt by St. Anne for us, and her great desire of contributing to our temporal as well as our spiritual happiness, we must recall to mind the many beautiful examples of charity shown by the Saints in general towards their brethren in JESUS CHRIST. St. Paul would have consented to have never entered Paradise, if at that price he could have purchased the entrance therein of the Israelites his fellow-citizens. St. Francis Xavier, as well as an infinite number of missionaries who followed his example, left fortune, pleasure, friends, country, family to seek after tribes of savages in the depths of Indian and American forests, following them in their vagabond wanderings, living their life, undergoing unheard of fatigue, exposing themselves to every danger, daily braving death itself, in order to lead those heathen souls to JESUS-CHRIST. St. Louis, king of France, St. Margaret of Scotland St. Elizabeth of Hungary and many others served the poor with their own hands, washing their wounds and kissing their ulcers. St. Frances of Rome exchanged her own white bread for the hard moldy crusts of the beggars. When St. Alphonsus was taking his frugal repast, he would stop short whenever he heard a beggar at the door and would not continue eating until alms had been bestowed. Such is the spirit of true religion, the sum of which is love of God; but the proof of a true love of God, says St. John, is the readiness to give even life itself for the lowest of God’s children.

Doubtless St. Anne was distinguished among all the Saints here below for her charity: her heart, the fountain whence issued the blood which was to form the heart of Mary, must have been a very furnace of love of God, and consequently, of charity towards men. Has her glory changed? No, closely united as she is to God, the source of all charity and Charity itself, and having now a more intimate acquaintance with our trials and our needs, she can but have become more compassionate, more assiduous in helping us. Another reason we have for redoubled confidence in her is the fact that she looks on all our trials with a mother’s eye. In everything she shares the sentiments of her glorious Daughter Mary. The woman of Canaan desirous of obtaining her daughter’s cure, said to JESUS: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is cruelly tormented." Why did she not say: Have pity on my daughter? Just because a mother feels her children’s sufferings as much or more than they. And so it is with our loving Mother Mary: and, in due proportion, so it is with our beloved spiritual Grandmother St. Anne. But the love of this latter is far higher, consequently, purer and more tender than that of the Canaanite woman’s for her daughter. This latter beheld her own flesh and blood in her daughter, but St. Anne sees in us the flesh, blood and members of JESUS her God and her Grandson. She ardently desires to see us delivered from the evils and dangers of this life, and united to JESUS, Mary and herself. Just in the same way an earthly grandmother desires on some great festival to gather all her posterity about her, so as to have the delight of counting her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and of enquiring into everything concerning them. The sight of them restores her youth; she seems to live again in each one of them: their health, their happiness give her back life and happiness. Even so St. Anne thrills with joy every time that another elect enters Paradise and swells the number of that blessed throng of posterity who join with her in singing Our Lord’s eternal praises. She rejoices because their salvation increases the glory of JESUS and Mary; she rejoices too for her own sake: for she enjoys a fresh paradise each time that one of her spiritual offspring enters Heaven.

EXAMPLE.

The first person whose faith in St. Anne de Beaupre was rewarded by a miracle was Louis Guimont, who, being afflicted with violent pains in the lumbar region, found himself suddenly cured after having, out of devotion, carried and placed three stones in the foundation of the church.

This first cure was shortly afterwards, in 1662, followed by that of Marie Esther Ramage, the wife of Elie Godin, of the parish of St. Anne du Petit Cap, now St. Anne de Beaupre. For eighteen months she had been bent nearly double, so that she could not straighten herself and dragged herself along, as best she could, by the aid of a stick. Finding there was no human probability of ever recovering her health, she remembered having heard her husband speak of having been a witness of Louis Guimont’s miraculous cure. She therefore entreated the Saint to perform the same miracle for her as she had previously done for the above mentioned man. At the same moment, she became upright and found herself able to walk with the same facility as she had formerly walked. Lost in astonishment at the sudden change, she rendered thanks to St. Anne for the benefits she had just received. Her cure was permanent.

PRAYER.

Beloved St. Anne, thy heart must be good and tender, since it was expressly created for loving the most amiable of all creatures, she who is loved beyond all others by God Himself, the glorious Virgin Mary. It is with this heart that thou lovest us; it is in Mary, in JESUS, as members of JESUS and children of Mary that thou lovest us. Never then can I be wanting in confidence in thee; never can I fail to have recourse to thee as to a Mother. My beloved Patroness! I also love thee and would wish to see thee loved and honored by all those whom thou dost love as thy grandchildren; if possible, I would like to give thee the gratification of seeing them gathered about thee in the heavenly home. At least will I interest myself in the salvation of many of them, by assiduously praying for the conversion of sinners. But, in order that my prayers may be favorably received by Our Lord, do thou obtain the grace of conversion for me, the most unworthy of all, so that I may commence with all my strength to serve and love that good JESUS whom I have so deeply offended, and may continue to love Him to my life s end.

Grant, O good St. Anne, that henceforth I may show myself more worthy of thee, so that, one day, I may be united to thee in Heaven.

PRACTICE.

From what we have said it can be clearly perceived that one of the best means of making ourselves dear to St. Anne is that of being charitable to our brethren, who are all of them her children. Let us then apply ourselves to relieving their corporal necessities, as much as lies in our power; let us be zealous in furthering their salvation, and to this end let us give them a good example and good advice. Do not let us pass a day without praying for the conversion of sinners and the deliverance of the souls in Purgatory.

THe Sixth Day of July

St. Anne Loves Us Because We Are Her Spiritual Children.

Hitherto we have been considering how powerful is St. Anne’s intercession with JESUS, Mary and our Heavenly Father. But is she disposed to make use of this power in our favor? Does St. Anne love us? Yes, indeed, she loves us very much on account of the bond of union existing between her and ourselves.

Spiritual relationship is a sacred tie in the eyes of the Church: she has even made it an impediment of marriage between god-parents and their god-children. She also desires that we should love and honor those who held us at the baptismal font in the same way as we love and honor our parents; and she also desires that, in spiritual matters, our god-parents should, if necessary, replace our own parents.

By giving birth to Mary, the Mother of our souls, and through her to our brother JESUS, St. Anne and her worthy husband have really contracted a spiritual relationship with us; in this way they have become our grand-parents even as Abraham and Sara are called in the Scripture the father and mother of all believers. Pious reader, do not say that if this be so, we ought to look on all the ancestors of Christ as our spiritual ancestors, even those among them who were sinners. There is a great difference; all the ancestors of Christ, even the sinners, doubtless contributed to transmit to Him that blood of Abraham from which the Messiah was to spring; but those who led holy lives, such as Isaac, Jacob, David, Josias, Ezechias, Josaphat, Zorobabel, contributed in a special manner to drawing down among us the Divine Offshoot of Abraham. Now Joachim and Anne shine the brightest of all, since by their piety, their penances, their good works, they obtained that blessed Daughter, the Mother of JESUS. For, as we shall relate hereafter, their union was childless, according to nature. These two Saints then look on us as their spiritual posterity; in this respect they share the sentiments of JESUS and Mary, and interest themselves deeply in everything regarding our eternal happiness, and even with our temporal happiness so far as that happiness is conducive to our eternal salvation. We read in the Book of Maccabees, that the prophet Jeremiah after his death, continually prayed for the Jews, and this although he had been much ill-treated by them during his life-time, and even, it appears, put to death by them; he forgot they had been his executioners and only remembered they were his brethren and the people of God. Can we then doubt that St. Joachim and St. Anne pray continually for the children of their glorious Daughter, for the members of their own Divine Offshoot, and that they thus obtain the most abundant graces for all Christians?

This love, this solicitude of the two holy spouses on our behalf, demands from us the deepest gratitude; and this gratitude should be shown by offering the homage of our unbounded confidence and filial devotion. Grandmothers love to see their grandchildren throwing themselves into their arms or into their laps: even so ought we to approach St. Anne, with open heart laying our wants and needs before her in all simplicity. We should feel perfectly convinced that she will obtain for us the favors we are asking through her intercession, or else something better, more useful for our salvation. For children frequently ask most hurtful things of their mother and loving though she be, she is forced to refuse them their request. As for us, never shall we pray in vain to St. Anne, if only our intention be pure, for she will take good care, in offering our petitions to her beloved Daughter Mary, to omit what is amiss.

Our devotion to St. Anne should be most constant. A child does not love its mother only just when it stands in need of her, but always and at every moment. The Wise Man has said that he who loves in truth, loves at all times. The Saints, like God Himself, do not show themselves favorable to those who invoke them in time of trouble and forget them in times of prosperity.

EXAMPLE.

A Soldier of Carignan’s regiment, aged 22, named John PradPre, entered the Hôtel-Dieu, an hospital in Quebec, at the beginning of the year 1667, dangerously ill from two distinct maladies—paralysis of one of his legs and an abscess in the stomach; which abscess occasioned him such severe hiccoughs as might at any time have proved fatal.

One night he fell into a strange and indefinable state of mind, for he seemed to hear a voice telling him that he would be doing what was most pleasing to God and would also recover his health, if he would solemnly vow to consecrate himself to the service of the hospital for the rest of his life. The poor sick man consented to this, and on coming to himself announced that he would soon be cured.

In the meantime, the most alarming symptoms set in and, death appearing imminent, the last Sacraments were administered. Against all expectation, a sudden change for the better took place and soon there was no further trace of the complaint in the stomach. Still the poor soldier remained entirely confined to his bed, complete paralysis preventing him from making use of his leg, nor did he feel the incisions made in it by the doctor who declared that, without some new miracle, he would never again be able to walk. Without losing confidence, the sick man determined to get himself taken to St. Anne de Beaupre, in order to make a Novena to that great Saint, and ask for a complete cure. On the fifth day of his pious exercises, which happened to be the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, whilst prostrate at the foot of St. Anne’s altar he was pouring out his griefs and sufferings, and imploring the help of his protectress; he all at once felt the most frightful sufferings in his leg. He felt all the incisions that had been made in his limb since the beginning of his illness and, over come by the pain, nature gave way, and he fell into a profound sleep. On awaking, he found his leg bathed in a healing perspiration which exhaled the sweetest odor, and on this perspiration disappearing, the sick man found he was perfectly cured. He returned thanks to God and to his benefactress and leaving his crutches there, went on his way singing the praises of good St. Anne.

PRAYER.

Glorious spouses Joachim and Anne, happy are you that you can call your Daughter Queen of Heaven and your Grandson King of kings, Son of the Almighty! Through Mary and JESUS, you are in a real, though spiritual manner, the father and mother of that innumerable multitude of Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, Saints of all orders and conditions who are the glorious members of the mystical body of JESUS-CHRIST. And I also, by the grace of God am a member of that sacred body, but, alas, I am not worthy of calling myself your child! You are great Saints, while I am the most miserable of sinners; you are all heavenly, I am all earthly; you are humble, pure as the light, inflamed with divine love like the Seraphim, whilst I am all pride and cowardice; and though my heart is inflamed with the love of sensual gratifications, yet is it of ice for the things of God. Holy and beloved Protectors, have compassion on the depths of my misery, and by your intercession, change me, convert me, make me worthy of Mary, make me worthy of JESUS!

St. Joachim and St. Anne, obtain the grace of conversion for the vilest of sinners.

PRACTICE.

Make a habit of daily invoking Joachim and Anne that by their intercession you may grow in love to JESUS and Mary, and gain the victory over those inclinations which are most hurtful to your soul.