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.