The Cult of Saint Anne

By Father Pierre E. Lachance, O.P.
Preached at Dominican Academy, July 26, 1992

The cult of Saint Anne goes back to the early centuries of Christianity and appears to be intimately connected with the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her daughter. Many feasts of Mary were also inseparably feasts in honor of Saint Anne, her mother. Such were the feasts of Mary's conception and of her birth. The Immaculate Conception of Mary happened in the womb of Anne.

The cult of Saint Anne was general in the East before it spread to the western church. We know that a church was dedicated to Saint Anne in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, around the year 550. Another existed in Jerusalem at the same time and is especially venerable because it was built over the crypt that was the house of Joachim and Anne, the house where Mary was born.

Since the official veneration of a saint regularly follows in the wake of a widespread private devotion, there can be no doubt that private devotion to Saint Anne began very early in the Eastern Church. By the 10th century the Eastern Church observed 3 feasts in honor of Saint Anne: July 25, her special feast day; September 9, the day after Mary's birthday; and December 9, right after the celebration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

The public cult of Saint Anne was probably introduced into the western church in the 8th century. In 1378, the feast of Saint Anne was celebrated for the first time on July 26 in England, soon to be observed throughout the western church.

Devotion to Saint Anne spread rapidly everywhere in the West. Confraternities were erected in her honor since the 13th century. Pilgrimages developed around the many churches or shrines dedicated to Saint Anne. The most famous are those of Duren in Germany, since 1501; Saint Anne d'Auray, in Brittany, France, since 1623; and Saint Anne de Beaupre in Canada, since 1670.

The devotion to Saint Anne was brought to the United States and Canada by the first missionaries of North America, who came from France at a time when Saint Anne was becoming famous through her Shrine in Brittany. Today, Saint Anne has hundreds of churches and shrines dedicated to her in the U.S. and Canada, where she is still one of the most popular and beloved saints.

Our own church of Saint Anne here was dedicated to Saint Anne by the founder of our parish in 1869. Not surprisingly, because Fr Montaubricq, our first pastor, was a native of Bordeaux, France, and with a name like Montaubricq, it is clear that his ancestors came from Brittany, where the famous Shrine of Saint Anne d'Auray is located.

Devotion to Saint Anne was natural to the Canadians who came to Fall River from Canada in the last century. They loved their shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, and the devotion to Saint Anne was widespread and traditional among the French Canadians. St. Anne is the official patroness of the Province of Quebec.

After Fr. Montaubricq came Fr. Thomas Briscoe, second pastor of Saint Anne. An Irishman himself, he encouraged the devotion of his parishioners to Saint Anne by conducting an annual novena in preparation for the feast of Saint Anne.

Then came the French Dominicans in 1887. It is Fr. Sauval who, in 1892, first organized pilgrimages to Saint Anne in his church. That was the old wooden church on Hunter St. He invited the French pastors of the area to come with their parishioners on a pilgrimage to Saint Anne in Fall River. Traveling to Saint Anne de Beaupre was a long trip and expensive for poor immigrants. Coming to pray to Saint Anne at the Fall River Shrine became very appealing. So much so that in 1892 Fr. Sauval announced from the pulpit one Sunday a grand vision of his: to build a new and larger church that would some day become a national Shrine in the U.S. like that of Saint Anne de Beaupre in Canada. Two years later, construction began and on the 4th of July, 1906 our beautiful church was completed and dedicated.

In those early times and for many years to come, pastors would come on an annual pilgrimage with groups of parishioners of 500, 1000, 1500 and more. They came by trolley car, by omnibus (i.e. horse-drawn busses) and even by boat from Providence and Pawtucket. On the boat, certain newspaper reports tell us that the people prayed, sang hymns and at times the priest accompanying them would preach a sermon. It was truly a spiritual event, not a pleasure excursion.

Is it any surprise that Good Saint Anne often rewarded the faith and the devotion of those pilgrims in marvelous ways? I have many hundreds of wonderful stories of healings and other favors obtained by those devotees of Saint Anne.

Later on, in 1905, came Fr. Marchildon, whom most of us have known very well. Through his long ministry, the devotion to Saint Anne developed at Saint Anne Shrine and so did miracles and healings.

The cult of Saint Anne and the supernatural blessings associated with it teaches us the importance of the Saints in Christian life and the power of their intercession.

The Saints in heaven are part of our spiritual family. (Devotion to the saints is not so popular as it used to be. This is unfortunate.) In honoring them we give glory to God who honored them first. And as we become familiar with the saints, we are inspired to imitate their virtues and to draw closer to God. Amen.