Appendix

Stories of facts of St. Anne, like healings. Refer to sermons.

Sermon No. 2 - Pilgrimages - Cure of paralysis. (July 26, 1914)

Grace Shanley became ill in March 1914. She soon became paralyzed from the knees down, then up to the hips. She was taken to the hospital. The doctors soon sent her back home, doomed to a near and inevitable death.

Her parents decided to make a novena to Saint Anne and bring their daughter on pilgrimage to the Shrine. She was carried into the church by 4 men and then with great difficulties. (She was short and heavy.) The priest had her venerate the relic of Saint Anne and touched the relic to her hips, telling her to have confidence in the Saint.

At the first contact with the holy relic, Grace felt relief, her legs seemed to revive, her feet became flexible. But she was still not walking. It was the next morning, when she woke up, that Grace felt completely healed. She got up out of bed as if she had never been ill and began to walk as well as anyone else. She goes everywhere she wants, just as before her illness, and doesn't cease to praise and thank the great saint who cured her.

Sermon No. 3 - Of Shrines and Relics - Girl of 6 leaves crutches & braces. (Aug. 6, 1904)

A Fall River girl. When 11 months old, she fell and hurt her knees. Examined by 3 doctors; spent 8 months in a hospital with leg in a cast. Ever since her fall, she has been walking with braces and a crutch and having great pain.

When the girl was 6, whole family began to observe the month of Saint Anne (July). They had an inner conviction that the little girl would be healed. (=faith) At the beginning of the novena, her mother tried to take away her crutches to see whether the little girl could walk unaided, but the child could not rest the extremity of her foot on the floor without much pain in her knee and demanded her crutches back.

The novena began with the conviction the child would be cured. (expectant faith.) The little girl herself said she wanted to leave her crutches at Saint Anne. On the closing day of the novena, during the afternoon devotions, she obtained her healing immediately after kissing the relic of Saint Anne. She immediately took her crutches and went by herself to lay them down at the foot of the statue. Then, in the presence of the multitude of worshipers, who looked at her with rapture... she returned to the railing to give her offering to Saint Anne and thank her for the great miracle she had just performed in her favor. She was trotting about, running, going here and there, so happy was she.

Sermon No. 6 - Novenas - Cure of hole in roof of mouth. Aug. 1927

A lady from New Bedford had a hole in the roof of her mouth. At first a small hole, then it began to get larger. She could hardly swallow. She writes: "When I ate or drank, I would have to hold my head back or it would come out through my nose. My husband said: “We will make a novena to Saint Anne. God is good. Maybe with the help of St. Anne he will make you better.” We started making the novena Sunday; we went again Tuesday night. Next morning the soreness had all left my throat and the puss had stopped coming from the sore. The hole began getting smaller and smaller until it closed. Thank God and Good Saint Anne, it has never bothered me since."

Sermon No. 9 - "Peter, where is your faith?"

Fr. Marchildon once told me this story. A man from Providence, Peter Kayatta, came with his little boy who could not walk by himself. Father led him to the platform of the altar at one end, while he stood at the other end. Father said to Peter: "Tell the boy to come to me."

Peter took his handkerchief by a corner and let it hang limp. "Father," he said, "his legs are like this." Father called out: "Peter, where is your faith?" Peter, somewhat sheepishly, did as he was told. He told his son to go to Father, gently pushed him, and the little boy walked up to Father Marchildon! Father Marchildon had such inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and acted on faith. Yes, he was a man of strong and simple faith.

Devotions Novena Index