SAINT ANNE NOVENA
NOVENA FOR ASSISTANCE OF THE GRANDMOTHER OF OUR LORD
In this novena to Saint Anne we ask for help from our Blessed Mother’s mother! Saint Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary (pictured with Mary above), has long been honoured by the faithful, including such illustrative figures in our church as Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint John Damascene, and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Indeed, a renowned religious historian, the Italian cardinal Caesare Baronius, once wrote that “veneration of Saint Anne is as ancient as the Church itself.”
Let us pray...
Glorious St. Anne, we think of you as filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer. Heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I commend to you under your special protection (name the intention).
Deign to commend it to your daughter, our Blessed Lady and lay it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy conclusion. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to face. With you and Mary and all the saints, may I praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen. Good St Anne, mother of her who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, pray for me.
Although she is not mentioned in the Bible, Saint Anne appears in the Protoevangelium of James, a second century account of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s conception, birth and early life.
Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori relates, following tradition, that St. Anne, along with her husband Saint Joachim, vowed to consecrate Mary to God’s service in the Temple. The child, conceived in Sajnt Anne’s womb without the stain of Original Sin in what we refer to as the Immaculate Conception, readily assented at the tender age of three!
Saint Teresa of Avila often said “We know and are convinced that our good mother Saint Anne helps in all needs, dangers, and tribulations, for our Lord wishes to show us that He will do in Heaven what she asks of Him for us.” Mary herself once said that those who honour her mother “will obtain great aid in every need, especially at the hour of death.”
When we pray a novena to Saint Anne, we are enlisting the aid of one of our most beloved saints. Many churches and chapels have been dedicated to her, and numerous miracles have been ascribed to her over the centuries. She is the patron saint, of mothers, pregnant women and childless couples among others. Her feast day is celebrated on July 26th.
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