I chose St. Anne as a patron saint because I liked her acerbic tone, first at her trial and also at her execution by hanging at Tyburn. On being asked whether she repented of her "crime" of harbouring a Catholic priest, she retorted that, "...so far am I from repenting that I would I could have sheltered a thousand!"
That feisty attitude in defence of the Catholic Faith, her clear understanding that, without priests, there would be no sacraments and therefore no Church, plus the fact that she taught children and showed hospitality to priests, really struck a chord within me. St. Margaret Clitherow and St. Margaret Ward, who share St. Anne's feast day, never captured my heart in the same way, although they, too, lived and died heroically.
About 8 or 9 years ago I went with Joanna Bogle on a mini-pilgrimage to find out more about St. Anne - at the time there were only three articles on the web about her life, and details were extremely sketchy. You can read more about my pilgrimage there.
1 comment:
As far as I know, Downside Abbey has the only known relic of St Anne Line; a lock of her hair. That may be worth another mini-pilgrimage.
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