St. Anne's Day

St. Anne's Day

July 26

In 1650, a group of Breton sailors built a tiny frame church at the place where the town of BeauprÉ, Quebec, Canada, now stands. They wanted to honor of St. Anne, the traditional name for the mother of the Virgin Mary and wife of Joachim or St. Joseph (the apostle James names her in his Letter). The sailors had been caught in a vicious storm at sea and vowed that if St. Anne would save them, they would build her a sanctuary at the spot where their feet first touched land. In 1658, the people of the village built a new and larger church, and it was then that the first of St. Anne de BeauprÉ's miraculous cures took place, when a local man suffering from rheumatism came to the church and walked away in perfect health. Since that time thousands of cures have been reported at the Basilica of Sainte Anne de BeauprÉ, which has been called the "Lourdes of the New World" after the famous shrine in France.
St. Anne is the patron saint of Canada. The pilgrimage to her shrine in BeauprÉ is one of the major pilgrimages on the North American continent. Romanies from Canada and the United States also arrive to celebrate Santana ("St. Anna"). They camp on the church property, prepare a slava feast of special foods for and prayers to St. Anne, and visit their families ( see Pardon of Ste. Anne D' Auray).

SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 123
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 192
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 449
OxYear-1999, p. 308

Celebration day: Jul 26