Happy feast day of Sts. Anne and Joachim

 

Sts. Anne and Joachim are the patrons of grandparents.  Which we are, and several people on New Gathering also are.  Also St. Anne would be the patron of our Anne. So happy feast day!

My mom had a devotion to St. Anne, and chose her as her confirmation saint. She was 32 at the time, but since then lived to have 12 grandchildren. Now she would have 19 great grandchildren, though she didn't live to see any of them. 

Mom visited the shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec, on the trip she took to Canada.  She went with one of her sisters, who probably didn't visit the shrine, since at that time she was a bit agnostic and didn't have much use for Catholicism, and even less for the evangelical tradition she grew up in. Dad didn't like to travel, though he could be talked into it, if the destination was in easy driving distance and involved pretty scenery or and interesting historical site. Canada is not an easy driving distance from Nebraska, so he wasn't along on that trip.

Anyway, Mom happened to visit the shrine on Mother's Day, which is the same in Canada as it is here. They gave out little ribbons to the mothers in attendendance, which had printed on them, "Bonne fete Maman" in gold letters.

In the current issue of Commonweal, Mary Gordon has a piece remembering the trip her family took to St. Anne de Beaupre when she was a child.  Interesting memories, but her dad certainly was a character. A good father, but would have driven me crazy as a husband. 

Pilgrimage | Commonweal Magazine

BTW, the statue pictured is in the side chapel in our parish, St. Anne and the child Mary.