Happy Feast of St. Anne!
La nonna di tutte le nonne!
July 26 is the Feast of St. Anne, the woman who, with her husband St. Joachim, had the great honor of bringing into the world Our Lady, God's greatest Saint, and of being the grandmother of the Savior of the World. What we know of her comes from Sacred Tradition; Sacred Scripture is silent. But from the former source, we learn that St. Anne, a woman of the tribe of Levi, was like Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel in that she didn't become a mother easily. The apocryphal Protoevangelium of St. James describes how she was mocked for her barrenness, and how her husband was shamed for not being a father. It describes St. Anne's pain -- and the miracle that relieved it:
And Anna was sore grieved and mourned with a great mourning because she was reproached by all the tribes of Israel. And coming to herself she said: What shall I do? I will pray with weeping unto the Lord my God that he visit me. And she put off her mourning garments and adorned her head and put on her bridal garments: and about the ninth hour she went down into the garden to walk there. And she saw a laurel-tree and sat down underneath it and besought the Lord saying: O God of our fathers, bless me, and hearken unto my prayer, as thou didst bless the womb of Sarah, and gavest her a son, even Isaac.
And looking up to the heaven she espied a nest of sparrows in the laurel-tree, and made a lamentation within herself, saying: Woe unto me, who begat me? And what womb brought me forth for I am become a curse before the children of Israel, and I am reproached, and they have mocked me forth out of the temple of the Lord?
Woe unto me, unto what am I likened? I am not likened unto the fowls of the heaven, for even the fowls of the heaven are fruitful before thee, O Lord. Woe unto me, unto what am I likened? I am not likened unto the beasts of the earth, for even the beasts of the earth are fruitful before thee, O Lord. Woe unto me, unto what am I likened? I am not likened unto these waters, for even these waters are fruitful before thee, O Lord.
Woe unto me, unto what am I likened ? I am not likened unto this earth, for even this earth bringeth forth her fruits in due season and blesseth thee, O Lord.
And behold an angel of the Lord appeared, saying unto her: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath hearkened unto thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive and bear, and thy seed shall be spoken of in the whole world.1
St. Anne and Breton and French-Canadian Catholics
The biggest celebrations of the day are held by the French, especially those from Bretagne (Brittany), and this page can't be complete without mentioning two places that are special to St. Anne.
The first is Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, in Auray, Bretagne, France. The Breton people have always had a special devotion to St. Anne, and she, apparently, is devoted to them in return. There'd been a chapel built to her in Auray way back in the 7th century, but it fell victim to marauders and was forgotten. Then, in 1623, St. Anne appeared -- as a beautiful woman in white, and holding a torch -- to a peasant named Yves Nicolazic, and she said to him:
I am Anne, mother of Mary. Tell your rector that in the piece of land you call the Bocenno, there was once a chapel dedicated in my name. It has been 984 years and six months since it was ruined. I desire that it be rebuilt immediately and that you take charge of this care. God wants me to be honored there. Soon you will see miracles in abundance and the influx of people that will come to this place will be the greatest of all miracles.
She appeared numerous times, and to help him convince Church authorities to build the chapel, she pointed out where he could find buried the wooden statue of her likeness that had once been in the 7th century chapel. The statue was unearthed, and people came from all over to see it. And then miracles abounded. The Church investigated, and a chapel was built. It was rebuilt in more grand fashion in 1864 and raised to the level of a basilica.
Now, special sorts of pilgrimages are made in Brittany, pilgrimages called pardons. These Breton-style pilgrimages to churches of various patron Saints are made corporately at various times between March and Michaelmas, and have a penitential nature -- i.e., they are made for the purpose of seeking absolution and gaining indulgences. But the greatest pardon of all -- le Grand Pardon -- is the one made to Auray in honor of St. Anne. On the eve of her feast, many thousands of people -- often dressed in their traditional costumes -- gather for Vespers, a torchlit procession of a statue of St. Anne, and to receive the Sacrament of Confession. When arriving at her basilica, they circle it clockwise three times. On her feast itself, the pilgrims attend Mass very early, and then celebrate with picnics and other festivities in the basilica square.2
Two different recipes for the day, both of which come from Bretagne. The first is a simple butter cake; the second is a sort of a cross between a flan and cake with dried plums:
Gâteau Breton
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
8 ounces (2 sticks) salted butter with a high fat content, slightly softened*
6 large egg yolks, divided
Optional: 1 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp almond extract
Butter an 8" cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. Mix flour and sugar together. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add to the bowl. Chop the butter into the flour and sugar with a pastry blender or two knives until the texture is like coarse crumbs. Beat the 5 egg yolks (and mix in with them any flavoring you're using), then add them into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon to form a thick dough. Put the dough into the prepared pan, set a piece of plastic wrap over it, and press it down to spread the dough evenly. Refrigerate about 20 minutes.
Mix the last yolk with 1 teaspoon water. Remove the plastic wrap from the cake and use a pastry brush to coat the top of the cake with the egg yolk. With a fork, score the surface of the cake with criss-crossing parallel lines. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is a rich golden brown color. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the sides to release from the pan, and unmold it onto a wire rack. Let it rest for a few hours.
* Ideally, a butter that is more than 82% butterfat
Far Breton
9 ounces pitted prunes
1 cup all-purpose flour
5/8 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
4 eggs
3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons rum
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a shallow 2 quart baking dish.
Place the pitted prunes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the prunes are tender but still hold their shape, about 10 minutes. Drain the prunes and arrange them in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Whisk together the flour, white sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in the rum. Pour the batter evenly over the prunes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F, and bake until the filling is firm, has risen a little, and the top is browned, about 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Recipe adapted from AllRecipes)
* To substitute for 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar, mix 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract with one tablespoon of granulated sugar
In Jelsi, Campobasso, Molise, Italy, "Sant'Anna" has been honored in a special way since 1805, when the town was spared from an earthquake that happened on her feast day. Because Jelsi is an agricultural town, the most precious thing the people had to offer was the grain they grew, so St. Anne is honored with the "feast of grain" (la festa del grano). A big sled (traglia) is decorated with sheaves of grain that have been soaked in water to become pliable, and then twisted and braided into various intricate shapes and "sculpture." The grain's tiny seeds are also used to make equally intricate mosaics. These golden-hued works of art adorn not only the sled, but the town's streets and squares. After Mass, a statue of St. Anne is placed on the sled, the sled is blessed, and a procession is made that includes young women wearing their traditional costumes, smaller sleds decorated by children, and pack animals that carry grain on their backs. Three different fireworks displays are had throughout the day.
Finally, for those living in the United States, there are shrines to St. Anne in various places around the country. Among them are:
the Shrine of St. Anne in Fall River, Massachusetts, built when French Canadians migrated to work in the mills there (note that Fall River is also where the infamous Lizzie Borden once lived)
the National Shrine of St. Anne at St. Jean Baptiste Church in New York City
St. Ann's Monastery and Shrine Basilica in Scranton, Pennsylvania
St. Ann Church and Shrine in Metairie, Louisiana
the National Shrine of St. Anne at the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Chicago, Illinois
Finally, check out this wonderful reflection on the Apt Cathedral in Provence, France, the Relic Church of St. Anne.
https://fisheaters.com/feastofstanne.html
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11477b.htm