Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/605

Rh ANNE 539 ANNE half of the eighth century). The Greeks keep a collective fea.st of St. Joachim ami St. Anne on the 9th of September. In the Latin Church St. .Vnne wa.s not venerated, except, perhaps, in the .south of I'Vance, before the thirteenth century. Her picture, painted in the eighth cciilurj', which was fouiul lately in the church of Santa .Maria .Vnticjua in Home, owes its origin to Hj'zanline influence. Her feast, under the influence of the "Golilen Legend", is first found (26 July) in the thirteenth century, e. g. at Douai 84. The supposed relics of St. Anne were brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in 710 and ■«'ere still kept there in the church of St. Sophia in 13.33. The tradition of the church of .Vpt in southern France pretentls that the botly of St.. ne was brought to Apt by St. Lazarus, the friend of Chri.st, was hidden by St. .Vuspicius (d. 398), and founil again Uuring the reign of Charlemagne (feast, Monday after the octave of Ea.ster); these relics were brought to a magnificent cha|icl in 1061 (feast, 4 May). The head of St. .•Vnne was kept at Mainz up to 1510, when it was stolen and brought to Diiren in Rhein- lanil. St. Anne is the patroness of Brittany. Her ■miraculous picture (feast, 7 March) is venerated at Notre Dame d'.^uray. Diocese of Vannes. Also in Canatla, where she is tlie principal patron of the province of (Juebec, the shrine of St. Anne tie IJeau- pr^ is well known. St. .Vnne is patroness of women in labour; she is representeil holding the Blessed 'irgin Marj' in her lap, who again carries on her arm the Child Jesus. She is also patroness of miners, Christ being compared to gold, Mary to silver. RicKENBACii, Ruhmeskram rlcr h. Anna (EiDsiedeln, 1001); Stadler, Heiligenlericon I, 220. Frederick G. Holweck. Anne, S.vint, Sisters op. See Providence, Sis- TEHS OK. Anne d'Auray, S.mnte, a little village three miles from the town of .uray (6,500 inhabitants), in the Diocese of Vannes (.Morbilian), in French Brittany, famous for its sanctuarj' antl for its pilgrimages, or pardons, in honour of St. . ne, to whom the people of Brittany, in very early times, on becoming Christian, had dedicated a chapel. This first chapel was destroyed about the end of the seventh century, but the memory of it was kept alive by tradition, and the -illage was still called "Keranna", i. e. "Village of .-Vnnc". More than nine centuries later, at the beginning of the seventeenth century (1624- 25). St.. ne is .said to have appeared .-icveral times to a simple antl pious villager, and commandeil him to rebuild the ancient chapel. The apparitions be- came so frequent, and before so many witncs.ses, that Sel>astien de Rosmadcc, Bishop of Vannes, deemed it his duty to inquire into the matter. Yves Nicolazic, to whom St. .Anne had appearetl, and numerous witnesses, testifieil to the truth of events which had become famous throughout Brittany, and the Bishop gave permi.s.sion for the building of a chapel. .Anne of .Vustria and Louis XIII enriched the sanctuary with many gifts, among them a relic of St. Anne brought from Jerusalem in the thirteenth century, and in 1041 the Queen obtained from the Pope the erection of a confraternity, which Pius IX raised to the rank of an archconfralernity in 1S72. In the meanwhile pilgrimages hail begun and be- came more numerous year by year, nor did the Revolution put a stop to them. 'i"he chapel, indeed, was plundered, the Carmelites who served it driven out, and the miraculous statue of St. Anne was burned at Vannes in 1793; yet the faithful still flocked to the chapel, which was covered with ex-votos. In ISIO the convent of the Carmelites was turned into a ijetil niinlrwire. In 1866, the Cardinal Saint -Mare laid and l)le.s,sed the first stone of the present magnificent basilica. Finally, in 1S08, Pius IX accorded to the statue of St. .Vnne, before which many miracles had been wrought, the honour of being crowned. St. .mie has continued to be the favourite pilgrimage of Brittany down to the present day — C'est notre m&re fi. tous; mort ou vivant, dit-on, A Sainte-Anne, une fois, doit aller tout Breton. — The basilica, which is in Renaissance style, is a work of art. The marbles of the high altar are the gift of Pius IX; many of the bsis-reliefs. with the statues of Nicolazic and Keriolet, are the work of the sculptor Falguiore. The principal pilgrimages take place at Pentecost and on the 26 July. Nicol., Saint*:'Anne d'Auray (Suinte Anne, IS'Jl ); Hkckl, Souvenirs du ptterinuye de Sainle Anne (Vannes. 1891). A. FoUHNKT. Anne de Beaupre, S.intb. — Devotion to Saint Anne, in Canada, goes back to the beginning of New France, and was brought thither by the first settlers and early missionaries. The hardy pioneers soon began to tiU the fertile soil of the Beauprfi hillside; in the region which now forms the parish of Saint e Anne de Beaupr6 the first hou.ses date from the year 1650. Nor was it long before the settlers built them- selves a chapel where they might meet for Divine worship. One of their number, the Sieur Etienne Lessard, offered to give the land required at the spot which the church authorities .should find suitable. On 13 March, 16.58, therefore, the missionary, Father Vignal, came to choose the site and to bless the foundations of the jiroposed chajiel which, by general consent, was to be dedicated to St. Anne. That very day the Saint showed how favourably she viewed the undertaking by healing Louis C!ui- mont, an inhabitant of Beaupr6, who suffered terribly from rheumatism of the loins. Full of confidence in St. Anne, he came forward and jjlaced three stones in the foundations of the new building, whereupon he found himself suddenly and completely cureu of his ailment. This first authentic miracle was the precursor of countless other graces and favours of all kinds. For two centuries and a half the great wonder-worker has ceaselessly and lavislily shown her kindness to all the sufferers who from all parts of North America flock every year to Beaupr^ to implore her help. The old church was begun in 1670. antl used for worship until 1876, when it was replaced by the present one, opened in October of that year. This last w;is built of cut stone, by means of contributions from all the Catholics of Canada. The offerings made by iiilgrims have defrayed the cost of fittings and decoration. It is two hundretl feet long, and one hundred wide, including the side chajH'ls. Leo XIII raised it to the rank of a minor basilica 5 May, 1887; on 19 May, 1889, it w.os solemnly consecrated by Cardinal Tasch- ereau, .rchbishop of (Juebec. It has been served by the Kedemptorists since 1878. On either side of the main doorway are huge pyramids of crutches, walking-sticks, bandages, and other appliances left behind by the cripples, lame, and sick, who, having prayed to St. Anne at her shrine, have gone home healed. Relics. — The canons of Carcaasonne, at the request of -Mon.scigneur de Laval, first Bishop of t Juebec, sent to lieauprd a large relic of the finger-bone of .Saint Anne, which w;is first exposed for veneration on 12 .March, 1070, and has ever since been an ob- ject of great devotion. Three other rehcs of the