Saint of the Month: St Anne

Feast Day: July 26
Patron Saint of grandmothers, mothers, expectant mothers, women in labour, married couples (with her husband, St Joachim), housewives, and those experiencing infertility.

I chose St Anne as this month’s saint to encourage us mothers in our motherhood. Well, this is a mom blog, after all! I also think it’s pretty special that biology dictates that a female foetus in her mother’s womb already holds all the eggs she will ever need in her lifetime in her tiny ovaries, meaning that St Anne also carried part of Jesus (even if they may not have known it at the time, I’m sure God did!).

St Anne’s story can be found in the extra-canonical books, the Protoevangelium of James and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. It parallels quite similarly Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel. In fact, the name Anne is a derivation of Hannah (Channah in Hebrew)! Just like Hannah, Anne was a woman who had no children but fiercely wanted one, so she asked God to grant her a child. She dedicated her child to the Lord as thanks for her answered prayer. Interestingly, some parallels also exist between Our Lady and Samuel, but that is a post for another day.

St Anne has been attributed many patronages relating to motherhood because she experienced a lot in her life on Earth. It’s highly likely that your journey as a mother has seen one or two of her patronages, and the possibility that you’ll see more of her patronages as you continue along your path of motherhood is very real. Remember that you can turn to her and ask for her prayers for whatever part of motherhood you may be living right now.

Have you asked for St Anne’s intercession in the past? What graces did you receive through her prayers? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

St Anne, pray for us!

Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!