Sisters of St. Anne

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An excellent biography of Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin is: Christine Mailloux, A Woman in Turmoil, 2nd edition, trans. Eileen Gallagher (Lachine, Que: Les éditions Sainte-Anne, 2000).
 
I know of some sisters at an Episcopal church in Chicago who are Sisters of St. Anne. Is this the same order? The church is the Church of the Ascension on LaSalle Street.
 
http://www.stanneshrine.com/about/our-patroness/

Who is Saint Anne?
Saint Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary

What little we know about Saint Anne comes from the apocryphal Gospel of James (ca. 145 AD), also known as the Protoevangelium of James [PJ]. According to tradition, Anne (Hannah in Hebrew) was born in Bethlehem and married Joachim of Nazareth, both descendants of King David. Joachim is described as “a rich and devout man,” who regularly gave to the poor and “made a double offering to the temple” in expiation for his sins (PJ 1:1). Because Anne was barren, the temple priest rejected Joachim’s sacrifice, as childlessness was interpreted as a sign of divine displeasure. There was no greater misfortune for a Jewish person than to be childless. Had not God promised to His people, through Abraham, “descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore” (Gen. 22:17)? Joachim consequently “went into the desert to fast and pray” for forty days and forty nights (PJ 1:4). But Anne remembered the faith of her ancestors, and with renewed courage prayed: “God of my fathers, bless me: Hear my prayer, as You blessed the womb of Sarah, and gave her a son Isaac!” (PJ 2:4). Her prayer was heard: “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said: ‘Anne, Anne, the Lord has heard your prayer: You shall conceive and bear, and your offspring shall be spoken of in all the world’ ” (PJ 4:1). In an outpouring of faith, she who was to be Mary’s mother immediately consecrated her future offspring. An angel appeared also to Joachim, saying: “Joachim, Joachim, God has heard your prayer. Go on your way, for your wife will conceive” (PJ 4:2). And Joachim offered a thanksgiving sacrifice of ten she-lambs without spot or blemish for the Lord God, twelve tender calves for the priests and elders, and a hundred goats for all the people. He then returned to Jerusalem and embraced Anne at the city gate (PJ 4:3-4).
 
They are Anglican. Some of the people at that church (which is Episcopalian) think that all nuns are Catholic as well as all Monks. They are confused.
 
nunsuch said:
An excellent biography of Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin is: Christine Mailloux, A Woman in Turmoil, 2nd edition, trans. Eileen Gallagher (Lachine, Que: Les éditions Sainte-Anne, 2000).
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Two months ago, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Sister Christine Mailloux during a pilgrimage to Quebec that I helped arrange for our local EWTN radio station. She was kind enough to give us an hour-long tour of SSA convent.

She gave us the history of all of the SSA artwork, showed us the relics and shrine, allowed us to pray in the SSA chapel and arranged for us to have a nice snack in the sisters dining area.

She gave me a copy of both of her books and provided SSA coloring books for all of the elementary school children in our local Catholic School.

Sister Christine Mailloux is an absolute treasure, and the sisters that she introduced us to were very friendly and very holy.

In short, if I had a daughter or sister that was discerning a vocation in Canada or the US, I would encourage them to take a serious look at the SSA. They are wonderful people who do great work and their home is comfortable and beautiful.

Sister Christine Mailloux also wrote another book about Mother Marie Anne Blondin

Esther Blondin: Prophet for Today, 1989 Les Editions Paulines trans. Sister Eileen Gallagher

Instead of a biography, this work looks at the prophetic nature of the life of Blondin and shows the similarity of her message compared to other visionaries such as Ghandi, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, and Helder Camara.

There are three other biographies of Mother Mary Anne Blondin by the other SSA sisters and a Bishop. If anyone wants more information, Sister Christine was kind enough to give me a copy of those as well.

If anyone was looking to make a charitable donation, I would recommend supporting the SSA. They are wonderful people
 
They are Catholic. They are primarily in Canada. In the US, I they were in Alaska and New England.
 
That is wonderful! Does the convent have a direct link? Or was this the St. Anne’s Academy which has been renovated and is now a venue?
 
Francis said:
Who is Saint Anne?
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I’m really not sure in how far apocryphal can be considered reliable to any extent…Not even as a “historical source”. From the little I know, some of the apocrypha were written by authors who clearly held Gnostic views and thus no shred of the document is to be trusted.
 
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