Fr. Jack’s St. Anne Novena booklet.
Every summer we see ads on television, online, and in the papers promoting “Christmas in July” sales and specials. For decades this concept has been used as a marketing strategy by retailers to bring in more shoppers during the lazy, hazy days of summer. Some people use the theme as an opportunity to have a party, to be festive, or as a pick-me-up to help get through the heat of mid-summer.
In my family, we had our own version of “Christmas in July.” It wasn’t a party (in the traditional sense) or a one-day celebration. It was a nine-day period of prayer called the “Novena to St. Anne.” A novena is a specific time to ask God for a specific intention, through the intercession of a specific saint. My mother and her family grew up in St. Anne’s Church in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. The parish is almost 180 years old, and my family has been dedicated to the church (and the novena) since my ancestors came to Philadelphia in the late 1800s.
I compare the novena to the days of Christmas because, in my mind and in the life of my family, they have so much in common. These events have been celebrated for generations. Novena booklets that contain the prayers and ceremonies have been passed down through the family going back to the 1940s. One of the booklets I still use contains the sacred language of earlier times when “thee” and “thou” were commonly used to address God and the saints. This same prayer booklet is worn and torn and a reminder that at one time it was held in the hands (and hearts) of my mother, her sisters, and her mother. My aunts, uncles, sisters, and cousins all spent many summers singing about the grandmother of Jesus, asking for her help and looking for guidance and direction in our lives.
Fr. Jack’s aunt Anne, cousin Anne, sister Maureen, and sister Ellen at the St. Anne novena during the pandemic.
Because of our connection to the mother of Mary and the “mother-church” of Port Richmond, the St. Anne novena is still an opportunity for members of my extended family to go back to the old neighborhood and back to our roots. Each year we take a few days in mid-July to make a pilgrimage to the family church, back to where it all began. In many ways, these days are like going home for the holidays. It is a family reunion, returning to “grandmother’s” house to reconnect with loved ones, renew our spirits, and recommit to the faith of our fathers and mothers.
The actual feast day of St. Anne on July 26 (and, since Vatican II, her husband St. Joachim), reminds me of Christmas day. Growing up, the streets around the parish would be filled with cars and people coming to church. Banners on the building proclaimed that something special was happening inside. Special music, processions, flowers, and crowds of people (not to mention an appearance by the bishop) told me (and the folks packed inside a large church on a hot summer night) that this was indeed an important day.
St. Anne’s Church in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Though Anne’s name is not mentioned in the Bible, the Church knows about her from legends and traditions. From these stories, we learn that both Mary’s mother and father had a tremendous amount of faith. In many ways, they prepared the world for the coming of Jesus in a human family. In many ways, the Christmas story starts with them.
Over the years, I have connected with the story of St. Anne because she has had such a real connection with my family. I may have never met my Irish great-grandparents and other relatives from the old neighborhood, but I have come to know them through stories, traditions, and legends. I have come to know them through St. Anne. Every time I return to the church that bears her name, every time I pick up a prayer book seeking her intercession, or see an image of her holding her daughter, I am at peace. I am at home. Home for the holidays, home for the holy days… home with my family, home with my grandmother.
Fr. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington-Philadelphia Province
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to email Father Jack Kolodziej, OSFS.
YouTube: Fr. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS, offers us a reflection for the Feast of St. Anne and Joachim and how these time-honored saints are examples for us of how we might live out the ordinary, everyday Salesian virtues of kindness, gentleness, and patience in our everyday lives with friends and family.
