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Saint Anne has been named by the Vatican as the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Detroit. We honor the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayerfully ask for her intercession.
One may pray to any saint for any intention, but a patron saint is seen as the particular advocate for a chosen place or activity.
Saint Anne is the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though she is not mentioned by name in the Bible, we know of her through early Christian writings, the most important of which is the Protoevangelium of James, written around the year 150 A.D. We are told that Anne, the wife of Joachim, was advanced in years before her prayers for a child were answered. An angel appeared and told her she'd conceive a child who "shall be spoken of in all the world." Saint Anne's feast day is July 26. She is known as patron saint of equestrians, housewives, women in labor, cabinet-makers, and miners.
Devotion to Saint Anne became popular in the Christian East by the 4th century, and that tradition later spread to the Christian West. When the French began to colonize modern-day Quebec, they brought their devotion to Saint Anne with them, asking for her protection in the New World.
This devotion was planted on the banks of the Detroit River by the original French-Canadian settlers. Two days after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac landed with 51 others in what is now downtown Detroit on July 24, 1701, they celebrated Mass and began construction of a church named after Saint Anne. Today, Sainte Anne de Detroit is the second oldest continually operating parish in the United States. As is now recognized by the Holy See, the Church of Detroit was placed under Saint Anne's protection from its very founding.
Finding a Patron Saint for the Archdiocese of Detroit
Throughout the fall of 2009, Archbishop Allen Vigneron invited the faithful of the Archdiocese of Detroit to prayerfully discern who they think should be the patron saint of the Archdiocese and to submit their suggestions.
Catholics in the Detroit area responded by giving Archbishop Vigneron hundreds of such suggestions. Also, hundreds of school-aged Catholics from across the archdiocese submitted their own thoughts by participating in the Finding Our Patron Saint Student Contest.
Archbishop Vigneron took all this feedback into prayerful consideration, and submitted his conclusion to the Holy See. The choice is confirmed by the Congregation for Causes of Saints, the Archdiocese of Detroit's Patron Saint is officially St. Anne.
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