A few days ago I awoke at two o’clock in the morning. A powerful emotion in my soul told me it was necessary to pray, which I did. But after some time, as I was weary, I went to bed again. It was useless. I had become the prey of an anxiety which would allow me no repose. I recognized by this that our Lord willed that I should pray. I began then to pray, my hands raised towards heaven, experiencing a strong emotion which told me to plead for mercy.
For two entire hours, from two o’clock to four, without consciousness of myself, and powerless to resist, I remained with hands raised to heaven and interiorly urged to ask for mercy. All the following day I was like one dead, my body bruised as if it had been beaten with a stick. I knew not then what had happened, but they told me later that the heretics had attempted to take possession of the city by surprise, and that they had not been able to succeed.
Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew
Autobiography, Chapter VII
Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew was beatified on 6 May 1917 by Pope Benedict XV in St. Peter’s Basilica. Since Europe was engulfed in the heartbreak and suffering of the First World War, Blessed Anne was invoked as a “defender of the peace”, just as she had defended Antwerp centuries earlier from its enemies. The Pope expressed his satisfaction to be able to declare St. Teresa’s inseparable companion to be numbered among the Blessed in heaven. Two miracles occurred not long after Blessed Anne’s death, which contributed to her cause; a certain Father Leopold and the Queen of France experienced “instantaneous and perfect” healings of anatomical and pathological lesions (Cf. Decree of Beatification).
Anne of St. Bartholomew, M; Bouix, M 1917, Autobiography of the Blessed Mother Anne of Saint Bartholomew, inseparable companion of Saint Teresa, and foundress of the Carmels of Pontoise, Tours and Antwerp, translated from the French by Michael, M A, H. S. Collins Printing Co., Saint Louis.
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