Tradition of novena reaches 118th year

It's doubtful that French Canadian Catholics from Troy who boarded a train for Quebec in 1889 imagined they were starting a tradition that would still be alive in 2007.

But that's exactly what happened.

From July 17-26, the 118th annual novena to St. Anne will be offered at St. Mary's parish in Troy, drawing many area Catholics whose families have participated in the nine successive days of prayers for generations.

Canadian trip

The novena began with parishioners of Troy's St. Jean Baptiste parish, a French church founded in 1865. An early pastor organized a trip to the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec in 1889 to pray the novena there, and it was such a success that it became an annual event.

Early reports note that the trip was "so well subscribed that it was often necessary to have as many as 12 [train] cars to accommodate the many pilgrims.

"On one of the pilgrimages, a Trojan, so badly crippled he had to be carried on and off the train, was cured of his affliction....The man made the pilgrimage every year after that in thanksgiving."

Keeping on

World War I brought the Canada trips to an abrupt halt, but St. Jean parishioners carried on the novena at their own parish.

Said one document from 1935, "The friends of St. Anne who could not go to Beaupre were not to be denied and they came to pray at our church shrine in greater numbers than before."

When St. Jean Baptiste merged with St. Mary's parish in Troy in 1970, the annual novena was moved there, never missing a year.

Traditions

"I grew up in the neighborhood," said Sam Marro, now pastoral associate for administration and faith formation at St. Mary's. Although his family attended a different parish during his childhood, he remembered Catholics from all over converging on St. Jean Baptiste and, later, St. Mary's for the novena.

"Our parents and grandparents -- we were always [there]. They would have services at 8 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon, 5:30 and 7 or 7:30, and every service would be packed," he recalled.

Because prayers are offered not only to St. Anne, the Blessed Virgin's mother, but also to St. Therese of Lisieux (the "Little Flower") and to St. Gerard, patron saint of pregnant women, Mr. Marro remembers the church being crowded with mothers-to-be.

Healings

St. Anne has been called "Good St. Anne" because of the many favors credited to her intercession. Mr. Marro told The Evangelist about parishioners whose child had a brain tumor and was not expected to live more than a year or two, but lived until he was 50. His parents, who had prayed the novena, believed the healing was the result.

Another woman credited having prayed the novena before eye surgery for restoring her sight.

"I hear about a lot of healing, a lot of people with intentions for work and for their children," said Mr. Marro, who noted that he has had favors granted himself, as well.

Changes

Through the decades (pun intended), a few changes have been made to the novena. Devotees still recite a St. Anne chaplet (three sets of one Our Father, five Hail Marys and the Glory Be, followed by the prayer, "Jesus, Mary and Anne, grant us the favors we ask"), and two relics of St. Anne are available for veneration.

But the number of daily services has decreased to two (8 a.m. and 7 p.m.), and a blessing of cars that was once part of the event was discontinued a few years ago.

Mr. Marro, who surmised that the auto blessing began when there were far fewer cars on the road, said, "It was just getting out of hand [in recent years]. We would have to get someone to direct traffic; Father would have to stand out in the road; there were a couple of accidents. We did away with that."

On the other hand, a pancake breakfast was added to the celebration, as was a blessing of children on St. Anne's feast day, July 26. Sixty to 80 children are prayed over by the congregation every year, then individually blessed.

Popularity

About 300 people per day attend the novena, with another 50 to 100 joining in on the weekends. Some bring their families, continuing the tradition with their children or joining their own parents as they did years before.

"When we had the 100th novena, people came out special to say, 'I remember coming with my grandparents; I had to come back,'" Mr. Marro remembered.

The St. Anne novena is no longer just a French Canadian tradition, either. Although participants still feel a connection to Quebec and the St. Anne de Beaupre shrine, said Mr. Marro, it's hard to tell looking at them whether they're of French heritage or not. "Everybody's American now," he noted.

The novena brings many visitors to St. Mary's, which was founded in 1843. Mr. Marro remarked that the parish is often approached by other parishes, which offer to take over the novena if St. Mary's ever closes.

But, as was noted in 1935, people continue to attend the St. Anne novena at St. Mary's Church "for the greater glory of God, for the honor of good St. Anne, and for the help and the consolation of sick people without number."

(For more information, call St. Mary's at 272-5820.)

(7/12/07)