Friends with Saints Series // Anna Schaeffer

Friendship, as has been said, consists in a full commitment of the will to another person with a view to that person's good.

-Pope Saint John Paul II

Friendships feed our souls in a very particular way. During these times of social distancing, fall out from a global pandemic, and the ensuring separation we've experienced from our friends and family, we have a special place to turn to for friendship.

The holy women of our Catholic Faith: the Saints, the venerables, the servants of God. We have reason to believe through the Church's guidance that these multitude of unique, relatable, remarkable women are worshipping before the throne of God, taking our intentions before Him. They want us to join them in Heaven, after all.

The Saints, Our Friends

We've assembled a grouping of a dozen women who fit this description, lived in the last century or so, and span all walks of life from vocation to nearly every continent, to a plethora of challenges they faced. Eleven are lay women!

The complete discussion of their lives and reflections on how they lived the Works of Mercy out is available in our Misericordia study.

Let's get to know our heavenly friends better and allow a beautiful friendship (or friendships!) to blossom.

Find more companionship with our sister Saints
and be inspired by their Works of Mercy in Misericordia!

Saint Anna Schaeffer

Anna was born in 1882 in Bavaria, Germany, into a poor family. From a young age, she was unusual in her private prayer life. As an eleven year old, she prayed that Jesus would accept her offer to atone for all the injuries against Him.

She dropped out of school at fourteen to work to help support her family, giving up dreams to pursue a religious vocation. At sixteen, she dedicated herself to the Blessed Mother, and Jesus appeared to her in a vision that she would suffer greatly but not die.

It was in 1901 that she fell into a vat of boiling laundry water when trying to fix a damaged stovepipe working as a servant. Her legs were so badly burned and damaged that ultimately the doctors couldn’t offer her any further help. Her wounds never healed and she suffered horrific pain, affirmed by Jesus in another vision that she would receive the gift of suffering for Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

A daily communicant, she offered up her suffering for the living and the dead, showing us how to embrace even the worst suffering and let it unite us to Christ. She died in 1925.

Friends with Saints Series // Anna Schaeffer #BISblog //Click to tweet

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Saint Anna Schaeffer, pray for us!