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Ø Anna was a
Laywoman and was paralyzed at the age
of 19 , during an industrial accident in 1901
Ø Anna was
known for her devotion to the Sacred Heart.
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Born
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18th February 1882 in Mindelstetten, Bavaria,
Germany
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Died
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5th October 1925 in Mindelstetten, Bavaria,
Germany of natural causes
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Beatified
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On 7th March 1999 by Pope John Paul II
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Canonized
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On 21st October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI
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Feast
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5th October
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Anna Schaffer was born On February 18,
1882, to a a large Catholic family in the village of Mindelstetten, Bavaria
(southern Germany). Her family was devout, and of modest means. Anna was
reportedly rather shy, but a good student and hard worker. As a child, Anna
dedicated herself to God, hoping to join a religious congregation. However,
her path to sanctity proved far different than perhaps what she would have
planned. When Anna was fourteen, her father died quite unexpectedly, and she
began to work to help support her now-impoverished family, still hoping to
earn enough money to enable her to eventually enter a convent. At the age of
sixteen, she had a vision of a saint, who reportedly revealed that she would
experience great suffering before the age of twenty, and counseled her to
remain faithful to the Rosary.
In 1901,
while doing laundry with a fellow worker, Anna attempted to fix a stove pipe
above a boiler. As she climbed to reach the pipe, she slipped and fell into
the laundry vat, hot lye coming up to her knees. After this accident, various
doctors performed over thirty operations on her legs, attempting skin grafts
to help the wounds heal. These operations failed, and for the rest of her
life, Anna’s legs were wrapped in bandages. She was now a dependent invalid,
with no possibility of joining a religious order.
Those who
knew her were amazed by her patience, prayerfulness, and most of all, her
compassion for others who suffered. A member of the Third Order of St.
Francis, on the feast of St. Francis, October 4, 1910, she received the
stigmata (though she asked it to remain hidden).
In 1925, she contracted colon cancer, and her paralysis spread to her
spine, making it difficult to speak or write. On the morning of October 5,
she received her final Holy Communion, and suddenly spoke: "Jesus, I
live for you!" She died minutes later. Canonized On 21st October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI
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