A Infância de Jesus

Anne Catherine Emmerich was born on September 8, 1774, in the village of Flamske, near Coesfeld, in present-day Germany. Her parents, Bernard Emmerich and Anne Hillers, poor and devout Christian farmers, baptized her on the same day, as did their other nine children. From childhood, Anne helped with household chores and farm work. She attended school only briefly, but her good knowledge of religion was evident, and it was clear that God had given her special gifts.

Until the age of fifteen, she worked as a shepherdess in a relative's house. During this time, she heard God's call to consecrated life, but encountered opposition from her father. She then learned to sew and went to work in Coesfeld to complete her education. She attended church, participated in Mass, and even prayed the Stations of the Cross alone. In her free time, she sought a convent that would accept her. Despite several attempts, Anne Catherine was unable to enter any. They cited her lack of schooling and her inability to even play the organ. Therefore, she abandoned sewing and went to live with the family of the pious organist Soentgen.

However, in 1802, the organist, along with his daughter Clara Soentgen, gained entry into the Augustinian Convent in Duelmen. Because of her humble origins, Anne Catherine was initially held in low esteem by her fellow nuns. The following year she entered the order, having been granted a vision. She devoted herself fervently to observing the rules of the order and took on the most arduous tasks of the Convent. This period was a true school of the Cross, because no one understood her state of mind, doubting her contemplative visions. To all this was added the suffering of several successive illnesses, which left her bedridden in her cell from 1806 to 1811.

That year, the Augustinian Convent of Duelmen, like all others, was suspended by the French laws of Napoleon Bonaparte. The nuns dispersed, but Anne Catherine, poor and ill, remained there for some time longer. In 1812, she went to work as a maid for Father John Martin Lambert, a refugee from the diocese of Amiens, in that city. But she soon fell ill again and was unable to get out of bed. With Father Lambert's permission, Anne Catherine brought her younger sister, Gertrude, who, under her direction, took care of the house.

From 1813 onwards, Ana Catarina received the stigmata of Christ, whose pains she had already been suffering for much longer. The fact that she had the wounds could not remain hidden. The vicar summoned a young doctor, named Dr. Francisco Wesener, who was so impressed that he dedicated himself to her treatment for the next eleven years, recording in a diary everything he witnessed of that exceptional Christian mystic.

Anna Catarina easily distinguished sacred objects from profane ones. She recognized and accurately identified the relics of the Saints, touching them and thus seeing the life, works, and sufferings of each one. In ecstasy, she saw the entire life and Passion of Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother. Likewise, she saw the works of the Apostles, the spread of the Holy Church, many events from the Old Testament, and also future events.

Many prominent figures in the Church renewal movement at the beginning of the 19th century met with this German Catholic mystic. The most significant was the renowned writer Clement Brentano, who visited her daily for five years in 1818, recording his visions which he later published.

At the end of December 1823, Anne Catherine grew increasingly weak. As she had done throughout those years, she united her suffering with the suffering of Jesus and offered it for the redemption of people. She died on February 9, 1824, and was buried in the Duelmen cemetery in a funeral attended by many dignitaries.

In 2004, Pope John Paul II declared the Augustinian mystic Anne Catherine Emmerick Blessed.