St. Anne relic tour lands in Toronto

TORONTO - Fr. Guy Desrochers can’t help but chuckle when he hears that a woman has asked St. Anne, patron saint of unmarried women, to help them find a husband.

“They have a saying that goes ‘Good St. Anne, find me a man, as soon as you can,’ ” he said. “People come and pray to meet a future spouse and it works you know. I’ve heard a lot of people saying they met their spouse after visiting the relics.”

Since Oct. 19 Desrochers, a Redemptorist priest from Quebec, has been on tour with three of the larger relics of Christ’s grandmother — a piece of the finger from the hand of St. Anne and fragments of the bone taken from her upper arm.

Normally the relics are housed at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Shrine outside of Quebec City, where Desrochers served as pastor for four years until this past June.

Desrochers said these relics are “bigger than you usually find.”

Beginning in Ottawa Desrochers and the relics ventured as far south as Ohio en route to the trip’s conclusion in downtown Toronto at St Patrick’s Church on Nov. 19. In total 20 parishes were to host the relics during the four-week tour.

“We are really excited,” said Fr. Santo Arrigo, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church.

“It is a positive opportunity for people to experience a deeper prayer life.”

With no mention of St. Anne in the Bible, most of what is known about her comes from the apocryphal writings, particularly from the Gospel of James.

“There is where you find the whole story and life of St. Anne,” said Desrochers.

In the spring Desrochers and the relics will once again be on the road travelling through Atlantic Canada.