Anne Catherine Emmerich's First Holy Communion
- Kelvin Sandigo
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Selection from First Communion Days by A Sister of Notre Dame
Audiobook on LibriVox and Internet Archive
Anne Catherine
On the 8th September, 1774, Our Blessed Lady’s birthday, a little baby girl was born, who that same day was baptised and received the name of Anne Catherine. The house where she was born was poorer than any you have seen in this country. Built of wood and mud, it contained only one square room, which was divided by partitions. A few old chairs, a table, a spinning-wheel, and some piles of straw and hay, which served for beds, formed the only furniture. There was no chimney; the smoke from the fire filled the room, where the family and their animals lived together.
Anne Catherine’s father had to work hard for his living. He was both good and pious; everything around him reminded him of Almighty God. When Anne Catherine was hardly a year old, he would seat her on his knee when he came home from work at night, and taking her tiny hand in his, would teach her how to make the Sign of the Cross, and to say the Our Father. When she could walk, he used to take her out with him in the early morning, and then when the sun rose, made her kneel down with him, while he, taking off his cap, would thank God for the gift of His beautiful sun. He would tell her not to lie lazily in bed after the sun had risen, instead of making use of its light as God intended; and Anne Catherine was never known to remain in bed after she first awoke in the morning.
Sometimes when they were thus in the field together he would lay his hand on her head and say: "Stop a minute, my child, and look at God's beautiful earth, all is so fair and wonderful"; or he would point to the little church in the distance and say: "Let us kneel down a minute and worship our God, hidden in the little tabernacle, in the church. He can see us all the time, and give His blessing to our work.” If the Mass bell rang he would make his little girl join in heart with those who were present, and sometimes teach her to say some of the Mass prayers aloud with him.
In this way he taught Anne Catherine to offer up all she was doing to Almighty God, and often to thank and praise Him for His goodness. All through her life everything in God’s beautiful world—the sun, the flowers, the trees, and rivers—reminded her of Him, and helped her to love Him more.
Her mother was pious as her father; she it was who first taught Anne Catherine the Catechism and many of her prayers. When sending her to play with the other children she used to say:
“If you children are good and play nicely together, the Child Jesus and His Holy Angels will come and join in your games.”
Anne Catherine would then run out to play, thinking as she went of some game which the Little Jesus would like. Sometimes with the clayey soil she and the other children would make little statues or shrines; Anne Catherine was very clever at this. Another favourite game was to gather wild flowers, and then with these in their hands, to form processions in honour of Our Lady or the Saints, asking their Guardian Angels to be their partners while they sang hymns or said the Rosary aloud.
There was not, however, much time for play. From her earliest years Anne Catherine had to work very hard; indeed it was wonderful how much those tiny hands managed to do helping her mother in the house or her father in the fields. But all the time Anne Catherine was thinking of Almighty God. She seemed to feel Him near her, giving her the strength to do these duties. God was so pleased with this that He filled her mind with pictures of Himself when He lived on earth, or of His saints who had lived long ago, or sometimes of the souls in purgatory. These last pictures made the little girl feel very sad, and she would pray that the Holy Souls might soon be freed from pain and go to heaven; also she would think out all sorts of penances to offer up for their release.
When Anne Catherine was about four years of age, someone gave her a picture of Our Lady with the Infant Jesus in her arms. This was a great treasure. She carefully hung it up in one corner of the room, placing a block of wood in front to serve as an altar. Here she would bring any little toy or present she had received and leave it there for the Child Jesus, and great was her joy if the present disappeared, for she then thought that the Child Jesus was pleased and had accepted it.
Anne Catherine was a very lovable little girl; even when quite tiny she could not bear to see others suffering. If she met a beggar she would tell him to wait, while she ran to ask her mother for some food or clothing, willingly going without herself that others might be helped.
In this holy way did Anne Catherine pass the first seven years of her life until the time came for her first Confession. For this she was prepared with the other village children of her own age. Anne Catherine felt sure that she was the naughtiest little girl among them, and spent a long time in examining her conscience, and in trying to make an act of perfect contrition, yet the biggest sins she could remember were that once she had quarrelled with another little girl, and once she had made fun of someone; she thought much penance and mortification would be needed before the punishment due to these would be cancelled. Her parents had given her a few pence to buy a little white cake for herself after her first Confession, as was the custom in that country, but Anne Catherine gave hers to a beggar as a little mortification to atone for her sins.
Four years went by, and now the great day of her First Communion approached, on which she was to receive the Body and Blood of her Lord for the first time. The burning love of her heart knew no bounds; she felt that she would never be able to do enough in preparation for so great an honour; yet she was anxious to do all she could, so that her soul might be found more worthy to become a dwelling-place for Jesus Christ. She used to beg her parents with tears in her eyes to tell her of any sin that she might not have noticed in order that not the slightest fault might remain unconfessed.
When the day of her First Holy Communion arrived, Anne Catherine never once raised her eyes the whole way to church, so that nothing might distract her mind from Almighty God. Her one prayer was that He would always help her to do His Holy Will in all things. She offered her body to suffer and work for Him, her mind to think on Him alone, and her heart that it might always burn with a great love for Him, and that it might be always so pure that He would love to dwell within it. God answered her prayer, and Anne Catherine became more and more holy, doing great things for Almighty God, and receiving wonderful favours in return.
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