Michigan Area members turned out for the feast day of Sts. Anne and Joachim at the basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit on July 26. The Mass and devotions to Ste. Anne, patroness of the city and of the Archdiocese of Detroit, concluded a nine-day novena to the saint – a long-standing tradition, dating back to 1886. Ste. Anne de Detroit is the oldest parish in Michigan and the second-oldest continuously operating parish in the United States.

Michigan Area members took part in the feast day Mass, which was celebrated by Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron, GCChC, principal chaplain of the Michigan Area. This is the seventh year the Michigan Area has participated in the feast day celebration.

Photo by Gabriella Patti for Detroit Catholic

Archbishop Vigneron said that Sts. Anne and Joachim, “two loyal children of Abraham,” trusted in God’s will for their lives even in the face of hardship, and so became part of God’s plan of salvation for the world. “They knew that God never lies,” the archbishop said.

Following Mass, the litany of Ste. Anne was recited while parishioners carried a statue of Ste. Anne in procession around the church. Michigan Area members and others then had the opportunity to venerate relics of Ste. Anne.

The first Ste. Anne de Detroit church building, a tiny log chapel, was dedicated on the feast day of Ste. Anne, July 26, 1701, two days after the city of Detroit was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. French missionaries encouraged devotion to Ste. Anne, and in 1886 a shrine to Ste. Anne was constructed in the southeast side of the church. One of Ste. Anne de Detroit’s early pastors was Fr. Gabriel Richard, the renowned “second founder of Detroit” and co-founder of the University of Michigan.  

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