My grandparents were immigrants from Slovakia, and brought with them a custom from the Old World of naming each child for the feast day on which they were born.

But one of my aunts was born in early July and named Anne — weeks before the feast of St. Anne (today, July 26th). I never quite understood that until I learned that Anne is the patroness of miners; my grandfather was a coal miner.

Which raised another interesting question: why is the mother of Mary so beloved by miners? I found my answer right here:

St. Anne is patroness of women in labour; she is represented holding the Blessed Virgin Mary in her lap, who again carries on her arm the child Jesus. She is also patroness of miners, Christ being compared to gold, Mary to silver.

For myself, I think there is another aspect to the devotion to Anne by those who work deep in the earth: the mine is itself a kind of womb, and those who have to live and work there seek protection in that womb from the one whose own womb served as the first home of the mother of God.

There’s much more at the link, detailing the history of devotion to the saint, and where her relics now reside. Check it out. Fascinating stuff.

Oh: I recall that Thomas Merton named his first tiny hermitage, an empty shack he used for writing and praying, “St. Anne’s.” The name, by the way, derives from the Hebrew “Hannah,” and means “grace.”

Image: “Virgin and Child with St. Anne” by Da Vinci, c. 1507-1513