THE VIRGIN MARY AND SOME OF OUR BEST WERE BORN TO (MUCH) OLDER MOTHERS

Let us start with the best woman ever born: The Blessed Virgin Mary. Her mother, Anne was 44 years of age when she gave birth to little baby Mary. She was to be Anne and Joachim's only child. It was not that they had left it late to try for a baby. No, Anne and Joachim had actually been trying for decades. According to Mary of Agreda, who was given full disclosure of the Virgin Mary's family background, they had been married for over 20 years before finally Anne became pregnant. When they were begging God for a child, they endured much mistreatment, "they had to bear much reproach and insult from their neighbors and acquaintances, for all those that were childless were considered as excluded from the benefits of the Messias." There was even an impish priest at the temple, Isachar who dared to call Joachim,"a useless man."

Little did Anne and Joachim's detractors know that they scorned the grandparents of the Savior! St Anne conceived Mary when she was beneath branches laden with apples, as Solomon had prophesied in Song of Songs, "Under the apple tree I roused thee, there thy mother conceived thee." When Eve proffered the apple to Adam, this led to original sin's stain on the human soul. But t'was a baby girl conceived immaculately under an apple tree that grew to be Mother of He Whose Blood washed away this same stain. The sour apple in Adams' hand was balanced by the sweet apple over St Anne's head when Mary became a zygote in her womb. And it was in her mid-40s that St Anne rocked Mary in her arms, nursed her and taught her to pray. 

Anne was not the only one in their family to have a child at an older age than most. Their cousin, Elizabeth was elderly when she conceived St John the Baptist. In fact, Elizabeth was so advanced in years that this was surely a factor in the urgency that Mary felt in hurrying to her side so that she could help Elizabeth in her last 3 months of pregnancy. 

Mary, the Queen of Heaven was born to a mother in middle age, but the Princess of Heaven, Philomena was also born to parents who were older. While I regret I do not know the exact age of St Philomena's mother when she bore her, it is safe to assume that her mother was much, much older than most because of the clues that St Philomena gave when she recounted her life-story. Philomena's parents were King and Queen of Greece and they were so desperate for a child that following the advice of their family physician, they abandoned paganism for Christianity so that they might be blessed with a child. This was not a minor decision, and as national figures of great importance they were essentially telling their subjects that they had been wrong to worship pagan gods, yet it speaks to the long years they had spent growing older all the while longing for a child. 

The patron saint of hospitals, St Camillus de Lellis was born when his mother was nearly 60. Some have made the mistake of claiming that Camillus was born when his mother was nearly 50, this seems more plausible, but the truth is even more staggering, Camillus was born when his mother was completing 6 decades. 

Sainted Doctor of the Church, Catherine of Siena was born when her mother was 40 years old. This is all the more spectacular when you consider that in the 1300s the average woman lived to be only 43 years old. I've heard it said that because Catherine's mother was older, this is the reason Catherine's twin perished. Her twin's death had, in fact, nothing to do with their mother's age, as I wrote about here.  

St Rita of Cascia is known as the Saint of the Impossible and truly her conception and birth still sounds impossible. Rita's mother was at least 85 years old when she gave birth to little Rita. Yes, I know, it strains credibility. But bear with me as I explain the facts as related in Rita's biography.  Rita's parents, Antonio and Amata were born in 1309, and they had been married for 72 years when Rita was born in 1381. If Rita's mother was engaged when she was 12 years old (the age it was legal to marry, but most often it was the age that marriage was proposed and the wedding planned) and then married around her 13th birthday, then after her 72nd wedding anniversary, she would have been 85 when she finally had a daughter.

I wrote this post in honor of St Anne's whose feast day falls today. Happy Feast! Dr Pius Parsch wrote that, "Anne means "child of grace"...the holy Sacrifice should transform our souls into other Annes, other children of grace." If you are assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, perhaps lift up in prayer someone you know who is in the position that St Anne was once in, and hoping for a baby of their own. 

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This post was informed by The Mystical City of God, which you may acquire from Tan Books. SUPER SALE is on - you may buy it at a huge discount! Normally, the full set of books cost $160 but you may get it for $104 during July. But hurry, you have 5 days to avail of this amazing deal. It may edify you to know that Solanus Casey revered, The Mystical City of God. 

St Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible was authored by Fr Joseph Sicardo and is available from Tan Books. 

Dr Parsch's The Church's Year of Grace is where I first learned that St Camillus was born to a mother who was nearing 60.  

The classic painting of St Anne and Mary was executed by Jean Jouvenet, that of St Elizabeth and John was executed by Louis-Jean-Francois Lagrenee and that of St Philomena was executed by Giuseppe Bezzuoli. The rest are by unknown artists.