feast of st anne

st anne is the mother of the blessed virgin mary, therefore the grandmother of jesus. she is a very much honoured, revered and worship saint not only by catholics, but non christians as well. she is well known for for granting favours/vows,  if you seek her intercession. many people who prayed to her, have had their favours granted and so they return each year to honour her more, to thank her.

main entrance of the church.

the feast of st anne falls on 26 july but prior to the feast, the church of st anne in BM will be having a 9 days novena and prayers. during these period, the church of st anne takes on a ‘carnival’ mood as thousands of pilgrims flocked to the church. stall selling religous items, food and other stuffs add to the mood.

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every year i went to the feast celebration with my family, usually on a sunday (last day). however, this year it was different. i was there on a ‘mission’ – to raise fund for our society of st vincent de paul (SSVP). this was the first time that the parish priest of st anne’s church allowed us to raise fund during the feast celebration. we understand that it was not easy to get a permission as the parish priest has to be strict in case unauthorised people are there to collect funds too. some of you might remember the hoo-haa created by one disabled person who complained he was treated rudely by the parish priest to malaysiakini. therefore we are very grateful to the parish priest for allowing us to raise fund and we make sure we do it the right way by carrying with us the authorised letter, wearing our SSVP badge and the collector’s authority card. we planned to raise fund on 3 days – 26 july, 30 july and 1 aug – members taking turns to be present.

i went to the church on 26 july (mon.) at 2.00pm with 2 friends and my sister, all members of SSVP. we had to be there early to set up our station. we were quite disappointed to find out that we were not allowed to walk around the church compound with our collection. we had to stay put at our station but allowed to walk just within the area of our station. however, we are allowed to set up more than one station. we had one station (1) at the back of the church, next to the food stalls. another station (2) was just in front of the church’s front entrance. despite just being confined to our station, we did managed to collect quite a substantial amount. station no. 2, being in front, did a better ‘business’ than station no. 1, where i was stationed. since station no. 1 was near the food stalls, now and then we stand near the entrance of the food stalls to collect fund. somebody suggested that the best spot would be the foot of the steps of the shrine of st anne, where the beggars concregated but we said if we go there, means we would be competing with the beggars! and some beggars might not like it. yes, ever year, at this spot, there will sure be one line of beggars all lined up from main entrance to the foot of the steps.

SSVP members at station 2. guess which one is me?

i attended the mass at 6.00pm, presided by the parish priest, fr. michael cheah and with about 10 other priests in attendance. since i went late  (5 mins. to 6) the seats were already all filled up. i stood behind for a while before a warden directed me to a place where there are still seats avialable – the back wing of the church! this place not many people like to sit  since we will be facing the back of the altar (and the back of the priests celebrating mass!), but i don’t mind as long as i have a seat, and also i can see the going-on at the altar, albeit from behind.

when the mass ended at about 7.15pm, there was the dedication of ‘dataran st anne’ (st anne’s square) but i did not attend the dedication. i went for dinner instead.at the food stalls inside the church itself. all the food stalls were set up by church members themselves and the proceeds of the sale goes to the church. there were nasi lemak, nasi ayam, beehoon and mee goreng mamak style (which i ate), dumplings and drinks. i heard that on saturday and sunday, there will be more food stalls up like laksa, curry me, chicken rice. saturday (31 july) and sunday (1 aug) would be the two most crowded days.

dataran st anne. statue of st anne standing proud right in front of the church’s main entrance.

at 8.00pm there was another mass presided by the bishop of penang. after this mass, there was a candlelight procession> bearing the statue of st anne of course. luckily by then the rain stopped. it was raining so heavy at around 7.00pm.

another view of the church shwoing the beautiful ‘minangkabau’ style roof.

the church is in a cross shaped, therefore there are 4 wings – front (main aisle… where main entrance is), back, right and left. the centre of the roof is made of glass (maybe that is not the correct name)… transparent, where we can see the sky and trees while seated inside. then all round the church, it is an ‘open air’ concept, where there are no closed up walls but openings. this is good as it won’t be so hot inside. in fact it is very airy inside the church. if there are breeze, no need to have the fan on at all.

(for more photos, click here)

UPDATED: report on the candlelight procession.