Digital Verbum Edition
Drawn to a life of prayer from an early age, Anne Catherine Emmerich longed to be part of a convent, but she was repeatedly rejected because of her inability to provide a dowry. Persisting in the pursuit of her faith, she was finally allowed to take religious vows in at the convent of Agnetenberg in Dülmen at age 28. Her time as an Augustinian nun proved to fit her well, and she latched onto the disciplines of the faith. Prone to ill health, spiritual ecstasies, and stigmata, Emmerich was bedridden for a good part of her later life, but reported to have a supernatural awareness of the illnesses of others and the ability to prescribe cures. Her incredible devotion to and zeal for God earned Emmerich beatification in 2004, and the records of her visions and revelations continue to encourage and enlighten believers.
Her example opened the hearts of poor and rich alike, of simple and cultured persons, whom she instructed in loving dedication to Jesus Christ.
—Pope John Paul II
Anne Catherine stands like a cross at the side of the street, to indicate the right direction to the faithful. That which she says is brief but simple, full of depth, warmth and life. I understood everything. Always happy, affectionate, dignified, marvelous; always ill, agonizing, but at the same time delicate and fresh, chaste, tried, lucid. To be seated at her side meant to occupy the most beautiful place in the world.
—Clemens Brentano
Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824) was a Roman Catholic Augustinian nun whose detailed visions provided her revelations of the life of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. She experienced ecstasies and stigmata during her life and was regarded as a healer. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004.