Childhood
Schäffer's father, a carpenter, died at the age of 40, leaving his family in great poverty. Anna dropped out of school and worked as a maid from the age of fourteen, hoping eventually to be able to enter a religious order. But with family obligations she could barely make ends meet. In 1898, she had a vision of Christ in which she was told that she was destined to endure long and painful suffering. On February 4, 1901, while working at a laundry, Schäffer slipped and fell while reattaching a stovepipe and boiled her legs in the washing machine. She was taken to hospital, but nothing could be done about the painful burns. More than thirty surgical operations followed, and the wounds had to be carefully dressed, which also caused much pain. Despite the constant care of her doctor, Dr. Waldin, skin grafts did not succeed and Schäffer became completely immobile. She was therefore forced to abandon her longtime dream of entering a religious order.Georg Franz X. Schwager. ''Anna Schäffer – Thoughts and Memories of my Life of Illness – and My Longing for the Eternal Homeland''. Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner, 2012. Her mother was to care for her until the end of her life.Works and later life
Schäffer never lost her optimism and became even more devoted to her faith while enduring constant suffering. She was often unable to sleep, but continued to express her adoration of Christ and her veneration of Mary. She had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A local abbot would bring her the Eucharist daily. She wrote: "I cannot write by pen how happy I am every time after Holy Communion. Ah, I forget my earthly suffering and the longing of my poor soul draws me every moment to adore my God and Savior hidden in the Blessed Sacrament!"Georg Franz X. SchwagerBeatification and canonization
After her death it became common to visit her grave to have prayers answered. Since 1929, more than 15,000 miracles attributed to such prayers have been reported. In 1998, 551 miracles allegedly obtained through her intercession were recorded in the parish of Mindelstetten. Schäffer was proposed for beatification in 1973. Over 20,000 letters and testimonies were collected as part of a detailed examination of her case. During her beatification, 7 March 1999, Pope John Paul II said: "If we look to Blessed Anna Schäffer, we read in her life a living commentary on what Saint Paul wrote to the Romans: 'Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us' (Rom. 5:5). She most certainly was not spared the struggle to abandon herself to the will of God. But she was given to grow in the correct understanding that weakness and suffering are the pages on which God writes His Gospel ... Her sickbed became the cradle of an apostolate that extended to the whole world." In 2012, her notebook, entitled ''Thoughts and memories of my life of illness and my longing for the eternal homeland'', was translated into English. On 21 October 2012, she was canonized by PopeSee also
* List of canonizations *References
External links