Life & Affection
Beatification
Before a person is beatified by the church, a theological commission will investigate the life of such a candidate. If such a person is then awarded heroic virtues only one further barrier must be overcome in the proceedings. A miraculous answer to a prayer must exist. Usually it concerns a healing of the sick, which in medical terms cannot be explained.
For Anna Schäffer’s beatification the following miraculous healing was acknowledged, which was first examined by doctors from Anna’s homeland and afterwards by a roman commission of doctors. A young man had suffered severe head wounds after a motorcycle accident. Brain haemorrhages seemed to make his case hopeless. The doctors dared to operate and the patient did survive. From the beginning the parents and many acquaintances of the injured man prayed to Anna Schäffer and asked for healing. The young patient was able to leave the hospital after just 18 days and was fully healed without any remaining damage. This answer to prayers was acknowledged in the beatification process as a “miracle, a medically inexplicable healing.
On the 7th March 1999 the time had come: Anna Schäffer from Mindelstetten was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Rome.
On the previous evening there a preparatory holy mass was celebrated in St Paul Outside the Walls together with the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Many faithful from the diocese of Regensburg and others had come to Rome for that occasion.
Canonisation
Since the diocese continued the law case after the beatification, now aiming for canonisation of Anna Schäffer, a new miraculous answer to a prayer had to be proven. It happened just a few months after the beatification, in autumn of 1999,
The person concerned was suffering of cirrhosis of the liver in an advanced state and of a severe abdominal dropsy. The doctors were no longer hoping for any betterment. The patient prayed one novena after the other to St Anna Schäffer. Suddenly she felt a great strength within her and left the hospital, on her own responsibility. Four weeks later the water had totally disappeared. The healing proved to be stable without any relapse.
In the canonisation case, this healing was acknowledged as “miraculous, medically inexplicable”. This opened the way to Anna Schäffer’s canonisation.
Am 21. Oktober 2012 hat Papst Benedikt XVI. in Rom Anna Schäffer zur Heiligen erhoben und sie damit der gesamten Kirche weltweit zur Verehrung empfehlen. Auszug aus der Predigt bei der Heiligsprechung: "Anna Schäffer aus Mindelstetten wollte als Jugendliche in einen Missionsorden eintreten. Da sie aus einfachen Verhältnissen stammte, versuchte sie die nötige Aussteuer für die Aufnahme ins Kloster als Dienstmagd zu verdienen. In dieser Stellung erlitt sie einen schweren Unfall mit unheilbaren Verbrennungen an den Beinen, der sie für ihr ganzes weiteres Leben ans Bett fesselte. So wurde ihr das Krankenlager zur Klosterzelle und das Leiden zum Missionsdienst. Sie haderte zunächst mit ihrem Schicksal, verstand ihre Situation dann aber als einen liebevollen Ruf des Gekreuzigten in seine Nachfolge. Gestärkt durch die tägliche Kommunion wurde sie zu einer unermüdlichen Fürsprecherin im Gebet und zu einem Spiegel der Liebe Gottes für viele Ratsuchende. Ihr Apostolat des Betens und des Leidens, des Opferns und des Sühnens sei den Gläubigen in ihrer Heimat ein leuchtendes Vorbild, ihre Fürbitte stärke die christliche Hospizbewegung in ihrem segensreichen Wirken."
