Santa Caterina della Rota July 26th is the feast day of St Anne, the mother of Mary. St Anne is not named in the canonical gospels; her name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Gospel of James (circa 150 CE) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. St Anne is the patron saint of pregnant women, mothers and grandparents. Once upon a time, the feast day of St Anne was celebrated in Rome with what came to be known as the 'Processione de le Panze' ('Procession of the Bellies'). The procession was largely made up of pregnant women, who walked behind a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and St Anne, which is housed in the church of Santa Caterina della Rota. Specially blessed candles would be handed out to each of the women, who would light it at the beginning of their labour in the belief that it would facilitate the birth, which would take place 'within the duration of a candle'. Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Rome.
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