St Anne of St Bartholomew

Born into a peasant family (farmers), Anne grew up and became a shepherdess.  She lived close to Avila, which is where the Carmelite nuns lived; they were run by St. Theresa of Avila.  Anne asked to join this convent and was accepted as a lay sister instead of a Cloistered nun.  This allowed her to run errands and do some of the work outside of the convent walls that the other sisters could not do.  St. Theresa began to know Blessed Anne and liked her so much that she chose her to be her travel buddy, as she visited other convents or started new convents in Europe.  Anne was with St. Theresa a lot and learned so much from her.  After St. Theresa died Anne continued doing some of the work that she had helped St. Theresa do while she was alive.  She was sent to open a convent in France and then she opened some in the Netherlands and Belgium.  Many rich and very well educated girls joined the convents that Anne helped start and she reminded Jesus that she was only a shepherd girl and maybe he should choose someone else to do this important work.  Jesus reminded her that straw can start a very big fire and through Anne’s work many women’s hearts caught on fire with love for Jesus.