Thousands will take part in St. Ann’s Solemn Novena over the next nine days.
SCRANTON, Pa. — The faithful are gathered in prayer for the first day of the annual Solemn Novena to St. Ann.
This year marks 102 years at St. Ann’s Basilica in West Scranton.
“People come here to pray to Anne for healing, for understanding,” said Midge MaCarthur, North Scranton.
For the people who have been coming to the services for decades, they say there are family connections to Saint Ann that keep them coming back.
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“That was my mom’s patron, and I’ll use this as an example. I have five brothers; there were four, and she wanted a girl, so she prayed to St. Ann, and she got a girl, so that’s what keeps me coming back,” said MaCarthur.
“I was born on Saint Ann’s Day, so my middle name is Ann, and we’ve been coming here for over 50 years,” said Betty Ann Capizzi, West Pittston.
The Blaum family of Mountain Top says they share the day with their children.
“We wanted to get pregnant. We would pray to Ann, and every year we come and say thank you, and you know, we make sure we say thank you and bring our daughters too, and they get to light candles,” said Karen Blaum.
Parishioners say they were blessed that the Canadian wildfire smoke cleared out, giving them blue skies for the first day of services.
Friday’s 8 a.m. mass was celebrated indoors due to an air quality alert, but by the afternoon, services were once again taking place outside.
“I knew it would be inside if it was smoky outside, they’d have mass inside,” said Capizzi.
“We aren’t too concerned, but we also knew we weren’t gonna stay too long, you know, and just enough to make sure we came and everything was safe,” said Blaum.
The Novena continues through July 26.
For a full schedule of mass services and Novena times, click here.