Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew

Anne of Saint Bartholomew (Spanish: Ana de San Bartolomé; born Ana García Manzanas; 1 October 1550 – 7 June 1626) was a Spanish Discalced Carmelite and companion to Teresa of Ávila who established new monasteries in France and the Low Countries. Anne sometimes struggled with her superiors as she set about setting new convents and holding her position as a prioress. She later settled in the Spanish Netherlands and opened a house, remaining there until her death in 1626. Pope Benedict XV beatified her in 1917. Ana García Manzanas was born in Almendral de la Cañada on 1 October 1550 as the seventh child to Ferdinand García and Maria Mancanas. That date of her birth she was also baptized in the parish church of His Holiness the Savior. Together with her three brothers and three sisters she was raised to be close to God which she learnt from her pious parents. The entire household - on a frequent basis - attended Mass and recited rosaries together. Her father had a priest teach the children the doctrine of the faith while her mother opened their home to the poor and adopted orphans to raise as her own. In her childhood she loved the paintings that depicted the Passion of the Lord, and she wanted to be associated with his suffering, so she gave her food to beggars and often walked barefoot along stone paths. In 1559 her mother died, and in 1560 her father died in that she described as being flung into her "deepest affliction". When she was of the proper age her older siblings wanted her to enter into marriage, though in her heart she desired to become a nun. Her older brothers tried to test her will through giving her the difficult task of sharing the work of the laborers at the fields in the hopes that she would renounce her calling. Once her brothers did this she started avoiding speaking to men and giving them the chance to speak to her so as to defend herself from marriage since she wanted to be married to God.