Novena

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Novena at the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit
July 17 – 26

One of the highlights of the year at the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit is Novena. This joyful event will take place from July 17-26 and is a decades-old tradition. Novena is nine days of prayer including Mass each day. Each day of prayer has a different theme associated with an ethnic group important to Detroit. On the tenth day, we celebrate the Feast of Ste. Anne. We gather to ask Ste. Anne to pray for our intentions, the intentions of our families, our city, our Archdiocese, and our world.

Volunteer for Novena 

Schedule 

History of Devotion to Ste. Anne

What is known about Ste. Anne comes from the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal Gospel written around 145 A.D. Anne was married to Joachim and is the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore the grandmother of Jesus.

Missionaries dedicated a chapel to Ste Anne in France in the 6th century A.D. In France, devotion to Ste. Anne became important when a French peasant, Yves Nicolazic, reported apparitions of Ste. Anne in August of 1623 and 1624. A woman appeared who said: “I am Anne, mother of Mary. There was a chapel built here before that was dedicated to me. I ask you to build it again and take care of it because God wants me honored here.”

French missionaries brought the devotion to Quebec, Canada in 1658. Over the centuries several churches have been built in honor of Ste. Anne. The Basilica of Ste. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec was completed in 1946.

Devotion to Ste. Anne in Detroit

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit on July 24, 1701. Two days later a Mass was celebrated on Ste. Anne’s feast day by one of the priests who came with Cadillac. Ste. Anne was the patroness of New France.

Although the novena to Ste. Anne presumably goes back to the beginning of the parish, there was surge of devotion to the saint and to the novena with the building of the current church in 1886. A shrine was constructed in the southeast side of the church. A relic of Ste. Anne was obtained from the Basilica in Paris and is displayed in a reliquary at the shrine. Fr. James Grand (1886-1907) and Fr. Luke Renaud (1907-1919) of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto were pastors during this period.

On April 19, 2017, Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit, decreed that the shrine in the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit is the official Archdiocesan shrine to Ste. Anne. Ste. Anne is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

For more information about Novena, please contact the parish office at 313-496-1701.

2025 Schedule 

Thursday, July 17

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of African Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant: Fr. Francis Asomkase – Homilist: Deacon Michael Heard
• Music by the St. Charles Borromeo Choir

Friday, July18

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Latino Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Bishop Arturo Cepeda
• Music by the Basilica of Ste. Anne Spanish Choir

Saturday, July 19

• 4pm Mass – Celebration of Asian Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 3:00) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Fr. Tommy Ngo

Sunday, July 20

• 12pm Mass – Celebration of French and Native American Cultures and Ste. Anne School Alumni
• Celebrant and Homilist: Bishop Jeffrey Monforton
• Music by the Gabriel Richard Schola
• Join us in the Parish Hall after Mass for a Pig Roast and reception! 

Monday, July 21

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Eastern European Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Bishop Robert Fisher

Tuesday, July 22

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Albanian Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant: Fr. Fred Kalaj – Homilist: Fr. Dino Cekrezi
• Music by St. Paul Albanian Catholic Church Choir

Wednesday, July 23

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Western European Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Fr. Joe Mallia
• Music by St. Michael the Archangel Church Choir and John Orischak, Accordion

Thursday, July 24

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Chaldean Culture (Confessions before Mass beginning at 5:30) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Bishop Francis Kalabat

Friday, July 25

• 6:30pm Mass – Celebration of Celtic Culture
• Celebrant: Bishop Donald Hanchon – Homilist: Msgr. Tim Hogan
• Music by National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica Choir and Donald Ross, Bagpipes
• Join us at McShane’s Irish Pub after Mass for happy hour specials all night! 

Saturday, July 26

• 3pm Mass – Celebration of the Feast of Ste. Anne (Confessions before Mass beginning at 1:30) 
• Celebrant and Homilist: Archbishop Edward Weisenburger
• Music by Ste. Anne Shrine Festival Choir

Mass on Sunday, July 20 is at 10 a.m. in Spanish and 12 noon in English and French. Mass on weekdays is at 12 noon in English and 6:30 p.m. in English and the language of the day’s honored culture. On Saturday, July 19 there is 4:00 p.m. Mass only. On the Feast of Ste. Anne, Mass is in English at 3:00 p.m. only.