SCRANTON – Like many other devotees, Leo Maxfield started attending the Solemn Novena to Saint Ann with his family as a young boy.
“My grandmother brought me up everyday at 5:30 p.m.,” Maxfield said. “We always had to sit in the very back of the tent and as a little kid I couldn’t see anything.”
As a teenager, Maxfield began volunteering in the monastery kitchen during the Novena and since 2011 has been coordinating ushers for the annual 10-days of prayer and devotion.
This year, as devotees mark the remarkable centennial anniversary of the Solemn Novena to Saint Ann, Maxfield helped to organize a “100th Anniversary Archives and Photo Display Gallery” that is open to the public and located in Saint Gabriel’s Room off the lower church.
With the Solemn Novena now underway, the gallery is open every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“The Passionists had an archive closet/area in the monastery where they’ve kept photos, newspaper articles and booklets from the last 100 years. We took all that stuff, we sorted through it, and put together a wonderful display that starts with the Passionists coming to Scranton and the founder of the Novena, Father John Joseph Endler, in 1924, and it goes all the way through the decades to the modern day,” Maxfield said.
With more than 300 photos, 200 newspaper articles and numerous videos featured, many of the first people who have toured the display have been reminded of the impact the Novena has had on northeastern Pennsylvania.
“It really is a beautiful display and a beautiful reminder of just how far we’ve come,” Maxfield stated. “Anybody that sees it will really fall in love with the Novena all over again.”
This year’s Novena began on July 17 and will run through July 26, the Feast Day of Saint Ann and Saint Joachim. The sacred tradition has been a beacon of faith and hope for countless believers over the last 100 years, offering solace and spiritual guidance through prayer and reflection.
“You walk around and see these people and they’re so deep in prayer. You can tell some of them are hurting and waiting for answers. It is such a faith-filled time,” Sue Yanchik, a parishioner of Saint Ann Basilica Parish, said.
Yanchik has been attending the Novena since moving to Scranton in 1985. She is touched by how many people attend the 4:30 a.m. Mass on the Feast Day of Saint Ann each year.
“People are just walking around the grounds in the dark with just candlelight and the streetlights. It’s just beautiful,” she added.
This year’s milestone anniversary not only honors the enduring legacy of Saint Ann but continues to be a testament to the power of prayer and communal devotion.
For a century, the Novena has provided spiritual strength and healing to those in need, fostering a sense of unity and faith among believers of all backgrounds.
“Everyone comes to the Novena with intentions, with needs, with concerns about health, about family, about friends, about our town, and they are looking for Saint Ann’s guidance and support,” Very Reverend Richard W. Burke, C.P., Rector, Saint Ann’s Monastery, said.
The Solemn Novena to Saint Ann began somewhat organically in 1924, shortly after the Passionists arrived in West Scranton in the early 1900s at the invitation of Bishop Michael J. Hoban.
As part of their tradition, the Passionists prayed weekly to Saint Ann, whom their monastery was named, because they chose the property on the Feast of Mary’s birthday.
As the laity found out about the weekly prayers – they asked to participate.
“Father John Joseph (Endler) began meeting with them in a very small parlor room in the monastery and within a few months there were too many people. They wouldn’t fit anymore. The rest of the monastery was cloistered at the time, so we pitched a tent out in the yard and we had prayers in the tent for the people when they came every week,” Father Richard explained.
It was Father John Joseph Endler who suggested doing the first Novena to Saint Ann in preparation for her Feast Day in 1924.
“He planned it and put it into practice and in 1924 we had our first Solemn Novena to Saint Ann that culminated in the celebration of her Feast Day and for the next 100 years we’ve been doing it,” Father Richard added.
Throughout its history, the Novena has witnessed many testimonials of healings, answered prayers and renewed faith. While many Scranton natives attend the Novena annually, it also draws people from across the entire region who are drawn by the belief that Saint Ann, known as the patroness of mothers, grandmothers and homemakers, intercedes to her grandson, Jesus Christ, on their behalf.
This year, the theme for the 100th anniversary of the Novena centers around “Gratefulness to God for 100 Years of Blessings.”
“Our Novena preachers are going to reflect on how gratitude calls us to a deeper faith, how gratitude invites us to live in hope, how gratitude helps us to adopt the heart and mind of Christ a little bit more in our lives,” Father Richard explained.
With the centennial Novena celebration underway, many say its longevity is a testament to the enduring power of faith and the comfort found in communal prayer.
“The people are so faithful and especially generation after generation after generation they come back,” Anthony Cicco of Saint Ann Basilica Parish, said. “For me, it is the atmosphere. It was sitting out there with my family, my mom, grandmother, and my sister especially, and coming up day after day and seeing how everyone just enjoyed being here so much.”