ABSTRACT
Once there was a rich young man who squandered his inheritance after his parents’ death from plague. After a succession of disasters, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to St. James’ tomb at Campostella. Along the way, he met another traveler in pilgrim’s dress, who advised the young man to devote himself to St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, “and then [he] should have no doubt that [he] would have good fortune.”1 After giving explicit instructions how and when St. Anne was to be venerated, the mysterious traveler explained that he was “St. James, her daughter’s son,” before vanishing.2 Over the course of a lifetime spent “honoring St. Anne and her lineage [Geschlecht] and teaching all people to honor St. Anne and her lineage,” primarily through prayer before a richly decorated image of St. Anne he commissioned and other altars and images he helped establish, the hero of the story not only regained his previous wealth, he became mayor of a large city and advisor to a king.3 On his deathbed, he lamented the fact that he was dying alone, with no kin to support him, having never married and established a family of his own. Appearing to him in a vision, the Virgin Mary asked, “Dearest brother, how are you?” Not realizing that it is Mary, he said, “You call me brother, but I have no sister.” To this the pious Virgin replied, “If St. Anne is your mother, then I am your sister, and you are also my brother, and the uncle of my Son.”4
