Bl. Anne of Saint Bartholomew

Ana García was born in 1550 in Almendral, Old Castile, Spain, to a farming family. She spent her youth tending sheep. Her brothers resisted her wish to become a nun, but in 1572 she made her vows with the Carmelites of Ávila as a lay sister, one who did the house's manual work.

She became nurse, companion and secretary to St Teresa of Ávila, the reformer of the Carmelites. Teresa died in her arms in 1582. In 1604 Anne was one of the nuns sent to bring the reformed Carmelites to France, and she was made a choir nun and prioress. She later founded a convent in Antwerp, where she died in 1626. She was beatified in 1917.

Anne of Saint Bartholomew was beatified in 1917.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.