Anne-Gabrielle caron
Beautiful Anne-Gabrielle Caron was born on January 29, 2002 in Toulon, France into a loving Catholic family. When she was 2 ½ years old, her little brother François-Xavier was going to be baptized. As Anne-Gabrielle entered the Church with her grandmother, she noticed a large Crucifix on the side wall. She immediately exclaimed, "Jesus, Jesus, He is in pain!”
When Anne-Gabrielle was six, her parents noticed her limping. “We thought she was imitating her grandfather who had had a stroke a few months earlier,” explained her mother. “We scolded her and she didn't say anything.” However, her parents soon realized she was not pretending and took her for an x-ray. “Our doctor assured us that it would pass with time.” But it didn’t. Her limping and pain only grew worse. Two months later, Anne-Gabrielle was examined again and it was discovered that she had a very bad cancer called Ewing's sarcoma.
The year that Anne-Gabrielle found out about her cancer was also the year she had been preparing to receive her First Holy Communion. “He will come into my heart, truly present. I can't wait!” she exclaimed as she prepared for her big day. But she and her family arrived at the end of Mass because of an unexpectedly long medical appointment. “We thought it was too late,” a friend recalled. “Then the organist stopped and replayed the Communion hymn. The priest came back to get her. When she received Holy Communion, there was such a silence in the Church.” Anne-Gabrielle’s mother added, “Her First Communion was a key moment in her life. I think it was the moment when she said ‘yes’ to Him.”
At the beginning of 2010, Anne-Gabrielle’s cancer treatments increased and so did her pain. There were times her mother found the Crucifix from the hospital room in the bathroom. Anne-Gabrielle told her, “I'm so afraid of being in pain that I take Jesus. I hold Him tight and I say to myself, ‘He too was in pain. He's going to help me.’”
Jesus did indeed help Anne-Gabrielle. One day she confided to her mother, “You will find me very dizzy. I asked the Good Lord to give me all the sufferings of the children in the hospital.” Her mother exclaimed, “My darling! But don't you think you are already suffering enough?” “Oh yes, Mommy, answered Anne-Gabrielle. "But I'm suffering so much so they won’t have to suffer.” Her mother was speechless. “That day I understood that Heaven was open to her and that she was already a Saint.”
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Suffering all by itself is a terrible thing, isn't it? But when we unite our sufferings, big or small, with Jesus our Savior, He takes our suffering and unites it to His big suffering on the Cross. Then it becomes something meaningful with Jesus! He lets us help Him in His mission as Savior of the world! Anne-Gabrielle learned this truth. Jesus gave her many helps, many graces, to understand and through her suffering with Jesus, she became more and more like Him. Jesus always helps us when we ask Him! We never have to be afraid when we have Jesus as our great Friend.
Anne-Gabriel died peacefully on July 23, 2010.
The diocesan process for the beatification of Anne-Gabrielle opened on September 12, 2020. The following novena prayer has been approved by Monsignor Dominique Rey, Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon: "Most Holy Trinity, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we give You thanks for little Anne-Gabrielle, for all that You have accomplished in her short life. She surrendered herself to Your love and was animated by a great zeal for the salvation of souls. We ask You, through her intercession, to grant us this grace (say the desired grace), which we solicit from Your infinite Mercy, if such is Your will of love for us. Amen.” Then pray one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and end with a Glory Be.
