Anna Schäffer
Catholic saint (1882–1925)
Feast: 5 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Anna Schäffer was born on 18 February 1882 at Mindelstetten, in the diocese of Regensburg, Bavaria, daughter of a carpenter. When her father died in 1896 the family was left destitute, and at thirteen she went into service.
At nineteen, working as a maid, she was scalded with boiling water. Her wounds never healed and her condition steadily worsened, but she lived serenely in poverty and prayer, offering her suffering for the salvation of souls. She died on 5 October 1925, aged 43.
The miracles
Franz Zwirchmaier
Against every medical expectation he was healed quickly, completely and lastingly from the effects of a very serious road accident, with head injury and the deepest grade of coma. The decree on the miracle was read on 3 July 1998.
Why that counted as sanctity
A young maid who turned years of agony into prayer and an offering for others.
Connected on this site
- Kateri Tekakwitha Saint“She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on 21 October 2012, along with six others: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria of Mt Carmel Salles y Barangueras, Marianne of Molokaʻi, and Anna Schäffer.” — Wikipedia
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Anna Schäffer
- Wikidata Q67028 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Anna Schäffer (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.