EMMERICK, ANNA KATHARINA. – Mystic, born 18 September 1774 at Flamske near Coesfeld (Westphalia), died 9 February 1824 at Dülmen. Daughter of poor but deeply religious peasants who raised their nine children to love God and neighbour and to a sense of duty, Anna Katharina, whose health was always frail, soon showed a marked inclination for solitary prayer and a passionate devotion to the Redeemer, a devotion fostered by the moving medieval crucifix of Coesfeld.
Not exempt from scruples, in her youth she waged a decisive struggle against her own defects. At sixteen she felt the first call to the cloistered life. For many years this design was opposed by continuous difficulties, during which A. K. became ever more closely united interiorly with the Passion of the Lord; and it was then, as she herself declared, that she felt the pains of the crowning with thorns, though without visible signs. After many trials and renunciations, purified interiorly, A. K. was admitted in September 1802, at the age of twenty-eight, as a choir nun among the Augustinian nuns of Dülmen. Her delicate health, which her fellow sisters did not fully understand, became for her a source of unceasing suffering. Meanwhile A. K. distinguished herself by great fidelity in the observance of her vows, including poverty, and above all by a profound life of prayer in which the idea of expiation occupied the first place.
Research by W. Hümpfner has shown that the contribution of Clemens M. BRENTANO, FRANZ (v.), to whom the composition of these works according to the visions of A. K. is due, is so considerable that it can no longer be distinguished from the literal communications of the seer. The scholarly discussion of the true character of her visions has had the unfortunate consequence of temporarily obscuring the religious content and the religious mission of the life of the stigmatised nun of Dülmen. Her beatification, for which the process has been introduced, is desired by many of the faithful.