Antique Relic Packet of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich | Leinenstückchen | Dülmen | 19th-Century German Fraktur

A rare antique German relic packet associated with Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (Anna Katharina Emmerick, 1774–1824), the Augustinian nun, mystic and stigmatist of Dülmen, whose visions of the Passion of Christ became one of the most widely read Catholic books of the 19th century.

The small folded packet of blue paper is printed in German Fraktur type:

“Leinenstückchen von der begnadigten Augustinerin A. Catharina Emmerich, im Rufe der Heiligkeit gestorben zu Dülmen, am 9. Februar 1824, woselbst ihr Grab und ihr Sterbehaus sehr verehrt wird.”

(“A small piece of linen from the graced Augustinian nun A. Catharina Emmerich, who died in the odour of sanctity at Dülmen on 9 February 1824, where her grave and the house in which she died are greatly venerated.”)

The wording – describing her as having died “im Rufe der Heiligkeit” rather than as Blessed – and the Fraktur typography show that the packet was printed long before her beatification, most likely in the 19th century, when pilgrims came to Dülmen to pray at her grave.

Please note: the packet is shown opened in the photographs; no linen fragment is visible inside, and it is offered as the original printed relic wrapper. Please study the photos carefully.

About Anne Catherine Emmerich

Born to a poor farming family in Flamschen near Coesfeld, she entered the Augustinian convent of Agnetenberg in Dülmen in 1802. After the convent was suppressed she lived bedridden in Dülmen, where she bore the stigmata and received the visions later written down by the poet Clemens Brentano as The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on 3 October 2004.

Details

• Type: printed relic packet (wrapper)
• Origin: Germany, Dülmen (Westphalia)
• Period: 19th century, before her beatification
• Language: German, Fraktur type
• Size: approx. 4.3 × 3.5 cm (1.7 × 1.4 in), folded
• Condition: good; light foxing and small spots, original folds

A delicate and early witness to the devotion to the mystic of Dülmen. The item you receive is the exact one pictured.