“I prayed to St. Anthony,” says Anna Pachella, one of several St. Patrick’s parishioners who escaped the June 9 blaze that destroyed their Maple Ridge apartment across the street from the church.
“That is why we are all out without any deaths in the fire,” the 85-year-old Pachella told The B.C. Catholic in an interview.
Pachella remembers being roused by the fire alarm around midnight.
“I thought, ‘oh my goodness, I left the stove on!’” she recalled.
“People were in the hallway saying ‘Anna! Fire! Fire!’ I only had time to get one blanket from my bed, and my walker.”
As a neighbour from the fourth floor helped her down the apartment stairs, she could see the nearby construction site where the fire started.
“I could feel the heat from the fire,” she said. “I won’t say I was scared, but there are no real words to explain. It was terrible.”
As she tells the story of escaping the fire Pachella is remarkably calm. It’s important to keep your faith in God, she says, even when bad things happen. Such as when her daughter came to pick her up.
“She couldn’t drive in because the road was close to the fire,” Pachella said.
“She was very upset. In the morning all my grandchildren came, and I told them, ‘Don’t be sad. I have you. I am OK.’”
She laughed, saying, “The family gets more upset than I do.”
As a member of both the Legion of Mary and the Catholic Women’s League, Pachella is very involved in the St. Patrick’s community. She’s also a daily Massgoer and says God has always given her the spiritual and physical strength to weather life’s hardships.
Even now as she stays with her son in his Vancouver apartment her focus is on others. Although she doesn’t know any of her new neighbours, it doesn’t stop her from asking around to see if anyone needs help. She recently connected with a non-Catholic neighbour and invited her to Mass. “I feel happy when we get together and pray together and share each other,” she said.
“The love for Jesus is very good, but love of our neighbor is important too. You always need to look for people to bring the love of Jesus to support them.”
Just as she relates her own story, Pachella likes to hear what others have to say. “Everyone has their own story,” she said.
She tries to focus on the good in the world. “Some people, they say, ‘oh, the world is bad.’ Yes. Of course: it’s the world. But we must bring good to other people.”
For Pachella, prayer and devotion to the Virgin Mary are essential when dealing with hardship. Reflecting on her life, from her childhood in Italy through her travels that eventually led to Canada, she said, “There is nothing I can do on my own, but the Blessed Mother keeps us under her mantle.”
Even though the fire destroyed everything she had, including photos, religious art, and jewelry her husband gave her during their life together, she is adjusting well.
“I miss all that, and it cannot be replaced,” she said. “My son just went to the Catholic store and bought me a beautiful statue of the immaculate Heart of Mary.”
“Miraculosa! It was a miracle,” she said. “Thank God for the family. Family is very important in my life,” she said.
We welcome letters to the editor about articles in The B.C. Catholic.
