Sts. Joachim & Anna Icon

Memorial

    * 26 July

Profile

    Mother of Our Lady. Grandmother of Jesus Christ. Wife of Saint Joachim. Probably well off. Tradition says that Anne was quite elderly when Mary was born, and that she was their only child. The belief that Anne remained a virgin in the conception and birth of Mary was condemned by the Vatican in 1677. Believed to have given Mary to the service of the Temple when the girl was three years old. Devotion to her has been popular in the East from the very early days of the Church; widespread devotion in the West began in the 16th century, but many shrines have developed since.

Canonized

    * devotion is Pre-Congregation
    * cultus extended to the whole Church in 1584

Name Meaning

    * gracious one; grace (= Anne)

Patronage

    * against poverty
    * against sterility
    * broommakers
    * cabinetmakers
    * carpenters
    * childless people
    * equestrians
    * expectant mothers
    * grandmothers
    * grandparents
    * homemakers
    * horse men
    * horse women
    * housewives
    * lace makers
    * lace workers
    * lost articles
    * miners
    * mothers
    * old-clothes dealers
    * poor people
    * pregnancy
    * pregnant women
    * riders
    * seamstresses
    * stablemen
    * turners
    * women in labour
    * Canada
    * France
    * Micmaqs
    * Caxito, Angola, diocese of
    * Detroit, Michigan, archdiocese of
    * Norwich, Connecticut, diocese of
    * Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Québec, diocese of
    * Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
    * Boschi Sant’Anna, Italy
    * Brittany, France
    * Caserta, Italy
    * Castelletto d’Erro, Italy
    * Corinaldo, Italy
    * Marsaskala, Malta
    * Molo, Philippines
    * Nueva Valencia, Philippines
    * Quebec, Canada
    * Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, Quebec
    * Santa Ana Indian Pueblo
    * San Joaquin, Philippines
    * Taos, New Mexico

Representation

    * door
    * holding Mary or Jesus in her arms or lap
    * at her betrothal to Joachim
    * teaching Mary to read the Bible
    * greeting Saint Joachim at Golden Gate
    * woman with a book in her hand

 

Also known as
    Heli

Memorial
    26 July

Profile
    Husband of Saint Anne, elderly father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Grandfather of Jesus Christ. Probably well off. Tradition says that while he was away from home, he and Anne each received a message from an angel that she was pregnant. Believed to have given Mary to the service of the Temple when the girl was three years old.

    Joachim is mentioned in neither historial or canonical writings. The information we have on Joachim derives mainly from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James.

Born
    Galilean

Died
    the traditional tomb of Saint Anne and Saint Joachim was rediscovered in Jerusalem in 1889

Name Meaning
    Yahweh prepares

Patronage
    Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
    fathers
    grandfathers
    grandparents