Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Virgin Mary, honored July 26

Sts. Joachim and Anne

By Benjamin Mann

Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2011 / 07:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).-

On July 26 the Roman Catholic Church commemorates the parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne. The couple’s faith and perseverance brought them through the sorrow of childlessness, to the joy of conceiving and raising the immaculate and sinless woman who would give birth to Christ.

The New Testament contains no specific information about the lives of the Virgin Mary’s parents, but other documents outside of the Biblical canon do provide some details. Although these writings are not considered authoritative in the same manner as the Bible, they outline some of the Church’s traditional beliefs about Joachim, Anne and their daughter.

The “Protoevangelium of James,” which was probably put into its final written form in the early second century, describes Mary’s father Joachim as a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Joachim was deeply grieved, along with his wife Anne, by their childlessness. “He called to mind Abraham,” the early Christian writing says, “that in the last day God gave him a son Isaac.”

Joachim and Anne began to devote themselves to rigorous prayer and fasting, in isolation from one another and from society. They regarded their inability to conceive a child as a surpassing misfortune, and a sign of shame among the tribes of Israel.

As it turned out, however, the couple were to be blessed even more abundantly than Abraham and Sarah. An angel revealed this to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”

After Mary’s birth, according to the Protoevangelium of James, Anne “made a sanctuary” in the infant girl’s room, and “allowed nothing common or unclean” on account of the special holiness of the child. The same writing records that when she was one year old, her father “made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel.”

“And Joachim brought the child to the priests,” the account continues, “and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations’ … And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be forever.’”

The protoevangelium goes on to describe how Mary’s parents, along with the temple priests, subsequently decided that she would be offered to God as a consecrated Virgin for the rest of her life, and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.

St. Joachim and St. Anne have been a part of the Church’s liturgical calendar for many centuries. Devotion to their memory is particularly strong in the Eastern Catholic churches, where their intercession is invoked by the priest at the end of each Divine Liturgy. The Eastern churches, however, celebrate Sts. Joachim and Anne on a different date, Sept. 9.

BROKEN CROSSES

From the Desk of Sr. Emmanuel Maillard:

1. [More than a month ago alleged seer] Mirjana Soldo [of Medjugorje] received her monthly apparition at the Blue Cross, in the presence of a fairly large crowd. After the apparition, she shared the following message:

“Dear children! My motherly heart desires your true conversion and a firm faith so that you may be able to spread love and peace to all those who surround you. But, my children, do not forget: each of you is a unique world before the Heavenly Father. Therefore, permit the continuous working of the Holy Spirit to work on you. Be my spiritually pure children. In spirituality is beauty. Everything that is spiritual is alive and very beautiful. Do not forget that in the Eucharist, which is the heart of faith, my Son is always with you. He comes to you and breaks the bread with you; because, my children, for your sake He died, He resurrected and is coming anew. These words of mine are familiar to you because they are the truth, and the truth does not change. It is only that many of my children have forgotten it. My children, my words are neither old nor new, they are eternal. Therefore, I invite you, my children, to observe well the signs of the times, to ‘gather the shattered crosses’ and to be apostles of the revelation. Thank you.”

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