Saints Joachim and Anne

The Gospels say nothing about the parents of the Virgin Mary. Their names, and the story of their lives, come to us from an ancient writing of the second century known as the Protoevangelium of James. It is not part of Scripture, but the Church has long treasured its tradition.

According to this account, Joachim and Anne were a devout and well-to-do couple who had grown old without children. They were grieved by this and ashamed of it. Joachim went into the desert to fast and pray, and Anne prayed in her garden. An angel came to each of them with the promise that they would have a child, and Anne vowed to give the child to God. Their daughter was Mary. When she was three years old they brought her to the Temple, which the Church remembers in the feast of the Presentation of Mary on 21 November. Their home was traditionally placed near the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, where the Crusaders built the church of Saint Anne.

Devotion to Saint Anne spread in the East by the sixth century and in the West during the Middle Ages. It became especially dear to the people of Brittany and of French Canada, where the shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré near Quebec draws pilgrims from all over North America.

In the child they received as a gift and gave back to God, Joachim and Anne prepared the way for the Incarnation. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis both spoke of them as models for grandparents, and in 2021 Pope Francis instituted the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, kept near their feast.