Saints Joachim and Anne

**Saints Joachim and Anne** are venerated as the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus Christ. Though not mentioned in the canonical Gospels, their story comes from the second-century *Protoevangelium of James*, which shaped Christian devotion to Mary's parents across East and West. ## Life According to Tradition Joachim and Anne lived in Nazareth (or, in some traditions, near Jerusalem or Sepphoris). Childless into old age, they endured the social stigma that barrenness carried in ancient Israel. According to the *Protoevangelium*, Joachim retreated to the wilderness to fast and pray while Anne remained at home, lamenting her condition. An angel appeared to each separately, announcing that Anne would conceive a child destined for greatness. They met at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, and Anne conceived the one who would bear the Savior. Mary was born and, at age three, presented at the Temple in Jerusalem—an event celebrated liturgically as the Presentation of Mary. Joachim and Anne's role as the couple who raised the future Mother of God gave them a unique place in salvation history: the grandparents who formed the young woman who would say *fiat* to Gabriel. The *Anna Selbdritt* ("Anne, third of her line") became a beloved artistic motif in medieval Europe: Anne seated with Mary on her lap and the Christ Child on Mary's knee—three generations of sacred lineage in a single composition. ## Patronage St. Anne is patron of: - Mothers and grandmothers - Pregnant women and those struggling with infertility - Miners - Cabinetmakers and woodworkers - Housewives - Women in labor - The Province of Quebec - Brittany, France St. Joachim is patron of: - Fathers and grandfathers - Married couples ## Feast Day **July 26** — The feast of Saints Joachim and Anne is celebrated throughout the universal Church. Anne's feast was observed separately on July 26 in the West before the 1969 calendar reform united the parents of Mary on a single day. ## Key Pilgrimage Sites - **Sainte-Anne-d'Auray** (Brittany, France) — major pilgrimage site - **Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré** (Quebec, Canada) — North America's principal Anne shrine - **Sepphoris** (Holy Land) — traditional home of Joachim and Anne, with Crusader church ruins - **Annaberg** (Austria) — Austria's first St. Anne pilgrimage - **Düren** (Germany) — head relic of St. Anne - **Apt** (France) — body relic venerated since Carolingian times - **Góra Świętej Anny** (Poland) — St. Anne Mountain pilgrimage site ## Sources [St. Anne](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01538a.htm) — Catholic Encyclopedia biography with devotional history. (*New Advent*) [Protoevangelium of James](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm) — The apocryphal text describing Anne's life and Mary's birth. (*New Advent*)