Saint of the Day: Sts Joachim and Anne

(First Century)

Their story

+ Although they are not mentioned in Scripture, ancient tradition holds that Joachim and Anne were the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The earliest record of their name is found in the apocryphal second-century text known as the Protoevangelium of James.

+ It is related that the elderly couple prayed that they would be given a child. While Joachim was in the desert and Anne prayed in their home, an angel appeared to them promising that Anne would conceive a child.

+ Devotion to the two saints spread quickly throughout the Eastern Church and devotion to Saint Anne became especially strong in the West. Since 1969, Saint Joachim and Anne have been honored together on July 26.

+ The liturgy of for the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne focuses our attention on God’s plan of salvation, beginning with the promises made to Abraham, through the prophets and patriarchs, and coming down to us through the parents of Mary, to Mary herself, and, ultimately, to Jesus. God has been faithful to these promises and remains faith to the promises made to us.

For prayer and reflection

“Mary grew up in the home of Joachim and Anne; she was surrounded by their love and faith: in their home she learned to listen to the Lord and to follow his will. Saints Joachim and Anne were part of a long chain of people who had transmitted their love for God, expressed in the warmth and love of family life, down to Mary, who received the Son of God in her womb and who gave him to the world, to us. How precious is the family as the privileged place for transmitting the faith!”—Pope Francis

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember Blessed Giuseppina Maria de Micheli. A religious sister of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception, she experienced a series of private revelations that inspired her to promote devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. Blessed Giuseppina died in Centonara d’Artò, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Italy, on July 26, 1945, and was beatified in 2010.

Vocations

To learn about the Sisters of St. Anne, visit: https://www.sistersofsaintanne.org/

Prayer

O Lord, God of our Fathers,
who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace,
that of them should be born the Mother of your incarnate Son,
grant, through the prayers of both,
that we may attain the salvation
you have promised to your people.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.