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 historical nor canonicalwritings. The information we have on Joachim derives mainly from the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James.
Saint AnneMother of Our Lady. Grandmother of Jesus Christ. Wife of Saint Joachim. Probably well off. Tradition says that Anne was quiteelderly when Mary was born, and that she was their only child. The belief that Anne remained a virgin in the conception and birth ofMary 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.
