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Saint
Joachim
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 or canonical writings. The
information we have on Joachim derives mainly from the apocryphal
Protoevangelium of James.
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Saint Anne
Mother of Our Lady. Grandmother of Jesus Christ. Wife of Saint Joachim.
Probably well off. Tradition says that Anne was quite elderly when Mary
was born, and that she was their only child. The belief that Anne remained
a virgin in the conception and birth of Mary 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.
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