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Saint
Joachim
Profile
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.
Born
Galilean
Died
the traditional tomb of Saint Anne and Saint Joachim was rediscovered in
Jerusalem in 1889
Name Meaning
Yahweh prepares
Patronage
fathers, grandfathers, grandparents
Representation
man bringing a lamb to the altar and being turned away by the priest;
greeting and/or kissing Saint Anne at the Golden Gate; elderly man
carrying a basket of doves and a staff; elderly man with the child Mary
Readings
Joachim and Anne, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you.
For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other
gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him.
Joachim and Anne, how blessed and spotless a couple! You will be known by
the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: "By their fruits you will know
them." The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your
daughter. For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have
fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during,
and after giving birth. She along for all time would maintain her
virginity in mind and soul as well as in body.
Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While leading a devout and holy
life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the
angels, whose queen she now is.
from a sermon by Bishop Saint John Damascene
Saint Anne
Profile
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.
Canonized
cult extended to the whole Church in 1584
Name Meaning
gracious one; grace (= Anne)
Patronage
against poverty, Brittany, broom makers, cabinetmakers, Canada,
carpenters, childless people, equestrians, France, grandmothers,
grandparents, homemakers, horse men, housewives, lace makers, lace
workers, lost articles, miners, mothers, diocese of Norwich, Connecticut,
old-clothes dealers, poverty, pregnancy, pregnant women, Quebec, Santa Ana
Indian Pueblo, riders, seamstresses, stablemen, sterility, Taos New
Mexico, turners, women in labor
Representation
door; holding Mary or Jesus in her arms or lap; at her betrothal to
Joachim; teaching Mary to read the Bible; greeting Saint Joachim at Golden
Gate; woman with a book in her hand
Readings
Joachim and Anne, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you.
For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other
gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him.
Joachim and Anne, how blessed and spotless a couple! You will be known by
the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: "By their fruits you will know
them." The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your
daughter. For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have
fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during,
and after giving birth. She along for all time would maintain her
virginity in mind and soul as well as in body.
Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While leading a devout and holy
life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the
angels, whose queen she now is.
from a sermon by Bishop Saint John Damascene
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Many early Canadian fur traders were Catholic; not only the
French-Canadian voyageurs, but their mostly-Scottish employers as well;
it's not surprising that they should have had a patron saint. In the
memoirs of Alexander Henry (the Elder), written in 1804, he wrote of his
first venture into the Canadian fur trade in 1761:
"Saint Anne is the patroness of the Canadians, in all their travels by
water."
Henry was a partner in the North West Company, the fur trading company
which employed the largest number of voyageurs for the longest time.
From the _Narrative_ of Peter Pond, a founding partner of the North West
Company, written c. 1800, and recounting his experiences in 1773: (My
transliteration, from his very idiosyncratic spelling system!).
...This church is dedicated to Saint Anne who protects all voyageurs. Here
is a small box with a hole in the top for the reception of a little money
for the holy father to say a small mass for those who put a small sum in
the box. Scarce a voyageur but stops here and puts in his mite and by that
means they suppose that they are protected while absent. The church is not
locked but the money box is well secured from thieves. After the ceremony
of crossing themselves and repeating a small prayer we crossed the lake...
From the 1793 journal of John Macdonnell, clerk of the North West Company:
At the church of Saint Anns the crews of the canoes collected a voluntary
donation amongst themselves to which I contributed my mite, in order to
have prayers said for the prosperity of the voyage and a safe return to
those engaged in it, to their friends and families....
The next day, we reached Saint Ann's, thirty miles from Montreal. Here we
passed the day in repairing the Canoes. I went with others to see the
Church & was persuaded to 'promise a Mass' to 'beseech Gods blessing'. I
did, and put a shilling in the box of the Roman Church in Montreal, when I
returned in 1816 for I had no money then.
This church was at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, on the west end of
Montreal Island, and was the last one that the voyageurs passed before
returning from their work in the fur trade, months or years later. The
voyageurs had a very hazardous profession; many voyageurs drowned running
treacherous rapids in frail birchbark canoes (sometimes entire canoe crews
perished). Other times, voyageurs survived the rapids only to starve to
death during the winter. My area of study & research ends at 1821, so I
don't know much about Saint Anne's role in the fur trade after that.
However, Fort Michilimackinac excavated a Saint Anne's medal which was
dated to c. 1840-1860.
Angela Gottfred Editor, Northwest Journal
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