There are no references in the Bible to Joachim and Anna, Mary’s parents, and no reliable information has come down to us today. What we have is derived from apocryphal texts, such as the Protoevangelium of James and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, as well as from tradition.

Offspring, a sign of God’s love

Anna seems to have been the daughter of Achar and the sister of Esmeralda, who was the mother of Elizabeth and, therefore, the grandmother of John the Baptist. Joachim is described as a virtuous and very wealthy man of the lineage of David, who used to offer part of the proceeds of his goods to the people and part in sacrifice to God. Both lived in Jerusalem. Married, Joachim and Anna remained childless for twenty years. For the Jews of that time, not producing offspring was a sign of a lack of God’s blessing and favor; therefore, one day, while bringing his offerings to the Temple, Joachim was rebuked by a man named Reuben (perhaps a priest or a scribe): unworthy for not having procreated, in fact, according to him, he had no right to present his offerings. Joachim, humiliated and scandalized by these words, decided to retreat to the desert and, for forty days and forty nights, implored God, between tears and fasting, to grant him offspring. Ana also spent days in prayer, asking God for the grace of motherhood.

The announcement of the birth of Mary

The prayers of Joachim and Anna are heard in heaven; therefore, an angel appears to them separately and warns them that they are about to become parents. The meeting of the two at the door of their home after the announcement is enriched with legendary details. The kiss the married couple exchanged was given before the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, the place where, according to Jewish tradition, the divine presence and the coming of the Messiah were manifested.

The iconography of this kiss is further expanded in front of the famous gate that Christians believe is the one through which Jesus entered the Holy City on Palm Sunday. Months after Joachim’s return, Anna gives birth to Mary. The child is raised in the loving care of her father and mother, in the house that was located near the Pool of Bethesda. There, in the 12th century, the Crusaders built a church, still standing, dedicated to Anna, who educated her daughter in the domestic arts.

The cult

When Mary turned 3, Joachim and Anne presented her at the Temple to give thanks to God, to consecrate her to the service of the same Temple, as they had promised in their prayers. The Apocrypha tells us nothing further about Joachim, while it is said that Anne lived to be 80 years old. Her relics were kept for a long time in the Holy Land, then transferred to France and buried in a chapel excavated beneath the cathedral of Apt. Their discovery and identification would later be accompanied by several miracles. The cult of Jesus’ grandparents developed first in the East, then in the West, and over the centuries the Church has commemorated them on different dates. In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV introduced the feast of Saint Anne into the Roman Breviary, setting the date of the liturgical memorial at July 26, which was later passed down as the day of her death. In 1584, Gregory XIII introduced the liturgical celebration of Saint Anne into the Roman Missal, extending it to the entire Church. In 1510, however, it was Julius II who introduced the feast of Saint Joachim into the liturgical calendar on March 20, which was moved several times over the following centuries. With the liturgical reform following the Second Vatican Council in 1969, Mary’s parents were “united” in a single celebration on July 26.