Glorious Saint Anne – Iconography of Saint Anne, Day 1 – Announcing Mary’s Birth



Veit Stoss, Saints Anne and Joachim
German, Painted wood, c. 1477-1489
Krakow, Church of Saint Mary


July 26th is the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim, the names traditionally given to the parents of the Virgin Mary, the grandparents of Jesus.

The names first appeared in the Protoevangelion of James, written in the mid-second century. Their real names are unknown, although it is certainly possible that the names we know are correct.

During the nine days leading up to the feast day churches with a special devotion to Saint Anne often hold a special prayer event called a “novena” (from the Latin for the number 9). Here in New York City the parish of Saint Jean Baptiste is blessed to possess a relic of Saint Anne, as well as holding a novena.  If you are in the New York area you will be very welcome to join.  (Please note that for 2022, due to the effects of the coronavirus, the traditional novena has been reduced.  There is one Mass daily, at which the relic of Saint Anne may be venerated.  On the feastday itself there will be two, one at noon and one at 7:30 PM.  Details can be found on the parish website, www.sjbny.org.)

And, while I may also attend the novena in person, this is my own personal web offering to Saints Joachim and Anne, their immaculate daughter and their Divine Grandson –- ten essays on the iconography of Saints Anne and Joachim.

Blessed Virgin Mary with Saints Anne and Joachim
from the Lisle Hours
English, 1316-1331
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS G.50, fol. 17

There is no record of Mary’s parents, whatever their names may have been, in the canonical New Testament. So, their names and all the stories we have about them come from non-canonical, apocryphal sources, such as the Protoevangelion of James. That the sources are non-canonical need not concern us, as the story of their lives is not an actual article of faith. Old traditions, transmitted orally, often have large kernels of truth.

Blessed Virgin Mary with Saints Anne and Joachim

From Speculum humanae salvationis

French, Mid-15th Century

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France

MS Francais 188, fol. 8v

Initially, Joachim and Anne were more honored in the Eastern (Greek-speaking) Church than in the Western (Latin-speaking) Church. However, the inclusion of material drawn from the Protoevangelion into the extremely influential Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) by Jacobus de Voragine (written in the mid-13th century) spread the story of Joachim and Anne to the West, where these saints, and especially Saint Anne, became as popular as they were in the Eastern Church. 


In many ways the legends that surround Mary’s parents draw on several sources in both the Old and New Testaments. The theme of barren parents made fruitful in order to produce a special child and to whom this birth is announced by a supernatural messenger occurs in several places. There is the story of Abraham and Sarah, the story of the birth of Samuel, and that of the birth of John the Baptist. It is, therefore, not surprising that the story of Anne and Joachim should have this element as well.

Joachim and Anne

Joachim's Sacrifice Rejected
from Hours of the Virgin
French (Paris), 14900-1500
The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliothek
MS 76 F 14, fol. 29r (detail)

In the story told in the Golden Legend, Joachim, who hailed from Nazareth in Galilee, married Anne, who came from Bethlehem in Judea. Both were descendants of the house of David.

A Sacrifice Scorned

After 20 years of childless marriage they had prayed to God that if they should have a child, they would dedicate that child to His service. At this point, a priest of the Temple rejected a sacrifice brought by Joachim on the grounds that he was childless and, therefore, did not have the standing necessary to offer acceptable sacrifice.

Giotto, Rejection of Joachim's Sacrifice
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

This rejection so upset Joachim that, instead of returning home, he fled to the countryside and stayed with the herdsmen who tended his flocks and herds.

Giotto, Saint Joachim Among the Shepherds
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena Chapel

An Angelic Message

Giotto, Angel Announcing the Birth of Mary to Saint Anne
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

While Joachim was in the country both he and Anne had angelic visitations.

Giotto, Saint Joachim's Dream
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

Giotto, Joachim's Sacrifice and an Angelic Visitor
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

The angel told each of them that God had heard their prayers and that they were to become parents of a child who would be “from her infancy sacred unto our Lord, and shall be full of the Holy Ghost”1. 

Anonymous, Annunciation to Saints Anne and Joachim
from Speculum humanae salvationis
Italian (Bologna), c. 1350-1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Arsenal 593, fol. 5

Annunciation of the Birth of Mary to Saint Anne
from Fleur des victoires by Jean Mansel
French, c. 1450-1475
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 56, fol. 6

Bartolo di Fredi, Annunciation to Joachim
Italian, c. 1383
Vatican, Pinacoteca

Quentin Massys, Annunciation to Saint Joachim
Flemish, c. 1507-1508
Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

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1.  The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275.  First Edition Published 1470. 
Englished by William Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922, 1931.), Vol. 5, pp. 47-54.

© M. Duffy, 2011, images updated 2022