July 26 – Saints Anne and Joachim

Note:  You can read more about Saints Anne and Joachim in my ongong series of articles "Glorious St. Anne" (click here) to access the first in the series.
Today we celebrate the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim, the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Although there is no evidence about them in the New Testament, there had to be two people who were Mary’s parents. We do not know if Anne (Hannah) and Joachim were actually their names, but those are the names that have been associated with them from an early extra-Biblical tradition.

Over time, most of the devotion to this couple has centered on St. Anne, the mother, rather than St. Joachim, the father. It is, of course, the mother that provides the actual physical link, a sort of holy version of mitochondrial DNA, for out of the mother comes the Mother and from the Mother comes the Son. That is why some of the most famous images of St. Anne, Mary and Jesus in the history of art have the somewhat curious look of Russian nested dolls. Among the famous images are those of the early fifteenth-century Florentine artist, Masaccio (Florence, Uffizi) as well as the later fifteenth-century Florentine, Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo’s image exists in two versions, a large drawing (more properly a cartoon) in the National Gallery in London (at left) and a modified painting in the Louvre in Paris. In these images, Jesus sits on Mary’s lap, while Mary herself sits on her mother’s lap. While emphasizing the blood relationship of the group, the arrangement seems today somewhat awkward, even comical.

This may be why, following the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response, painting in the Catholic countries (there was little such work in the Protestant countries) the emphasis shifted from the mere blood relationship to Anne’s role in preparing Mary for her eventual role as Mother. Thus, the most popular image of St. Anne became that of “The Education of the Virgin”. Almost all of these images show St. Anne teaching Mary by encouraging her to read the Scriptures. Among the most famous versions are those by Peter Paul Rubens (Brussels, Museé Royaux des Beaux-Arts) and Georges de la Tour (New York, Frick Collection -- see yesterday's post for image). But there are many others.

By contrast, Joachim plays only a small role in the iconography of this holy couple. Probably the most famous example of his inclusion comes from Giotto’s paintings of the lives of Joachim and Anne in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Here are laid out the stories taken from the early traditions, of the couple, humiliated for their childlessness, and of the response to their prayers in separate angelic visitations and of their touching meeting at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem.

Today, we honor them both for their role as parents and grandparents.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Good St. Anne

Georges de La Tour, Education of the Virgin
French, ca. 1650
New York, Frick Collection

My Manhattan parish, St. Jean Baptiste (St. John the Baptist) had been the home of a novena in honor of St. Anne since 1892. In that year we received a relic of St. Anne, a portion of the relic held in St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec.

We are currently in the midst of the 2008 novena, the 117th year. Crowds come from all over the New York/Long Island/New Jersey area, especially on the last three days. The culmination of the novena comes on the feast day of Saints Anne and Joachim, July 26th.

Each day of the novena there are two novena services, with Mass and a special preacher. In the evening there is a procession with the Blessed Sacrament, followed by Benediction and veneration of the relic. I’ve been attending for twenty years now and each year I am impressed by the devotion of the people who come. They come in great diversity --- children and old people; black and white; European, African and Asian; wealthy people from Park Avenue and poor from the outer boroughs; people with advanced degrees and those with little formal education. Some of them come with very specific prayer requests to make to St. Anne, some come with no other thought than to honor the woman who was the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. And every year there are stories of favors granted. After all, St. Anne has connections!

But I am mostly inspired by the procession with the Blessed Sacrament. It wends its way around the church, getting bigger and bigger every night, till on the feast day, it can barely move. Until three years ago it was candlelit, like the outdoor procession at Lourdes. I had always wondered why no one was every set on fire. Then, three years ago it happened. Toward the end of the procession there was a sudden flash of light as a carelessly held candle set fire to the long pony tail of a woman in front, who was totally unaware that her hair was blazing. And, thanks to the quick actions of several people around her, the first she knew of it was when it was already being extinguished. She suffered no more than a singed pony tail, thank God. However, the procession is no longer made with lighted candles.

Aside from such excitements, the principle thing that inspires me about the procession and benediction is how it represents two visions of the Body of Christ. During the procession and at the Benediction we adore the presence of Christ in the Eucharistic Host. Yet, the congregation, in all its amazing diversity, is also part of the Mystical Body of Christ. In the moments of adoration, we are in a sense, already on the threshold of heaven as we members of the Mystical Body contemplate Him veiled in Bread, as we will one day, hopefully, contemplate Him directly.

World Youth Day

Like many other people I’ve been watching the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney. It’s been mighty impressive to see so many young people from all over the world enthusiastically participating in religious activities. Combined with my own experiences during Pope Benedict’s visit to New York in April, it makes me ponder…..


When I was a young child there were many occasions for a young person to be part of diocesan-wide activities. My parents brought me, year after year, to a Rosary event that took place at the Polo Grounds (the home of the old New York baseball Giants team).






Then there was the time that I was chosen to represent my school at a Mission Sunday event at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Along with a classmate, I was dressed as a miniature Daughter of Charity and joined hundreds of other children (boys and girls) attired as members of other religious orders. Not surprisingly our headgear attracted so much attention that our photo appeared next day in the pages of two New York newspapers! My father kept one of those pictures folded up in his wallet for years and years. I found it there after his death.

But in my later teen years and ever since, such big church events have been pretty hard to come by. The stadiums became the venues for rock concerts and the cathedral was a place to which one seldom went. In fact, it’s sometimes been difficult to see oneself as part of anything bigger than the attendance of the Mass I go to, or maybe the parish gathered for some special event. That’s why events like a Mass at a Yankee Stadium or a Central Park are great. One suddenly sees oneself as a member of something very large, a worldwide group of believers in the Gospel, in the traditions of the Catholic Church as the carrier of the Gospel, and, as the Body of Christ, congregated around His Eucharistic Body. Sometimes we need that kind of experience of being together as Catholics. Indeed, the character of the Catholic faith may positively require it.

How I wish there had been a World Youth Day when I was in my teens, twenties and thirties! (The first one happened near the end of my thirties and I was barely aware of it.) Events like it might have saved many of my cohort from loss of faith, from discouragement and drifting away. I pray that the young people who went to Sydney will be profoundly affected for their entire lives. Even if only 10% of those who go to each WYD remain permanently affected, what a blessing for the church!