Ad Imaginem Dei: prayer to St. Anne

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Saturday, July 26, 2025

Glorious Saint Anne – The Iconography of Saint Anne

Masaccio, Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Italian, 1424
Florence, Uffizi Gallery

The course of the year has come round, once again, to the middle of July and the start of the period in which the Church turns to honor Saint Anne and her husband, Saint Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus. As it has every July since 1892, my home parish in New York will be honoring St. Anne during the nine day novena and feast day, from July 17th to July 26th. The schedule is shown below.

During the ten-day period in 2011, I posted a series of essays on the iconography of Saint Anne. The list of topics is shown below. I refer readers to them. I've updated some with additional images, as I've found them during the past year.

1. Introduction, The Background of Joachim and Anne plus the Annunciation of Mary's Birth
2. The Meeting of Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate
3. The Birth of Mary
4. The Presentation of Mary in the Temple
5. Saint Anne as Teacher (The Education of the Virgin Mary)
6. Anne, Root of the Tree of Salvation (the Anna selbdritt image)
7. Saint Anne, Grandmother
8. Saint Anne, Matriarch of the Holy Kindred
9. Saint Anne in the Communion of Saints
10. Saint Anne, Patron and Intercessor

I have also published additional images of Saint Anne in annual supplements. To see these click on the year or title:
Saint Anne at the Met
2014
2016
2017
2018
2019

2020

2022

Please note that there was no updates for 2023 or 2024. Circumstances have prevented that work. In 2023, a computer crash destroyed the image files and in 2024 a fall prevented any work being done. I am still trying to catch up.

In the meantime, you may want to join in the daily prayer to Saint Anne, recited during each day of the novena.

You can access the 2025 novena schedule here Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste.

Luca Vescia, Saint Anne and Mary
Italian, 1911
New York, Saint Jean Baptiste Church, Shrine of Saint Anne

Novena Prayer to Saint Anne
"O glorious Saint Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen."

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

2016 -- Saint Anne Update

Bernardino Luini, Saint Anne
Italian, 1523
Philadelphia, Museum of Fine Art

July 26^th is the feast day of Saints Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. They, especially St. Anne, have been important saints for most of the life of the Church and frequently featured in Christian art.

Over several years I have posted various images of Saints Anne and Joachim. The number keeps growing because, as the internet becomes a more widely available tool, the number of museums and libraries that are making their collections available online keeps growing. Further, museums and libraries that were early participants in making collections available by releasing parts of their holdings keep adding to their online presence. Since Anne and Joachim have been important for so long, we are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg of images that probably exist.

Each year I propose to continue to add to the collection of images available through this blog as new ones become accessible. I will endeavor to link these images with the essays about their iconological type which I did in 2011.

So, now I present the 2016 additions to the iconography of St. Anne.

Birth of Mary

Jean Bellegambe, Pregnant Saint Anne
French, c.1500
Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse

Saint Anne as Teacher (Education of the Virgin Mary)

Master of the Getty Epistles, Education of the Virgin Mary
from Book of Hours
French (Tours), 1525-1540
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 452, fol. 140r

Education of the Virgin (ivory carving)
(Chinese?), 17th century
Paris, Musée Guimet, Musée national des Arts asiatiques

Anne,the Root of the Tree of Salvation (the Anna Selbdritt image)

Anna Selbdritt
German (Bavarian), 1472
Paris, Musée de Cluny, Musée nationale du moyen age

Circle of Daniel Mauch, Anna Selbdritt
German, c.1500
Marseille_Musée Grobet Labadie

Saint Anne, Grandmother

Defendente Ferrari, Madonna and Child with Saint Anne
Italian, 1528
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

Dirk van Hoogstraten, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
Dutch, 1630
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

St. Anne, Matriarch of the Holy Kindred

Jean Fouquet, Holy Kindred
from Hours of Etienne Chevalier
French (Tours), 1452-1460
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Nouvelle acquisition latine 1416

Master of the Legend of Saint Anne, Holy Kindred

Netherlandish, 1475

Philadelphia, Museum of Art

Master of the Legend of Saint Anne, Holy Kindred
Netherlandish, 1475
Philadelphia, Museum of Art

Attributed to Matthaeus Gutrecht the Younger, Holy Kindred
German, c.1500-1510
Philadelphia, Museum of Art

Wood Carving, Holy Kindred
Austrian (Tyrol), c.1515-1520
London, Victoria and Albert Museum

Colin Nouailher, Holy Kindred
French, 1545
Paris, Musée du Louvre

Saint Anne's mother, identified by the name of Emerencia or Emerantia, was often included in the Holy Kindred or the Anna Selbdritt images. But, occasionally, she was accorded an image of her own.

Jan Provost, St. Emerencia, Mother of Saint Anne

Flemish, c.1500

Paris, Musée du Louvre

St. Anne, Patron and Intercessor

Bartel Bruyn the Younger, Catharina von Siegen, nee Kannegiesser, with Saint Anne and Virgin and Child

German, c..1565-1575

Philadelphia, Museum of Art

Prayer to Saint Anne

"O glorious Saint Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen."

Monday, July 25, 2011

Glorious Saint Anne – Iconography of Saint Anne, Feast Day, July 26 – Saint Anne, Patron and Intercessor

Masters of the Dark Eyes, Anna Geperts and Her Daughter

From a Prayer Book

Dutch or Flemish, ca. 1500

The Hague, Koninlijk Bibliothek,

MS KB 135 E 19, fol.1v

Most modern people encounter Saint Anne, not through a visual or written source, but through a name – Anne, Ann, Anna, Hannah, Aña, Aine, Anya and countless other variations. Of all the people who bear her name and of the churches, schools and other institutions named after her, she is the Patron Saint.

She is also the Patroness of: grandmothers, women who have trouble conceiving, unmarried women (hence the pseudo-prayer “Saint Anne, Saint Anne, find me a man”), miners, the French region of Brittany (which takes in the shrine of Sainte Anne d'Auray with its famous “pardon” or pilgrimage in her honor) and the Canadian province of Quebec, with its major shrine at Sainte Anne de Beaupre.

In many works of late medieval art women named Anne requested that their own portraits be added as donor images. In these works they are shown kneeling before her in prayer.

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne

From the Hours of Pierre de Bosredont

France (Langres), ca. 1465

New York, Morgan Library

MS G.55, fol. 112v

They frequently also requested a closer relationship with Saint Anne. In these cases they are shown kneeling in prayer before the the central image of the work of art as Saint Anne presents them to that central subject (often a Madonna and Child or scene of the Crucifixion).

Master of the Legend of Saint Ursula, Anna Nieuwenhove Presented by Saint Anne

Flemish, late 15th Century

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lehman Collection

Jean Bourdichon, Anne de Bretagne in Prayer Accompanied by Her Patron Saints

From the Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne

France (Tours), 1503-1508

Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France

MS Latin 9474, fol. 3

Here Saint. Anne appears alongside two royal saints as patrons of Anne de Bretagne, Duchess of Brittany and twice Queen of France (consort to Charles VIII and Louis XII).

These images demonstrate Saint Anne’s role as intercessor for those who claim her as their Patron or for those who request her prayers.

The Catholic doctrine of intercession is frequently misunderstood by non-Catholics (and some Catholics). It is based on the Christian belief in the Communion of Saints, the union of all the faithful, living and dead, in Christ.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Saint Anne with Donor

German, ca. 1514

Pedralbes, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection

As the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states regarding the Communion of Saints:

“This expression also refers to the communion between holy persons (sancti); that is, between those who by grace are united to the dead and risen Christ. Some are pilgrims on the earth; others, having passed from this life, are undergoing purification and are helped also by our prayers. Others already enjoy the glory of God and intercede for us. All of these together form in Christ one family, the Church, to the praise and glory of the Trinity.” 1

Since all members of the Communion are alive in Christ, “death no longer has power” (Romans 6:9). So, just as we can request the intercessory prayer of persons still living in this world, we can request the intercessory prayers of those who, having passed from this life, live now in “the glory of God” (see above).

There is no “now” and no “then” in God. In 2011, we can request the intercession of Saint Anne just as readily as our predecessors of 500 years ago, such as does Anna Nieuwenhove in a painting by the Master of the Saint Ursula Legend (above) or her contemporary Anne de Valois (also known as Anne de France) in the beautiful Bourbon Altarpiece by the Master of Moulins (identified as Jean Hey) or as readily as we can request the intercessory prayer of our own contemporary friend named Anne.

Master of Moulins (Jean Hey), Bourbon Altarpiece

French, ca. 1498

Moulins, Cathedral

Master of Moulins (Jean Hey). Saint Anne with Anne de Valois

Detail of the Bourbon Altarpiece

French, ca. 1498

Moulins, Cathedral

So, on this feast of Saints Joachim and Anne it is fitting to close with this prayer to Saint Anne:

O glorious Saint Anne, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you, and with love for those who suffer. Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention, which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue.

Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace on day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless him for all eternity. Amen.

Saints Anne and Joachim, pray for us.

Anonymous Alabaster Carver, Mary with Saints
Anne and Joachim
English, 15th Century
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Joos van Cleve, Madonna and Child with Saints Joachim

and Anne

Flemish, 1541

Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

_________________________________

1. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vatican, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005, #195

Uniquely among the monotheistic religions Christianity permits the use of images of God. Why? The answer lies in the Christian belief in the reality of the Incarnation. Since God has assumed human nature and form the Biblical prohibition against making images of God ceases to apply. As the second Council of Nicea declared in 787 "Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets."
(Council of Nicaea II: DS 600)

This decree of Nicea II was promulgated for the entire church, both Greek and Latin speaking, and was a response to the strongly held beliefs of the iconoclasts, who wished to suppress the use of images, which had convulsed the Byzantine Empire and the eastern churches for almost 100 years. In addition, St. John Damascene, last of the Greek Fathers and a staunch defender of images, had written in De imagine ("In Defense of Images") "Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, (Bar. 3.38) I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter." (St. John Damascene, De Imagine, Part I, 15-16, from Internet Medieival Sourcebook.)

The ways in which this imaging of the divine has been accomplished in the course of time is the subject of Christian iconography. To quote from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, iconography is "1: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject; 2: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject; 3: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art".

The iconography of any subject develops and changes over time. Christian iconography develops and changes too, as reflection on the Gospels and Tradition develops over time and as the act of making art develops and changes as well. This is the background for this blog.

Ad Imaginem Dei

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