Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Western feast day of Saints Joachim and Anna (or Anne), the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Little emphasis has been placed on the lives of these two individuals in the Protestant tradition, likely because of the paucity of historical information about them (the main sources for their lives are an early apocryphal account and a popular medieval hagiography). However, Joachim and Anna are considered to be saints in the Roman Catholic and Easter Orthodox communions.

I offer two simple resources for these two, considered to be patron saints of married couples and grandparents, among other things.

One is a short statement from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, which beautifully and succinctly summarized the importance of Joachim and Anna within the Christian tradition.

The second is a brief reflection on the lives of Joachim and Anna, of Mary, and of Christ, as told through the beautiful 14th-century frescos in the Franciscan Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin