St. Anne

St. Anne is honored as the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Our Lord. Christian tradition remembers Anne and Joachim as a faithful married couple who endured years of childlessness with prayer and trust in God. Their sorrow was answered with the birth of Mary, the Immaculate Mother from whom Christ would take His human nature.

The names and familiar scenes of their life come through ancient Christian tradition rather than the canonical Gospels. The Church nevertheless received St. Anne’s memory with deep affection in both East and West. Churches were dedicated in her honor from early centuries, and generations of families turned to her as a patroness of mothers, grandmothers, marriage, and the Christian home.

St. Anne’s hidden vocation was to prepare the home in which the Blessed Virgin would first learn prayer, love, and obedience to God. Her feast honors the quiet holiness through which one generation prepares the next to receive Christ.