St. Joachim and St. Anna

Grandparents of our Lord Jesus Christ and parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joachim means "Yahweh prepares" and Anna means "graciousness". Tradition holds that while Joachim was away from home, both he and Anna each received angelic messages that St. Anna was pregnant at an elderly age. Both ran to find each other and greet one another with the news and eventually met at the Temple Gate. They dedicated their daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the service of the temple at the age of three. The traditional tomb of Sts. Anna and Joachim was re-found in 1889 in Jerusalem. Much of our modern day information on St. Joachim derives from the Protoevangelium of St. James. Devotion to St. Anna has always been strong in the Eastern church and became widespread in the Western church in the sixteenth century. They are considered the patrons of grandparents.