Saint Joachim | |
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Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Virgin Mary
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Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Confessor | |
Born | ca. 100 B.C. Nazareth |
Died | Unknown, Jerusalem Nazareth |
Venerated in |
Catholic Church Orthodox Churches Anglican Communion Aglipayan Church Islam |
Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
Feast | July 26 (Anglican Communion), (Catholic Church); September 9 (Eastern Orthodox Church), (Greek Catholics); Calendar, 1738-1913); August 16 (General Roman Calendar, 1913-1969) |
Attributes | Lamb, doves, with Saint Anne or Mary |
Patronage | Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, fathers, grandparents, Fasnia (Tenerife) |
Saint Joachim (/ˈdʒoʊ.əkɪm/; "he whom Yahweh has set up", Hebrew: יְהוֹיָקִים Yəhôyāqîm, Greek Ἰωακείμ Iōākeím) was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in the Bible. His feast day is July 26.
Since the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke do not explicitly name either of Mary's parents, but apparently name two different fathers for Saint Joseph, many scholars from John of Damascus (8th century), and particularly Protestant scholars, argue that the genealogy in Luke is actually the family tree of Mary, and that Heli is her father. To resolve the problem of Joseph having two fathers - one descended from Solomon, son of David, one descended from Nathan, traditions from the 7th century specify that Heli was a first cousin of Joachim.