26 July: Sts. Joachim and Anna, parents of Mary, Mother of God

Today is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grandparents of the Savior. 

Here is their entry from the Martyrologium Romanum.

Memoria sanctorum Ioachim et Annae, parentum immaculatae Virginis Dei Genetricis Mariae, quorum nomina ab antiquis traditionibus christianorum ex Iudaeis servata sunt.

In the chapel of The Sabine Farm I have relics of both Joachim and Anna.

 

Also sharing the reliquary are St. Nicholas (yes, Santa Claus) and St. Paul, the Apostle, and St. Blaise, of throat blessing fame.

Maybe someone would like to render the Latin of the MartRom entry into perfect, smooth English?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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20 Comments

  1. How about:
    Memorial of Saints Ioachim and Anna, parents of the Immaculate Virgin, the God-bearer Mary, whose names were preserved in ancient tradtions of the Christians from among the Jews.

  2. Derik says:

    You will probably notice my spanish “accent”

    Memorial of Saints Joaquim and Anne, parents of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, whose names since an ancient Christian tradition are preserved among the Jews.

    Derik

  3. Derik says:

    Isn’t it funny how quickly translations of the Summorum Pontificum appeared, given that latin is a dead tongue, that nobody longer understand?

    Let’s start a contest for the best translation of Summorum Pontificum!

    Derik

  4. RC says:

    The memorial of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, saints whose names among the Jews have been preserved by ancient traditions among Christians.

  5. Animadversor says:

    Taking ex Iudaeis with christianorum: The feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, the immaculate Virgin Mother of God, whose names have been preserved by the ancient traditions of Christians from [among] the Jews.

    Taking ex Iudaeis with servata sunt (which seems more plausible): The feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, the immaculate Virgin Mother of God, whose names have been preserved from the Jews by the ancient traditions of Christians.

  6. Jenny Z says:

    Sort of off the subject, but not really…

    Our church has a relic of St. Joseph, but I always wondered, for relics that old, how do we know who they really came from?

  7. I think that second one is it, Animadversor. I always have trouble with ablative.

  8. Andrew says:

    … ab antiquis traditionibus christianorum ex Iudaeis servata sunt.

    This is a good example to differentiate between “ab” and “ex”.

    One can depart “from” the city (ex urbe) if he is “in the city” (in urbe) and one can depart from the city’s proximity “ab urbe” if he is not actually in the city.

    “Ex Judaeis” in this case would indicate, if I am not mistaken, that the tradition originates in Jewish circles and it is then handed on by ancient Christian sources (ab antiquis traditionibus christianorum).

  9. Charles Robertson says:

    would not “ex Judaeis” indicate the origin of the names rather than the source of the tradition, in which case: “…whose Jewish names have been preserved by ancient traditions of christians…”?

  10. Andrew says:

    I am inclined to think that “christianorum ex Judaeis” is to be taken together, as in “Christian’s from among the Jews” from whose traditions the names were handed on.

  11. Animadversor says:

    Et quomodo res Reverentiae Tuae videtur, Pater?

  12. Animadversor says:

    Et quomodo res Reverentiae Tuae videtur, Pater?

  13. Animadversor says:

    Oops!

  14. Animadversor says:

    OK, I’m going a little loose here, but I think the following, while not exactly literal, is pretty good English and conveys the meaning of the Latin fairly faithfully:

    The memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary, the immaculate Virgin Mother of God, whose names have been preserved by ancient Christian traditions received from the Jews.

  15. Jonathan Bennett says:

    Very nice reliquary. Are these First Class Relics by any chance?

  16. Legisperitus says:

    I am with Animadversor as well; “ex Judaeis servata sunt” strikes me as going together more naturally. It’s a progression back through time, from the “nomina” we have now, through the “antiquis traditionibus christianorum,” all the way back to the “Judaeis” they came from.

  17. Memoria sanctorum Ioachim et Annae, parentum immaculatae Virginis Dei Genetricis Mariae, quorum nomina ab antiquis traditionibus christianorum ex Iudaeis servata sunt.

    The memorial of Saints Ioachim and Anna, parents of Mary the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, whose names were preserved from the ancient traditions of Christians whose origins were among the Jews.

  18. Jonathan: Yes, they are first class. The reliquary is quite old, I believe 18th century.

  19. jaykay says:

    If you wouldn’t mind saying, Father, if it’s not messing up the thread: what are the relics comprised of and do you know anything about their provenance?

  20. Father Z,

    Saints Joachim and Ann, the holy ancestors of Our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ, are two of my favorite saints. In fact, they also have a very prominent place in the Byzantine tradition and are commemorated in every Divine Liturgy.

    We celebrated the Dormition (Falling Asleep) of St. Ann on July 25. Here is the Troparion for the Feast:

    “O divinely wise Ann, you carried in your womb the Mother of God, the Immaculate One who gave life to Life. Wherefore you now have been carried up joyfully to the inheritance of heaven, the abode of those who rejoice in glory. O ever-blessed one, you seek the forgiveness of sins for those who honor you with fervor.”

    Here is an icon of her:

    http://www.stannmelkite.homestead.com/StAnnIndex_op_633x800.jpg

    And a typical icon of the embrace of Joachim and Ann:

    http://www.icon-art.info/masterpiece.php?lng=en&mst_id=216&top_id=7&mode=img

    And here is a passage from the Proto-Evangelium of St. James of Jerusalem that makes mention of the story of the Conception of St. Ann, which we celebrate on December 9. (Technically we do not celebrate the “Feast of the Immaculate Conception”, but that is essentially what our feast is about – the celebration of the conception of the All Pure (Immaculate), Most Highly Blessed, All Glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever Virgin Mary in the aging but miraculously friutful womb of the “Grandmother of God”.

    http://stannmelkite.homestead.com/OurPatroness.html

    Here is her name in multiple languages from a Melkite resource site:
    http://www.mliles.com/melkite/holyann.shtml

    Arabic – 3 answers

    – (Literary) “Hannah”, (Colloquial) “Hanny” The capital H being a guttural h as in the adjective “Hanoon”, meaning merciful or compassionate or in the word “Haleeb” meaning milk or “Hadeed” meaning iron. The is no corresponding sound to Haa’ in Enlish. One should pronounce it in front of you to give you an idea.
    – “Al-Qiddissah Hanneh” means “The Saint Ann”. The word “Al-Qiddissah” means “The Saint”. The word “Hanneh” means “Ann”.
    – “Qideesa Hannee” means “Saint Ann”. The word “Qideesa” means “Saint”. The word “Hannee” means “Ann”.

    Hebrew
    “Hannah”

    English
    “Ann” is also spelled “Anne”.

    German and Spanish
    “Anna”

    Name Meaning
    “Hannah” / “Hanny” / “Hanneh” / “Hannee” / “Ann” / “Anne” / “Anna” means “grace” or “the gracious one”.

    The Canon to St. Ann, which I prayed on the 25th, really is a theological marvel. (I tried to locate it on-line, but was unable to find the text.) It can be found in the July Menaion published by Sophia Press out of the Eparchy of Newton, MA.

    And, lest we forget the humble and righteous Joachim (“Yahweh prepares”), who is the “Grandfather of God” and the closest human paternal link to Christ, here is a great article on him from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08406b.htm

    Both Sts. Joachim and Ann play prominent roles in two of the major feasts of our calendar (Nativity of the Theotokos – September 8 and Presentation of the Holy THeotokos in the Temple -November 21), as well as the minor feast of the Conception of St. Ann on December 8.

    God bless!

    Gordo

    PS: Incidently, my wife just finished a 5 foot by 4 foot icon of St. Ann holding the Theotokos for our parish’s outdoor shrine. (Our parish’s festival is tomorrow and it was just installed last Saturday.) So we had the presence of St. Ann taking shape before the eyes of our family for a while. It was truly a grace! One could sense her delightful grandmotherly presence as each of us took up a brush at some point on the holy image. We were very blessed to “have her here” and we miss her! :-) (Although we are also very glad to have our dining room table back!)

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