SAINT JOACHIM and SAINT ANNE
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Memorial

        These names are given to the mother and father of the Blessed Virgin by a tradition dating back to the second century.

        As St John Damascene wrote: "Joachim and Ann, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you. For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him."