Saint Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
S. Annae Matris B.M.V.
Saint Anne is honoured by the Church as the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
Saint Anne is venerated as the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore as the grandmother of Our Lord Jesus Christ in His sacred humanity. Together with her husband, Saint Joachim, she is honoured as a parent of the Mother of God, and the Church keeps her feast each year on the twenty-sixth of July with the joy that belongs to those nearest to the mystery of the Incarnation.
What the Church holds
The Sacred Scriptures do not name the parents of the Blessed Virgin, and what the Church knows of Saint Anne comes to her through ancient and venerable tradition rather than through the Gospel text. The names of Joachim and Anne are very old, and the honour paid to them reaches back to the early centuries of the Church, especially in the East. The Church does not propose the particular stories surrounding their lives as matters of certain history, and it is fitting to be candid about this.
What faith holds with confidence is the dignity that belongs to Saint Anne by the place she occupies in the design of God: she is the mother of her in whom the Word was made flesh. To have borne and raised the Immaculate Virgin, the Mother of the Redeemer, is a privilege beyond all telling, and it is for this that the Church honours Saint Anne above so many of the saints.
Her veneration
Devotion to Saint Anne is among the most widespread and beloved in the Church. Churches and shrines without number have been raised in her honour, and great places of pilgrimage — among them Sainte-Anne-d’Auray in Brittany and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Canada — draw the faithful to seek her intercession. She is invoked as the patroness of mothers, of married women, and of those who long for the gift of children, and grandmothers especially love to claim her as their own. In honouring the mother of Mary, the faithful are drawn ever closer to Mary’s Son.
The Collect
O God, who didst vouchsafe to grant to blessed Anne the grace that she might be made worthy to become the mother of her who brought forth Thine only-begotten Son: mercifully grant that we who keep her festival may be helped by her intercession with Thee.
Deus, qui beátæ Annæ grátiam conférre dignátus es, ut Genitrícis unigéniti Fílii tui mater éffici mererétur: concéde propítius; ut, cujus solemnia cólimus, ejus apud te patrocíniis adjuvémur.
Patronage
She is the patroness of mothers, married women, grandmothers, and those who desire children; great shrines in her honour include Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Canada and Sainte-Anne-d’Auray in Brittany.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar she is celebrated on 26 July together with Saint Joachim as an obligatory memorial of both parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Anne?
Her feast is kept on 26 July in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Second Class feast. In the modern calendar the same day is the joint memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Who was Saint Anne?
She is venerated as the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and therefore the grandmother of Our Lord according to the flesh. With her husband Saint Joachim, she is honoured as a parent of the Mother of God.
Is Saint Anne named in the Bible?
No. The Gospels do not name the parents of the Blessed Virgin. The names of Joachim and Anne come from ancient and venerable tradition. The Church honours Saint Anne above all for her place in the mystery of the Incarnation, as the mother of the Virgin Mary.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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