Saints Joachim and Anne: The Grandparents Who Raised Mary

Scripture does not name them. Tradition has kept their names for eighteen hundred years, and since 2021, their feast carries the World Day for Grandparents.

The Church knows almost nothing about the parents of the Virgin Mary — not from Scripture, which does not name them, and not from any document of the first century. What it has instead is a tradition old enough and constant enough that their names have been kept for eighteen hundred years: Joachim and Anne.

Their feast is 26 July. Since 2021 it has carried a second weight: Pope Francis placed the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on the Sunday nearest it, precisely because these two are the grandparents of Jesus.

Who were Saints Joachim and Anne?

Everything we have comes from a second-century text called the Protoevangelium of James, written perhaps around AD 150. It is not part of the canon of Scripture and the Church does not treat it as history in the modern sense. But it preserved the names, and the shape of the story the faithful have kept.

In that account Joachim and Anne are devout, comfortable, and childless — and childless long enough that it had become a public reproach. Anne prays. Joachim withdraws into the wilderness to fast. Each is told, separately, that they will have a child, and they meet again at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem: the scene painted more often than any other in their story.

The child was Mary.

Why does the Church honour grandparents on their feast?

Because the logic is simple and hard to argue with. If Mary is the mother of Jesus, then Joachim and Anne are his grandparents — and whatever they gave Mary, they gave him.

That is the point Pope Francis made in establishing the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021, fixed on the fourth Sunday of July, near their feast on the 26th:

"The whole Church is close to you — to us — and cares about you, loves you and does not want to leave you alone."

What grandparents actually transmit

The Church’s reading of Joachim and Anne is not sentimental. Mary’s response at the Annunciation — her immediate reach for the words of Scripture in the Magnificat, a canticle assembled almost entirely from the Hebrew Bible — indicates a girl formed in a house where those words were spoken. Somebody taught her that. The tradition says it was these two.

Faith is not usually transmitted by argument. It is transmitted by a grandmother who prays out loud in front of a child who is pretending not to listen.

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Saint Anne, and why she is everywhere

Anne became one of the most widely venerated saints in Europe, and her patronages tell you who prayed to her: mothers, women in labour, the childless, widows, and — through a long association with the making of things — cabinetmakers, lacemakers and miners.

She is also patroness of Brittany, of the province of Quebec, and, with Joachim, of grandparents. In Portugal her name is among the most common given to girls of her grandmother’s generation, which is its own kind of evidence.

How to keep 26 July

• Call the eldest person in your family. The World Day exists largely because this stopped being automatic. It is the whole of the minimum, and it is not small.
• Pray a decade with a grandchild, or for one. The Joyful Mysteries are the natural set — they are Mary’s childhood and her son’s.
• Give a devotional object across a generation. A rosary or a prayer card given from grandparent to grandchild, or the reverse, is the oldest way of keeping this feast.
• Ask for a story. Specifically: what did your grandmother pray? Most people have never asked, and there is usually not much time left to.

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A gift that crosses generations

There is a practical reason devotional objects work so well as gifts between grandparents and grandchildren: they are among the few gifts that get more valuable with handling rather than less. A rosary given at seven and prayed on at seventy is a different object by then, and the difference is the point.

If you are choosing something, our guide to Catholic gifts for every occasion covers what suits which age, and how to choose a rosary covers material and size.

Frequently asked questions

Who were the parents of the Virgin Mary?

Tradition names them Joachim and Anne. They are not named in Scripture; the names come from the second-century Protoevangelium of James, and have been kept in Christian tradition ever since.

When is the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne?

26 July in the Roman calendar, where they are celebrated together. Anne was formerly honoured alone on that date, with Joachim on other dates before the reform of the calendar.

Why is the World Day for Grandparents on that weekend?

Pope Francis established it in 2021 on the fourth Sunday of July, close to the feast of Joachim and Anne on the 26th, because they are the grandparents of Jesus.

What is Saint Anne the patron saint of?

Mothers, women in labour, the childless, widows, grandparents, cabinetmakers, lacemakers and miners. She is also patroness of Brittany and of Quebec.

Are Joachim and Anne in the Bible?

No. Neither is named in the canonical Scriptures. Their names and story come from early Christian tradition, principally the Protoevangelium of James.

What is a good gift for a grandparent on their feast?

A rosary, a prayer card, or a small statue for a home altar — devotional objects that can later be passed to a grandchild are the traditional choice for this day.