Joachim
Joachim (1st century), husband of Anne and father of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the 2nd-century apocryphal ‘Gospel of James’. Neither Joachim nor Anne is mentioned in Holy Scripture. The ‘Gospel of James’, though ancient, is not trustworthy: the story of the Virgin's birth is closely modelled on that of the conception of Samuel (1 Sam. 1) with its emphasis on the childlessness of Joachim, considered a reproach, and angelic intervention to both Joachim and Anne which preceded the conception of Mary. The cult of Joachim began in the East with artistic representations as on the columns of St. Mark's, Venice (6th century), but only became notable in the West in the later Middle Ages, helped by the cult of the Blessed Virgin, with her miracles. In the West, the cult of Anne seems much more ancient than that of Joachim. Perhaps the most famous cycle of paintings of them both is that by Giotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua, but some scenes such as the marriage of Joachim and Anne were also quite well known in England (as in the stained glass at Great Malvern Priory) and elsewhere. The hesitancy of the Roman Church in allowing an official cult (no older than the 15th century) of Joachim can be seen in the authorization of the feast by Julius II, its suppression by Pius V, and its restoration by Gregory XV. Clement II placed it in August and Leo XIII raised its rank. In the East the feast of Joachim and Anne together has been on 9 September for many centuries; in the West Joachim is venerated with St. Anne on 26 July. He was reputedly buried at Jerusalem.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Mar. III (1668), 77–80; E. Amann, Le protévangile de Jacques et ses remaniements latins (1910), pp. 45–51; L. Cré, ‘Tombeau de S. Joachim et de Ste Anne’, Revue Biblique, ii (1893), 245–74; H. Vincent, ‘La crypte de S. Anne à Jerusalem’, ibid., xiii (1904), 228–41; G. McN. Rushforth, Medieval Christian Imagery (1936), pp. 272–5; É. Mâle, L'Art Religieux du XIIII siècle en France (1931)
