Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in the Scriptures. But other early Christian writings show that people were curious about the main characters mentioned in the Gospels. So, they wrote stories that repeated the Christian message while filling in the gaps the Gospels leave. Some of these documents, and particularly the Infancy Gospel of James, tell in more detail the stories of Jesus’ origins and birth. The Infancy Gospel expands Matthew’s account of Jesus’ childhood, just as Matthew’s stories themselves build on stories in the Old Testament.
The Infancy Gospel of James introduces Joachim, an elderly wealthy Jew, who is married to Anne but is childless. When he goes to offer sacrifice in the temple, it fails because he is childless. People at Jesus’ time regarded childlessness as a sign of God’s displeasure. Joachim is upset by this rejection and leaves Anne. He goes off to pray in the desert to grieve and to beg for a child. Anne is upset by the double curse of losing both a husband and the opportunity of having a child. An angel, however, appears to both Joachim and Anne and promises a child who will have a central role in God’s plan, and is to be called Mary. They meet and embrace at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem.
After Mary is born and reared, Joachim and Anne offer her to God and take her to the Temple to be raised there. Instead of being upset as they feared Mary dances with joy in the Temple, and lives a pure and happy life there. The Gospel goes on to describe in great detail the elderly Joseph’s marriage to Mary and Jesus’ birth.
The charming story of Anne’s birth of Mary echoes in much of its detail the story of Hannah and the birth and consecration of her son Samuel in the Old Testament. Joachim, too, resembles his namesake in the book of Daniel – wealthy and with a devout wife. The story caught the imagination of many Christians, particularly in the Eastern Church where devotion to Mary as the virgin Mother of God was strong.
In the Medieval Church the legends surrounding the childhood of Jesus aroused great interest and attracted writers and painters. Anne and Joachim were given special Feast Days. Like most saints they became the patron saints of many groups of people. Anne is the patron saint of mothers, married couples, grandparents, infertile women, families, Brittany and Canada. Joachim shares these family responsibilities for fathers, grandfathers, married couples and families. He is also the patron saint of cabinet makers and linen traders.