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Saint Joachim and Ann
(Memorial)
July 26

Bartholomea Capitanio V (RM)
Born in Lovere (near Brescia), Lombardy, Italy, 1807; died July 26, 1833; canonized in 1950; feast day was July 27. Bartholomea Capitanio, together with Saint Vincentia Gerosa, founded the Institute of the Sisters of Charity (Suore della carità) of Lovere, their native town. Bartholomea was the daughter of a rough corn-factor, who was an alcoholic, and a virtuous mother who, together with the sisters of her convent school, taught the young girl to strive for Christian perfection.

Her parents forbade her to become a nun, so she took a vow of perpetual chastity and decided to devote herself to teaching. For that reason, she earned a diploma to teach elementary school. In this way she consecrated her life to the apostolate of the young, and organized a sodality of Saint Aloysius (Lovere is near his birthplace), which spread to other districts.

Despite her extreme youth, she was the prime force behind the creation of the Sisters of Charity during her lifetime. She saw the need to perpetuate the good that was being done through the sodality by creating a religious institute. She joined forces with (Catherine) Vincentia Gerosa, who was also moved by the state of ignorance and neglect in which so many people lived.

Although the two women were very different, they melded their talents well. Vincentia was already 40 when she got to know Bartholomea, and the latter was only 26 when she died. Catherine's main interest was in nursing the sick poor for whom she had already founded a hospital, taking on the heaviest burdens herself; while Bartholomea's interest was education. Nevertheless, it was a partnership of persons of remarkable determination and selflessness.

Their congregation was designed to teach the young and nurse the sick. Its rule is based on the principles of Saint Vincent de Paul. With the help of their bishop, who encouraged them from the beginning, the institute was approved by the pope in 1840, and their foundation, which has spread widely, now has 500 to 600 communities.

Bartholomea also achieved fame as a writer on spiritual subjects. She never spared herself, even when dying of consumption. Her endless correspondence and outside activities left her no time for leisure. Four months before her death, she finally obeyed her doctor's order to stop writing letters, but she was already too ill to be saved (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Walsh).

Erastus of Corinth BM (RM)
1st century. Saint Erastus was the treasurer of the city of Corinth (Romans 16:23). After his conversion by Saint Paul, he helped in the work of evangelization by travelling with Saint Timothy from Ephesus to Macedonia (Acts 19:22), especially at Corinth (2 Timothy 4:20). He is then believed to have become bishop of Philippi in Macedonia and to have been martyred, although the Greek tradition says that he became bishop of Philippi Paneas in Palestine. The Erastus in Acts may be a different person from the one in Romans and 2 Timothy (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

Blessed George Swallowell and John Ingram MM (AC)
Died 1594; beatified in 1929. The Protestant minister and school teacher George Swallowell was born near Durham. He was condemned and executed at Darlington, for having been reconciled to the Church. At that same time at Gateshead, Father John Ingram, another convert to Catholicism, was martyred for his priesthood. Father Ingram was born at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, converted to the faith, studied at New College, Oxford, and then prepared for ordination at Rheims and Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1589 and worked in Scotland until his death (Benedictines).

Hyacinth M (RM)
Died c. 110. We know that Saint Hyacinth was martyred under Trajan, everything else comes from untrustworthy acta (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

Joachim and Ann, Parents of Mary (RM)
1st century; the feast is kept on September 9 in the East. Tradition has assigned the names Joachim and Anne (meaning "gracious" in Hebrew) to the parents of the Blessed Virgin, although there is some thought that her father's name may actually have been Heli (Luke 3:23), though it is very uncertain. Joachim has been assigned other names as well in other apocryphal writings: Cleopas, Eliacim, Jonachir, and Sadoc. The names Anne and Joachim derive from an early apocryphal writing called the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century), which professes to give an account of Mary's birth and early life. The story parallels that of the Biblical narrative (1 Samuel 1) of the childless Hannah bearing Samuel. It is worth noting that in Hebrew Anne and Hannah are the same name. Whatever their names, they were highly extolled by Saints John Damascene, Epiphanius, and Gregory of Nyssa as the model for Christian spouses and parents, who principal duty is the holy education of their children. By this they glorify their Creator, perpetuate His honor on earth, and sanctify their own souls. Saint Paul says that it is by the education of their children that parents are to be saved. Nor does he admit anyone to serve the altar, whose sons do not, by their holy conduct, give proofs of a virtuous education. Nevertheless, many parents are more solicitous about establishing their children in the world than by providing them with a good example and teaching them Christian virtue.

Although nothing is known about either of them, tradition fills up the story of their lives. Joachim is said to have been born at Nazareth and married Anne when he was still a young man. He was a rich farmer who possessed great herds. Because they had no children for many years, Joachim was publicly mocked--to be childless was considered a punishment for unworthiness. One day the Temple priest even refused Joachim's offering of a lamb. In a last prayer for a child, he withdrew to the desert and fasted for forty days.

Anne's father is said to have been a nomadic Jew named Akar, who brought his wife to Nazareth for their daughter's birth. Anne, too, after her marriage to Joachim, was saddened that God had not blessed them with children. She would weep and pray for God to answer her prayer. One day as she was praying beneath a laurel tree feeling that even Joachim had abandoned her (he was in the desert), an angel is said to have told her that God had heard her prayers [image]. She would have a child who would be praised throughout the world. Anne replied, "As my God lives, if I should conceive either a boy or a girl, the child shall be a gift to my God, serving Him in holiness throughout the whole of its life."

Then the angel told her to run and meet her husband, who in obedience to another angel, was returning with his herds. They met by the Golden Gate and from that time Anne prepared for the blessed event. Saint Anne gave birth to Mary when she was about 40. It is said that Anne kept her promise and placed Mary in the service of God at the Temple when she was but three years old. According to tradition, she and Joachim lived to see the birth of Jesus and Joachim died just after seeing his divine grandchild presented in the Temple at Jerusalem, and was buried in Jerusalem.

Emperor Justinian I built a church at Constantinople in honor of Saint Anne, about the year 550. Codinus mentions another built by Justinian II, in 705. Her body was brought from Palestine to Constantinople in 710, whence some portions of her relics have been dispersed in the West, where they are claimed by Duren (Rheinland, Germany), Apt-en-Provence (France), and Canterbury, Durham, and Reading (England).

The liturgical cultus of Saint Anne appears in the 6th century in the East and the 8th in the West. In the 10th century, feast of the Conception of Anne was celebrated in Naples, spread to Canterbury in about 1100, and was kept at Worcester soon after; however, it was not generally observed until late in the 14th century spurred by the growing interest in the Blessed Virgin. The cultus of Anne became an object of bitter attack by Martin Luther, especially the images of her with Jesus and Mary--a favorite subject of Renaissance painters. In response, the Holy See extended her feast to the Universal Church in 1584.

Joachim has been honored in the East from time immemorial; but only since the 16th century in the West. The cultus of Saint Joachim began in the East with artistic representations as on the columns of Saint Mark's in Venice, Italy--which date to the 6th century. The hesitancy of the Catholic Church in allowing an official cultus of Joachim can be seen in the authorization of the feast by Julius II, its suppression by Saint Pius V, and restoration by Gregory XV. Clement II placed it in August and Leo XIII raised its rank. In the West, Joachim is in the Roman Martyrology on March 20, but his feast was on August 16 until it was joined with that of Saint Anne.

The Bollandist Father Cuper has collected a great number of miracles wrought through the intercession of Saint Anne (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, White).

In art, Saint Anne is often portrayed (1) with the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus in her lap; (2) being kissed by Saint Joachim at the Golden Gate; (3) in pictures of the birth of her daughter; (4) teaching the young Mary to read or embroider (e.g., in 13th-century manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and wall-paintings at Croughton, Northantshire); or (5) holding the Blessed Virgin in one arm and the Holy Child in the other (Roeder). There are pictures of Anne at Santa Maria Antiqua dating to the 8th century (Farmer).

Saint Joachim is generally shown as an old man leading the Blessed Virgin as a child. He may also be depicted (1) bringing a lamb to the altar and being turned away by the priest; (2) greeting Saint Anne at the Golden Gate; or (3) carrying a basket of doves and a staff (Roeder). The most famous cycle of paintings of the two together are those of Giotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua, Italy, but the images were well known elsewhere.

Pastor of Rome (RM)
Died c. 160. Saint Pastor, brother to Pope Saint Pius I, was a Roman priest. It is believed that he left his name to the title (i.e., parish) of Saint Pudentiana in Rome--Titulus pastoris (Benedictines).

Simeon of Padolirone (the Armenian) (RM)
Died 1016; canonized by Benedict VIII. The Armenian hermit went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella, and Saint Martin of Tours, working miracles as he went. Later he settled at the Cluniac Abbey of Padolirone near Padua, Italy, where he died (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

Blessed William Ward M (AC)
(also known as William Webster
Born at Thornby, Westmorland; died at Tyburn, England, in 1641; beatified in 1929. William, whose real name was Webster, prepared for the priesthood at Douai, where he was ordained in 1608. Of the 33 years he worked in the English mission, 20 were spent in prison (Benedictines).

About Saints of the Day
These summaries were prepared in 1998 by St. Patrick's parishioner Katherine I. Rabenstein and are reproduced on www.saintpatrickdc.org with the permission of the author. Note that the content has not been updated since that time and represents the research of the author. An alphabetical index of all saints on our site is available. Source references are also available. HTML formatting © 2007-2008 by St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Washington, D.C.