Saint Joachim

Catholic Saint

st.Joachim-By tradition, the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Feast Day : July 26

Also known as: Cleophas, Eliacim, Heli, Jonachir, Sadoc

No historical information about the names or lives of the parents of Mary exists. What is known comes from The Golden Legend and the aprochryphal Book of James, or Protoevangelicum Jacobi. Joachim is said to have been born in Nazareth, and wed Anne when both were very young. Their childlessness was the cause of much humiliation. Joachim withdrew to the desert, where he fasted and prayed for 40 days. An angel appeared to him and told him that Anne would bear a child. (Legend also tells that an angel appeared to Anne with the same news.) Joachim was said to have died some time after witnessing the presentation of Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem. He is venerated in both the Western and Eastern churches.