THE FAMILY BACKGROUND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

What do we really know about the woman we call Mother of God and Mother of the Church, the
first of all the saints, the model believer? What do contemporary Scripture studies,
archaeological research and analysis of the literature of her time reveal to us about Mary? I invite
you to reflect with me on the “historical Mary,”- that is, to explore the circumstances
surrounding her birth, her parents, her childhood and her death.
1.1. THE PARENTS OF MARY
You have probably heard the expression: The apple does not fall far from the tree. It means that
children are often like their parents. Scripture does not tell us anything about the parents of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. However, Tradition tells us that their names were Joachim and Ann. We
have no historical evidence, however, of any elements of their lives, including their names. Any
stories about Mary's father and mother come to us through legend and tradition.
1.1.1. SAINTS JOACHIM AND ANN
Joachim "he whom Yahweh has set up", was, according to some apocryphal writings, the
husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and
Anne first appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in
the Bible. St. Joachim was of the tribe of Judah, and a descendant of King David. He was born in
Nazareth. Joachim was far from handsome. St. Joseph, though no longer young, was in
comparison a very handsome man. Joachim was short and broad and at the same time thin,
though he was a wonderfully pious, holy man. Joachim was rich. He was related to St. Joseph in
the following way: Joseph’s grandfather was descended from David through Solomon and was
called Mathan. He had two sons, Jacob and Joses. Jacob was the father of Joseph. When Mathan
died, his widow married as her second husband Levi (descended from David through Nathan),
and by him had Matthat, the father of Heli, also called Joachim. Therefore, Joachim was a kinda
maternal uncle to Joseph.
Anne (Hebrew, Hannah, grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna) is the traditional name of the
mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was born in Bethlehem and her parents were Eliud and
Ismeria. She was the second of three daughters; the first being Sobe and the last being Maraha.
After Sobe’s birth, Ismeria remained barren for some eighteen years. When she again became
pregnant by God’s blessing, she gave birth to St. Anne. In her fifth year Anna was, like Our
Lady, was taken to the Temple, where she remained twelve years. She was brought home again
in her seventeenth year, to find two children there—her little sister Maraha, who had been born
while she was away, and a little son of her elder sister Sobe called Eliud. A year after this
Ismeria fell mortally ill. As she lay dying she spoke to all her relations and presented Anna to
them as the future mistress of the house. Then she spoke once more with Anna alone, telling her
that she was a chosen vessel of grace, that she must marry, and must seek counsel from the
prophet on Mount Horeb. Then she died. Sobe, Anna’s elder sister, was married to Salomo.
Besides her son Eliud she had a daughter, Mary Salome, who married Zebedee and was the
mother of the apostles James and John. Sobe had a second daughter who was an aunt of the
bride-groom of Cana and the mother of three of Our Lord’s disciples.
Anna’s great-grandfather was a prophet. Eliud, her father, was of the tribe of Levi; her mother
Ismeria was of the tribe of Benjamin. Anna was born at Bethlehem, but afterwards her parents
moved to Sephoris, four hours from Nazareth, where they had a house and land. They also
owned a land in the beautiful valley of Zabulon, one and a half hours from Sephoris. In the fine
season of the year Anna’s father was often with his family in the valley of Zabulon, and after his
wife’s death he moved there altogether. This led to the connection with the parents of Joachim,
whom Anna married. Joachim’s father was called Matthat and was the step-brother of Jacob
(father of St. Joseph) and of Joses. Matthat had settled in the valley of Zabulon.
Joachim and Anna were married in a little place with only a small school. Only one priest was
present. Anna was about nineteen years old. They lived with Eliud, Anna’s father. They were
very pious, devout, charitable, simple, and upright. They often divided their herds and everything
else into three parts, and gave a third of the beasts to the Temple, the second part they gave to the
poor or in answer to the requests of their relations, and the remainder, which was generally the
worst, they kept for themselves. They lived very frugally (careful in spending money) and gave
to all who asked. Anna and Joachim had lived with Anna’s father Eliud for some seven years
when they decided to separate from their parents and settle in a house with land in the
neighbourhood of Nazareth that had come to them from Joachim’s parents. There, they began a
completely new life.
2.1. THE BIRTH OF MARY
The circumstances of the Virgin Mary's infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the
Bible, but other documents and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by
some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church. These accounts,
although not considered authoritative in the same manner as the Bible, outline some of the
Church's traditional beliefs about the birth of Mary. As a matter of fact the “Protoevangelium of
James,” which was probably put into its final written form in the early second century, describes
Mary’s birth and life.
According to the Protoevangelium of James, there lived in Nazareth a rich and pious couple,
Joachim and Hannah. They were childless. When on a feast day Joachim presented himself to
offer sacrifice in the temple through Isachar who was the high-priest, he was repulsed by a
certain Reubel, under the pretext that men without offspring were unworthy to be admitted.
Joachim became extremely frustrated and went away to the history of the twelve tribes of his
people, saying to himself, "I will look in the history of the twelve tribes of Israel and see whether
I am the only one who has not conceived a child in Israel." And he searched and found that all
the righteous people had raised children in Israel. Then he reminded himself about the patriarch
Abraham and that the Lord God gave his son Isaac to him in his last days. Then, Joachim was
extremely frustrated and did not appear to his wife, but gave himself to the desert and pitched his
tent there. He fasted forty days and forty nights. All the while, Joachim was saying to himself, "I
will not go down for food or drink until the Lord my God visits me; prayer will be my food and
drink." Also Hannah, having learned the reason of the prolonged absence of her husband,
mourned and lamented greatly for two reasons, saying, "I lament that I am a widow and I lament
that I am childless." Fortunately, their prayers were heard; an angel came to Hannah and said:
"Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of
thy womb shall be blessed by all the world". The angel made the same promise to Joachim, who
returned to his wife. Hannah gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary). Thus,
Mary was born in the first century BC, in Nazareth, a tiny Galilean town of about 1,600 people,
during the reign of Herod the Great. Day by day, the child grew stronger. When she was six
months old, her mother set her on the ground to test whether she could stand. And after walking
seven steps, she came to her mother's breast. And her mother picked her up, saying, "As the Lord
my God lives, you will not walk on this earth again until I take you to the temple of the Lord."
And she made a sanctuary in her bedroom and would not permit anything common or impure to
pass through it. And she called the pure daughters of the Hebrews and they played with her.
When the child turned two years old, Joachim said, "Let's take her to the temple of the Lord so
we can relate the message we were given." And Anna said, "Let's wait until the third year, so that
she will not seek her father or mother." And Joachim said, "Let's wait then." Then came the time
for the presentation of Mary; as she turned three, Joachim said, "Let's call the pure women of the
Hebrews. Let them take up lamps and light them so that the child will not turn back and her heart
will never be led away from the temple of the Lord." And they did these things until they went
up to the temple of the Lord. And the priest welcomed her. Kissing her, he blessed her and said,
"The Lord God has magnified your name for all generations; through you the Lord will reveal
deliverance to the children of Israel in the last days."
The Blessed Virgin lived with other virgins in the Temple under the care of pious matrons. The
maidens employed themselves with embroidery and other forms of decoration of carpets and
vestments, and also with the cleaning of these vestments and of the vessels used in the Temple.
They had little cells, from which they could see into the Temple, and here they prayed and
meditated. When these maidens were grown up, they were given in marriage. When the Blessed
Virgin had reached the age of fifteen and was to be dismissed from the Temple with seven other
maidens to be married, a group of priests took counsel together, saying, "Look, Mary has been in
the temple of the Lord twelve years. What should we do about her now, so that she does not
defile the sanctuary of the Lord our God?" And they said to the high priest, "You have stood at
the altar of the Lord. Go in and pray about her. And if the Lord God reveals anything to you, we
will do it." And the priest went in taking the vestment with twelve bells into the holy of holies
and prayed about her. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood before him, saying, "Zachariah,
Zachariah, depart from here and gather the widowers of the people and let each one carry a staff.
And the one whom the Lord God points out with a sign, she will be his wife." So the heralds
went out to the whole surrounding area of Judea and the trumpet of the Lord rang out and all the
men rushed in. after all the men had taken their staffs, a young man called Joseph took his rod
too. Suddenly, a dove came out of the rod and stood on Joseph's head. And the high priest said,
"Joseph! Joseph! You have been chosen by lot to take the virgin into your own keeping." Joseph
was very handsome and pious. He lived in a small house alone in Tiberias by the lake of Galilee.
He was now recognized as appointed by God to be the bridegroom of the Blessed Virgin, and
was presented to her by the priests in the presence of her mother. Mary, submissive to the Will of
God, accepted him meekly as her bridegroom, for she knew that all things were possible with
God, who had accepted her vow to belong to Him alone, body and soul. The wedding of Mary
and Joseph, which lasted for seven or eight days, was celebrated on Mount Sion in Jerusalem in a
house which was often hired out for festivities of this kind. Besides Mary’s teachers and
schoolfellows from the Temple school many relations of Anna and Joachim were present. The
wedding was very ceremonious and elaborate. Many lambs were slaughtered and sacrificed. The
Blessed Virgin’s wedding garments were so remarkably beautiful and splendid that the women
who were present used to enjoy speaking about them even in their old age. After their marriage,
they returned to a modest house which Joseph had inherited from his parents in Nazareth.
3.1. THE DEATH OF MARY
It is believed that after Our Lord’s Ascension Mary lived for three years on Mount Sion, for three
years in Bethany, and for nine years in Ephesus. John had had a house built for the Blessed
Virgin before he brought her there to Ephesus. The Blessed Virgin lived there alone, with a
younger woman, her maidservant, who fetched what little food they needed. They lived very
quietly and in profound peace. There was no man in the house, but sometimes they were visited
by an Apostle or disciple on his travels. But there was one man who visited often and it was
John. After a long period of sojourn there, Mary had a great longing to see Jerusalem again, and
was taken there by John and Peter. On their arrival at Jerusalem in the dusk of the evening,
before they went into the city, they visited the Mount of Olives, Calvary, the Holy Sepulchre,
and all the holy places outside Jerusalem. The Mother of God was so sorrowful and so moved by
compassion that she could hardly hold herself upright, and Peter and John had to support her as
they led her away. She came to Jerusalem from Ephesus once again, eighteen months before her
death. After they had returned from their visit, Mary became weak and pale. Shortly before she
was to pass away, the Apostles and other Christians filled her home. Thomas was the farthest off,
and did not arrive until after Mary’s death. A short time before the Blessed Virgin’s death, as
she felt the approach of her reunion with her God, her Son, and her Redeemer, she prayed that
there might be fulfilled what Jesus had promised to her in the house of Lazarus at Bethany on the
day before His Ascension: that she might not live for long in this vale of tears after He had
ascended. The Blessed Virgin, after praying, blessed each one by laying her crossed hands on
their foreheads. Then Peter approached her and gave her extreme unction, much in the way in
which it is administered now. From the boxes which John held he anointed her with holy oil on
her face, hands, and feet, and on her side, where there was an opening in her dress so that she
was in no way uncovered. While this was being done the Apostles were reciting prayers as if in
choir. Peter then gave her Holy Communion. She raised herself to receive it, without supporting
herself, and then sank back again. The Apostles prayed for a while, and then, raising herself
rather less, she received the Chalice from John. As she received the Blessed Sacrament and then
sank back as though in ecstasy, and spoke no more. The Apostles then returned to the altar in the
front part of the house in a solemn procession with the sacred vessels and continued the service.
Mary’s face was radiant with smiles as in her youth. Her eyes were raised towards heaven in
holy joy as she gave up the ghost. It is believed She died in c.48 AD.
CONCLUSION
How wonderful that Jesus has grandparents! St. Joachim and St. Anne remind us of the mystery
of the Incarnation: God truly became man and entered into a human family that included not only
his mother Mary and father Joseph but their parents, and their parents, and their parents, all the
way back to Adam (and Eve) at the dawn of creation, according to St. Luke’s chronology (Luke
3:23-38). Like all of us, Jesus was born into a web of relationships, the “cradle of life and love”
that is the family (John Paul II, Christi fideles Laici, no. 40). Because Joachim and Ann were the
grandparents of Jesus, they are the patrons of grandparents. Finally Saint Augustine described
the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance, and an
appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. “She is the flower of the field from whom
bloomed the precious lily of the valley.”

References
The Life of The Blessed Virgin Mary, From the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich Translated
by: Sir Michael Palairet, Cambridge, 1953.
The Protoevangelium of James
Frederick G. Holweck, St. Anne, Transcribed by Paul T. Crowley From the Catholic
Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Press, Inc.,1913.
Robert P. Maloney, he Historical Mary, October 19, 2005.