medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (26. July) is the feast day of:
Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary. Not much is known about Joachim's
life. According to the Protoevangelion of James, Joachim was an aged
priest, who lived, childless, in Jerusalem with his wife Anne. One day an
angel announced to Joachim that Anne would bear a child---the result was
Mary. When Mary was three years old, her parents brought her to the
Temple, and shortly afterward the aged Joachim died. In the eastern Church
Joachim was already venerated in the fifth century; in the West his cult
only spread in the sixteenth.
Anne (celebrated on 25. July in the east). Anne was the mother of the
Virgin Mary. Her name was spread by c. 150 in the Protoevangelium of
James. Her relics and those of her husband Joachim were brought to
Constantinople in the eighth century. The cult of Anne is attested in the
East since the sixth century, and first appears in the West in the eighth.
It is only from c. 1350 that the cult spread throughout western Europe.
According to legend, Anne married two more times after Joachim's death and
bore two more daughters---both named Mary.
Erastus (1st century) A companion and helper of Paul on his mission
journeys. Erastus is supposed to have become bishop of Philippi (it is not
clear if it was the Palestinian or Macedonian city of that name).
Christiana of Flanders (8th cent.) Legend reports that Christiana was the
daughter of an English king, who lived in Flanders sometime in the eighth
century. Her cult is attested from the ninth century.
Simeon of Polirone (d. 1016) Simeon was born in Armenia. He abandoned his
family to become a Basilian monk and hermit. He undertook several great
pilgrimages, and finally entered the Benedictine monastery of Polirone near
Mantua. He was soon venerated there as a miracle worker.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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