Anne
- ANCIENT SOURCES: see Anne (sources)
- LIST OF SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Anne (subject)
According to Christian and Muslim tradition, Anne (Hannah) was the wife of Joachim and the mother of Mary of Nazareth.
Overview
In the mid-2nd century CE, the Protoevangelium of James first introduced the characters of the parents of Mary of Nazareth, Joachim and Anne. Similarly to Samuel's mother, Anne was as a pious woman who was childless until her old age. Angels appeared to both her and her husband to announce the miraculous birth of Mary.
The figure of Anne was included in the Golden Legend and remained popular in eastern and western Christian art and liturgy until the 16th century when the Reformation rejected the cult of saints and the Council of Trent restricted the depiction of apocryphal events in the Roman Catholic Church.
Relics of Anne are preserved in churches in France, Germany, Italy, and Canada.