Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate was a popular subject in artistic renditions of the life of the Virgin. He is often treated as a saint, with a halo, but in the Western church there was some awareness that he had quite likely died too soon to strictly be counted as a Christian. In medieval art he often wears a conical Jewish hat. In the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, it was joined to that of Anne, for celebration on 26 July. It was then celebrated as a Double of the Second Class, a rank that was changed in 1960 to that of Second Class Feast. As part of his effort to allow the liturgy of Sundays to be celebrated, Pope Pius X (term 1903–1914) transferred it to 16 August, the day after the Assumption, so Joachim may be remembered in the celebration of Mary's triumph. In 1738, it was transferred to the Sunday after the Octave of the Assumption of Mary. It was added to the General Roman Calendar in 1584, for celebration on 20 March, the day after the feast day of Saint Joseph. No liturgical celebration of Saint Joachim was included in the Tridentine Calendar. This cycle remained popular in Christian art until the Council of Trent (1545–1563) restricted the depiction of apocryphal events.
The cycle of legends concerning Joachim and Anne was included in the Golden Legend (around 1260) by Jacobus da Varagine. Parallels occur in the Old Testament in the case of Hannah, mother of Samuel, and in the New Testament in the case of the parents of St John the Baptist. An ancient belief held that a child born of an elderly mother who had given up hope of having offspring was destined for great things. Joachim later returned to Jerusalem and embraced Anne at the city gate, located in the Walls of Jerusalem. Angels then appeared to both Joachim and Anne to promise them a child.
Joachim consequently withdrew to the desert, where he fasted and did penance for 40 days. However, at the temple, Joachim's sacrifice was rejected, as the couple's childlessness was interpreted as a sign of divine displeasure. Joachim is a rich and pious man, who regularly gave to the poor. The story of Joachim, his wife Anne (or Anna), and the miraculous birth of their child Mary, the mother of Jesus, is told for the first time in the 2nd century apocryphal infancy-gospel the Gospel of James (also called Protoevangelium of James).
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