Saint Joachim.
Father of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
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This Feast is Celebrated on 16 August, but was formerly Celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of the Assumption.
The Monastic Breviary has a Feast of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.
From time immemorial, the Greeks have Celebrated the Feast of Saint Joachim on the day following Our Lady’s Birthday.
The Maronites kept it on the day after The Presentation, in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of The Assumption of The Mother of God.
Saint Joachim.
Feast Day 16 August.
God hears the Prayers of The Faithful.
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The Latins at first did not keep this Feast. Later on, it was admitted and Celebrated sometimes on the day after the Octave of The Nativity, 16 September, sometimes on the day following the Conception of The Blessed Virgin, 9 December.
Thus, both East and West agreed in associating Saint Joachim with his illustrious daughter when they wished to do him honour.
About the year 1510, Pope Julius II placed the Feast of the grandfather of The Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the Rank of Double Major; and, remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of Grace were in such perfect harmony, he fixed the Solemnity on 20 March, the day after that of Saint Joachim’s son-in-law, Saint Joseph.
Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II, the critical “Spirit of The Day” cast doubts upon the history of Saint Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman Breviary.
The following is an extract from the Decree “Urbi et Orbi”, announcing this final decision with regard to the said Feasts:
“By your fruits are you known,” says Saint John Damascene, “you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the Angels and has become their Queen.” Now since, through the Divine Mercy, in our unhappy times the honour and veneration paid to The Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the glory which surrounds their Blessed Daughter should redound upon her happy parents.
About the year 1510, Pope Julius II placed the Feast of the grandfather of The Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the Rank of Double Major; and, remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of Grace were in such perfect harmony, he fixed the Solemnity on 20 March, the day after that of Saint Joachim’s son-in-law, Saint Joseph.
The life of this glorious Patriarch resembled those of the first Fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually changing his place upon the Sacred Cycle.
Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II, the critical “Spirit of The Day” cast doubts upon the history of Saint Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman Breviary.
Pope Gregory XV, however, re-established his Feast in 1622 as a Double, and The Church has since continued to Celebrate it.
Devotion to Our Lady’s father continuing to increase very much, the Holy See was petitioned to make his Feast a Holiday of Obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, Saint Anne.
In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of Days of Obligation, Pope Clement XII in 1738 transferred the Feast of Saint Joachim to the Sunday after The Assumption of his daughter, The Blessed Virgin Mary, and restored it to the Rank of Double-Major.
On 1 August 1879, the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in Baptism, raised both the Feast of his glorious Patron and that of Saint Anne to the Rank of Doubles of The Second Class.
The following is an extract from the Decree “Urbi et Orbi”, announcing this final decision with regard to the said Feasts:
“Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honour and veneration ought we then to render to Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, who begot The Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others”.
“By your fruits are you known,” says Saint John Damascene, “you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the Angels and has become their Queen.” Now since, through the Divine Mercy, in our unhappy times the honour and veneration paid to The Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the glory which surrounds their Blessed Daughter should redound upon her happy parents.
May this increase of devotion towards them cause The Church to experience still more their powerful protection.
