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An icon of Saint Anne holding the young Virgin Mary, painted by Angelos Akotantos in Crete about 1450

Saint Anne

Remembered by tradition as the mother of the Virgin Mary

Patron of
women in labour, miners, Brittany, Quebec, as its principal patron, couples hoping for a child (with Joachim)
Western calendar
26 July, with Saint Joachim
Orthodox calendar
25 July, her dormition; with Joachim also on 9 September (7 August on the old calendar)

Anne, or Hannah, is the name tradition gives the mother of the Virgin Mary, and all we are told of her comes from writings outside Scripture, above all the Protoevangelium of James, whose earliest form goes back to about 150. It tells of Joachim and Anne, a childless couple, and of the angel who came to her and said, "Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears", and of the daughter she called Mary. The East honoured her from the fourth century and the West from the thirteenth, and Brittany, Quebec, miners and women in labour all count her as their patroness.

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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Yes. Try the name another way first, or the saint’s feast day, because some saints are better known by a title. If they are still not here, send us the name through our contact page, and we will add the saint once we have checked their life and feast days in sources we trust.

Why did you choose these saints and not others?

We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

Every saint here, by feast day