1) ANNA, wife of Elkanah the Ephraimite (v.), who lived at Ramathaim-Sophim (1 Sam. 1–2). Favored by her husband despite her barrenness, she endured in silence the taunts of her fertile rival Peninnah. One day, while at Shiloh with her husband to offer sacrifices before the Tabernacle, Anna made a vow to the Lord to consecrate to Him for life the son "if You will give
ANNA, wife of Raguel, a relative of Tobias, at Ecbatana. In the Septuagint (Tob. 7:2–18; 8:16) she is called Edna (Hebrew: "delight"). She warmly welcomed her kinsman Tobiah, who had come to marry her daughter Sarah.
4) ANNA, Saint. A prophetess, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She appeared in the temple in Jerusalem at the time of the presentation of Jesus, "giving praise to God and speaking of the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk. 2:36–38). "She never left the temple" (ibid.), probably dwelling in some adjoining chamber. She had lived with her husband for seven years and, after becoming a widow, had reached the age of eighty-four. Unlikely is the interpretation of St. Ambrose that Anna remained a widow for eighty-four years, which would make her more than a centenarian. She is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on September 1, February 3, or August 28 in the Byzantine rite, and on February 2 in the Coptic Church.
5) ANNA, Saint, mother of the Virgin Mary. She is not mentioned in the canonical books; her name became widespread from the 2nd century onward through the Protoevangelium of James and its later versions. According to these traditions, Anna, daughter of Matthan, a priest of the tribe of Levi, had two older sisters: Mary (who later became the mother of Mary Salome) and Sobe (who later became the mother of Elizabeth). Married to Joachim (v.), a Galilean of Nazareth, she was barren. After long prayers, already advanced in years, she was granted the blessing of becoming the mother of the Blessed Virgin. When Mary was three years old, Anna presented her in the Temple and died soon after. It is difficult to determine, in these accounts transmitted with considerable variations in the apocryphal texts, to what extent legend is intertwined with history.
Her cult appears in the 6th century in the East (Justinian built a church in her honor in Constantinople), and in the 8th century in the West (her image appears in Santa Maria Antiqua). Her feast spread increasingly in the 12th century; by the 14th century it was observed throughout almost all of Europe, and Urban VI (bull *Splendor*, 1378) prescribed it for all of England. Luther attacked the cult of Anna, which was then very popular. Gregory XIII (1584) imposed the feast of precept of Anna for the whole Church. In the East it is celebrated on July 25, in the West on July 26. Today she is greatly venerated in Brittany (Ste-Anne d’Auray) and in Canada (Ste-Anne de Beaupré). She is invoked as the patroness of mothers and widows, of sailors and miners. "St. Anne’s water" has been used since the late Middle Ages against fever and various ailments, for women in childbirth, and for the possessed.
Pietro De Ambrogi
Iconography. — The episodes of the life of St. Anna most frequently represented are those inspired by the Protoevangelium of James and relate to the birth of the Virgin; these, besides constituting a Christological prelude, document through unbroken tradition the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Indeed, the episode of the Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate was given the greatest emphasis; already known in Byzantine illumination, it passed into the repertoire of Romanesque sculpture (Chartres) and then to Giotto’s celebrated fresco in Padua. The scene of the Nativity of Mary