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By Henry Handley, Collections Librarian

Soon we will celebrate the feast day of Mary’s parents, Anne and Joachim. Although they appear only in apocryphal writings, most notably the Protoevangelium of James the Lesser, Mary’s parents are important figures in many Marian works. St. Anne in particular is frequently depicted with Mary in art. Cecilia Mushenheim provided a miniature illustration by Andreas Untersberger for Marienblumen: Liebfrauenerzählnungen Neuerer Katholischer Schriftsteller, by Georg Harrasser, S.J. (1921) that was later reproduced in Volume LX of Marian Studies in 2009. The issue’s title is “Telling Mary’s Story: The ‘Life of Mary’ Through the Ages,” so it’s appropriate that the miniature depicts St. Anne reading to Mary.

Anne reading or presenting a book to Mary is one of the most common depictions of Mary’s mother, alongside portraits of Anne with Mary and the infant Jesus. And although librarians, scholars, and other readers can appreciate seeing Anne reading to Mary, St. Anne reading to Mary from a book isn’t necessarily historically accurate. Scrolls were more common than books in the time before Christ, and many Jewish girls didn’t have the same access to literacy as boys (see the All About Mary entry Saint Anne Teaches Mary to Read for more context). Still, whatever the format of the text shown, images of St. Anne reading to Mary demonstrate the symbolic power of learning and family in Mary’s life.

Another source on one of Mary’s parents in the Marian Library is for children and their parents: Saint Anne, written by M.K. Richardson and illustrated by Salem Turner. The book’s many illustrations include Anne as a young woman looking at scrolls in the temple, and then, as Mary’s mother, showing an unfurled scroll to Mary. Richardson emphasizes the importance of stories and language to Anne’s faith, writing that Anne and her family “heard the wonderful words of God as the scrolls were unrolled and the writings of the prophets read from them” at the synagogue.

Although Richardson writes “There is so much more we should love to know about Mary when she was little! But we shall have to wait until we get to heaven and can ask Saint Anne,” the Marian Library has more writings on Mary and her parents in the meantime! For more about Anne and Joachim, see the following All About Mary index: Memorial of Saints Ann and Joachim, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

You can also contact the Marian Library about our juvenile book collection or any other materials at mlimri@udayton.edu.

Learn even more about Anne, Mary, and readership in Father James Heft's lecture "Mary and the Intellectual Life" available on All About Mary.