Anne 			July 26
Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The New Testament tells us nothing at all about the family life and background of Mary. In the middle of the second century, an anonymous writer produced The Protevangelium of James. While this document is a work of pious fiction, it provides all the elements for the later development of Mariology in the church. The subject of the document is primarily the miraculous birth of Mary. She is described as the daughter of the wealthy Joachim and his wife Anne. The story is taken as far as the birth of Jesus. The author draws extensively on the birth stories of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, and constructs the story of Anne very much on the model of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Even the name, Anne (or Anna), is a variant of Hannah.
According to this legend Anne and Joachim are a devout and righteous couple, but childless. Then both are visited by angels and told that Anne will bear a child. After the child’s birth she is called Mary and at the age of two is taken to the Temple. Mary was brought up in the Temple and was one of the seven virgins who made the veil of the Temple. She was eventually betrothed to Joseph, a respected widower. The story then leads into a somewhat embellished version of the familiar accounts of the birth of Jesus.
The development of Anne’s cult was affected by the growing cult of the Virgin Mary in the later Middle Ages, which fostered interest in Mary’s own family.
For Liturgical Use
Although the New Testament tells us nothing about the family life and background of Mary, a devout second century Christian sought to supply the lack in a short work that provides the basis for much of the later Mariology. Mary’s parents were called Anne and Joachim. They were a pious but childless couple, whose prayers were eventually answered with the birth of Mary, who was brought up in the Temple. The work draws heavily on the early chapters of Matthew and Luke, and on the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel.
Sentence
There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no rock like our God.	
				1 Samuel 2:2
Collects
Everloving God,
in Christ you shared our sense of heritage
and the continuity of the generations;
as we remember Anne, the grandmother of your Son,
help us to respect our whakapapa
and to learn from the wisdom of the old;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

God of the old as of the young,
of the grandparent and the parent,
of Anne and Mary,
give us patience, we pray,
and especially with children.
Psalms	128	132:11-19
Readings
Zephaniah 3:14-20		Promise of restoration
James 1:16-21		God’s faithfulness
Luke 1:26-33		His reign shall never end
Post Communion Sentence
Blessed are all who put their trust in the Lord.	Psalm 2:11