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The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
2. ST. ANNE AND ST. JOACHIM.
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Joachim was far from handsome. St. Joseph, though no longer young, was
in comparison a very handsome man. Joachim was short and broad and at
the same time thin, and though he was a wonderfully pious, holy man, I
can't help laughing when I think of his appearance. Joachim was poor.
He was related to St. Joseph in the following way: Joseph's grandfather
was descended from David through Solomon and was called Matthan. He had
two sons, Jacob and Joses. Jacob was the father of Joseph. When Matthan
died, his widow married as her second husband Levi (descended from
David through Nathan), and by him had Matthat, the father of Heli, also
called Joachim. [20]
Wooing was in those days a very simple affair. The suitors were quite
awkward and bashful, and when the young people spoke to each other,
they accepted the idea of marriage as something that had to be. If the
bride-to-be said yes, the parents were glad, but if she said no and had
reason for it, they were just as satisfied. If everything was settled
between the parents, the betrothal followed in the synagogue of the
place. The priest prayed at the holy place where the scrolls of the Law
lay, the parents in their usual place. Meanwhile the betrothed couple
went together into a room and discussed their plans and their marriage
contract; if they were in agreement, they told their parents, and their
parents told the priest, who came towards them and received their
declaration. On the next day the wedding took place in the open air and
with many ceremonies.
Joachim and Anna were married in a little place with only a small
school. Only one priest was present. Anna was about nineteen years old.
They lived with Eliud, Anna's father. His house belonged to the town of
Sephoris, but was some distance away from it, among a group of houses
of which it was the largest. Here I think they lived for several years.
There was something very distinguished about both of them; they were
completely Jewish, but there was in them, unknown to themselves, a
wonderful seriousness. I seldom saw them laugh, but they were certainly
not sad when they began their married life. They had a serene and even
character, and even in their young days they seemed a little like
sedate old people. Often in my youth I have seen similar sedate young
couples, and even then I used to say to myself, they are just like Anna
and Joachim.
Their parents were well-to-do; they had many flocks and herds,
beautiful carpets and household things, and many manservants and
maidservants. I never saw them cultivating the fields, but often saw
them driving cattle out to pasture. They were very pious, devout,
charitable, simple, and upright. They often divided their herds and
everything else into three parts, and gave a third of the beasts to the
Temple, driving them there themselves and handing them over to the
Temple servants. The second part they gave to the poor or in answer to
the requests of their relations, some of whom were generally there to
drive the beasts away. The remainder, which was generally the worst,
they kept for themselves. They lived very frugally and gave to all who
asked. As a child I often used to think, Giving brings plenty; he who
gives, receives twice in return', for I saw that their third always
increased and that soon everything was in such abundance that they were
able to make the three divisions again. They had many relations who
were assembled in their house on all festive occasions, but I never saw
much feasting. I saw them giving food to the poor now and then, but I
never saw them having real banquets. When the family were together I
generally saw them lying on the ground in a circle, speaking of God in
eager expectation. I often saw bad men from their neighborhood watching
them with ill will and bitterness as they spoke together, looking up to
heaven so full of longing. They were kindly disposed towards these
ill-wishers, however, and lost no opportunity of asking them to their
house, where they gave them double shares of everything. I often saw
these men violently and angrily demanding what the good people gave
them in love and charity. There were poor people in their own family,
and I often saw them being given a sheep or even several.
The first child born to Anna in her father's house was a daughter, but
she was not the child of promise. The signs which had been predicted
were not present at her birth, which was attended by some trouble. I
saw that Anna, when with child, was distressed about her servants. One
of her maidservants had been led astray by a relation of Joachim. Anna,
in great dismay at this infringement of the strict discipline of her
house, reproached her somewhat severely for her fault, and the
maidservant took her misfortune so to heart that she was delivered
prematurely of a stillborn child. Anna was inconsolable over this,
fearing that it was her fault, with the result that her child was also
born too soon. Her daughter, however, did not die. Since this child had
not the signs of the promise and was born too early, Anna looked upon
this as a punishment of God, and was greatly distressed at what she
believed to be her own sin. She had, however, great joy in her newborn
little daughter, who was called Mary. She was a dear, good, gentle
child, and I always saw her growing up rather strong and fat. Her
parents were very fond of her, but they felt some uneasiness and
distress because they realized that she was not the expected holy fruit
of their union. They therefore did penance and lived in continence for
a long time. Afterwards Anna remained barren, [21] which she looked
upon as the result of her having sinned, and so redoubled all her good
works. I saw her often by herself in earnest prayer; I saw, too, how
they often lived apart from each other, gave alms, and sent sacrifices
to the Temple.
Anna and Joachim had lived with Anna's father Eliud for some seven
years (as I could see by the age of their first child), when they
decided to separate from their parents and settle in a house with land
in the neighborhood of Nazareth that had come to them from Joachim's
parents. There they intended in seclusion to begin their married life
anew, and to bring down God's blessing on their union by a way of life
more pleasing to Him. I saw this decision being taken in the family,
and I saw Anna's parents making the arrangements for their children's
new home. They divided their flocks and herds, setting apart for their
children oxen, asses, and sheep, all much bigger than we have at home.
All the household goods, crockery, and clothes were packed upon asses
and oxen standing before the door. All the good people were so clever
at packing the things up, and the beasts so intelligent in the way they
took their loads and carried them off. We are not nearly so clever in
packing things into carts as these people were in loading them onto
beasts. They had beautiful household things; all the vessels were more
delicate than nowadays, as if each had been made by the craftsman with
special love and intention. I watched them packing the fragile jugs,
decorated with beautiful ornamentation; they filled them with moss,
wrapped more moss round them, and made them fast to both ends of a
strap, so that they hung over the animal's backs, which were covered
with bundles of colored rugs and garments. I saw them, too, packing up
costly rugs heavily embroidered with gold; and the parents gave their
departing children a heavy little lump in a pouch, no doubt a piece of
precious metal.
When everything was ready, the menservants and maidservants joined the
procession, and drove the flocks and herds and the beasts of burden
before them to the new home, which was some five or six hours' journey
distant. I think it had belonged to Joachim's parents. After Anna and
Joachim had taken leave of all friends and servants, with thanks and
admonitions, they left their former home with much emotion and with
good resolutions. Anna's mother was no longer alive, but I saw that the
parents accompanied the couple to their new home. Perhaps Eliud had
married again, or perhaps it was only Joachim's parents who were there.
Mary Heli, Anna's elder daughter, who was about six or seven years old,
was also of the party.
Their new home lay in a pleasant hilly country; it was surrounded by
meadows and trees, and was one and a half hours, or a good hour, to the
west of Nazareth, on a height between the valley of Nazareth and the
valley of Zabulon. A ravine with an avenue of terebinth trees led from
the house in the direction of Nazareth. In front of the house was an
enclosed courtyard, the floor of which looked to me like bare rock. It
was surrounded by a low wall of rocks or rough stones, with a wattle
hedge growing either on it or behind it. On one side of this court
there were small, not very solid buildings for the workpeople and for
storing tools of various kinds; also an open shed had been put up there
for cattle and beasts of burden. There were several gardens, and in one
near the house was a great tree of a strange kind. Its branches hung
down to the ground, took root there, and threw up other trees which did
the same, until it was encircled by a whole series of arbors. There was
a door opening on hinges in the center of the rather large house. The
inside of the house was about as big as a moderate-sized village
church, and was divided into different rooms by more or less movable
wickerwork screens which did not reach to the ceiling. The door opened
into the first part of the house, a big anteroom running the whole
breadth of the building and used for banquets, or, if necessary, it
could be divided up by light movable screens to make small bedrooms
when there were many guests. Opposite the house door was a less solid
door in the middle of the back wall of this anteroom, leading to the
middle part of the house through a passage with four bedrooms on each
side of it. These rooms were partitioned off by light wickerwork
screens of a man's height and ending at the top in open trellis-work.
From here this passage led into the third or back part of the house,
which was not rectangular, as it ended in a semicircular curve like the
apse of a church. In the middle of this room, opposite the entrance,
the wall of the fireplace rose up to the smoke-opening in the roof of
the house; at the foot of this wall was the hearth where cooking was
done. A five-branched lamp hung from the ceiling in front of this
fireplace. At the side of it and behind it were several rather large
rooms divided off by light screens. Behind the hearth, divided off by
screens of rugs, were the rooms used by the family--the sleeping
places, the prayer alcove, the eating and working rooms. Beyond the
beautiful orchards round the house were fields, then a wood with a hill
behind it.
When the travelers arrived in the house they found everything already
in order and in its place, for the old people had sent the things on
ahead and had them arranged. The men-servants and maidservants had
unpacked and settled all the things just as beautifully and neatly as
when they were packed up, for they were so helpful and worked so
quietly and intelligently by themselves that one did not have to be
giving them orders all the time about every single thing as one must do
today. Thus everything was soon settled and quiet, and the parents,
having brought their children into their new home, blessed and embraced
them in farewell, and set off on their journey home, accompanied by
their little granddaughter, who went back with them. I never saw
feasting going on during such visits and on similar occasions; they
often lay in a circle and had a few little bowls and jugs on the carpet
before them, but their talk was generally of divine things and holy
expectations.
I now saw the holy couple beginning an entirely new life here. It was
their intention to offer to God all that was past and to behave as
though their marriage had only then taken place, endeavoring to live in
a manner pleasing to God, and thus to bring down upon them His blessing
which they so earnestly desired beyond all else. I saw both of them
going amongst their flocks and herds and following the example of their
parents (as I have described above) in dividing them into three
portions between the Temple, the poor, and themselves. The best and
choicest portion was driven off to the Temple; the poor were given the
next best one, and the least good they kept for themselves. This they
did with all their possessions. Their house was quite spacious; they
lived and slept in separate little rooms, where I saw them very often
praying by themselves with great devotion. I saw them living in this
way for a long time, giving generous alms, and each time they divided
their herds and goods I saw that everything quickly increased again.
They lived very abstemiously, observing periods of self-denial and
continence. I saw them praying in penitential garments, and I often saw
Joachim kneeling in supplication to God when he was with his herds far
away in the pastures.
For nineteen years after the birth of their first child they lived thus
devoutly before God in constant yearning for the gift of fruitfulness
and with an increasing distress. I saw ill-disposed neighbors coming to
them and speaking ill of them, saying that they must be bad people
since no children were born to them, that the little girl with Anna's
parents was riot really her daughter, but had been adopted by her
because of her barrenness, otherwise she would have had her at home,
and so forth. Each time they heard such words, the distress of the good
couple was renewed.
Anna's steadfast faith was supported by an inmost certainty that the
coming of the Messiah was near, and that she herself was among His
human relations. She prayed for the fulfillment of the Promise with
loud supplications, and both she and Joachim were always striving after
more perfect purity of life. The shame of her unfruitfulness distressed
her deeply. She could hardly appear in the synagogue without affront.
Joachim, though short and thin, was robust, and I often saw him going
to Jerusalem with the beasts for sacrifice. Anna was not tall either,
and very delicately formed. Her grief so consumed her that her cheeks,
though still slightly tinged with red, were quite hollow. They
continued to give portions of their herds to the Temple and to the
poor, while the portion they kept for themselves grew ever smaller and
smaller.
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