St. Anne

According to Christian tradition, St. Anne was the mom of the Virgin Mary, wife of St. Joachim, & was Jesus’ maternal grandma.

Her name isn’t in the Bible’s canonical Gospels. In writing, Anne’s name, & Joachim’s come from New Testament apocrypha. The Gospel of Thomas (written circa 150 AD) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. She’s mentioned in the Quran, but not by name.

The Immaculate Conception was eventually made dogma by the Catholic Church following an increased devotion to Anne in the 12th century. In Eastern Christianity dedications start as early as 6th century.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Anne & Joachim are attributed to the title Ancestor of God. Both the Nativity of Mary & the Presentation of Mary are celebrated as 2 of the 12 Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church.

The Dormition of Anne is also a minor feast in Eastern Christianity. In Lutheranism, it’s believed that Martin Luther chose to enter religious life as an Augustinian friar after invoking St. Anne was jeopardized by lightning.

In the 4th century, & in the 15th century, a belief arose that Mary was conceived of Anne without original sin. The Immaculate Conception is often confused with the Annunciation of the Incarnation (Mary’s virgin birth of Jesus). The 13th century Speculum Maius includes information regarding the life of St. Anne.

In the Eastern church, the veneration of Anne herself may go back as far as circa 550, when Justinian built a church in Constantinople in her honor. The earliest pictorial sign of her veneration in the West in an 8th century fresco in the church of Santa Maria Antique, Rome.

The Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary had reached southern Italy by the 9th century. In the Latin Church, St. Anne wasn’t venerated. Except, perhaps, in the south of France, before the 13th century. A shrine at Douai (in northern France) was 1 of the early centers of devotion to St. Anne in the West.

The Anna Selbdritt was a type of iconography showing 3 generations of the “Holy Family,” St. Anne, the Virgin Mary, & Jesus (grandma, mom, son). This style of iconography emphasized the humanity of Jesus. It drew on the earlier conventions of the Seat of Wisdom. (The Seat of Wisdom is/are icons/sculptures that shows the Virgin Mary is seated on a throne with Jesus, as a kid, on her lap.) This was popular in northern Germany in the 1500s.

Two well-known shrines to St. Anne is that of Ste-Anne-d’Auray in Brittany (France) & that of Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre near the city of Quebec. The number of pilgrims to the Basilica of Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre is the greatest of St. Anne’s Feast Day (July 26), & the Sunday before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8). In 1892, Pope Leo XIII sent a relic of St. Anne to the church.

By the middle of the 7th century, a distinct feast day, the Conception of St. Anne (Maternity of Holy Anne) celebrating Mary by St. Anne, was observed at the Monastery of St. Sabas.

It’s now known in the Greek Orthodox Church as the feast of “The Conception by St. Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos.” It’s celebrated on December 9th. In the Catholic Church, the Feast of Saints Anne & Joachim is celebrated on July 26. The alleged relics of St. Anne was brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in 710 & was kept there in the church of St. Sophia as late as 1333.

During the 12th & 13th centuries, returning crusaders & pilgrims from the East brought St. Anne’s relics to some churches, including most famously those at Apt, in Provence, Ghent, & Chartres. St. Anne’s relics have been preserved & venerated in the many cathedrals & monasteries dedicated to her name.

For example, in Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, & Greece in the semi-autonomous Mount Athos, & the city of Katerini. Duren has been the main place of pilgrimage for Anne since 1506, when Pope Julius II decreed that her relics should be kept there, after they were stolen from the church of St. Stephen in Mainz.

The Church of St. Anne in Beit Guvrin National Park was built by the Byzantines & the crusaders in the 12th century. This is known in Arabic as Khirbet Sandahanna, the mound of Maresha being called Tell Sandahanna.

St. Anne is the patroness of unmarried women, housewives, women in labor or who want to be pregnant, grandmothers, moms, & educators. She’s also a patroness of horseback riders, cabinet-makers, & miners.

As the mom of Mary, this devotion to St. Anne as the patron of miners arises from the medieval comparison between Mary & Jesus & the precious metals: gold & silver. Anne’s womb was considered the source from which these precious metals were mined.

St. Anne is the patron saint of Brittany (France); Cuenca (Ecuador); Chinandega (Nicaragua); the Mi’kmaq people of Canada; Castelbuono (Sicily); Quebec (Canada); Santa Ana (California); Norwich (Connecticut); Detroit (Michigan); Adjunta (Puerto Rico); Santa Ana & Jucuaran (El Salvador); Berlin (New Hampshire); Santa Ana Pueblo, Seama, & Taos (New Mexico); Chiclana de la Frontera, Marsaskala, Tuadela, Atarfe & Fasnia (Spain); Town of Sta Ana Province of Pampanga, Molo, Iloilo City, Balasan; Iloilo, Hagnoy, Santa Ana, Taguig City, St. Anne Shrine, Malicboy, Pagbilao, Quezon, & Malinao, Albay (Philippines); Santana (Brazil); St. Anne (Illinois); Sainte Anne Island; Baie Sainte Anne & Praslin Island (Seychelles); Bukit Mertajam & Port Klang (Malaysia); Kl’ucove (Slovakia) & South Vietnam.

The parish church of Vatican City is Sant’ Anna dei Palafrenieri. There’s a shrine dedicated to St. Anne in the Woods in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Anne is also revered in Islam, recognized as a highly spiritual woman & as the mom of Mary. She’s not named in the Quran. She’s called “the wife of Imran.” The Quran describes her remaining childless until old age. One day, Anne saw a bird feeding its young while sitting in the shade of a tree, which awakened her desire to have kids of her own.

She prayed for a kid & eventually conceived. Imran, her husband, died before the kid was born. Anne expected the unborn kid to be a boy, so she vowed to dedicate “him” to isolation & service in the Second Temple.

Anne had a daughter (Mary) instead. Anne named her: Mary. Anne’s words upon delivering Mary reflect as a great mystic, realizing that while she’d had wanted a son, this daughter was God’s gift to her.

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Letters from an American – Heather Cox Richardson – July 26, 2025

July 26, 2025, Heather Cox Richardson

Heather Cox Richardson

Ten days ago, ten Republican senators wrote to Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, asking him to release the funds Congress appropriated in March to support education. Vought was a key author of Project 2025, which claims the federal government has been taken over by a radical left cabal and calls for the decimation of that government in favor of state power, enabling the construction of a religious government.

Vought was central to the cuts made by the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) and has recently pushed Congress to put its stamp of approval on $9.4 billion of those cuts. Over the objections of Democrats, Republicans agreed earlier this month to approve cuts the administration made to laws passed by Congress, known as “rescissions,” for the first time in decades. Trump signed that measure into law on Thursday.

The Constitution charges the president with making sure the laws passed by Congress are “faithfully executed,” and the 1974 Impoundment Control Act prohibits the executive branch from withholding funds appropriated by Congress, leading lawmakers to object that the Trump administration is breaking the law and trying to take over Congress’s job of writing laws. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) said of the rescission package: “Let’s not make a habit of this. Let’s not consider this a precedent.” But Vought says those cuts are just the beginning.

In March, Congress approved nearly $7 billion in education funding that was supposed to be released by July 1, but the administration announced on June 30 it would not do so, saying officials were conducting a “review.” The funds included money to recruit and train teachers and to support arts and music education in low-income areas, as well as funds for children learning English and for the children of migrant farm workers. New York Times education reporter Sarah Mervosh noted that the Office of Management and Budget said federal dollars were being “grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda.”

“We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,” the senators wrote to Vought, but “we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”

Also yesterday, Senator Katie Britt (R-AL), who chairs the Senate Appropriations homeland subcommittee, and thirteen of her Republican colleagues wrote a letter to Vought urging him to “fully implement” the government funding measure Congress passed in March, releasing money for programs funded by the National Institutes of Health. The letter clarified that its authors shared Vought’s “commitment to ensuring NIH funds are used responsibly and not diverted to ideological or unaccountable programs.” But, it warned, “Suspension of these appropriated funds—whether formally withheld or functionally delayed—could threaten Americans’ ability to access better treatments and limit our nation’s leadership in biomedical science.”

July 26, 2025 by Heather Cox Richardson

Read on Substack

Read More/See Original Article: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-26-2025

#2025 #America #Books #DonaldTrump #Health #HeatherCoxRichardson #History #July26 #LettersFromAnAmerican #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Resistance #Science #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

There was a bit of color in the sky, some owls hooting in the distance, cool air, and wandering thoughts tonight.

#sunset #sky #July26 #Saturday #clouds #life

July 26

This day in history:

  • 1861 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
  • 1529 – Francisco Pizarro González, Spanish conquistador, is appointed governor of Peru.
  • 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
  • 1956 – Following the World Bank's refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.

Births:

  • 1963 – Stuart Long, American boxer and Catholic priest (died 2014)
  • 1897 – Harold D. Cooley, American lawyer and politician (died 1974)
  • 1979 – Erik Westrum, American ice hockey player

Deaths:

  • 2005 – Jack Hirshleifer, American economist and academic (born 1925)
  • 1801 – Maximilian Francis, archduke of Austria (born 1756)
  • 2011 – Tom Borton, American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer (born 1956)

Holidays:

  • * (India)*
  • Esperanto Day
  • Day of the National Rebellion (Cuba)

Random Article of the day:

Adam West (band)

#wikipedia #July26 #AdamWest(band)

July 26 - Wikipedia

Russia-Ukraine war: Frontline update as of July 26

Read more

RBC-Ukraine

July 26

This day in history:

  • 1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.
  • 1952 – King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
  • 1579 – Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a "fair and good" bay on the coast of the Pacific Northwest (probably Oregon or Washington).

Births:

  • 1928 – Don Beauman, English race car driver (d. 1955)
  • 1983 – Delonte West, American basketball player
  • 1986 – John White, English footballer

Deaths:

  • 2013 – Sung Jae-gi, South Korean philosopher and activist (b. 1967)
  • 1925 – William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)
  • 2011 – Tom Borton, American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer (b. 1956)

Holidays:

  • Emancipation Day (Barbados)
  • Day of the National Rebellion (Cuba)
  • Independence Day (Liberia), celebrates the independence of Liberia from the American Colonization Society in 1847.

Random Article of the day:

2013 BWF World Junior Championships – Team event group stage

This article lists the complete results of the group stage of the 2013 BWF World Junior Championships – Teams event in Bangkok, Thailand.

#wikipedia #July26 #2013BWFWorldJuniorChampionships–Teameventgroupstage

July 26 - Wikipedia

This Day In History: July 26, 1944

- The Battle for Narva Bridgehead ended after almost six months when German forces withdrew. Learn More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Narva_(1944)

- The Battle of Ilomantsi began in Finland. Learn More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ilomantsi

- President Roosevelt met with commanders at Pearl Harbor alongside Douglas MacArthur and Chester Nimitz. Learn More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt#World_War_II

@greenvalleyradionetwork
#ThisDayInHistory #July26
Source: Wikipedia
Pictured: Narva after raids, 1944

Battle of Narva (1944) - Wikipedia

Darlene Love - Wikipedia