How did Anna become a saint?! “Inquiring minds want to know”–and questions are inevitable and have always been with respect to these Christian things. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs with me, if you will:

Begin with the premise that Jesus of Nazareth was born from the body of Mary. She was reported as being visibly “great with child” and she did give birth, and no one seems have to have debated that this child, Jesus, was hers. So far, so good. Women give birth every day, and usually name their children. So: Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Next question: Who was the father of Jesus? Answer? Well… you see… Mary married Joseph while already pregnant. Presumptively he was the father but he never admitted (or, depending on one’s view, had the temerity to claim) paternity. He willingly entered into a family arrangement by which he helped raise this child along with his wife, the child’s mother.

Next question: If Joseph was not the biological father, then who was? Well, the religion that grew up around this Jesus came up with an answer: GOD! So Jesus was just like Hercules, who himself was the product of the union of a male god (Zeus) and a female human being (Alcmene) who raised him along with her (human) husband (Amphitryon)!

So, if you can adopt the Herculean assertion that Jesus was the son of God, born of the human Mary and raised by Mary and her human husband Joseph…

Next question: Why was Mary chosen as God’s consort, the bearer of this Divine/Human child? She must be unique in some respect, right? The answer: she was, unlike all humans since Adam and Eve, born without (original) sin! (See my recent post discussing St. Lupus’s special mission to rid Britain of the idea that every human–Mary notwithstanding–wasn’t born with original sin.) Mary was a “new Eve”… and this became a doctrine-cum-dogma known as the “Immaculate Conception.”

In 1854, Pope Pius IX, stated ex cathedra (hence making it infallible dogma) the following (only in Latin, here translated into English):

The Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.

So Jesus was born to a human woman who was, in a one-off, conceived without original sin, making her a pure vessel for God to impregnate. That qualifies as unique.

Next question: So what about Mary’s parents, who conceived her immaculately? Umm…well…now we enter into territory that draws from an early Christian writing that actually failed to make the cut and become part of canonical scriptures–The Gospel of James! For those who did not know, there were a number of other Gospel accounts (including most famously the Gospel of Thomas) that were considered for inclusion in what became the New Testament, but only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John made it to the finals. It is in the Gospel of James (also known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protevangelium of James) that Mary’s parents are identified as Anna (today’s Saint) and Joachim. Click the link, above, to this Gospel for a fascinating read! You get the whole backstory about Mary’s birth there…including Anna and Joachim’s mourning their childlessness, having a version of a re-marriage ceremony after great purifications and offerings to God, and dedicating themselves that their own miracle child should be kept unsullied throughout her upbringing.

So now you know why Anna has been designated a saint.