Saint Anna is a mysterious figure, about whom nothing is known historically, not even in the Bible. According to the surviving legends, however, she is the mother of Mary.
She was married to Joachim and together they had long begged God to have a child. The years passed and the couple remained childless for a long time.
One evening, after a conflict with the high priest, an angel appeared to both Joachim and Anna announcing that they would have a child: a girl, whom they should name Mary and give to God.
They met at the Golden Gate, the meeting that was regarded as the moment when Anna became pregnant with Mary. This legend is now remembered, among other places, in St. Anne's Church in Aldeneik, a small village that has had an important ecclesiastical community since the 700s.
St. Anne's Church was built in the second half of the twelfth century, at the time as a monastery church and without reference to St. Anne. The church was one of 'the three mints in the Maasgouw': Aldeneik, Susteren and Odiliënberg.
From the eighteenth century, the church took Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, as its patron saint. In the church there is a beautiful statue of Saint Anne-ten-Drieen by Jan van Steffenswert.
This text has been automatically translated using an online translation service.
