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 JOAB

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JOACHIM

Joab (Heb. 2XV ; Sept.'Iwd/3), general in chief of the army of Iving David. He was the son of Sarvia, sister of David, antl had two brothers, Abisai and Asael. He apjjeared at the head of the forces of David after the latter had been proclaimed king in Hebron (II Kings, ii, 13-32). Abner, general of Saul's army, after hav- ing for a time espoused the cause of Isboseth, offered his services to David who accepted them, but he was treacherously slain by Joab to avenge the death of his brother Asael who had been slain by Abner in a preceding battle (II Kings, iii, 27). Joab was in command of David's army in the campaign against the Ammonites, when, at the suggestion of David, he brought about the death of Urias the Hethite (xi, 14- 17). It was also Joab who with his own hand slew Absalom as he hung from the branches of a tree in which he had become entangled in his flight (xviii, 1-15). Heartbroken by this act of Joab, David placed his nephew Amasa at the head of the army, but he was soon assassinated by Joab who again resumed command. Fear and self-interest caused David to re- tain him in that position, but he charged his successor Solomon to avenge the many crimes he had com- mitted (III Kings, ii, 5, 6). After the accession of Solomon, Joab, fearing the wrath of the king, took refuge in the Tabernacle of the Lord, hoping to enjoy the inviolability of the sanctuary, but he was slain there by Banaias at the command of Solomon (III Kings, ii, 28-34).

See Lesetre in ViGOUROUX, Did, de la Bible, s. v.; Selbie In Hastings, Diet, of the Bible, s. v.

James F. Driscoli..

Joachim (meaning Yahweh prepares), Saint, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. — If we were to obey the warning of St. Peter Damian, we should consider it a blameable and needless curiosity to inquire about those things that the Evangelists did not deem it advisable to relate, and, in particular, about the parents of the Blessed Virgin (Serm. iii de Nativ. B. M. v.). Tradition, nevertheless, grounded on very old testimonies, very early hailed Saints Joachim and Anne as the father and mother of the Mother of Clod. True, this tradition seems to rest ultimately on the so-called "Gospel of James", the "Gospel of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary", and the Pseudo- Matthew, or " Book of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Childhood of the Saviour''; and tliis origin is likely to rouse well-founded suspi- cions. It should be borne in mind, however, that the apocryphal character of these writings, that is to say, their rejection from the canon, and their ungenuine- ness do not imply that no heed whatever should be taken of some of their assertions; side by side, indeed, with unwarranted and legendary facts, they contain some historical data borrowed from reliable traditions or documents; and difficult though it is to distinguish in them the wheat from the tares, it would be unwise and uncritical indiscriminately to reject the whole. Some commentators, who believe that the genealogy given by St. Luke is that of the Blessed Virgin, find the mention of Joachim in Heli (Luke, iii, 23: Eli- achim, i. e. Jeho-achim), and explain that Joseph had, in the eyes of the Law, become by his marriage the son of Joachim. That such is the purpose and the meaning of the Evangelist is very doubtful, and so is the identification proposed between the two names lleli and Juacldm. Neither can it be asserted with certainty, in spite of the authority of the BoUandists, that Joachim was Hell's son and Joseph's brother; nor, as is sometimes affirmed, from sources of very doubt- ful value, that he had large possessions in herds and flocks. Much more interesting are the beautiful lines in which the "Gospel of James" describes how, in their old age, Joachim and Anne received the reward of their prayers to obtain issue. Tradition has it that the parents of the Blessed Virgin, who, apparently,

first lived in Galilee, came later on to settle in Jerusa- lem; there the Blessed Virgin was born and reared; there also they died and were buried. A church, known at various epochs as St. Mary, St. Mary ubi nata est, St. Mary in Probatica, Holy Probatica, St. Anne, was built during the fourth century, possibly by St. Helena, on the site of the house of St. Joachim and St. Anne, and their tombs were there honoured until the close of the ninth century, when the church was converted into a Moslem school. The crypt which formerly contained the holy tombs was rediscovered on 18 March, 1889.

St. Joachim was honoured very early by the Greeks, who celebrate his feast on the day following the Blessed Virgin's birthday; the Latins were slow to admit it into their calendar, where it found place sometimes on 16 Sept. and sometimes on 9 Dec. Assigned by Juhus II to 20 March, the solemnity was suppressed some fifty years later, restored by Gregory XV (1622), fixed by Clement XII (1738) on the Sunday after the Assumption, and finally raised to the rank of double of the second class by Leo XIII (1 Aug., 1879).

Acta SS., March, III; Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti (2nd ed.. Hamburg, 1719); Tischendorf, Evan- gelia Apocrypha (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1876); Binerus, De Joa- chimo, Anna ct Josepho (Antwerp, 1638) ; GciRANGER, L' Annie liturqique (tr. Benedictines of Stanbrook; time after Pente- cost), IV (London, 1901); Cr^, Tombeau de Saint Joachim et de Sle Anne in Revue Biblique (1893). 245-74; Vincent, La crypte deSte Anne h Jerusalem in Revue Biblique (1904), 228-41.

Charles L. Souvay. Joachimites. See Joachim of Flora.

Joachim of Flora, Cistercian abbot and mystic; b. at Celico, near Cosenza, Italy, c. 1132; d. at San Giovanni in Fiore, in Calabria, 30 March, 1202. His father, Maurus de Celico (whose family name is said to have been Tabellione), a notary holding high office under the Norman kings of Sicily, placed him at an early age in the royal Court. While on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Joachim was converted from the world by the sight of some great calamity (perhaps an outbreak of pestilence). He passed the whole of Lent in contemplation on Mount Thabor, where he is said to have received celestial illumination for the work of his life. Returning to Italy, he retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Sambucina, proliably in 1159, and for some years devoted himself to lay preachmg, without taking the religious habit or re- ceiving any orders. The ecclesiastical authorities raising objections to his mode of life, he took the Cistercian habit in the Abbey of Corazzo, and was ordained priest, apparently m 1168. He now ap- plied himself entirely to Biblical study, with a special view to the interpretation of the hidden meanmg of the Scriptures. A few years later, much against his will, he was elected abbot. Finding the duties of his office an intolerable hindrance to what he deemed his higher calling, he appealed, in 1182, to Pope Lucius III, who relieved him of the temporal care of his abbey, and warmly approved of his work, bid- ding him continue it in whatever monastery he thought best. He spent the following year and a half at the Abbey of Casamari, engaged upon his three great books, and there a young monk, Lucas (afterwards Archbishop of Cosenza), who acted as his secretary, tells us of his amazement at seeing so famous and eloquent a man wearing such rags, and of the wonderful devotion with which he preached and said Mass.

The papal approbation was confirmed by Urban III, in 1185, and again, more conditionally, by Clement III, in 1187, the latter exhorting him to make no delay in completing his work and submit- ting it to the judgment of the Holy See. Joachim now retired to the hermitage of Pietralata, and finally founded the Abbey of Fiore (or Flora) among the Calal)rian mountains, which became the centre of a new and stricter branch of the Cistercian Order