Saint Anne
Greek icon of Saint Anne and Mary, by Angelos Akotantos
Mother of the Virgin, Mystic, Maternal Heroine, Woman of Amram
Born	c. 1st century B.C.E.
Honored in	Christianity Islam Aglipayan Church
Feast	July 26 (Western calendar) and July 25 (Eastern calendar)
Attributes	Book, door, with Mary, Jesus or Joachim
Patronage	carpenters; childless people; equestrians; grandparents; homemakers/housewives; lace makers; lost articles; Fasnia(Tenerife); Mainar; Detroit; miners; mothers; moving house; old-clothes dealers; poverty; pregnancy; seamstresses; stablemen; sterility

Saint Anne (also Ann or Anna, from Hebrew Hannah חַנָּה, meaning "favor" or "grace") of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels or the Qur'an, and her name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Protoevangelium of James, written perhaps around 150, seems to be the earliest that mentions them.

Church tradition[link]

The story bears a similarity to that of the birth of Samuel, whose mother Hannah had also been childless. Although Hanna receives little attention in the Western church prior to the late 12th century,^[1] dedications to Hanna in the Eastern church occur as early as the 6th century.^[2] In the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, she is revered as Hanna. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Hanna, is ascribed the title Forbear of God, and both the Birth of Mary and the Dedication of Mary to the Temple are celebrated as two of the Twelve Great Feasts. The Dormition of Hanna is also a minor feast in the Eastern Church. In Protestant tradition it is held that Martin Luther chose to enter religious life as a monk after receiving heavenly aid from St. Anne.

Islamic view of Anne[link]

Anne (Arabic: Hannah) is also a revered woman in Islam and is recognized as a highly spiritual woman as well as the mother of Mary. The daughter of Faqud, Hannah was childless until her old age. She saw a bird feeding its young while sitting in the shade of a tree, which awakened her desire to have children of her own. She prayed for a child and eventually conceived. Her husband, known as Imran in the Qur'an, died before the child was born. Expecting the child to be male, Hannah vowed to dedicate him to isolation and the service in the Temple.^{[N 1][3][4]} However, Hannah bore a daughter instead, and she named her Mary. Her words ^{[N 2]} after the birth of Mary reflect her status as a great mystic. Hannah wanted a son, but she realized that the daughter was God's gift to her.^[3][4]

Legends[link]

Varying theologians have believed either that Joachim was Anne's only husband or that she was married thrice. Ancient belief, attested to by a sermon of St John Damascene, was that Anne married once. In late medieval times, legend held that Anne was married three times, first to Joachim, then to Clopas and finally to a man named Solomas and that each marriage produced one daughter: Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Salomae, respectively.^[5] The sister of Saint Hanna was Sobe who was the mother of Saint Elizabeth.

Similarly, in the 4th century and then much later in the 15th century, a belief arose that Mary was born of Anne by virgin birth.^[6] Those believers included the 16th century Lutheran mystic Valentine Weigel who claimed Anne conceived Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. This belief was condemned as an error by the Catholic Church in 1677. Instead, the Church teaches that Mary was conceived in the normal fashion, but that she was miraculously preserved from original sin in order to make her fit to bear Christ. The conception of Mary free from original sin is termed the Immaculate Conception—which is frequently confused with the Virgin Birth or Incarnation of Christ.

In the fifteenth century, the Catholic cleric Johann Eck related in a sermon that St Anne's parents were named Stollanus and Emerentia. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) regards this genealogy as spurious.^[7]

Anne in art[link]

Fresco of Saint Anne in Serbian Orthodox church.

The iconographic subject of Joachim and Anne The Meeting at the Golden Gate fitted both views, and was a regular component of artistic cycles of the Life of the Virgin. The couple meet at the "Golden Gate" of Jerusalem and embrace. They are aware of Anne's pregnancy, of which they have been separately informed by an archangel. For those believing in the virgin birth of Mary, this moment stood for her conception, and the feast was celebrated on the same day as the Immaculate Conception. Art works representing the Golden Gate and the events leading up to it were influenced by the narrative in the widely read Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. The Birth of Mary, the Presentation of Mary and the Marriage of the Virgin were usual components of cycles of the Life of the Virgin in which Anne is normally shown.

Anne is never shown as present at the Nativity of Christ, but is frequently shown with the infant Christ in various subjects. She is sometimes believed to be depicted in scenes of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and the Circumcision of Christ but in the former case this likely reflects a misidentification through confusion with Anna the Prophetess. Anna is described in Luke's Gospel as a holy widow who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah at his Presentation, along with Simeon the Righteous and both frequently appear in artistic depictions of the story. There was a tradition that Anne went (separately) to Egypt and rejoined the Holy Family after their Flight to Egypt. Anne is not seen with the adult Christ, so was regarded as having died during the youth of Jesus.^[8] Anne is also shown as the matriarch of the Holy Kinship, the extended family of Jesus, a popular subject in late medieval Germany, some versions of these pictorial and sculptural depictions include Emerentia who was reputed in the 15th Century to be Anne's mother. In modern devotions, Anne and her husband are invoked for protection for the unborn.

Another typical subject has Anne teaching the Virgin Mary how to read (see gallery below).

Patronage[link]

Ann is the patron saint of the following places:^{[citation needed]} Detroit, Michigan;^[9] Brittany, France; Castelbuono, Sicily, Italy; Quebec and the Mi'kmaq peoples of Canada; Fasnia; Adjuntas, Puerto Rico; Norwich, Connecticut; Santa Ana Pueblo; Santa Ana, El Salvador; Jucuarán, El Salvador; Seama, New Mexico; Taos, New Mexico; Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain; Marsaskala; Tudela, Navarre; Philippines, where the National Shine of St. Anne is in the poblacion of Hagonoy, Bulacan,Santa Ana, Taguig City; Santana, São Paulo, Brazil; Saint Anne, Illinois; and places in Malaysia and South Vietnam. She is also the patron saint of horseback riders, housewives, grandmothers, cabinet makers, unmarried women, women in labor and miners.

Düren has been the main place of pilgrimage for Anne since 1506, when Pope Julius II decreed that her relics should be kept there.

Cities[link]

The city of Santa Ana, California was named in her honour. Many schools and places of worship are named after St Anne, the most famous being a parish church and primary school in Caversham, Reading.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Coptic, 8th century

• 

  German, 15th century. Anne holds Mary and Christ

• 

  German, 15th century, Legends of St Anne

• 

  Presentation of Mary at the Temple

• 

  German, 16th century. Relief of the St. Annes Head, Annakirche Dueren

• 

  Annunciation to Anne mosaic, 12th century, Chora Church, Istanbul

• 

  An Anna Selbdritt in the Cathedral Museum of the Church of Santiago Compostela

• 

  A Belgian Anna Selbdritt (labeled Ste Anne Trinitaire by the museum)

• 

  A Spanish Anna Selbdritt influenced ultimately by Greek "Hodegetria" icons

• AnnaSelbdrittMexico.jpg

  An Anna Selbdritt from Oaxaca, Mexico

• AnneGiuLungara.jpg

  St. Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read, Church of San Giuseppe alla Lungara, Rome

• 

  St. Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read, Church of St Andrew by the Wardrobe, London

• 

  St. Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read, Parish church of St.Ulrich in Ulrichsberg, 1722

See also[link]

• Anna (Bible)

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Anne

• Saint Anne at Patron Saints Index

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article St. Anne.

• Brief American Catholic article on "Sts. Joachim and Ann"
• "Anna, Grandmother of Jesus" by Claire Heartsong
• St. Anne page at Christian Iconography
• "Here Followeth the Nativity of Our Blessed Lady" from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
• The Protevangelium of James
• The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

Mia Hamm

Personal information
Full name	Mariel Margaret Hamm
Date of birth	(1972-03-17) March 17, 1972 (age 40)
Place of birth	Selma, Alabama, United States
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1989–1993	North Carolina Tar Heels	100	(103)
2001–2003	Washington Freedom	49	(25)
National team‡
1987–2004	United States	275	(158)
Honours Competitor for USA Women's football (soccer) Competitor for the USA Olympic Games Gold Atlanta 1996 Team competition Gold Athens 2004 Team competition Silver Sydney 2000 Team competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 28, 2007. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of June 29, 2007

Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama) is a retired American soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of U.S. soccer (158).^[1] She is the second most capped female player in soccer history behind Kristine Lilly, appearing in 275 international matches throughout her career.

Hamm was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year the first two times that award was given (in 2001 and 2002), and is listed as one of FIFA's 125 best living players (as chosen by Pelé). Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon called Hamm, "Perhaps the most important athlete of the last 15 years."^[2]

She retired from the sport in 2004, when she played her last game in the 2004 Fan Celebration Tour to commemorate the U.S. women's national team's victory in the 2004 Olympics. In 2007, her first year of eligibility, she was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame by having 137 votes of the 141 ballots cast. Women's Professional Soccer, a professional soccer league that launched in 2009, features Hamm's silhouette in its logo.^[3]

Hamm was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2006 ^[4] and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on March 11, 2008.^[5]

Mia Hamm clashes with Germany 1998.

She is the author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life. She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.

Hamm takes a corner kick.

Early years[link]

Hamm was born with a club foot and had to wear corrective shoes as a toddler.^[6] Hamm spent her childhood on Air Force bases with her parents, Bill and Stephanie Hamm, and her five siblings. The family moved many times and resided in several places including San Antonio, Texas, and Italy.^[7] Hamm played organized sports from a very young age, and at age fifteen she joined the U.S. women's national team, becoming the youngest ever to play for them.^[8] She played for Notre Dame Catholic High School, Wichita Falls, Texas, as a freshman and a sophomore. Hamm then attended Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia for one year, and helped the Lake Braddock soccer team win the 1989 state championships.^[9] Mia Hamm's brother played sports, inspiring her to do so as well.

She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she helped the Tar Heels to four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women's championships in five years (she sat out the season of 1991 to concentrate on the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China). North Carolina only lost one game in the ninety five she played on the team.^[9] She was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year for her last three years. She also won ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 and 1994.

Women's national team[link]

In 1991, when the women's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, Hamm became the youngest American woman to win a World Cup championship at the age of nineteen.

She was also a member of the American National college team that played in the 1993 Summer Universiade and lost to China, obtaining the silver medal. She was the leading scorer with six goals. She graduated from college with the all-time records for her conference in goals with 103, assists with 72, and total points with 278.

On May 22, 1999, Hamm broke the all-time international goal record with her 108th goal in a game against Brazil in Orlando, Florida.

Hamm in pregame workout.

In 1999, Nike named the largest building on their corporate campus after Hamm, and that same year she and the rest of the women on the national team became world champions again by winning the FIFA Women's World Cup. The final match surpassed the Atlanta Olympic final as the most-attended women's sports event, with over 90,000 filling the Rose Bowl.

Hamm was named the 1997 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.^[9]

On May 14, 2004, she announced her retirement effective after the 2004 Athens Olympics, expressing an interest in starting a family with her husband, Nomar Garciaparra.^[10][11]

In March 2004, Hamm and former U.S. teammate Michelle Akers were the only two women, and the only two Americans, named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that organization's 100th anniversary.Other accolades include being elected Soccer USA's female athlete of the year five years in a row (1994-1998), MVP of the Women's Cup in 1995 and the winner of three ESPY awards, including Soccer Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year.

In a friendly game against Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm scored her 151st international goal; she has long held the record in that category for any player, male or female. This match also marked her 259th international appearance; only her teammate Kristine Lilly has played in more internationals.

She helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was also chosen by her fellow U.S. Olympians to carry the American flag at the Athens Closing Ceremonies. After the Olympics, Hamm and her teammates went on a "farewell tour" of the United States, which finished on December 8, 2004 against Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In the game, which the U.S. won 5–0, Hamm assisted on two of the goals. Hamm is one of three longtime national team members who announced their retirements from international play at the end of the tour; the others are longtime captain Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (Fawcett did not play due to back surgery after the Olympics). Hamm retired with 158 international goals at age thirty-two.

Club[link]

For the majority of Hamm's career, there was no fully professional women's soccer league in the United States. As a result, she played only three seasons of club soccer. In 2001 she signed for the Washington Freedom in the newly established Women's United Soccer Association. The league suspended operations indefinitely in September 2003, but Hamm finished her short club career as a champion when the Freedom won the Founders Cup in that final season.

Personal life[link]

Her adoptive brother, Garrett Hamm, died on April 16, 1997 of complications from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease. Hamm established the Mia Hamm Foundation in part to support patients and their families who benefit from bone marrow transplants.

Hamm was first married to her college sweetheart Christian Corry, a United States Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter pilot; they divorced in 2001.^[12][13]

Hamm married then-Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003, in Goleta, California in a private ceremony, attended by three hundred guests. On March 27, 2007, Hamm gave birth to twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline. Though born five weeks early, each girl weighed over 5 pounds (2.3 kg) at birth.^[14] Twins run in both Hamm's and Garciaparra's families.^[15]

Coaching and other work[link]

Hamm is a global ambassador for FC Barcelona. She also hosts an annual celebrity soccer game in Los Angeles to support her foundation which raises funds for families needing marrow and cord blood transplants.^[16]

Championships[link]

See also[link]

• List of association women football players with 100 or more international goals

References[link]

Notes

Sources

• Mia Hamm: High Heels and Football at the International Olympic Committee website

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mia Hamm

• Mia Hamm's U.S. Olympic Team bio, with photos, video
• Mia Hamm Foundation
• Mia Hamm at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Mia Hamm in libraries (WorldCat catalog)