Luke 2:37 (WEB)
and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.
Catechism · 2
The Mysteries of Christ's Life
“The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Lk 2:22-39; EX 13:2, 12-13.
Jesus and Israel
“It was in the Temple that Joseph and Mary presented him forty days after his birth.” — Catechism footnote: Lk 2:22-39.
Fathers and councils · 27
Ambrose of Milan
“A widow, it is said, of fourscore and four years, a widow who departed not from the temple, a widow who served God night and day with fastings and with prayers.” — editor's note: S. Luke ii. 36, 37.
Read the whole comment“Anna, who for eighty-four years in her widowhood had served God with fasts and prayers day and night in the temple, recognized Christ, Whom John, the master of abstinence, and as it were a new angel on earth, announced.” — editor's note: S. Luke ii. 37.
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Augustine of Hippo
“And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 22–39.
Read the whole comment“…they had gone with Him to Jerusalem after the purification of His mother, and when those things had been performed in the temple which are recounted by Luke, inasmuch as the words which were spoken by Simeon and Anna in their prophesyings regarding Him, when publicity began to be given to them by the persons who had…” — editor's note: Luke ii. 22–39.
Read the whole comment“…at the feet of the Lord, and hearing His word; thus we praise the good of Susanna in married chastity, but yet we set before her the good of the widow Anna, and, much more, of the Virgin Mary.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 37
Read the whole comment“…from her virginity; and she was a widow even unto eighty-four years, who used not to depart from the Temple, by fastings and prayers serving day and night.”” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36, 37
Read the whole comment“And Simeon and Anna were filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to acknowledge the greatness of the little child Christ.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 25–38
Read the whole comment“…in the Gospel concerning the Lord Himself newly born, that Simeon by the Holy Spirit recognized Him; that Anna the widow, a prophetess, also recognized Him; that John, who baptized Him, recognized Him; that Zacharias, being filled with the Holy Ghost, said many things; that Mary herself received the Holy Ghost to…” — editor's note: Luke ii. 25–38.
Read the whole comment“…Spirit that the prophets predicted the events of the future; nor was it so that the aged Simeon and the widowed Anna knew by the Holy Spirit the infant Lord; and that Zacharias and Elisabeth uttered by the Holy Spirit so many predictions concerning Him, when He was not yet born, but only conceived.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 25–38.
Read the whole comment“I say nothing of the aged Simeon, who believed on Him when an infant; of Anna the prophetess; of Zachariah and Elisabeth, who prophesied of Him before He was born of the Virgin; of their son John, His forerunner, the friend of the Bridegroom, who both…” — editor's note: Luke ii. 25–38.
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Jerome
“Here I have the company of Anna, the prophetess of the Gospel; and—what should kindle in you more fervent joy—I have gained in three short months what cost her the labor of many years to win.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36, 37.
Read the whole comment“One was a type of the Church which cuts off the head of the devil and the other first received in her arms the saviour of the world and had revealed to her the holy mysteries which were to come.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36–38.
Read the whole comment“Her grandmother, Metronia, now a widow for forty years, reminds us of Anna the daughter of Phanuel in the gospel.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36, 37.
Read the whole comment“…virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.”” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36, 37.
Read the whole comment“She admired also the zeal of Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who continued even to extreme old age to serve the Lord in the temple with prayers and fastings.” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36, 37.
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Tertullian
“On the threshold of the Gospel, Anna the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, “who both recognised the infant Lord, and preached many things about Him to such as were expecting the redemption of…” — editor's note: See Luke ii. 36–38. See de Monog., c. viii.
Read the whole comment“Let that old woman also hold her tongue, lest she should bewitch the child.”” — editor's note: Luke ii. 36–38.
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Cyprian of Carthage
“Thus the widow Anna, without intermission praying and watching, persevered in deserving well of God, as it is written in the Gospel: “She departed not,” it says, “from the temple, serving with fastings and prayers night and day.”” — editor's note: Luke ii. 37.
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Catena Aurea on Luke
- Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
Simeon had prophesied, a woman united in marriage had prophesied, a virgin had prophesied, it was meet also that a widow should prophesy, that there might lack no sex or condition of life, and therefore it is said,…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
The Evangelist dwells some time on the account of Anna, mentioning both her father’s tribe, and adding, as it were, many witnesses who knew her father and her tribe.
Read the whole comment - Gregory of NyssaCatena Aurea on Luke
Or because at that time there were several others who were called by the same name, that there might be a plain way of distinguishing her, he mentions her father, and describes the quality of her parents.
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
Now Anna, both from the duties of her widowhood and her manner of life, is found to be such that she is thought worthy to announce the Redeemer of the world. As it follows, She was of a great age, and had lived with…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
For the Holy Spirit dwelt not by chance in her. For the highest blessing, if any can possess it, is the grace of virginity, but if this cannot be, and it chance to a woman to lose her husband, let her remain a widow,…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
From which it is plain that she possessed a multitude of other virtues; and mark how she resembles Simeon in his goodness, for they were both in the temple together, and both counted worthy of prophetic grace, as it…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
That is, returned thanks for seeing in Israel the Saviour of the world, and she confessed of Jesus that He was the Redeemer and the Saviour. Hence it follows, And she spoke of him to all, &c.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
But because Anna’s words were nothing remarkable, and of no great note respecting Christ, the Gospel does not give the particulars of what she said, and perhaps for this reason one may suppose that Simeon anticipated…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
According to the mystical meaning, Anna signifies the Church, who at present is indeed a widow by the death of her Husband; the number also of the years of her widowhood marks the time of the Church, at which…
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Cross-references · 5
Cited together in On the Good of Marriage Chapter 8.
Cited together in On the Good of Marriage Chapter 8.
Cited together in On the Good of Marriage Chapter 8.
Cited together in On the Good of Marriage Chapter 8.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 4 and 1 other place.