Does Scripture name Mary's parents?

[Cabrini]

I am Catholic and was asked by a Protestant friend where in Scripture it states who were the parents of the Virgin Mary. I could not find anything. Where does the teaching about Saints Ann and Joachim come from? How does one respond to the comment, “Catholic make up people who don’t even exist in Scripture and then make them saints.”

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Cabrini:

I am Catholic and was asked by a Protestant friend where in Scripture it states who were the parents of the Virgin Mary. I could not find anything. Where does the teaching about Saints Ann and Joachim come from?

The names attributed to Mary’s parents come from the Protoevangelium of James, a second-century apocryphal Christian document that gives a history of Mary’s childhood. It is not part of the biblical canon, but as an early Christian history it may preserve some correct information about the histories of Mary and Joseph.

Cabrini:

How does one respond to the comment, “Catholic make up people who don’t even exist in Scripture and then make them saints.”

Your friend’s problem is only that Mary’s parents are not explicitly named in Scripture; I highly doubt that your friend would think that Mary did not have parents. So point that out to him: We know Mary had parents. Some historical information about them, such as their names, may have been preserved in ancient Christian documents such as the Protoevangelium. Is it really so difficult to believe that the grandparents of Jesus must have been holy people to have been entrusted by God to raise the child who would bear and rear God the Son? If not, then why the fuss that Catholics recognize that they were saints?