St. Joachim is named in the Protoevangelium of James as husband of Anne and father of the Virgin Mary. He was descended, by tradition, from the royal line of David — confirming the Davidic descent of Christ both through his mother (Mary, by Joachim) and his foster father (Joseph).
After many years of barrenness, his offering at the Temple was rejected by the priest as belonging to one whom God had not blessed with children. He withdrew into the wilderness in mourning. An angel appeared with the promise of a daughter; Anne received the same announcement at Jerusalem. They met at the Golden Gate of the Temple — the scene most often painted in Christian art.
The Gospels do not name him; the cult is ancient, formalized in the West by Pius IV in 1568 and joined to that of Anne in the calendar reform of Paul VI in 1969.