Deepertruth: According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Ss. Joachim and Anna

According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Ss. Joachim and Anna had two children, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her older sister

"According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Ss. Joachim and Anna had two children, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her older sister, whom Emmerich calls Maria of Heli. She tells us that Heli was another name for Joachim.

The husband of Maria of Heli was Cleophas, the nephew of Saint Joseph. And the person called Mary of Cleophas was the daughter of Cleophas and Maria Heli.

So at the foot of the Cross were:

1. Blessed Virgin Mary, 2. Maria of Heli, who is the older sister of the Virgin Mary and the wife of Cleophas 3. Mary of Cleophas, who is the niece of the Virgin Mary, and the daughter of Maria of Heli and Cleophas.4. Mary Magdalene,

Mary of Cleophas married Alphaeus, and their children included three Apostles: Jude Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and James the Less. Joses is not included by St. John here because he was not an Apostle. This information was certainly know by St. Mark, this is why tradition is important when understanding Biblical text.

Matthew the Apostle and Gospel writer was the son of Alphaeus and his first wife (name not known).

According to Emmerich, Cleophas was one of Joachim’s chief shepherds. After marrying Maria Heli, they had a daughter, Mary of Cleophas. Although Mary of Cleophas was the niece of Mary, she was nevertheless a few years older than her, because she was the first child of Maria of Heli, who was about 19 years older than Mary. They also had a son, Eliacim, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist.

According to Emmerich, the two disciples that Luke describes as meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus, were Luke and a different Cleophas. This explains why Luke has so many details about that incident, that the other Gospel writers lack; he was there.