his gate is also called the Gate of Our Lady Mary since according to tradition her birthplace was near the gate, where St. Anne’s Church stands today.

St. Anne’s Church
 Romanesque Crusader church dating from the 12th century is located near St. Stephen’s Gate. It is dedicated to Anne, mother of Mary. According to tradition, this is where she lived with her husband, Yoachim, and gave birth to their daughter when in Jerusalem during the pilgrimage seaon. During Roman times, this area was a Roman temple dedicated to the God of Healing, Escalepeus. The pagan temple built near the sheep pools was used as a hospital. The church was renovated under the direction of the architect Mousse in the 19th century.

Bethesda (Bethzatha)
John 5:2-10
Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethesda in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people - blind, lame, paralyzed - waiting for the water to move; for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment he suffered from. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping- mat.’