Mary Magdalene

 

DONT GRAB ME!!!!

Saint Mary Magdalene

Also known as
· Maria Magdalena

Feast
· 22 July

Profile

We have very little solid information about our Saint today, and both scholars and traditions differ on the interpretation of what we do know.

Some stuff we do know:

• She was a friend and follower of Jesus.
• She was the first disciple to see and interact with the Risen Lord....she was sent to go and tell the Apostles; making her the Apostle to the Apostles.
• St Clement says she is the penitent woman who was filled with sorrow over her sin, she anointed Christ, washed his feet with her hair.
• Jesus exorcised seven demons from her. She was visited by the Risen Christ.
• Popular tradition, as depicted in all the movies you see about Jesus passion, death and resurrection, assumes Mary M. is the adulteress woman who was brought before Jesus and was spared because no one was willing to cast a stone at her as they were all sinners. This is not at all clear, even though I always assumed this was who she was….

There are also arguments about her life after the Crucifixion:

• The Greek Church maintains that she retired to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary and lived there the rest of her life.
• A French tradition says that Mary, Lazarus, and some companions came to Marseilles, France, evangelized and converted the whole Provence region, and then retired to live 30 years as a penitent hermitess at La Sainte-Baume. In this tradition we assume our saint is the same Mary as Lazarus’ sister as in Martha and Mary. Who knows? Frankly I think I believe the Greeks with this one…the dopey hats? Not so much.

Oh, there are some additional things we do know for certain:

• Mary wasn’t Jesus’ wife or mistress,
• she wasn’t the mother of His child,
• she didn’t found a royal dynasty or separate branch of Christianity, as propounded by the virulent anti Catholic author of the Da Vinci Code.
• The “Gospel of Mary Magdalene” was a text written in the 4th century by a group of Gnostics. The Gnostics were a sect of mystics in existence before and after Jesus life. They tried to dovetail the popular Jesus teachings into their own. Among other things they believe that the God of the Old Testament is NOT the One True God. Neither the church nor anybody suppressed this specific writing and all other writings by the Gnostics. I personally own a copy of these heretical “Gospels” published in 1922, most biblical scholars have always known of them. Let’s remember that these popular bestsellers written and turned into moves are fiction.

The accounts of her death are widely divergent as well. The Eastern Church says she died in Ephesus of natural causes her relics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 where they remain today.

A much more complicated French tradition says as she lay on her death bed, nine angels carried Mary to the oratory of Saint Maximinus in Aix where she received communion and then died of natural causes. She was interred in an oratory constructed by him. In 745 her relics were moved to save them from Saracen invaders. After this, at some point they were moved to a shrine at her hermitage on La Sainte-Baume. In 1814 the church on La Sainte-Baume, which was wrecked during the anti-Christian excesses of the French Revolution, was restored, and still has the head of the saint, where it allegedly is today. Frankly…I think the Eastern tradition is more plausible…..No I will not become a fan of the dopey hats they wear.

Until 2016, Mary Magdalene was celebrated on this day as a Memorial. But on Friday 10 June 2016 the Vatican announced that effective immediately, Pope Francis has raised the liturgical celebration to the dignity of a Feast, the same rank given to the liturgical celebration of the Apostles. Long overdue in my opinion. So the takeaway with this is: if you pray the Divine Office today you need to do the Psalms from week 1 for Morning Prayer with the interminable Canticle of Daniel….bless the Lord.

Patronage
· against sexual temptation
· apothecaries
· contemplative life
· contemplatives
· converts
· glove makers
· hairdressers
· hairstylists
· La Magdeleine, Italy
· penitent sinners
· penitent women
· people ridiculed for their piety
· perfumeries
· perfumers
· pharmacists
· reformed prostitutes
· tanners

My favorite reading concerning our saint today is from the New Testament: Luke 24: 5 “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here…..He is risen!” Isn’t that what it’s all about after all?