St. Mary Magdalen

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Mary Magdalen was so called either fromMagdala nearTiberias, on the west shore ofGalilee, or possibly from aTalmudic expression meaning "curlingwomen's hair," which theTalmud explains as of an adulteress.

In theNew Testament she is mentioned among thewomen who accompaniedChrist and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that sevendevils had beencast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of thecross (Mark 15:40;Matthew 27:56;John 19:25;Luke 23:49). She sawChrist laid in thetomb, and she was the first recorded witness of theResurrection.

TheGreekFathers, as a whole, distinguish the threepersons:

On the other hand most of theLatins hold that these three were one and the same.Protestantcritics, however,believe there were two, if not three, distinctpersons. It is impossible to demonstrate the identity of the three; but those commentators undoubtedly go too far who assert, as does Westcott (onJohn 11:1), "that the identity of Mary with Mary Magdalene is a mere conjecture supported by no direct evidence, and opposed to the general tenour of thegospels." It is the identification of Mary of Bethany with the "sinner" ofLuke 7:37, which is most combatted byProtestants. It almost seems as if this reluctance to identify the "sinner" with the sister ofMartha were due to a failure to grasp the full significance of the forgiveness ofsin. The harmonizing tendencies of so many moderncritics, too, are responsible for much of the existing confusion.

The first fact, mentioned in theGospel relating to the question under discussion is the anointing ofChrist's feet by awoman, a "sinner" in the city (Luke 7:37-50). This belongs to theGalilean ministry, it precedes themiracle of the feeding of the five thousand and the thirdPassover. Immediately afterwardsSt. Luke describes a missionary circuit inGalilee and tells us of thewomen who ministered toChrist, among them being "Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom sevendevils weregone forth" (Luke 8:2); but he does not tell us that she is to be identified with the "sinner" of the previous chapter. In10:38-42, he tells us ofChrist's visit toMartha and Mary "in a certain town"; it is impossible to identify this town, but it is clear from9:53, thatChrist had definitively leftGalilee, and it is quite possible that this "town" wasBethany. This seems confirmed by the precedingparable of thegoodSamaritan, which must almost certainly have been spoken on the road betweenJericho andJerusalem. But here again we note that there is no suggestion of an identification of the threepersons (the "sinner", Mary Magdalen, and Mary of Bethany), and if we had onlySt. Luke to guide us we should certainly have no grounds for so identifying them.St. John, however, clearly identifies Mary of Bethany with thewoman who anointedChrist's feet (12; cf.Matthew 26 andMark 14). It is remarkable that already in11:2,St. John has spoken of Mary as "she that anointed theLord's feet",he aleipsasa; It is commonly said that he refers to the subsequent anointing which he himself describes in12:3-8; but it may be questioned whether he would have usedhe aleipsasa if anotherwoman, and she a "sinner" in the city, had done the same. It is conceivable thatSt. John, just because he is writing so long after the event and at a time when Mary was dead, wishes to point out to us that she was really the same as the "sinner." In the same waySt. Luke may have veiled her identity precisely because he did not wish to defame one who was yet living; he certainly does something similar in the case ofSt. Matthew whose identity with Levi thepublican (5:7) he conceals.

If the foregoing argument holds good, Mary of Bethany and the "sinner" are one and the same. But an examination ofSt. John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen. FromSt. John we learn the name of the"woman" who anointedChrist's feet previous to thelast supper. We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that becauseSt. Matthew andSt. Mark say "two days before thePassover", whileSt. John says "six days" there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another.St. John does not necessarily mean that thesupper and the anointing took place six days before, but only thatChrist came toBethany six days before thePassover. At thatsupper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, "she hath wrought agoodwork upon Me . . . in pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial . . . wheresoever thisGospel shall be preached . . . that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of thecross, nor at thetomb of Christ? Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all theEvangelists, stood at the foot of thecross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of theResurrection. And whileSt. John calls her "Mary Magdalen" in19:25,20:1, and20:18, he calls her simply "Mary" in20:11 and20:16.

In the view we have advocated the series of events forms a consistent whole; the "sinner" comes early in the ministry to seek for pardon; she is described immediately afterwards as Mary Magdalen "out of whom sevendevils were gone forth"; shortly after, we find her "sitting at theLord's feet and hearing His words." To theCatholic mind it all seems fitting and natural. At a later period Mary andMartha turn to "theChrist, theSon of the Living God", and He restores to them their brotherLazarus; a short time afterwards they make Him a supper and Mary once more repeats theact she had performed when a penitent. At thePassion she stands near by; she sees Him laid in thetomb; and she is the first witness of HisResurrection--excepting always HisMother, to whom He must needs have appeared first, though theNew Testament is silent on this point. In our view, then, there were two anointings ofChrist's feet--it should surely be no difficulty thatSt. Matthew andSt. Mark speak of His head--the first (Luke 7) took place at a comparatively early date; the second, two days before the lastPassover. But it was one and the samewoman who performed this piousact on each occasion.

Subsequent history of St. Mary Magdalen

TheGreek Church maintains that the saint retired to Ephesus with theBlessed Virgin and there died, that herrelics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 and are there preserved.Gregory of Tours (De miraculis, I, xxx) supports the statement that she went to Ephesus. However, according to aFrench tradition (seeSAINT LAZARUS OF BETHANY), Mary,Lazarus, and some companions came toMarseilles andconverted the whole of Provence. Magdalen is said to have retired to a hill, La Sainte-Baume, near by, where she gave herself up to a life ofpenance for thirty years. When the time of her death arrived she was carried byangels toAix and into theoratory of St. Maximinus, where she received theviaticum; her body was thenlaid in anoratory constructed by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, afterwards called St. Maximin.History is silent about theserelics till 745, when according to the chroniclerSigebert, they were removed to Vézelay through fear of theSaracens. No record is preserved of their return, but in 1279, when Charles II, King ofNaples, erected aconvent at La Sainte-Baume for theDominicans, the shrine was found intact, with an inscription stating why they were hidden. In 1600 therelics were placed in a sarcophagus sent byClement VIII, the head being placed in a separate vessel. In 1814 the church of La Sainte-Baume, wrecked during theRevolution, was restored, and in 1822 the grotto wasconsecrated afresh. The head of thesaint now lies there, where it has lain so long, and where it has been the centre of so manypilgrimages.

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