Celebrating our Saint of the Month
Mary Magdalene Reading - Piero di Cosimo, c.1501
Mary Magdalene
Feast Day: 22nd July
Patron of converts, repentant sinners, sexual temptation, pharmacists, tanners and women, and many other places and causes.
Saint Mary Magdalene is one of the greatest saints of the Bible. The precise dates of her birth and death are unknown, but we do know she was present with Christ during his public ministry, death and resurrection. She is believed to be a Jewish woman who, according to New Testament texts, travelled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named at least twelve times.
The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her (Luke 8:2) and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (Mark 16:9). She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present and the witness in all four gospels of the empty tomb, the central fact of Jesus' resurrection. She was also present two days' later, immediately following the Sabbath, when, according to all four canonical Gospels (Matthew 28:1–8; Mark 16:9–10; Luke 24:10 and John 20:18) she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.
There is debate over whether Mary Magdalene is the same unnamed women, a sinner, who weeps and washes Jesus' feet with her hair in the Gospel of John. Scholars are sceptical this is the same person.
Despite the scholarly dispute over her background, what she did in her subsequent life, after meeting Jesus, is much more significant. She was certainly a sinner whom Jesus saved, giving us an example of how no person is beyond the saving grace of God. From the 12th century Abbot Hugh of Semur, Peter Abelard and Geoffrey of Vendome all referred to Mary Magdalene as the person who merited the title apostolorum apostola (Apostle to the Apostles), with the title becoming commonplace during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Mary Magdalene is considered to be a saint by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutheran churches. Other Protestant churches honour her as a heroine of the faith. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, the Orthodox equivalent of one of the Western Three Marys traditions.
Feast Day: 22nd July
Patron of converts, repentant sinners, sexual temptation, pharmacists, tanners and women, and many other places and causes.
Saint Mary Magdalene is one of the greatest saints of the Bible. The precise dates of her birth and death are unknown, but we do know she was present with Christ during his public ministry, death and resurrection. She is believed to be a Jewish woman who, according to New Testament texts, travelled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named at least twelve times.
The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her (Luke 8:2) and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (Mark 16:9). She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present and the witness in all four gospels of the empty tomb, the central fact of Jesus' resurrection. She was also present two days' later, immediately following the Sabbath, when, according to all four canonical Gospels (Matthew 28:1–8; Mark 16:9–10; Luke 24:10 and John 20:18) she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.
There is debate over whether Mary Magdalene is the same unnamed women, a sinner, who weeps and washes Jesus' feet with her hair in the Gospel of John. Scholars are sceptical this is the same person.
Despite the scholarly dispute over her background, what she did in her subsequent life, after meeting Jesus, is much more significant. She was certainly a sinner whom Jesus saved, giving us an example of how no person is beyond the saving grace of God. From the 12th century Abbot Hugh of Semur, Peter Abelard and Geoffrey of Vendome all referred to Mary Magdalene as the person who merited the title apostolorum apostola (Apostle to the Apostles), with the title becoming commonplace during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Mary Magdalene is considered to be a saint by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutheran churches. Other Protestant churches honour her as a heroine of the faith. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, the Orthodox equivalent of one of the Western Three Marys traditions.
