About St. Mary Magdalene

Any study of female saints has to include the Patron Saint of Women, St. Mary Magdalene. I chose her as the first saint I would study because her role in the life of Jesus is fascinating to me. I didn’t really know a lot about her, but I was intrigued. I think the Lord sent me down this path for a reason. Learning about Mary Magdalene is certainly inspirational to me as a woman of faith.

There are a lot of theories about Mary Magdalene. Some think of her as the repentant sinner, others as a true Apostle to Jesus. There are even people who believe, a la The Davinci Code, that she was actually married to Jesus. As many and varied as these theories are, there is no denying that she was a central figure in Jesus’ life, and by extension, the early Church. When we, as women, work to determine our roles in the current church, I think it is good for us all to consider Mary Magdalene and what her role in the Easter story really means for us. 

The Bible

First, let’s consider what the Bible says about Mary Magdalene. She is mentioned by name in the Bible twelve times (verified at bible.catholic.net with keyword searches for Magdalene and Magdala), and all but one of them are related to her presence at the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Luke also mentions her as one of the women who accompanied Jesus and His Apostles and “provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8:3, New American Standard Bible) during his ministry. So it is safe to say she was with Jesus for some time, but we really don’t hear much more about her until the Passion. In those passages, Matthew and Mark do refer to her as one of the women who had been with him since he was in Galilee.

You might have noticed that, while the Apostles were hiding for fear of being persecuted themselves, Mary Magdalene and the other women followed Jesus throughout the Passion, even standing at the foot of the cross. To be fair, the women were not really at risk for being arrested and crucified like the men were, so it is difficult to throw stones at the Apostles here, especially since they bounced back in a big way after receiving the Holy Spirit. But it speaks to the devotion of the women, including Mary Magdalene. According to John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene was at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother and aunt. Again, this paints a picture of someone who is important in Jesus’ life.

All four Gospel writers describe Mary, coming to the tomb early on that first Easter morning to anoint His body and finding Him gone. Three of the four Gospels describe Mary as coming with other women, while John’s Gospel has her coming alone. In fact, according to Mark’s and John’s Gospels, Mary Magdalene is the first person to see the Risen Christ. Just imagine that. Again, how important she must have been to Him. 

Pope Gregory the Great

In the late sixth century, as part of a homily, Pope Gregory declared that Mary Magdalene, who is mentioned by name later in the Gospels, must also be the same sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, and also the prostitute who Jesus saved. Thus beginning, or at least solidifying, the reputation that lasted for centuries of Mary Magdalene as the model of a repentant sinner. It also painted her as a more sensual character with a scandalous past.

I have a lot of questions about this, not the least of which is, why? Why would Pope Gregory come to this conclusion and then preach it to the people of the Church? How could he be sure? More than that, how does it make sense that a Gospel writer, who is trying to tell a story, would mention a particular person without giving her name, and then talk about her again in the very next chapter, mentioning her by name this time but not connecting her to the previous story? I wish he would have explained a bit more.

Of course, there are people who think they can tell us why Pope Gregory described her in that way. It seems we have conspiracy theorists ready to indict people all the time, and this is no exception. The assertion is that it was an attempt on the part of the early Church to discredit Mary Magdalene so they could suppress women. Although I don’t really understand Pope Gregory’s assertion, I also don’t think we can be so quick to assume that we know his motives. After all, in the sixth century did women really need to be suppressed? Wasn’t it already a pretty patriarchal society at that time? 

St. John Paul II and Pope Francis

More recently, the Church teaching seems to be shifting. St. John Paul II, when he was the Pope, gave an Easter homily in which he talked about Mary Magdalene, and described her as the first person to see the Risen Christ. Although a simple reading of the Gospels makes that seem fairly obvious, for nearly 2,000 years, people seemed to miss that detail.

Pope Francis took it one step further. He also cited the importance of Mary Magdalene as the first witness to the Risen Christ, calling her “the Apostle of the new and greatest hope” (Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday, May 17, 2017, para.8), and he elevated the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to a feast on the Church’s liturgical calendar, such that the mass said on the feast of an Apostle will now be said on her feast, as well. 

Final Thoughts

I hope I have shared enough information to make you curious. Maybe you will continue to study her. If you do, I’d love to hear what you find. I also hope you’ll continue with me this week as I share the ways that St. Mary Magdalene’s life has inspired my everyday life as a Catholic woman.

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