Saint Mary Magdalene

St Mary 2

Saint Mary Magdalene’s Story

Except for the mother of Jesus, few women are more honored in the Bible than Mary Magdalene. Yet she could well be the patron of the slandered, since there has been a persistent legend in the Church that she is the unnamed sinful woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in Luke 7:36-50.

Most Scripture scholars today point out that there is no scriptural basis for confusing the two women. Mary Magdalene, that is, “of Magdala,” was the one from whom Christ cast out “seven demons” (Luke 8:2)—an indication at the worst, of extreme demonic possession or possibly, severe illness.

Writing in the New Catholic Commentary, Father Wilfrid J. Harrington, O.P., says that “seven demons” “does not mean that Mary had lived an immoral life—a conclusion reached only by means of a mistaken identification with the anonymous woman of Luke 7:36.” In the Jerome Biblical Commentary, Father Edward Mally, S.J., agrees that she “is not…the same as the sinner of Luke 7:37, despite the later Western romantic tradition about her.”

Mary Magdalene was one of the many “who were assisting them [Jesus and the Twelve] out of their means.” She was one of those who stood by the cross of Jesus with his mother. And, of all the “official” witnesses who might have been chosen for the first awareness of the Resurrection, she was the one to whom that privilege was given. She is known as the “Apostle to the Apostles.”

Categories: 

More News

Cardinal to PM: No valid reason to move British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

October 6, 2022

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference, has written to Prime Minister Liz Truss to express his “profound concern” after it was...Read more

Salisbury Foodbank

October 5, 2022

Salisbury Foodbank. During August and September we collected rice pudding, tinned fruit, custard and tins of meat and fish for the Foodbank. The total...Read more

The responsibility of the leaders of nations

October 4, 2022

Pope Francis’ appeal during the Angelus on the 2 October is a call to stop the war machine that is dragging the world...Read more