ST. MARY MAGDALENE, PENITENT (1st century)
"Three Saints", said our Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, "have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary, my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalen." The Fathers tell us that Madgalen is a type of the Gentile Church, called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness; and, indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wandering and the love of the human race, espoused by the Incarnate Word of God.
HER CONVERSION
It is quite likely that St. Luke came to know Mary Magdalene and her family when he journeyed with St. Paul to Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Much of the information we receive in the Gospels concerning Mary Magdalene comes to us from St. Luke. Fr. Alban Butler explains that she is the woman spoken of in Luke 7:36-50. [Note, the quintessential image of Magdalene provided to us by the Gospels is that of her always being at the feet of Jesus. She is at His feet in her contrition, as she learns from Him, at the great miracle of Lazarus' resurrection, at the Crucifixion, and at the Resurrection. This is where the faithful disciple ought to be. Many Fathers, Doctors, and Saints have developed a beautiful theology about this image. Those who deny Mary Magdalene is the woman of Luke 7 fail to appreciate this profound spiritual theology, scoff at the wisdom of the saints, and all too easily discard much of our Catholic tradition.]
Jesus was in the town of Naim where He raised back to life the only son of a sorrowing widow. Many believed it was on account of this miracle that Our Lord received an invitation to dine by an influential Pharisee named Simon. The tension between the Pharisees and Jesus was already heightened as Our Lord chastised them for not accepting the preaching of St. John the Baptist – which was primarily one of repentance and conversion! As an object lesson, and to truly show the mercy of God and to confound the pride of the Pharisees by manifesting His grace, Jesus chose to give a tremendous grace of conversion to a woman who was in that city; to a great public sinner. Mary Magdalene responded to that grace and approached Him there at Simon’s house. She “bought an alabaster box of ointment, and standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet, with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment” (7:38).
Our Lord had given her a great grace and thus He went to the banquet with joy - to await this redeemed soul. He had secretly wounded her with His holy love (as He has done to many other saints, including the great mystic St. Teresa of Avila). He was pleased to draw her to Himself in the midst of so great an assembly that she might give all succeeding generations a tremendous witness of God’s mercy towards all repenting sinners.
Pierced by a divine ray of grace, Mary Magdalene first fell into serious reflection on the misery of her present condition, the happiness she had lost, and the natural and eternal punishment which she so richly deserved. From these meditations she raised her mind to more noble thoughts, responding to the divine love which now melted her heart. She reflected upon how grievously she had offended God, how excessive was His goodness, and how basely she had slighted Him. This drew forth a torrent of tears from her soul and eyes and she resolved not to waste one second more. Had she stopped to consider human respect she would have surely feared entering Simon’s house. She could have thought about how she would be ridiculed and insulted, probably even driven away, and possibly violent hands would have cast her out. It would be disgraceful for her to appear before Jesus at such an inopportune and public moment. But the love which filled her heart and the sorrow and contrition which drove her were too great. To wait any longer would itself have been a fresh insult and sin against the good God. (Many sinners do not respond to God’s grace this way. After feeling remorse the devil is able to trap them again by beguiling them into thinking that there will be time ‘tomorrow’ to seek forgiveness and make amends. Our hesitation then impedes the full grace of God in our lives!)
[column size="1-2" last="0"]Thus, upon hearing that Jesus was dining at the home of Simon, Mary Magdalene immediately steeled her will to promptly and boldly present herself before Him full of contrition. Yet in her humility, she dared not appear before His face, and therefore went behind Him. The nearer she approached His sacred Person, the greater the streams that gushed forth from her eyes. She then began to “redeem” all those things which had formerly been instruments of sin, consecrating them instead to God.[/column][column size="1-2" last="1"]
Her eyes, which had been full of dangerous charms, were converted into fountains of perfectly contrite tears that cleansed the stain of sin from her soul. Her hair, once dressed in finery and curls that could ensnare an unsuspecting man, now hung loose and disheveled, serving instead as a towel to wipe the dirt from our Lord’s feet. These she kisses with those lips that had previously been unguarded and had left wide open the door to a plethora of mortal sins, violating both the 8th and 6th Commandments. She scented our Lord’s feet with perfumes which formerly had been the incentives of vice. Everything that used to serve her self-love is now given over to charity and mortification. Her lips supplicate His mercy and she serves the most humble aspect of Christ, His feet. All of these exterior offerings were of course accompanied by interior sacrifices of the heart, by a confidence in divine mercy, by a lively faith and an ardent love. Thus she gives us a perfect model of how the contrite sinner is always to approach God. When man responds to God’s grace in this manner, the floodgates of mercy are indeed opened and there is great rejoicing in Heaven.
Our Lord then spoke vindicated Mary Magdalene before all by saying: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much” (7:47). He turned to her and the very eyes and mouth of God spoke to her saying: “Thy sins are forgiven thee. Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace” (7:48, 50)
[column size="2-3" last="0"]DURING THE PUBLIC MINISTRY
Quite well known is the episode of Mary listening to Our Lord at His feet, when He defended her by saying "One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Lk 10:42). Throughout the history of the Church, this has reminded all of Christ's disciples that prayer and contemplation must take precedence over activity and corporal works of mercy. The contemplative religious have the highest calling and if they were to become engrossed in worldly affairs, they would do great injury to both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not become indifferent to the lost sheep, but like Magdalene, they take the surest of all means of purifying the earth and drawing souls to God.
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
Equally well known is how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. However, a careful reading of the Gospel (cf. Jn 11:32-35) shows that Jesus is not moved to perform this miracle by the pleading of Martha, His Apostles, or the crowd of Jews. It is only at the tearful request of Mary Magdalene that He weeps and groans and calls forth the dead back to life. This clearly shows how great were the faith and love of Mary Magdalene.
CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION
Mary Magdalene accompanied our Blessed Mother during our Lord's Passion. She stood with her at the foot of the Cross, when so many others had abandoned Jesus (cf. Mt 27:56). She arose early on Easter morning to anoint His sacred Body and found the tomb empty. Our Lord appeared to her before any of His chosen Twelve Apostles. He sent her to carry the good news of the resurrection to Peter, John and the others (cf. John 20:18). In all of these events we receive a glimpse of the great love she had for Our Lord and the privileged graces He bestowed upon her.
AFTER THE ASCENSION
Along with many other disciples, Mary Magdalen was in the Upper Room on Pentecost Sunday and was filled with the Holy Ghost. She however did not undertake a public missionary role; instead she retired to a type of contemplative cloistered life. St. Gregory of Tours tell us that Magdalene accompanied our Blessed Mother to Ephesus and remained with her as an attendant until the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Tradition tells us this was fourteen years after the Crucifixion.[/column][column size="1-3" last="1"]
At this time there was then a Great Persecution against the Christians. Magdalen along with her brother, St. Lazarus, her sister, St. Martha, St. Maximin (one of the seventy-two disciples and the one who baptized Mary Magdalene), St. Sidonius (the man born blind we hear about in the Gospel) and several other notable Christians were imprisoned. They were then placed in the hull of a locked ship without sails and without oars, drawn out to sea, and left there to die. These saints had taken with them the remains of St. Anne and several other Christian relics. Divine Providence guided this boat across the Mediterranean to the French port of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer near Arles. Most likely an angel from heaven was sent to safely guide and open the wooden prison once it had safely reached land.
[column size="2-3" last="0"]IN GAUL (FRANCE)
St. Lazarus and St. Martha effectively converted the entire Province of Marseilles. St. Lazarus became the area’s first bishop. St. Martha began a type of active religious life. The Christians there also preserved the relics of St. Anne with great honor. Mary Magdalen withdrew from the world and retired to a secluded cave on a hill, La Sainte-Baume. There she spent the rest of her life, over thirty years, in intense penance doing reparation for her past sins and offering herself out of love as a Divine Victim to God. She is often showed in Christian iconography in this cave with only a crucifix and skull to represent her ascetic life and intense mortifications. It is said that an angel visited her daily and brought her Holy Communion. It was also said that during the seven canonical hours she would be allowed to join the angels in their heavenly hymns praising God.[/column][column size="1-3" last="1"]
When it was time for her to leave this earth, she was 72 years old. An angel had foretold her death to St. Maximin a year earlier. On the appointed day of Easter, angels carried her to the oratory of St. Maximin at Aix. He found her there at the hour of matins. He could hardly believe his eyes, for her face was filled with a beauty and radiance unknown on earth. This transformation took place in her on account of the many hours she spent in the presence of the angelic host. He gave her viaticum. Once she died, a wondrous perfume filled the Church, and for a week none who entered could not help but be overwhelmed by the heavenly scent. St. Maximin buried her in an oratory he constructed and commanded that upon his death he be buried near her. There her relics lay until approximately 745 AD.
HER RELICS
At this time the Saracens were making advances by land and raids by sea. Thus for fear that they might despoil the shrine of St. Mary Magdalene, her relics were transferred to Vézelay. In 1279, Charles II, King of Naples, built a convent for the Dominicans at La Sainte-Baume and found the original oratory and shrine built by St. Maximin in the first century still intact. He also found an inscription explaining why the relics of St. Mary Magdalene had been hidden. In 1600 her relics were placed in a special sarcophagus sent by Clement VIII, and her skull was placed in its own special vessel. All these relics were then housed there at the convent of La Sainte-Baume. In the 18th century, the ravages of the French Revolution reached this convent and impious men wrecked and devastated the area. Once a semblance of peace and order were restored, the convent was rebuilt in 1814 and the special grotto dedicated to Mary Magdalene was consecrated again in 1822. Her skull lies there to this day, where it has been for so many centuries and been the center of so many pilgrimages.