St. Mary Magdalene Biography - The First Person To See The Resurrected Christ

Mary Magdalene is characterised as a devout disciple of Jesus in both the canonical New Testament and the New Testament Apocrypha. Her feast day is July 22nd, and she is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican faiths. The Lutheran Church also has a festival on her birthday to honour her.

Mary Magdalene's name means "Mary of Magdala," a town on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee where she was born. Her name sets her apart from the other Marys mentioned in the Bible. However, the historical Mary Magdalene's life is still a source of contention. The claim that she was a prostitute, for which there is no clear biblical evidence, is of particular importance. Because of her devotion to Jesus, legend has claimed that she was Jesus' wife, lover, or intended bride.

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Image of Mary Magdalene.

Information About Mary Magdalene Sister

Who was Mary Magdalene’s child?

In his 1886 book Les Evangiles sans Dieu (The Gospels without God), republished the following year in his Essai sur la vie de Jésus (Essay on the Life of Jesus), the French socialist politician Louis Martin (pseudonym of Léon Aubry, died 1900) described the historical Jesus as a socialist and atheist. He claimed that after Jesus' crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and the family of Lazarus of Bethany transported his body to Provence, where Mary gave birth to Maximin, the product of her love for Jesus. 

Mary Magdalene death

Most western Catholics believe she went to France in a boat with Mary, Lazarus, and others after the Great Schism and lived for 30 years in a cave before dying at the Chapel of Saint-Maximin in the Aix-en-Provence province, about 75 miles northeast of Marseille in the southeast of France. Mary is said to have left Jerusalem with Mary, Jesus' mother, and journeyed to Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, according to Eastern beliefs. Both legends add to the mystique surrounding Mary Magdalene's life.

What Does The Bible Say About Mary Magdalene?

Mary Magdalene in the Bible: Magdalene is referenced in Luke 8:2 as one of the women who "ministered of their substance to him [Jesus]." To put it another way, she gave Jesus money or supplies. This scripture also references a demon exorcism performed on Mary, which resulted in the exorcism of seven devils. These women, who had previously "been cleansed of evil spirits and infirmities," eventually joined Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem and witnessed the Crucifixion (Matthew, Mark, Luke). Despite the fact that she is frequently pictured at the foot of the cross, the synoptic Gospels say she and the other woman stood "afar apart." The women, on the other hand, were said to be standing "near the cross" in John's Gospel.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the "mother of James," Matthew, Mark, and Peter arrived at the sepulchre where Jesus' body had been laid with sweet spices to preserve the body in the early morning of the first day of the week. They discovered the sepulchre to be empty, although they did witness a "vision of angels" (Matthew 28:5). Mary Magdalene, as the first witness to the empty tomb, went to notify Simon Peter and "the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved" (John 20:1-2), earning her the moniker "apostle to the apostles," and then returned to the sepulchre. She remained at the tomb's entrance, sobbing.

She was the first witness of Jesus' Resurrection appearances, according to John, but she did not recognise him at first. She was brought back to consciousness when he said her name, and she yelled out, Rabboni. She wanted to hug him, but he told her she couldn't: (John 20:17) 'Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; instead, go to My brethren and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God," Jesus said.

This is the canonical Gospels' final mention of Mary of Magdala, who has now returned to Jerusalem. She was most likely one of the ladies that gathered with the Apostles in Jerusalem's Upper Room after Jesus' ascension (Acts 1:14).

Identification With Other Women

Mary Magdalene was identified with Mary of Bethany and the "sinful lady" who anointed Jesus' feet at the home of Simon the Pharisee as early as the third century (Hippolytus, in his Commentary on Song of Songs).

"She whom Luke calls the guilty woman, whom John calls Mary (of Bethany), we think to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark," declared Pope Gregory I in 591, referring to Mary Magdalene as "the woman who was a sinner."

While the Catholic Church has not published a definitive statement on the subject, Catholics have long agreed with Gregory and equated Mary of Bethany and the wicked woman of Capernaum with Mary Magdalene. Eastern Orthodox Christians distinguish between Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, sometimes known as "the woman who was a sinner." On this subject, Protestants have a wide range of opinions.

Life History of Mary Magdalene

In the East

Mary Magdalene, as opposed to Mary of Bethany, according to the Eastern Orthodox Church, retired to Ephesus with the Theotokos (Mary the Mother of God) and died there. In 886, her relics were taken to Constantinople and are now preserved there. In the sixth century, Gregory of Tours, writing in Tours, supported the idea that she retreated to Ephesus.

In the West

However, in Western legend, Magdalene is thought to have settled further north and west. Victor Saxer's book La culte de Marie Magdalene en occident describes how a cult of Mary Magdalene initially evolved in Provence (1959).

The remains of Mary Magdalene were initially venerated in Burgundy, at the abbey of Saint-Maximin Vézelay. After then, the purported body of Mary Magdalene has been revered in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, Provence, since September 9, 1279. The previous shrine was rebuilt as the grand Basilica in the mid-thirteenth century, one of the best Gothic buildings in the south of France, as a result of the cult's popularity.

According to the French legend of Saint Lazare of Bethany, Mary, her brother Lazarus, and Maximinus, one of the Seventy Disciples, crossed the Mediterranean in a rickety boat with no rudder or mast with other comrades expelled from the Holy Land and landed at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer near Arles. When Mary Magdalene arrived in Marseille, she converted the entire region of Provence. Magdalene is claimed to have gone to La Sainte-Baume ("holy cave," baumo in Provencal), a grotto on a hill near Marseille, where she spent 30 years in penance. When the time came for her to die, angels transported her to Aix and into Saint Maximinus' oratory, where she received the viticum; her remains were subsequently deposited in an oratory built by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, which was afterwards named St. Maximin.

Mary as a penitent

Mary Magdalene’s traditional Roman Catholic feast day commemorated her status as a penitent. With the modification of the Roman Missal and the Roman Calendar in 1969, this was modified, and Mary Magdalene is no longer mentioned as a sinner in either.

Magdalene became a symbol of repentance for the world's vanities, both Catholic and non-Catholic, for numerous religions. Magdalene was the patron of Oxford's Magdalen College and Cambridge's Magdalene College (both pronounced "maudlin" ). In contrast, her name was also given to the Magdalen Asylum, a group of facilities for "fallen women" in Ireland, including the infamous "Magdalene Laundries."

Easter Egg Tradition

Many Christians have practised sharing colourful and painted eggs for generations, especially on Easter Sunday. The eggs symbolise new life and Christ's resurrection from the tomb. This sharing is often accompanied by the declaration "Christ is risen!" and the response "Truly He is risen!" among Eastern Orthodox.

According to one legend, Mary Magdalene used her position after Jesus' death and resurrection to acquire an invitation to a dinner hosted by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. She clutched a plain egg in her hand when she greeted him and cried, "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed and replied that Christ's resurrection was as unlikely as the egg in her hand turning crimson while she was holding it. The egg in her fingers turned a vivid red before he finished speaking, and she continued to proclaim the Gospel to the entire imperial house.

Another version of this storey exists in folklore, primarily in Greece. After the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin are said to have placed a basket full of eggs at the foot of the cross. The blood of Christ was used to colour the eggs red. They were then taken to Tiberius Caesar by Mary Magdalene.

Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene was a leader of the early Church and potentially the Beloved Disciple, to whom the Gospel of John is usually attributed, for one early group of Christians.

Two third-century Greek fragments and a lengthy fifth-century Coptic translation survive of the Gnostic, apocryphal Gospel of Mary Magdalene. These manuscripts were discovered and published between 1938 and 1983, but patristic references to the Gospel of Mary can be found as early as the third century. These writings illustrate the extent to which the early Church Fathers hated and disregarded the gospel.

The disciples ask inquiries of the rising Savior (a designation that places the source no earlier than the second century) and are replied in the incomplete text.

According to Dr Karen King, a Harvard Divinity School professor of church history, "Mary's confrontation with Peter, which appears in The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Greek Gospel of the Egyptians, depicts some of the tensions that existed in second-century Christianity. Peter and Andrew reflect orthodox beliefs that deny esoteric revelation's authenticity and women's teaching authority."

Relationship with Jesus

Some contemporary writers have made assertions that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife. According to sources such as the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene was closer to Jesus than any other disciple. However, no ancient text claims she was his wife; rather, the Gospel of Philip portrays Mary as Jesus' koinonos, a Greek phrase denoting a 'close friend, companion, or, maybe, lover.'

In this literature, Mary Magdalene, who represents the Gnostic believer, is depicted as understanding Jesus and his teaching while the other disciples, who symbolise the orthodox church, do not. "The historical records are simply too inconsistent and simultaneously too mute," adds Kripal, to make definitive statements about Jesus' sexuality.

Proponents of Jesus' marital status contend that bachelorhood was uncommon among Jewish males at the time of Jesus and that it was widely seen as a violation of the first mitzvah (divine commandment) - "Be fruitful and multiply." It would have been impossible for an adult, single Jew to go about teaching as a rabbi, according to this logic.

One counter-argument is that Judaism at the time of Jesus was quite diverse, and the role of the rabbi was not firmly defined. Rabbinic Judaism did not become dominant until after the Roman demolition of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. when the role of the rabbi was rendered uniform in Jewish communities.

Celibate instructors were recognised in the Essene communities prior to Jesus, and both John the Baptist and the prophet Jeremiah, after whom Jesus may have modelled himself, were obviously unmarried. Later, among Christians, Paul of Tarsus was an example of an unmarried travelling teacher. According to orthodox belief, Jesus himself endorsed voluntary celibacy for religious reasons and specifically rejected a marriage obligation: "There are eunuchs who have chosen to serve the kingdom of heaven as eunuchs. Let anyone can take it have it." 'Matthew 19:12,' says the Bible. Certain Gnostics, the community that Mary represented in the literature, were adamantly opposed to sexual union.

Books such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982), The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991), Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed (1996), and The Da Vinci Code (1997) popularised the belief that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' bride (2003). The documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which explores the Talpiot tomb, has helped to publicise it even further. This is said to be the tomb of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their "son," Judah.