ST. MARY MAGDALENE (JULY 22ND)

 

St. Mary Magdalene Meeting Jesus After the Resurrection in a Medieval Latin Gospel Book, c. 13th Century 

Edited by Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of theWest)

The Gospel of Luke 8:2–3 lists St. Mary Magdalene as one of the women who traveled with Jesus and helped support his ministry "out of their resources", indicating that she was probably relatively wealthy. The same passage also states that seven demons had been driven out of her, a statement which is repeated in Mark 16. In all the four canonical gospels, St. Mary Magdalene was a witness to the crucifixion of Jesus and, in the Synoptic Gospels, she was also present at his burial. All the four gospels identified her, either alone or as a member of a larger group of women which includes Jesus's mother, as the first to witness the empty tomb, and the first to witness Jesus's resurrection. She is the patroness of women, those who struggle with sexual temptation, and those oppressed or possessed of the devil. 

A Modern Restoration of a Medieval Manuscript Illustration, Showing St. Mary Magdalene Telling the Apostles of the Resurrection of Christ

THE MEDIEVAL LEGEND

The most famous account of Mary Magdalene's legendary life comes from The Golden Legend, a collection of medieval saints stories compiled in around the year 1260 by the Italian writer Jacobus de Voragine (c. 1230 – 1298). 

Fourteen years after Jesus's crucifixion, some pagan persecutors threw Sts. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and two other Christians named Maximin and Cedonius into a rudderless boat in the Mediterranean Sea to die. Miraculously, however, the boat washed ashore at Marseille in southern France. St. Mary persuaded the provincial governor not to offer sacrifices to a pagan god and later persuaded him to convert to Christianity after she proved the Christian God's power by successfully praying to Him to make the governor's wife pregnant. 

The governor and his wife sailed for Rome to meet the Apostle Peter in person, but their ship was struck by a storm, which caused the wife to go into labor. The wife died in childbirth and the governor left her on an island with the still-living infant at her breast. The governor spent two years with St. Peter in Rome and, on his way home, he stopped at the same island to discover that, due to St. Mary Magdalene's intercession, his child has survived for two years on his dead mother's breast milk. Then, the governor's wife miraculously rose from the dead and told him that St. Mary Magdalene had brought her back. The whole family returned to Marseille, where they meet St. Mary again in person and praise and glorify God for all His wonderful works. 

It is then said that St. Mary spent the last thirty years of her life alone as a penitent ascetic in a cave in a desert in the French region of Provence. At every canonical hour, the angels come and lifted her up to hear their songs in Heaven. On the last day of her life, St. Maximin, now the bishop of Aix, came to her and gave her the Eucharist. St. Mary cries tears of joy and, after taking the Holy Body, lays down and dies in the peace of the Lord. 

De Voragine gives the common account of the transfer of St. Mary Magdalene's relics from her sepulcher in the oratory of Saint Maximin at Aix-en-Provence to the newly founded Vézelay. The transportation of the relics is recorded as having been in AD 771, accomplished by the founder of the abbey, Gerard, Duke of Burgundy.

St. Mary Magdalene Receiving Communion Before Death in this 18th Century Woodcut Illustration of “The Golden Legend”

COLLECT 

ALMIGHTY GOD, Whose blessed Son restored St. Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of His glorious resurrection: Mercifully grant that by Thy grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know Thee in the power of His uncreated life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us! 

A Contemporary Icon of St. Mary Magdalene, Showing the Red Egg, Which Middle Eastern Churches Use to Symbolize the Resurrection of Christ. It is Said, When Running to Tell the Apostles that Christ was Risen, St. Mary Ran into a Young Slave Girl, Upsetting Her Basket of Eggs. Proclaiming that Christ was Alive, the Girl Responded, “Yes, and These Eggs are Red!” Saying this, Her Eggs All Turned Red, Proclaiming Christ’s Resurrection through a Miracle! 

(Text edited from Wikipedia)