Feast day: July 22

St. Mary Magdalene

Apostle to the Apostles · 1st century

Patron of Converts, contemplatives, women

Freed by Jesus from seven demons, she stood at the cross when most apostles fled — and was the first witness of the Resurrection.

Mary of Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee, appears in the Gospels as a woman out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons, and who afterward followed him and, with other women, provided for him and his disciples out of their own means. She is among the most faithful of all his followers, named again and again at the moments when the men had fled.

She stood at the foot of the Cross when most of the apostles had scattered, watched where the body of Jesus was laid, and came to the tomb at first light on Easter morning to anoint him. Finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, she wept — and there the risen Christ appeared to her first of all, calling her by name, 'Mary,' and sending her to announce the Resurrection to the apostles.

Because she carried the first news of the Resurrection to the very men who would preach it to the world, the early Church gave her a striking title: 'the Apostle to the Apostles.' For this reason her feast was raised in 2016 to the same rank as those of the apostles themselves.

In the Western Church a long tradition identified her with the repentant sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet and with Mary of Bethany, and so she became the great image of the penitent loved and forgiven — though the Eastern Church and modern scholarship keep these women distinct. However the figures are sorted out, Mary Magdalene remains the faithful disciple who loved much and was the first to meet the risen Lord.

The risen Christ appeared first not to Peter or John but to her, and sent her to tell them — earning her the ancient title 'Apostle to the Apostles.'

“I have seen the Lord.”
— St. Mary Magdalene

Image: Domenico Tintoretto (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm