Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/56

44 ST. MARY MAGDALENE tho council of Epbesus, many chnrcbes were called by her name. St. Pulcheria, the empress, bnilt four great churches in Constantinople in her honour. As to relics, no part of her body ever was to be had, because it had been taken to heaven ; but in many places there were articles held in great veneration, as having belonged to her ; many locks of her hair were shown in divers places, and a festival in honour of one at Oviedo was held on May 2. Her robe, her sash, her ring, each had a fSte ; and her veil, scarf, cloak, distaff, combs, gloves, bed, and many small household articles were treasured. Some of these were found near Jerusalem in the fifth century. When her comb and her sash were worshipped her husband could not escape: St. Joseph's day is March 19. His name began to be inserted in the martyrologies towards the end of the ninth century. Some of the traditions of the childhood of St. Mary are of the second century. B.M. Apocryphal Oospeh. Smith, Die. of the, Bible, Butler. Baillet. Tillemont, Hist Ecclea. Trench, Medise- val Church History. For " Merg " as one of her names, my authority is Miss Eckenstein's Woman under Monasticiam. St Mary (3) Magdalene, Made- leine, or Maddalena, July 22, Ist century. The first person to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection. One of ^^ Lea troia Mariea" tlie others being Mary (5) and Mary (6). Mary Magdalene is the patron of penitent women, and of Provence and Marseilles. Eeprescnted with great quantities of fair hair ; often in a desert place, lying or kneeling on the ground ; frequently in tears ; with a vase of ointment near her ; sometimes carried by angels. The sign for her day, in ancient Norwegian calendars, is a chair, from the legend that on her arrival in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary rose and gave her own chair to Mary Magdalene. In St. Luke viii. 1, 2, wo read that our Lord " went throughout every city and village preaching . . . and the twelve were with him and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna . . . and Susanna, and many others, which ministered nnto Him of their substance." Such attendance on a beloved and revered Eabbi and such contributions to his maintenance were quite in accordance with the customs of the time and country. The associa- tion of Mary Magdalene with these women of honourable station makes it unlikely that she had been until that time " a notorious evil liver." The next Biblical mention of Mary Magdalene, refers to the day of the Crucifixion. She is spoken of at one time as standing afar off (St Matt, xxvii. 55, 56; St. Mark xv. 40); at another as close to the Gross (St. John xix. 25). With " the other Mary," she watched the entombment (St. Mark XV. 47), and when Joseph of Arimathea departed in the evening, he left them sitting by the grave (St. Matt, xxvii. 61). Through the sabbath day that followed, the Galilfean women "rested" (St. Luke xxiii. 50), but "very early in the morning" (St. Mark xvi. 2) of Easter Day, they made their way back to the sepulchre. They found it open, the stone rolled to one side and angel- watchers without and within (St. Matt, xxviii. 2 ; St. Mark xvi. 5 ; St. Luke xxiv. 4). The anointing spices which they had brought ^ere needless, for they learnt that their Lord was risen (St. Matt, xxviii. 6 ; St Mark xvi. 6 ; St. Luke xxiv. 6). They "fled from the sepulchre," says St. Mark, " they trembled and were amazed, neither said they anything to any man" (xvi. 8). St. Matthew's account is different; he tells us that they departed " with fear and great joy, and did ma to bring His disciples word" (St. Matt, xxviii. 8). "As they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesns met them, saying. All hail." And they " held Him by the feet and worshipped Him." From His own lips they received the command to carry His message to His brethren. No further mention of Mary Magdalene is found in the New Testament, although she is doubtless included among the women referred to in Acts i. 14. Tradition has added many details, and