Mary Mag′dalene, probably so named from Magdala, a town of Galilee, a woman mentioned as “Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,” was among those that accompanied Jesus. She is held to be the same as the woman “which was a sinner” who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with her hair and anointed them. She is thought by some to be Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, for which there is little ground. The story that she passed her last days in the desert in penitence for her sinful life has been made the subject of paintings by Guido, Correggio, Canova and other great masters.
