Saint Mary Magdalene

Mary, called Magdalene after her town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, was freed by Jesus from seven demons, as Saint Luke tells us. From then on she followed him with other women, supporting his ministry from their own resources. When most of the disciples fled, she stood at the foot of the Cross, and she watched where his body was laid.

On Easter morning she came to the tomb and found it empty. Weeping, she met a man she took for the gardener, until he called her by name, "Mary!" and she recognized the risen Jesus. He sent her to tell his brothers, so the Church has long called her the "Apostle to the Apostles." Western tradition later merged her with the sinful woman of Luke 7 and with Mary of Bethany, but the Gospels do not say this. In 2016 Pope Francis raised her memorial to a feast, equal to those of the apostles.

In Provence, France, a medieval tradition holds that she spent her last years in prayer in the grotto of La Sainte-Baume; her relics are venerated at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, where a great procession is held on her feast. In Spain, Italy and Latin America many towns named Magdalena keep her day with Masses and local fiestas.