*Sacred Scripture* Saint Mary Magdalene Preaching – Master of the Magdalene Legend

Lives of the Saints

by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition

[1894]

—ST. MARY MAGDALEN.

Or the earlier life of Mary Magdalen we know only that she was “a woman who was a sinner.” From the depth of her degradation she raised her eyes to Jesus with sorrow, hope, and love. All covered with shame, she came In where Jesus was at seat, and knelt behind him. She said not a word, but bathed His feet with her tears, wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed them in humility, and at their touch her sins and her stain were gone.

Then she poured on them the costly unguent prepared for far other uses; and His own divine lips rolled away her reproach, spoke her absolution, and bade her go in peace. Thenceforward she ministered to Jesus, sat at His feet, and heard His words. She was one of the family “whom Jesus so loved” that He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.

Once again, on the eve of His Passion, she brought the precious ointment, and, now purified and beloved, poured it on His head, and the whole house of God is still filled with the fragrance of her anointing.

She stood with Our Lady and St. John at the foot of the cross, the representative of the many who have had much forgiven. To her first, after His blessed Mother, and through her to His apostles, Our Lord gave the certainty of His resurrection; and to her first He made Himself known, calling her by her name, because she was His.

When the faithful were scattered by persecution the family of Bethany found refuge in Provence. The cave in which St. Mary lived for thirty years is still seen, and the chapel on the mountaintop, in which she was caught up daily, like St. Paul, to “visions and revelations of the Lord.”

When her end drew near she was borne to a spot still marked by a “sacred pillar,” where the holy Bishop Maximin awaited her; and when she had received her Lord, she peacefully fell asleep in death.

Reflection.—”Compunction of heart,” says St. Bernard, “is a treasure infinitely to be desired, and an unspeakable gladness to the heart. It is healing to the soul; it is remission of sins; it brings back again the Holy Spirit into the humble and loving heart.”

Men, women and children listen intently to the word of God preached by St. Mary Magdalene. Artwork by the Master of the Magdalene Legend.

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/mary-magdalene-692
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. MARY MAGDALENE

Saint Mary Magdalene Preaching

1. 1500-1520

Master of the Magdalene Legend, (Netherlandish (active Brussels), active c. 1480–c. 1520)

This panel, originally part of a larger, winged altarpiece, presents three separate episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene. After the Crucifixion of Christ, the Magdalene went to the South of France. In the foreground, she preaches to the pagan population of Marseilles. In the upper left, a ship arrives at an island where a baby plays and his mother lies in a cave, a scene that refers to a miracle in which the Magdalene saved a shipwrecked mother and child. In the upper right of the painting, a monk is startled by a vision of the Magdalene being borne to heaven. The vision is missing because the panel has been cut, leaving only a few rays of light.

St. Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles

https://www.coraevans.com/blog/article/st-mary-magdalene

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” 

Is 40:3–4