St. Mary Magdalene

Their story

Mary Magdalene came from Magdala, a town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. St. Luke tells us that Jesus freed her from seven demons, and that afterward she followed Him along with the apostles and other women, supporting His ministry from her own means. Her gratitude and love made her one of His most faithful disciples. When most of the apostles fled, Mary Magdalene stayed. She stood at the foot of the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and watched where He was buried. Early on Easter morning she went to the tomb and found it empty. She stood there weeping, and when someone she thought was the gardener asked why she was crying, she begged him to tell her where they had taken her Lord. Then He said her name, "Mary," and she recognized Jesus, risen from the dead. He sent her to tell the apostles, and she ran to them saying, "I have seen the Lord." For this reason she has long been called the apostle to the apostles. For centuries in the West, Mary Magdalene was often identified with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet and with Mary of Bethany, but the Gospels do not say this, and the Church now honors her simply as herself. In 2016 Pope Francis raised her memorial to a feast, the same rank as the feasts of the apostles, to honor her as the first witness of the Resurrection.