This Monday, July 22, we celebrate the feat of Mary Magdalene. There are very few saints whose reputation has been more unjustly sullied by the Church itself, than Mary Magdalene. How did that come to be?
In the Gospel, we have Mary Magdalene, and other nameless women who are sinners, and throughout history they have all come to be seen as Mary Magdalene. This includes the woman caught in adultery. Scripture does not name this person and never indicates that it is Mary Magdalene, but “tradition” has told us that she is Mary. The woman “known to be a sinner” (code for prostitute), who comes to the house of the Pharisee and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and dries them with her hair (a very sensual act), is also folded into Mary Magdalene, although nothing in Scripture says this and does not give us any name for this woman at all.
There is also the woman who brings a jar of costly oil and anoints Jesus’ head. Scripture says nothing about her name, but she is presumed historically to be Mary Magdalene. Even in Mother of God Church, if you look at the Crucifixion scene above the tabernacle, you see Jesus on the Cross with Mary, His mother on the left, and John the Beloved Disciple on the right. In the center, on the ground, is Mary Magdalene, with the jar of oil in front of her. Mary Magdalen is also sometimes identified with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, which she certainly is not. Mary Magdalene is from the town of Magdala, and this Mary is from Bethany. These persons are identified in the Crucifixion scene in the Gospel of St. John, when Jesus says to Mary and John, “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.”