MARY MAGDALENE
curriculum vitae
(late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD-
– July 22, 2nd half of the 1st century AD)
Mary, Heb. mirejam – ‘exalted’, ‘bitter’, ‘strife’, ‘star of the sea’, ‘beloved by God’; Gk. Maria. Known as Maria of Magdala (e Magdalene), one of those who brought the balsam to embalm the body of Christ. Christ’s Beloved Disciple who announced the Resurrection to his apostles.
Israelite. Assumed to be the daughter of Simon of Bethany and sister of Martha and Lazarus. Married Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Judaic Sanhedrin. The dynasty of Merovingian kings believed they were descendants.
Mary Magdalene had beautiful long hair and a pleasing appearance. Christ healed her by casting out devils, possibly linked to a secret apostasy from Judaism. She provided financial support for his preaching activities. If Mary Magdalene is identified as Christ’s Beloved Disciple she is also his adopted relative – before Christ died his mother adopted his Beloved Disciple. Mary and Joseph gave a place in their family vault for the burial of Christ.
Mary Magdalene was included in the ‘brotherhood of John’. The apocryphal Gospel of Mary and parts of the Four Gospels use her account of events. She secured posthumous rehabilitation of Christ from the Emperor Tiberius I. Carried out missionary work in Rome with the apostle Paul and later in the south of Gaul. Towards the end of her life she moved to Ephesus, where she died and was buried.
Her remains were taken to Constantinople, then to the Lateran Basilica in Rome and later the church dedicated to her near Marseilles, Provence (France).
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