pro610
04-12-2006, 02:39 PM
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=19400
Part#1
Real Magdalene – Honored saint, depicted in fictional ‘Da Vinci Code,’ was 1st witness to the Resurrection
By Pat McCarthy
4/11/2006
NZ Catholic (www.nzcatholic.org.nz/ (http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/))
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (NZ Catholic) – She’s been denounced as a fallen woman, described as “a victim of mistaken identity for almost 20 centuries” and suggested as a likely candidate for “the patron of the slandered.” She’s been depicted in art and literature through the ages, and now – thanks to The Da Vinci Code – Mary Magdalene has emerged into the limelight again as the alleged wife of Christ and co-founder of an arcane dynasty at odds with the institutional church and its beliefs.
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To Dan Brown, author of the fictional The Da Vinci Code and no stranger to exaggerated claims, she is the victim of a church-orchestrated smear campaign in “the greatest cover-up in human history.”
To the church, however, St. Mary Magdalene is an honored saint. She is celebrated as the first recorded witness of Christ’s resurrection and – whether a forgiven prostitute or not – is venerated as the “apostle to the apostles.”
Apart from the Virgin Mary, few women are more highly esteemed in the Bible, which offers no conclusive evidence that she was a prostitute.
Confusion over her identity arises from references to three Marys in the gospels:
• First, the specifically named Mary Magdalene, one of the women “who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments” and who accompanied Christ on his preaching mission, providing for him and the apostles “out of their own resources” (Lk 8:2-3).
She is named as “watching from a distance” during the crucifixion and observing Christ’s burial (Mk 15:40, 47). When the Sabbath was over, she was one of the women who bought spices for anointing, but found the tomb empty (Mk 16:1-8). Mary returned later and “saw Jesus standing there” but thought he was the gardener; she recognized him only when he spoke her name (Jn 20:15-16).
On Christ’s instruction, she “went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord” (Jn 20:17-18). “But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him” (Mk 16:11).
Christ had earlier “cast out seven devils” from Mary Magdalene (Mk 16:9) but the New Catholic Encyclopedia says this expression “probably describes a violent and chronic nervous disorder, rather than a sinful state.”
Her surname derives either from Magdala, a fishing village on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 6 kilometers (4 miles) north of Tiberias, or possibly from an expression meaning “curling women’s hair,” which the Jewish Talmud explains as signifying an adulteress.
• Second, an unnamed penitent woman “who had a bad name in the town” (Lk 7:37). She entered a Pharisee’s home where Jesus was dining, wept over his feet and dried them with her hair, then covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with ointment; Jesus told the Pharisee that “her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love” (Lk 7:37-47).
• Third, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. While Jesus was at dinner in their house, Mary anointed his feet with costly ointment and wiped them with her hair (Jn 12:3). A similar action to that of the anonymous penitent, but the same woman? We cannot be certain.
Part#1
Real Magdalene – Honored saint, depicted in fictional ‘Da Vinci Code,’ was 1st witness to the Resurrection
By Pat McCarthy
4/11/2006
NZ Catholic (www.nzcatholic.org.nz/ (http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/))
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (NZ Catholic) – She’s been denounced as a fallen woman, described as “a victim of mistaken identity for almost 20 centuries” and suggested as a likely candidate for “the patron of the slandered.” She’s been depicted in art and literature through the ages, and now – thanks to The Da Vinci Code – Mary Magdalene has emerged into the limelight again as the alleged wife of Christ and co-founder of an arcane dynasty at odds with the institutional church and its beliefs.
Advertisement
To Dan Brown, author of the fictional The Da Vinci Code and no stranger to exaggerated claims, she is the victim of a church-orchestrated smear campaign in “the greatest cover-up in human history.”
To the church, however, St. Mary Magdalene is an honored saint. She is celebrated as the first recorded witness of Christ’s resurrection and – whether a forgiven prostitute or not – is venerated as the “apostle to the apostles.”
Apart from the Virgin Mary, few women are more highly esteemed in the Bible, which offers no conclusive evidence that she was a prostitute.
Confusion over her identity arises from references to three Marys in the gospels:
• First, the specifically named Mary Magdalene, one of the women “who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments” and who accompanied Christ on his preaching mission, providing for him and the apostles “out of their own resources” (Lk 8:2-3).
She is named as “watching from a distance” during the crucifixion and observing Christ’s burial (Mk 15:40, 47). When the Sabbath was over, she was one of the women who bought spices for anointing, but found the tomb empty (Mk 16:1-8). Mary returned later and “saw Jesus standing there” but thought he was the gardener; she recognized him only when he spoke her name (Jn 20:15-16).
On Christ’s instruction, she “went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord” (Jn 20:17-18). “But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him” (Mk 16:11).
Christ had earlier “cast out seven devils” from Mary Magdalene (Mk 16:9) but the New Catholic Encyclopedia says this expression “probably describes a violent and chronic nervous disorder, rather than a sinful state.”
Her surname derives either from Magdala, a fishing village on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 6 kilometers (4 miles) north of Tiberias, or possibly from an expression meaning “curling women’s hair,” which the Jewish Talmud explains as signifying an adulteress.
• Second, an unnamed penitent woman “who had a bad name in the town” (Lk 7:37). She entered a Pharisee’s home where Jesus was dining, wept over his feet and dried them with her hair, then covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with ointment; Jesus told the Pharisee that “her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love” (Lk 7:37-47).
• Third, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. While Jesus was at dinner in their house, Mary anointed his feet with costly ointment and wiped them with her hair (Jn 12:3). A similar action to that of the anonymous penitent, but the same woman? We cannot be certain.