Was Mary Magdalene a whore?

[Vandaler]

My curiosity of the subject is exhausted... I rally behind the tradition in this case since it his firmly seated in a credible source. - Éric 

 

Gregory the Great's Homily 33 and the Identification of Mary Magdalen as a Prostitute

In Homily 33, delivered probably in 591, Pope Gregory the Great took the step of identifying Luke's unnamed sinner with Mary Magdalen: "We believe that this woman [Mary Magdalen] is Luke's female sinner, the woman John calls Mary, and that Mary from whom Mark says seven demons were cast out." ("Hanc vero quam Lucas peccatricem mulierem, Joannes Mariam nominat, illam esse Mariam credimus de qua Marcus septem dæmonia ejecta fuisse testatur") The seven demons Gregory identified as "all the vices" ("Et quid per septem dæmonia, nisi universa vitia designantur?") by which he means the seven so-called cardinal sins (including lust, which was understood as inordinate or illicit sexual desire). The seven cardinal sins were first grouped as such by Gregory. The passages mentioning Christ's casting out of the seven devils from Mary Magdalen are in Luke 8, 1-3, and Mark 16, 9. Gregory then explained that the ointment used by Luke's unnamed sinner, now Mary Magdalen, to anoint Christ's feet had previously been used by her "to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts." ("Liquet...quod illicitus actibus prius mulier intenta unguentum sibi pro odore suæ carnis adhibuit") It was Gregory who also associated her, again primarily through identification with Luke's unnamed sinner, as a penitent when he explained that by immolating herself at the feet of Jesus, "she turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance." ("Convertit ad virtutum numerum criminum, ut totum serviret Deo in poenitentia") Homily 33 is recorded in Homiliarum in evangelia, Lib. II, Patrologia Latina, vol. 76 (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1844-1864), cols. 1238-1246

[Montreal_Marisa]

Thank you Eric for posting that!

[AdoramusTeChriste]

Vandaler the great!

 

Where did you find that? Is there an online source? I have to see the whole thing! Please post the link, if you have it.

 

Thanks!

[Vandaler]

Where did you find that? Is there an online source? I have to see the whole thing! Please post the link, if you have it.

It's actually the Da Vinci Code phenomena that has made the subject more easely googleable.

 

http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/may2005p8_1928.html

 

and my litteral post from here

http://witcombe.sbc.edu/davincicode/gregory-homily-33.html

 

I could not find the whole Homily anywhere though. 

[VoxClamantis]

Speaking of all this puts me in the mind to add a page on St. Mary M.'s Feast in this section of my site: http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/customs.html  She is much too special to me, and to a lot of women, to be unmentioned here. Does anyone have any thing in mind for this page as to customs (the only thing I can think of are madeleines), prayers, readings, and ART for the top of the page?

[Sophia]

I've heard of some story involving Mary Magdalene and and egg.  I found this on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene

 

"One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house."

 

Here is a lovely icon (at least I think so!) illustrating this tradition.  The artist is Brother Robert Lentz, OFB.  You can find this picture and many others for sale here http://www.trinitystores.com/ Warning! There is some ultra weird stuff this guy has painted, but some of it has redeeming qualities.  There is a lot of creation spirituality themes, Maryknoll people, secular "saints," and some outright diabolical representations of Christ, but I like this one:

 

[Sophia]

Here is another, more traditional-looking icon (This is an  Eastern Orthodox source)

 

I can't post the picture since it is copyrighted, but here is the link to the webpage http://www.comeandseeicons.com/phn06.htm

[VoxClamantis]

Thanks, Sophia! I like that icon, too -- very much (both of them, actually, but was referring to the first one).

 

I might end up using a detail of a painting of Mary and St. Catherine of Alexanrdia by Martini  -- a detail of just Mary's face/upper body -- because size-wise it will work. I like for the pictures at the tops of that section to be 400 pixels high or thereabouts, and enlarging pix make 'em go wonky (making them smaller seems to work fine, though).

 

I've got the egg story on the Easter page:

 

http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/customseastertide2.html

 

I found a prayer to Mary written by St. Anselm -- gorgeous! And I have a madeleines recipe (that's the only thing I can think of "customs-wise"). I guess I can just write up the background on Mary and then add things as I go along...

[CaroleK]

I  like the second icon very much.  I do not like Trinity Stores as  some of their icons are, IMHO, sacrilege.  The description that  goes along with the image (I will not call these paintings Icons  because they are not) is blasphemous calling St. Mary Magdalene "Equal  to the Apostles" and saying "We owe our faith to Semetic Christians like Mary Magdalene. With this debt  in mind, we should hear her voice in Palestinian cries for justice in  our day."
 
  They also sell "icons" of figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. (who,  while arguably an influential man, is no Saint) and the icon of "The  Madonna of the Slaughtered Jews".
 
  I would stay far far far away from Trinity Stores if you wish to purchase Icons.
 

[Jack]

There is no evidence whatsoever that Miriam of Migdal was a prostitute, though this has been the customary Western opinion.
 
 There are three accounts of the Anointing of Jesus in the Gospels: one by Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, one by Mary Magdalene, and the other by a woman simply called "the sinner."
 
 Some (but not all!) Western fathers have, reasonably enough, supposed that these are accounts of the same event, performed by the same woman. Hence Mary of Bethany is also from Magdala and a lady with an "interting past". John 8 probably also played a part in this exegesis.
 
 The Eastern Fathers see these accounts as three separate events, involving three separate women. This is reflected in the Byzantine calendar, including those Byzantine Churches in union with the Roman Church. Mary and Martha are principally commemorated on 4 June, Mary Magdalene on 22 July (where she is called Equal-of-the-Apostles), and the Sinner on Wednesday of Holy Week.
 
 I see the point of Pope St. Gregory the Great's sermon conflating these three women not as "infallibly declaring and defining Mary Magdalene as a prostitute" (as some TV shows have said) but rather showing how her great love for Jesus enabled her to be the first one to see the Resurrected Living Lord (as recorded in the Gospels)!
 
 The great reward for her love of Jesus (as well as the other two women's love) should be our inspiration, not pointless speculation about the Magdalene's "interesting past."