Mary of Magdala (Magdalene)

Drawing of Mary of Magdala by Lorenzo Ferri according to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Miriam, familiarly nicknamed "Miri" by her sister Martha, was born in Antioch of Syria around the year 4, to a Syrian father, Theophilus, ethnarch of the province, and Eucheria of Theophilus, a Judean of the royal line of David.

Her dissolute youth

In Jerusalem, where her parents settled, she soon caused a scandal:

"She began to be light-headed as soon as she reached the age of puberty. But for over four years!" reports Judas.

After her divorce, she lived a dissolute life in Magdala, on the estate she inherited from her parents, who died of grief, and in Tiberias. There, she burned her life in the company of successive lovers, and one of them was driven to murder by jealousy. Jesus saved the victim because of his Wife and his children.

This permanent scandal also reflected badly on Lazarus, her older brother. He deserted his palace in Zion, Jerusalem, to take refuge at the property of their sister Martha, in Bethany. She also suffered the backlash of Mary Magdalene’s dissolute life and remained single, because "No one marries the sister of a prostitute."

Her path of conversion

But the encounters with Jesus - including the provocative one at the Sermon on the Mount - and certain dramatic events, including the murder she caused, brought her to change. It was for her, who listened hidden behind a low wall, that Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep:

"Jesus has never turned around to look at the road behind Him and on which Mary of Magdala has arrived in the dim light of the evening. She is most elegant, but [...] she is wearing a dark veil, which conceals her features and figure. But when Jesus continues His speech from the words: «I found you, my beloved one», Mary hides her hands under her veil and weeps, softly and continuously. People cannot see her, because she is on this side of the embankment, which runs along the road. Only the moon, now high in the sky and Jesus’ spirit can see her…"

Her conversion occurred after violent inner struggles, reflecting her passionate woman nature. She rushed to Simon the Pharisee, where Jesus was dining. She wiped the tears of repentance she shed on His feet with her hair, then anointed them with fragrant oil.

Overwhelmed, she then took refuge in Nazareth with the Virgin Mary.

From that moment on, she joined the group of woman-disciples who occasionally followed the apostolic troupe and helped with their resources. Her fiery character, until then used for a dissolute life, turned to serve Jesus with the same passionate intensity: she faced the contempt of her former lovers, the growing hostility of the Sanhedrin, relived in the delirium of her dying brother Lazarus all the harm she had done:

"Streams of tears, insults, shame, bitterness… everything has pierced me and killed my life because of her… [...] my sister [...] could have been a queen and she became the filth that even a pig tramples on. And my mother who dies. And not being able to go among people any longer without having to put up with their mockery. Because of her! Where are you, you wretch? [...] Go away! Disgrace of our family!

"Rivers of tears, insults, shame, bitterness... all penetrated me and killed my life because of him... Mary (...) my sister (...) could have been a queen and she made herself mud, mud that even the pig tramples on.

And my mother died. And no longer being able to go among people without enduring their contempt. Because of her! Where are you, unhappy? (...) Go away! Disgrace of our house! [...]

Mary, prostrated dejectedly on the floor, is sobbing under the implacable charge of the dying man [...]"

She asks Jesus if it is she (and her conversion) who cause these sufferings to her brother. Indeed, the sufferings and mortifications of Lazarus, accepted and offered by him to God, saved her from the Demon:

"Jesus, Who is sincere to the utmost, says: «Yes, Mary, you most certainly are! [...] But this must not cause a dull anguish to you, on the contrary it must urge your will to become perfect, for what you cost. And rejoice! Rejoice because of Lazarus, for snatching you from the demon… [...] for snatching you from the demon, has deserved from God a future reward, whereby peoples and angels will speak of him. [...]"

She knows the stripping after the riches:

"I will tell you something you do not know: all the personal wealth of Mary is for the servants of God and the poor people of Christ."

Jesus tells Lazarus:

"Do you know who was able, among My most intimate ones, to change nature in order to become of Christ, as Christ wants? One only: your sister Mary. She started from complete perverted animality to arrive at an angelical spirituality. And she achieved that only through the power of love."

Her impetuosity, the strength of her love, and the social position she holds as a protégée of the Roman administration, from which her father came, make her a leading figure in the Gospel as well as in the work of Maria Valtorta.
She chooses "the better part" at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teaching and enjoying his love, while her sister Martha busies herself with the duties of hostess.:

"You worry and fret about too many things, Martha. She is concerned with one only. That which is sufficient for her soul and above all for her and your Lord. Forget useless things. Imitate your sister. Mary has chosen the better part, which will never be taken from her."

She prophesies the Passion by the anointing at Bethany, where she pours fragrant oil on the Lord's head and feet.

Lazarus' illness and death

Her loving dedication takes on full meaning through her care during the long and terrible illness of her brother. His gangrene advances inexorably. Lazarus' legs rot, emitting a nauseating odor bravely endured by Mary and Martha who care for him. Lazarus wonders how his sister can stand this.

"I would not know either, so frightening and disgusting are the sores near the varicose veins of his legs." says Maria Valtorta.

During the agony of her brother, just before his death, Mary underwent a painful purification: in his delirium, Lazarus made her relive the various painful stages and consequences of her shameful past.

Jesus had entrusted to her:

"You are one of the souls most hated by Satan. But you are also one of the most loved by God."

Shortly before Lazarus' death, to prepare them, Jesus repeated to her and Martha:

"I tell you to hope and believe against all contrary realities."

Despite the insinuations of enemies of Jesus to make her doubt, at her brother's funeral she proclaimed her faith nonetheless:

"It is too much! With her face wet with tears, tortured but still faithful, in the semicircle formed by the guests who have gathered together to see the corpse go out, Mary proclaims: «If Jesus of Nazareth has done that, it is well done, and great is His love for us all in Bethany. Everything for God’s glory and His own! He said that this will bring about glory to the Lord because the power of His Word will shine completely. Execute the order, Maximinus. The sepulchre is no obstacle to the power of God…»"

Passion and Resurrection of Jesus

Impetuous, she stood up to the Sanhedrin at Golgotha by her sole authority, the same that sustains the courage of the woman disciples in the troubled hours following the death of Jesus.
On Resurrection Sunday, she was the first to see the empty tomb. All her love finally bursts forth in her affectionate cry greeting the resurrected Jesus:

"Rabbouni!"

She was also one of the first people to go venerate Golgotha after the Passion of Jesus:

"there is already someone who has preceded you," says the risen Jesus to his fearful apostles "without fearing mockery and revenge, without being afraid of being contaminated. And yet, the person who has preceded you had double reason for being afraid of that."

Jesus had prophesied the hermit end of Mary of Magdala:

"There is no other way for you, Mary. Because, whatever way you may take, it will still be love. Love if you help people in My name. Love if you evangelize. Love if you live in isolation. Love if you martyrise yourself. Love if you will make people martyrise you. You can but love, Mary. It is your nature."

In this same dialogue, Mary of Magdala wishes to be martyred by love. It is granted:

"What a grace to die out of love for You!"

The end of Mary Magdalene’s life

The persecutions against Christians increased with the advent of Herod Agrippa I and the family of Bethany went into exile:

"[...] with deep sorrow, they have gone away from here, to take His divine Word elsewhere, as here it would have been suffocated by the Judaeans."

This supports the well-established tradition of their exile in Gaul: Lazarus in Marseille, Martha in Tarascon, Mary in Sainte-Baume and their steward Maximin in the city bearing his name.

Moreover, in a vision reported in the Notebooks 1944, Maria Valtorta sees the death of Mary Magdalene in a cave that seems to be that of Sainte Baume (Provence). Jesus confirms that it is located in France. She died around the year 80 AD, probably at about the age of 75.

It is supposed that the end of her life was lived in pain if one believes this phrase of Jesus to Maria Valtorta:

"Then the day will come when I will say to you, as I said to Mary of Magdala when she was dying: 'Rest. It is now time for you to rest. Give Me your thorns. It is now time for roses. Rest and wait.'"

This path ends in final bliss:

"[...] Mary. A good servant of mine. Today more than yesterday. Tomorrow more than today. Until I will say to you: “Enough, Mary. It is time for you to rest”.»

«Agreed, Lord. I would like You to call me, then. As You called my brother out of the sepulchre. Oh! call me out of this life!»

«No, not out of this life. I will call you to the Life, to the true Life. I will call you out of the sepulchre that is the flesh and the Earth. I will call you to the wedding of your soul with your Lord.»"

Character and appearance

Mary is about 23 years old when she crosses paths with Jesus in Galilee in the company of some revelers. She is tall, blonde, with "plaits, which are as thick as her arms and reach down to her knees." Her contralto voice, passionate and warm, matches her fiery character. Her beauty is enhanced by a very lively gaze, splendid eyes and hands. Her physiognomy resembles that of her mother, a saint, according to those who knew her.

The two reconstructed portraits below show interpretive differences: the face of Mary of Magdala reconstructed by Brazilian researchers through photogrammetry of her relic at Saint-Maximin, is depicted as brunette with brown eyes. The one realized by Lorenzo Ferri following the indications of Maria Valtorta is blonde with blue eyes.

Apart from these differences, one cannot but be struck by the similarities: round face, prominent cheekbones, similar nose, shapes of eyes, mouth, and eyebrows. Doubtless, the relic of the basilica of Saint-Maximin (Provence, France) is the well-authenticated relic of the face of Mary of Magdala, the one who saw the resurrected Christ at the tomb. A fusion of the two reconstructions would reveal even more the authentic face.

Her name

In Hebrew Miriâm מרים.

This widespread name can signify bitterness or "the exalted one," "Prophetess" or the feminine of "Lord." Christian tradition plays, especially for the Virgin Mary, on the connection with "mar yam," drop of sea water, translated into Latin by the term Stella Maris, the star of the sea.

Where is she mentioned in the work?

GRM 14 GRM 98
GRM 112 GRM 116 GRM 117 GRM 135 GRM 136 GRM 158 GRM 174 GRM 183 GRM 184
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GRM 409 GRM 415 GRM 420 GRM 440 GRM 448 GRM 468 GRM 485
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GRM 609 GRM 610 GRM 611 GRM 612 GRM 612 GRM 614 GRM 615 GRM 616 GRM 616 GRM 619 GRM 620 GRM 626 GRM 628 GRM 630 GRM 635 GRM 636 GRM 638 GRM 641 GRM 643 GRM 644 GRM 647 GRM 648

Learn more about this character

Extracts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, According to Maria Valtorta (Msgr. René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):

Mary Magdalene is celebrated on July 22. Every year on this date, the ostentation of her relics (her head) takes place at the Basilica of Saint-Maximin in Provence.

This fascinating figure has inspired numerous writings over time. The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine (13th century) echoes some elements taken up by Maria Valtorta: "Mary, nicknamed Magdalene, from the castle of Magdalon, was born of the most illustrious parents, since they descended from the royal lineage. Her father's name was Syrus and her mother Eucharie. Mary shared with Lazarus, her brother, and Martha, her sister, the castle of Magdalon, located two miles from Gennesaret, Bethany which is close to Jerusalem, and a large part of Jerusalem. They divided their goods in this way: Mary received Magdalon whence she was called Magdalene, Lazarus retained what was in Jerusalem, and Martha possessed Bethany."

This same work, referring to Hegesippus, a 2nd-century historian, attests "that she came to the territory of Aix, went to a desert where she remained unknown for thirty years." From the early 5th century, John Cassian, who established a monastic community at Sainte Baume, 20 km from Saint-Maximin, confirmed this tradition.

For Anne-Catherine Emmerich, the family of Bethany went into exile in Gaul.

According to Jean Aulagnier the presence of the saints of Bethany explains the early evangelization of Gaul which cannot be linked to any apostle contrary to other regions of the Roman Empire.

The Basilica of Saint-Maximin La Sainte Baume boasts of housing the tombs of other saints connected, according to Maria Valtorta, to the family of Bethany: Susanna, the young wife of Cana, and one of the Women who followed Jesus, Marcella the servant of Martha, Sidonia the born-blind, and further in Provence, Sarah, one of the woman-disciples.

Part of the relics of Mary Magdalene, transported in the 11th century to Burgundy, to Vézelay, founded the celebrated Basilica of Sainte-Madeleine and its pilgrimages. Those of Saint-Maximin gained a renewed interest in the 13th century with the discovery of tombs lost sight of for centuries. That of Mary Magdalene was discovered in 1279 by Charles II of Anjou, nephew of King Saint Louis: its location was indicated to him by the Saint herself! With the support of Pope Boniface VII, he built a basilica and a convent on her tomb. The construction began in 1295, lasted three centuries, and saw the flourishing of the greatest Gothic building in Provence, still standing today.

Kilometres. 1 km = 0.621 miles. 1 mile = 1.609 km.