Who was Our Patron Saint?

from Catholic Update, May 2006 www.americancatholic.org

Saint Mary Magdalene is, it can be argued, the second-most important woman in the New Testament. Within the four Gospels, hints of Mary Magdalene's importance in the early Church can be discerned. She is named 14 times, more than most of the apostles. The assembled Gospel references describe Mary Magdalene as a courageous servant leader, brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond. She is the only person to be listed in all four Gospels as first to realize that Jesus had risen and to testify to that central teaching of faith. This is a spectacular first indeed!

Other Gospel passages can confuse us, because other women also named Mary and some anonymous women, to boot, can seem to merge several women into one. This phenomenon - fusing several stories into one composite - is called conflation.

One Mary, the Mother of Jesus, retains her unique status and reputation as the number-one woman in the Gospels. But other women - Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, a woman who anoints and one identified as an adulterer - are mistakenly fused into one sensual young sinner.

Pope Gregory, who became pope in 590 A.D., clinched Mary's mistaken reputation as sinner when he delivered a powerful homily in which he combined Luke's anonymous sinful woman (Lk 7:36-50) with Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. But contemporary biblical scholarship, encouraged by Vatican II and accessing resources never dreamed of in the sixth century A.D., confirms that there were several Marys.

What new insights lead biblical scholars to separate Mary the sinner from Mary Magdalene? Here's some of their reasoning.

One person and one place - such as Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene, Mary of Magdala - are connected frequently in the Gospels. Mary of Magdala (a.k.a. Mary Magdalene) is actually named more often than Mary the Mother of Jesus. Scholars conclude, using this kind of analysis, that when a woman named Mary is not called the Magdalene, that's not who is intended. According to this rationale, she is not the "woman with the alabaster jar" (Mt 26, Mk 14, Lk 7), even though artists over the centuries have assigned her that identity. But Mary is more than just a pretty picture.
Mary Magdalene is portrayed as woman whom Jesus delivered of "demons." It's those demons that still tempt readers to think Mary a fallen woman. In Luke 8, some Galilean women are described journeying with Jesus, together with the Twelve. They include "some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities [and] Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out."
Today's scholars, more and more, embrace the earlier view of St. Augustine, in the fourth century, who said, "The Holy Spirit made Magdalene the Apostle of the Apostles." It was Jesus himself who said to her, "Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father…'" (Jn 20:17).
Apostle has multiple meanings and most of them apply to Mary Magdalene with ease. She is one sent on a mission. She is an authoritative person sent out to preach the Gospel. She is first to advocate an important belief. Or to put those in other terms, she points the way as disciple, partner and evangelist. Preceding all of that, of course, she is an eyewitness to the wonders of Jesus among us.