St Mary Magdalene

[MarysLittleFlower]

She's one of my favourite Saints, but I don't know very much about her. There seems to be some disagreement about her as well, ie: West vs East.

 

What do we know about St Mary Magdalene? :) any good books or resources out there? would love to learn more...

[Jaime]

She's one of my favourite Saints, but I don't know very much about her. There seems to be some disagreement about her as well, ie: West vs East.

 

What do we know about St Mary Magdalene? :) any good books or resources out there? would love to learn more...

 

i'm not trying to be snarky but if you don't know much about her, why is she one of your favourites?

[Lilllabettt]

there is no Scriptural evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or a great sinner of any kind. Jesus cast 7 demons out of her. Perhaps those demons manifested as mental or physical illness. Maybe they manifested as sexual sins. No one knows. Probably the Lord has permitted the difference in tradition about her for a reason. Choose the tradition you find most meaningful to you. You will find out the "whole" truth once you get to Heaven. I assure you the Magdalene does not care what you think about her, if thinking about her gets you closer to heaven.

 

something I have noticed is that when you come upon a disagreement or something unsettled in the Catholic milieu you seem to fixate on it and then almost drive yourself up a wall trying to make out a clear-cut answer.  I honestly think there may be some scrupulosity at work here. You know way better than I, but if that's what is happening, you need to do your best to stop. If research is tempting you into it, you need to stop.  It's good to search for the truth, but there are some things that are just not black and white. And trying to make them black and white just creates division, in your own mind and in others.

 

 

Edited August 21, 2013 by Lilllabettt

[Basilisa Marie]

All we know for sure is that Jesus cast out seven demons from her, and she was the first witness of the Resurrection.  That's it.

 

A lot of other things developed when some people (notably one of the Pope Gregorys, I forget which one) tried to do some textual exegesis by trying to make all the "Marys" and unnamed women of the New Testament make sense.  He collapsed many of them onto each other, combining them as he saw fit.  It's not wrong, per se, but just one way of trying to understand the Gospel.  There is a wide range of traditions, everything from her being a prostitute to the perfect penitent to some people believing she got on a boat and evangelized the Gaul territory (i.e. France-ish).  If you like books, you can check out Jansen's "Making of the Magdalen."  It's a book that covers many of the ways different people throughout Church history have used Mary Magdalene to get a whole slew of points across to their audiences.  It's a scholarly type book, not devotional, but it's pretty readable. And it has LOTS of references in the back if you wanted to look at more ways she's understood in a particular tradition. :) 

 

 

[Mary's Margaret]

You might try de-coding Mary Magdalene by Catholic author Amy Welborn.  It's published by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division.

[Jaime]

She developed an excellent recipe for potato salad. 

 

 

 

A lot of people overlook that

[MarysLittleFlower]

i'm not trying to be snarky but if you don't know much about her, why is she one of your favourites?

because I read about how much she loved God...

 

there is no Scriptural evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or a great sinner of any kind. Jesus cast 7 demons out of her. Perhaps those demons manifested as mental or physical illness. Maybe they manifested as sexual sins. No one knows. Probably the Lord has permitted the difference in tradition about her for a reason. Choose the tradition you find most meaningful to you. You will find out the "whole" truth once you get to Heaven. I assure you the Magdalene does not care what you think about her, if thinking about her gets you closer to heaven.

 

something I have noticed is that when you come upon a disagreement or something unsettled in the Catholic milieu you seem to fixate on it and then almost drive yourself up a wall trying to make out a clear-cut answer.  I honestly think there may be some scrupulosity at work here. You know way better than I, but if that's what is happening, you need to do your best to stop. If research is tempting you into it, you need to stop.  It's good to search for the truth, but there are some things that are just not black and white. And trying to make them black and white just creates division, in your own mind and in others.

 

Whatever the case may be about her being a great sinner or not, it seems like Jesus helped her and she became a very devoted follower of His. That's why I'm interested in her life... though I have scrupulosity, I'm trying to get help for it. The reason I want to research about St Mary Magdalene is because I'm interested in her life for some reasons, and where she's mentioned in Scripture. I wanted to learn more like maybe she's mentioned in some visions that the Saints had, - I read a bit about her in a revelation.

All we know for sure is that Jesus cast out seven demons from her, and she was the first witness of the Resurrection.  That's it.

 

A lot of other things developed when some people (notably one of the Pope Gregorys, I forget which one) tried to do some textual exegesis by trying to make all the "Marys" and unnamed women of the New Testament make sense.  He collapsed many of them onto each other, combining them as he saw fit.  It's not wrong, per se, but just one way of trying to understand the Gospel.  There is a wide range of traditions, everything from her being a prostitute to the perfect penitent to some people believing she got on a boat and evangelized the Gaul territory (i.e. France-ish).  If you like books, you can check out Jansen's "Making of the Magdalen."  It's a book that covers many of the ways different people throughout Church history have used Mary Magdalene to get a whole slew of points across to their audiences.  It's a scholarly type book, not devotional, but it's pretty readable. And it has LOTS of references in the back if you wanted to look at more ways she's understood in a particular tradition. :)

 

I'm trying to understand if she's the same woman as the woman with the perfume jar :)

 

Regarding her being the first witness to the Resurrection, she was the first witness recorded in Scripture who came to the tomb... I read in the revelations of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich that Jesus first appeared to His Mother, who was at Calvary at the time. Here's a link with something the Pope said on that in the 90s: http://www.catholic-pages.com/bvm/resurrection.asp

You might try de-coding Mary Magdalene by Catholic author Amy Welborn.  It's published by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division.

 

thanks! :)

[Basilisa Marie]

Oh, well, it's debatable whether or not she's he woman with the perfume jar (again, different theologians collapsing different women onto each other), as that woman isn't named.  Some people do think that they're the same, and she's often portrayed with that perfume jar and long hair in art.  But like others and I have said, the only things we know for sure are that she had seven demons cast out of her and was the first to witness the Resurrection. 

[MeteorShower]

I really like the writings on the life of Mary Magdalene by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. I understand that there is some controversy surrounding the credibility of her writings, which are apparently based on visions, but I really like the book, regardless.

[MarysLittleFlower]

I really like the writings on the life of Mary Magdalene by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. I understand that there is some controversy surrounding the credibility of her writings, which are apparently based on visions, but I really like the book, regardless.

 

what book contains the part about St Mar Magdalene? :) I've only read some of the Dolorous Passion and she is mentioned. I like her book too... Apparently it has the Nihil Obstat, and the controversy is not about anything found in the book but about the man who wrote it down (while Blessed Anne Catherine told him the information), but it doesn't seem that the details in the controversy where something that was ever definitely stated or proven.. it just seems to have been unresolved. I read that Bretano, the man who wrote down the book, was a good Catholic (in the preface of the book). I have no idea why he was suspected of anything at a point in time, but it seems to not have been stated officially as a fact. I hope that Catholics can read the book, and also Mystical City of God by Ven Mary of Agreda :)

Edited August 22, 2013 by MarysLittleFlower

[MeteorShower]

what book contains the part about St Mar Magdalene? :) I've only read some of the Dolorous Passion and she is mentioned. I like her book too... Apparently it has the Nihil Obstat, and the controversy is not about anything found in the book but about the man who wrote it down (while Blessed Anne Catherine told him the information), but it doesn't seem that this was ever definitely stated or proven that the writings were altered with. I read that Bretano, the man who wrote down the book, was a good Catholic. So I hope that Catholics can read the book, and also Mystical City of God by Ven Mary of Agreda :)

 

Thanks for the information about Bretano :) I didn't know any of that.

 

The edition that I have is simply called Mary Magdalene: In the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich. It was published by TAN. I think it's a very enjoyable read. It details the life of Saint Mary Magdalene from her childhood to after the Ascension of Jesus.

[MarysLittleFlower]

here's an article about the controversy which shows that there were slanders that were since shown to be false... (about Bl Anne Catherine Emmerich). It also talks about Brentano and gives some ideas to suggest that the book is not wrong in some way: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3586  Personally I find Dolorous Passion very moving..

[MarysLittleFlower]

Thanks for the information about Bretano :) I didn't know any of that.

 

The edition that I have is simply called Mary Magdalene: In the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich. It was published by TAN. I think it's a very enjoyable read. It details the life of Saint Mary Magdalene from her childhood to after the Ascension of Jesus.

oh wow, wonderful! that's exactly the type of thing I was looking for :) I'm also looking for information on her in Scripture.

 

With Brentano (sorry I spelt his name wrong before), the link I gave above gives some information, and provides reasoning for the book being real, not fabricated. :)

[MeteorShower]

Thank you for sharing the article. It was an interesting read and I am relieved to hear that many of the rumours that I have heard about Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and Brentano were false or exaggerated. As I said before, I have always liked her writings but due to my lack of information, I felt a bit conflicted, I guess.

What I have read of the Dolorous Passion was very beautiful. For a while now, I have been intending to buy a copy of the book so that I can read it in full.

 

I had never heard of The Mystical City of God before, but it sounds like something I would like. De-coding Mary Magdalene looks interesting too.

(I feel like a trip to the local Catholic bookstore is in order for me)