REPENTANT MARY MAGDALENE: Since at least the 6th century, the Church has viewed Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute that had her sins forgiven by Jesus Christ. Hundreds if not thousands of artworks portray Mary as a semi naked hermit living in the south of France. This legend became fully integrated into Catholic religious traditions due to the publication of the Golden Legend in 1260. 

For almost a thousand years, Mary Magdalene’s relics was believed to be located in modern day Turkey. It was only after the Great Schism of 1054 between the Greek Orthodox and Latin Catholic Churches that her relics magically appeared in Vezelay Abbey in central France. 

After the publication of the Golden Legend in 1260, a different area situated in southern France, Saint-Maxim-la-Sainte-Baume, claimed in 1279 to be in possession of the true relics of Mary. A massive Gothic Basilica was founded in 1295 to house the relics. The founding legend says Mary and her family travelled by boat to Sainte-Marie’s-de-la-Mer, and from there went to Marseilles and converted the local people. 

She retired to a cave in the mountains to live the rest of her life in penance. Artworks generally portray her with the vase of healing balm she used to anoint the body of Jesus after his crucifixion. A skull, the Bible, and a crucifix are almost always part of the scene. And in the most extreme cases, like the painting featured below, she has a whip to punish herself for having been such a bad person before Jesus saved her from her wicked ways. 

She was accused of participating in all seven of the deadly sins, with lust and sexuality being the vice most focused on by the religious authorities. The whip in the painting is bloodstained, highlighting the depth of her self loathing, torment and anguish. This concept was taken to the extreme by the church when they made Mary the Patron Saint of Prostitutes, and opened houses for young rebellious women called Magdalene Asylums. 

Girls that became pregnant out of wedlock, girls that didn’t bend the knee, girls just being girls were severely punished and locked away to be used as slaves to help reform their obvious moral failings. They couldn’t burn them at the stake any longer, but they could lock them up and work them to death. 

Beatings, rapes, spiritual, mental and emotional abuse was common. And all of this transpired because of one lie told by Luke, that the woman who anointed Jesus was a prostitute, a fiction never mentioned by Matthew, Mark, or John. 

In a few days time, many Christians around the world will honor Mary Magdalene during her Feast Day on 22 July. Unfortunately many will focus on the Penitent Magdalene, helping to perpetuate a two thousand year old lie. Although the Catholic Church has recently changed course and separated Mary Magdalene from Mary of Bethany, the long term damage has been done. 

The idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a sexual relationship, or that Mary was chosen as the Apostle to the Apostles by Jesus, is fiercely combated by the status quo to keep women in bondage. Maybe not physically anymore, but mentally. 

Women view themselves as inferior and unworthy because of what they have been taught by society. Both intelligence and sensuality are seen as negative traits, and women should self flagellate to rid themselves of these vices. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.