Saint Mary Magdalene: proclaimer of the living Christ

For the first eleven-and-a-half years of my diaconate, I served at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. Prior to that I served at the Cathedral for over 8 years in a variety of capacities. Working full-time at the Cathedral, I first served as the Director of Religious Education and Formation. After I was ordained, I would later serve in this same position on a part-time basis for two additional years. During all my years at the Cathedral, I was heavily involved in RCIA, adult formation, and liturgy. Prior to being ordained and for a few years afterwards, I was the Cathedral's primary master of ceremonies for major liturgies involving the bishop. All-in-all, I served at The Cathedral of the Madeleine just shy of 20 years.

The Cathedral of Madeleine is the only cathedral church in the United States dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Hence, this woman from Jesus cast out seven demons (see Luke 8:2), is the Patroness of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Being at the Cathedral all those years, I am used to observing today's Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene as a solemnity. I was very gratified when, in 2016, at the behest of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, 22 July became a Universal Feast and not merely a liturgical Memorial. As a result, it is obligatory (as opposed to optional) to celebrate it in the Church's liturgies (i.e., Mass and the Liturgy of Hours).

Yesterday I read a short article by Fr. Alvin Amadi, who currently serves in the Diocese of Green Bay. He argues for the Church to elevate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene to a Solemnity (see "How can the church honor women? Elevate Mary Magdalene’s feast to a solemnity"). I could not agree more. I especially like the argument Fr. Amadi sets forth at the beginning of his piece, referring to the Gospel According to St. John 20:11-18:

Nothing in the Gospel occurs by mere chance. It is highly significant that in a society where men wielded power in almost every aspect of life, Christ chose a woman to be the first to see him after his resurrection and to announce the news to his apostles.

Frieze of St Mary Magdalene proclaiming the Gospel

One of the things on which the four canonical Gospels are unanimous is that Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection. She is the original witness of this earth-shattering event. As a result, she is an apostle. An apostle is one who is sent forth. It is the Risen Lord himself who sent Mary forth to tell the rest of his disciples that he is risen. This is why none other than St. Thomas Aquinas himself dubbed her apostula apostulorum, that is, apostle to the apostles (Super Ioannem, 2519). Over the years here on Καθολικός διάκονος I have written a lot about Saint Mary Magdalene, about the traditions handed on about her both East and West. She is a fascinating figure to be sure. It was of her that the Angelic Doctor, in his work Super Ioannem (2519), wrote this lovely sentence: “just as it was a woman who was the first to announce the words of death, so it was a woman who would be the first to announce the words of life.” So, in addition elevating her day to a Solemnity, instead of using the Common of Holy Women for the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church should use the Common of Apostles for this day.

Apart from being the first witness of Christ's resurrection, it seems clear that Mary of Magdala was very close to Jesus. She was very dear to him and he to her. Jesus seems to have a had a small circle of people to whom he was close: Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary as well as Mary Magdalene and other women who followed him from their native Galilee to Jerusalem. It was the women, who financed his ministry and provided for him and the Twelve, who stayed with Jesus throughout his Passion and up to his death. It was the women who went to his grave at sunrise to properly care for his body.

It seems wrong to suggest that at least some of these women would not become evangelists in their own right, telling other people about Jesus and testifying to his resurrection. When I saw the frieze I included in this post it made me very happy. A scholarly commentator on another post featuring this frieze pointed out that the St. Albans Psalter features a picture of Mary Magdalene preaching to the apostles. So, while the traditions concerning Mary Magdalene are really legends and irreconcilable ones at that, it seems hard to imagine that she did not feel impelled to share with others what she had experienced for whatever time remained to her after encountering the risen Lord.

Below is the Collect for today's Feast. May it truly be an instance of lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi:

O God, whose Only Begotten Son
entrusted to Mary Magdalene before all others
with announcing the great joy of the Resurrection,
grant, we pray,
that through her intercession and example
we may proclaim the living Christ
and come to see him reigning in your glory.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
one God, for ever and ever.

Sancta Maria Magdalena, ora pro nobis.