Mary Magdalene

(first century)

   Disciple and Saint.

   Mary is mentioned in luke’s Gospel as someone from whom seven devils had been exorcised. She witnessed Jesus’s death on the cross and she was the first to discover that his tomb was empty on Easter morning. In the Fourth Gospel, she was the first human being to see the resurrected Jesus. Initially she thought he was the gardener, but after he said her name, she recognised him and was told to tell the good news to the other disciples. Although there is no biblical evidence for this, she has been identified with the woman who was a sinner, and who anointed Jesus’s feet, and also with mary, the sister of martha and lazarus. In Christian mythology, she is therefore regarded as the prototype of the sinning woman who repents. She was also a major character in the Gnostic Gospel of Mary.

   Luke, Chapter 8;

   Mark, Chapters 15–16;

   John, Chapter 20;

   D.H. Farmer (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3^rd edn (1992).