Mary Magdalene

In the Christian tradition

Mary Magdalene is the disciple from whom seven demons were cast out (Luke 8:2), one of the women who followed Jesus and supported the disciples' work from their means, the witness at the foot of the cross (John 19:25), and the first witness of the resurrection (John 20:11-18). Pope Francis in 2016 raised her feast on July 22 to the rank of a feast, marking her as the Apostle to the Apostles.

Mary Magdalene's figure has carried different weights at different periods in Christian tradition. The Eastern church has long honored her as "Equal to the Apostles" and as the first witness of the resurrection, the woman who first heard the risen Christ's voice in the garden and was the first sent to bear witness to the resurrection ("Apostle to the Apostles"). The Western church for many centuries conflated her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7 and with Mary of Bethany, a conflation now widely rejected (Pope Gregory the Great made the conflation in the sixth century; modern Catholic teaching has set it aside). Pope Francis in 2016 raised the Magdalene's memorial on July 22 to the rank of a feast, restoring her status to the level of the male apostles in the Roman Calendar. The name is rare as a given name in modern use (parents who name a daughter Mary Magdalene typically do so deliberately to honor the figure), but the Magdalene's place in Christian tradition is increasingly visible.