Many Sins Are Forgiven Her, Because She Hath Loved Much

Mary Magdalen ever remains for the Church the penitent who was transformed by repentance and love of Christ. It is she who best reveals the gentleness of the heart of the Redeemer; to Mary much was forgiven, because she loved much. This is the spirit which sustains the Church Militant; this is the remedy for sinners. It has been determined that, surprisingly, she was the sister of Lazarus -- beautiful, proud, and a notorious sinner. After her conversion and the casting out of seven devils, the Magdalene wept over the feet of Jesus Christ, drying her tears with her hair and anointing those sacred feet. At the foot of the cross she feared nothing for herself and was consumed with His suffering. It was Mary who on Easter Sunday morning ran to the tomb to anoint the body with spices and found it empty, causing her great grief. Our Lord chose Mary Magdalen, after His own mother of course, to reveal himself to as the risen Christ outside the tomb saying: “Mary!” She turning, saith to Him: “Rabboni” -- John 20: 16

Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary Magdalene was put in a boat without sails or oars along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius, her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary Magdalen spent the rest of her life, 30 years, as a contemplative penitent in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. It was said that she was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that history is silent about her relics until 745 when they were removed to Vézelay through fear of the Saracens: “No record is preserved of their return, but in 1279, when Charles II, King of Naples, erected a convent at La Sainte-Baume for the Dominicans, the shrine was found intact, with an inscription stating why they were hidden. In 1600 the relics were placed in a sarcophagus sent by Clement VIII, the head being placed in a separate vessel. In 1814 the church of La Sainte-Baume, wrecked during the [French] Revolution, was restored, and in 1822 the grotto was re-consecrated. The head of the saint now lies there, where it has lain so long, and where it has been the centre of so many pilgrimages.”      ~Reprinted from the St. Joseph Oratory Sunday bulletin