I grew up hearing the stories and characters of the New Testament, but I was in my 20s when I first learned that in the Latin tradition, Mary Magdalene is considered to be one and the same as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, as well as the sinful woman who anoints Christ’s feet in the Pharisee’s house. Intrigued by this bit of tradition I had never heard, I immediately did a deep dive into all things related to the Magdalene. The evidence of this theory is mixed but fairly compelling.

All of the Evangelists refer at different times to Christ being anointed, though only Luke directly relates the incident with the sinful woman anointing his feet early in his ministry. John later refers back to this moment when he introduces Mary of Bethany, to whom he also attributes a second anointing shortly before Christ’s final Passover, an event recounted in Mark and Matthew as well. But although there are hints across all the Gospels, nothing ironclad identifies all three women as being the same individuals. The Church herself does not require belief in this theory, but numerous saints have supported the position throughout the ages, dating back to the earliest Christians.

Although we cannot know for certain that this particular tradition is correct, I cannot help but love the beauty of it, and pray that it is true. The woman we meet in Luke 7, who kneels at the feet of Jesus, weeping and drying his feet with her hair is one of the most poignant images of a penitent in Christianity. In that time, a woman’s hair was a sign of her sexuality, and to be kept hidden in public. At this moment in the Gospel, a woman, identified by Luke in euphemistic terms as a prostitute, is using her hair to wipe her Savior’s feet, offering the very evidence of her sins back to him and casting herself at his mercy. 

The Pharisee host is greatly disturbed by this brazen woman’s display, but Jesus quickly points out that it is because she is aware of the great mercy shown to her that the woman kneels before him, adoring the one who saved her.

If the early Church Fathers were correct, this kneeling woman remained beside Jesus throughout the rest of his ministry, kneeling at his feet, listening to his words, and even weeping in his arms at her brother’s grave. She walked with him all the way to Calvary, standing beside his mother beneath his bleeding body. And it was her, once again going to anoint him, this time at the grave, who was the first recorded witness to the Resurrection.

Pope Gregory the Great wrote of the woman who he believed would become the “Apostle of the Apostles”:

Mary Magdalen, [a sinful woman], through love of the truth, washed away in her tears the defilement of her sins, and the words of the Truth are fulfilled which He spake Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much. She who had remained chilly in sin, became fiery through love. When even His disciples went away again unto their own home, Mary still stood without at the sepulcher of Christ, weeping. She sought Him Whom her soul loved, but she found Him not. She searched for Him with tears; she yearned with strong desire for Him Who, she believed, had been taken away. And thus it befell her, that being the only one who had remained to seek Him, she was the only one who saw Him. It is the truth that the backbone of a good work is perseverance.

Barring some miraculous revelation, Mary Magdalene’s identity as the sinful woman will likely remain a non-binding tradition in the Church. But it is a tradition that beautifully illustrates the lavishness of God’s mercy, that this woman, broken by sin and outcast from society, could find not merely redemption at her Savior’s feet, but could become one of his greatest followers and the one chosen to spread the news of his triumph over the grave.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us!