(C.D. Stampley Enterprises, Charlotte, NC 2001). Used with permission.

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For hairdressers

St. Mary Magdalen (1st century)

Feast day: July 22

For nearly 1700 years the unnamed sinful woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair has been identified as Mary Magdalen. Based on this episode in St. Luke’s gospel artists depicted St. Mary with a luxuriant head of hair, and hairdressers took her as their patron saint.

Thanks to St. Jerome and St. Gregory the Great, three separate women in the gospels have been conflated into one. Both Doctors of the Church asserted that the unnamed sinner who wiped {ln:Jesus}’ feet with her hair, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and the woman who was the first to see the Risen Christ were all Mary Magdalen. Sometimes the adulterous woman Christ saved from being stoned to death is also said to be Mary Magdalen.

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Who was the real Mary Magdalen? She was one of the women who traveled with Christ and the twelve Apostles. St. Luke says {ln:Jesus} cast seven devils out of Mary. Her surname, Magdalen, refers to her home, Magdala, a fishing village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. In the first century the residents of Magdala were notorious for their lascivious behavior, a reputation which may have been the source of the legend that Mary Magdalen had been a prostitute.

Mary Magdalen followed Our Lord to Calvary and witnessed his death and burial. On the first Easter morning she encountered the Risen Christ in the garden but did not recognize him until he spoke her name. Then the Lord sent her to tell the Apostles that he had risen from the dead.

Because Mary Magdalen was granted the privilege of announcing the Resurrection, St. Hippolytus (c.170-c.235) gave her the title, “Apostle to the Apostles.” The unique grace Mary received is celebrated each Easter in the sequence, Victimae paschali laudes, when the Church asks, “Tell us Mary, what did you see on the way?” And Mary answers, “I saw the sepulcher the living Christ and the glory of his rising. I saw the angel witnesses, the linen that covered his face and the shroud. Christ my hope is risen!”

As with so many of the Lord’s disciples, legend supplies the details the New Testament omits. The most persistent tradition claims that during the persecution of the Church in Jerusalem the Jewish authorities set Mary Magdalen, Martha, Lazarus, and Maximinus (one of the Lord’s 72 disciples) adrift in an oarless boat. The wind and the current took the little group to the south of France. Martha and Lazarus went off to preach the gospel. Maximinus became the first bishop of Aix. But Mary Magdalen retired to a cave east of Marseilles and spent the rest of her life as a hermit. She lived there so long that her clothes became rags and fell off her body. To preserve her modesty God made her hair grow to such length and thickness that it covered Mary’s nakedness. The cave, known as La Sainte-Baume, has been visited by pilgrims at least since the 5th century. The legend goes on to say that when Mary was dying angels carried her to the house of St. Maximinus so he could give her Holy Communion for the last time. She died there and Maximinus buried her in his chapel—a place known today as St.-Maximin. Pilgrims still come to the crypt of the medieval Abbey church to pray at the tomb of St. Mary Magdalen and to venerate her relics, including strands of her abundant hair.

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Prayer to the saints is a powerful thing.

Now, with Saints for Every Occasion, readers can quickly find help for any challenge they face – no matter how large or small. Author Thomas J. Craughwell profiles 101 patron saints from various continents, cultures and times – from saints who were contemporaries of Christ, to modern patrons like Padre Pio and Faustina Kowalska. Each saint lived heroically in difficult times and circumstances, providing powerful examples of how to turn almost any obstacle into a source of grace. Along with old favorites such as St. Anthony and St. Jude, Craughwell offers patrons for specifically modern concerns, including, for example, saints to watch over astronauts, internet users and environmental activists. Beautifully illustrated and entertainingly told, Saints for Every Occasion features 101 patron saints readers will seek out time and again.

“An excellent resource for home and classroom use.” – Publisher’s Weekly {/tabs}