According to Scripture and Tradition who was Mary Magdalene?

[RCWarrior821]

Was she a prostitute, or just the woman with 7 demons?

 

[Voco_proTatiano]

Was she a prostitute, or just the woman with 7 demons?

There is nothing in the Gospels to suggest she was ever a prostitute. This was black propaganda spread by misogynistic elements in the early church. Rome has now disowned this teaching.

The seven demons, likewise, look like an interpolation.

What hints we have, suggest that she may be the sister of Martha of Capernaum, for she suerly listened closely to Our Lord.
She also seems to be the person behind some of the passages attributed to the ‘beloved disciple’, and John reports much of her words almost in first person.

She certainly walked with priests and kings, and was respected for her courage and wisdom.

She was the first witness of the resurrection, and was the straitener of the feeble Petrine backbone.

 

[COPLAND_3]

The Catholic encyclopedia usually gives wonderful information, here is the link to Mary Magdalene.

newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm

 

[thistle]

Was she a prostitute, or just the woman with 7 demons?

Not another thread on this!!!

There is NOTHING in Scripture or tradition about Mary Magdalene being a prostitute. It has never been nor is it a Church teaching.
This whole thing arose because of the personal opinion of Pope Gregory (which nobody has to believe) expressed in a homily. It was sheer speculation on his part and he lumped Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the unnamed sinful woman together without any basis at all.

 

[patrick457]

Not another thread on this!!!

There is NOTHING in Scripture or tradition about Mary Magdalene being a prostitute. It has never been nor is it a Church teaching.
This whole thing arose because of the personal opinion of Pope Gregory (which nobody has to believe) expressed in a homily. It was sheer speculation on his part and he lumped Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the unnamed sinful woman together without any basis at all.

I agree with this statement. Again, it is worth noting that the idea of Mary Magdalene being identified with both the ‘sinful woman’ who anointed Jesus’ feet the woman caught in adultery and Mary of Bethany is a purely Western concept; the East claims that it always held them as separate people.

While this idea is not new to the western Church (St. Hippolytus in the 3rd century already thought that the woman who anointed the feet of the Lord, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene were one and the same woman), it is undeniably Pope St. Gregory the Great that brought this interpretation into the popular mind.