Woman who anointed Jesus

[Maragal]

Hi everyone - I know some people think the woman who annointed Jesus with her tears was Mary Magdalene…and others who think she wasnt.

IF she wasnt…is there a “name” for her at all? Is she a Saint, in her own right?

Im not looking for a rehash of whether or not she was MM (I think the Church accepts different views on this)…but Im looking for a theory of “who” was she, and “how” do we celebrate her…if she wasnt MM.

Thanks! Blessings!

 

[Maragal]

Replying to my own thread - from my reading, I “think” its acceptable to hold:

• almost every Mary and unnamed lady except our Mamma was Mary Magdalene - so Mary of Bethany, lady who annointed Jesus in both John and Luke, lady who had demons removed - are all the MM who witnessed the resurrection.
• all of these are different people…mary of bethany, the lady in luke annointing Jesus, the lady with the demons - are 3 separate people and MM a 4th.
• there is some mixture…so Mary of Bethany and annointing Luke lady are same people, but demon lady is different, and MM yet another woman.

But all of these and probably others, can be held? And again, if we DONT think the annointing lady in Luke is MM (or indeed M of B) - then we dont have a name for her? And she doesnt have a feast day?

THANKS

 

[Vico]

Hi everyone - I know some people think the woman who annointed Jesus with her tears was Mary Magdalene…and others who think she wasnt.

IF she wasnt…is there a “name” for her at all? Is she a Saint, in her own right?

Im not looking for a rehash of whether or not she was MM (I think the Church accepts different views on this)…but Im looking for a theory of “who” was she, and “how” do we celebrate her…if she wasnt MM.

Thanks! Blessings!

Catholic Encylopedia states:

The Greek Fathers, as a whole, distinguish the three persons:

• the “sinner” of Luke 7:36-50;
• the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Luke 10:38-42 and John 11; and
• Mary Magdalen.

On the other hand most of the Latins hold that these three were one and the same.
… It is impossible to demonstrate the identity of the three …

Pope, H. (1910). St. Mary Magdalen. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. R http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm

 

[Dovekin]

St. Mary Magdalene was present at the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, usually explicitly named though Luke makes broader references. Luke also mentions MM as having had 7 demons expelled.

St Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed the feet of Jesus in John. There is a pair of sisters, Mary and Martha, in Luke who are probably he sisters of Lazarus, though he is not mentioned.

The other women, who also anointed Jesus, are not named. Luke describes an unnamed woman, known as a sinner in the town, who anoints the feet of Jesus. Mt and Mk describe an unnamed woman who poured oil on the head of Jesus two days before the Passover.

Despite Mk and Mt telling us that “Wherever in all the world the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told in memory of her”, the unnamed woman has no designated day in the calendar of Saints. Before the recent reforms of Holy Week, her story was told as the beginning of the Passion Narrative whenever the Passion of Mark or Matthew was read, which was Tuesday and Wednesday(?) of Holy Week every year. John’s account of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus was also read during Holy Week, and once was regularly read on Palm Sunday. The memory of her was very much tied to the story of the Passion and death of Jesus, rather than being remembered on some other, ordinary day.

Remembering her during Holy Week is now limited to the reading of the Passion according to Mark every third year, and John’s story of Mary of Bethany on every Monday of Holy Week. This was a significant demotion of the story of what she did, which we should now probably correct by giving her a day in the calendar despite her being nameless. It could be a step toward proclaiming the gospel everywhere in the world!

 

[Maragal]

Dovekin, thank you for the detail- really helpful! Just started a book that argues “they are all the same people”…I find it a fascinating debate!

Either way, I wish the “unnamed woman who annointed Jesus” had her own feast day!

Again, thanks, and you too Vico!!! Helpful stuff.

 

[BartholomewB]

which we should now probably correct by giving her a day in the calendar despite her being nameless.

Is that possible? Are there any precedents>

 

[Dovekin]

Dovekin:

which we should now probably correct by giving her a day in the calendar despite her being nameless.

Is that possible? Are there any precedents>

In the East, the Myrrhbearers are honored. This is a group of women including those who took myrrh to the tomb on Easter, as well as the women who anointed Jesus, named and unnamed. I think membership is unclear, though Mary Magdalene is always included, and different people probably define who belongs differently.

Assuming Mt and Mk are about the same person, that leaves 1-3 persons who anointed Jesus; that unnamed woman, the unnamed woman in Luke 7, and Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus from John 12. The most likely scenario would be St Mary, not from Luke but including the unnamed woman from Mk & Mt. (which is only a step away from merging them all with Mary Magdalene) I like the idea of a 3 year cycle of the story from Mt, Mk, and John, same day but version changes. It is an unwieldy idea, I would probably prefer she be given a place of honor in Holy Week, like at the Chrism Mass…

There have been lots of anonymous saints, though they usually end up being named at some point. St Corona was probably a reference to the Martyr’s Crown at first, but now her relics are on display somewhere. St Coloman in Melk was killed for being an outsider, “anonymous”, though he turned out to be an Irish pilgrim who just did not know the language. Groups of saints, like the Seven Sleepers, sometimes have a name or two and then anonymous members. Nothing really matches the situation here, where there is a well defined person who lacks a name.

There are still people who identify all these women together with MM, so it will be hard to separate. With MM on July 22, St Martha was put on the octave, July 29, and now Mary is remembered with her sister and is distinct from MM in some places. But St Martha has her own day still on the Roman calendar, while St Mary, despite choosing the better part, has no day I think.

 

[CRM_Brother]

I tend to agree with the Eastern concordant concept of the anointings. It is not doctrine, but rather a spiritual understanding of the situation which had been passed down within the local Churches of Jerusalem and Cyprus.

The concordant version places the anointing firmly in the act of Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha. There are a few clues in the Gospels which support this reading.

The name of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus’s father:

The Gospel of Luke places the anointing in the house of Simon the Pharisee. St. Luke does not mention the specific town but Christ was previously in the northern reaches of Galilee in preceding passages Matthew, Mark and John place the anointing in Bethany: Matthew and Mark in the house of Simon the Leper and John in the house of Mary and Martha. Eastern Tradition states that Simon was actually Mary and Martha’s father. Jesus first encountered Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Simon’s house in the north. In Luke, Simon recognized the sinful woman who entered the house immediately. Why? This tradition says that it was because it was his daughter. After this encounter, Simon contracted leprosy and was cast out of his synagogue and settled in the untouchable colony at Bethany. This is why the house is called ‘The House of Simon the Leper’ in Matthew and Mark.

Local tradition traces this leprosy of Simon to the death of Lazarus. He was a child at this point and orphaned (as he was in the care of Mary and Martha). He had caught his father’s disease and passed away.

The reason of Lazarus’s importance in this situation specifically has to do with why John is the only one who names Mary as the one who anoints Jesus. Throughout all the Gospels, when a specific person noted of having done something, it is the Evangelists urging the reader to go to that person and confirm the account. (This is like Mark, writing in Rome, naming Simon of Cyrene as the father of Rufus and Alexander because Rufus and Alexander already lived within the Church of Rome to verify.) The reason that John, writing in Ephesus, is the only Evangelist to name Mary was because that, at the time of his writing, Mary lived on nearby Cyprus where Lazarus had became the Bishop. He was urging the Church to go to Mary to learn about this event. The other Evangelists (Mark in Rome, Luke in Rome or Caesaria, and Matthew in Antioch) were writing to populations who did not have access to Mary’s account and thus left her name out.

It was only after St. Leo’s famous sermon in which he spiritually meditated on “Mary” in all the forms it occurs in the Bible (outside of the Blessed Virgin) that people began to confuse one Mary with another. Up until that point in the 5th century, the anointing was firmly placed in the act of Mary of Bethany.