Apostle of the Apostles

By the express
wish of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments published a new Decree on the Solemnity of the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, 3 June 2016, in which the celebration of Saint
Mary Magdalene was elevated and inscribed in the General Roman Calendar with
the rank of Feast.

This decision,
in the current ecclesial context, seeks to reflect more deeply upon the
dignity of women, on the new evangelisation and on the greatness of the
mystery of God’s Mercy. Saint John
Paul II paid great attention not only to the importance of women in the
mission of Christ and the Church, but also and with special emphasis on the
particular role of Mary of Magdala as the first witness who saw the risen
Christ, and as the first messenger who announced the Lord’s resurrection to
the Apostles (
Mulieris dignitatem n.
16). The importance of this continues
today in the Church, as is evident in the new evangelisation, which seeks to
welcome all men and women “of every race, people, language and nation” (Rev
5: 9), without any distinction, to announce to them the Good News of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ while accompanying them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and offering them the wonders of God’s salvation. Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of a
true and authentic evangeliser, that is an evangelist who announces the
central joyful message of Easter (cf. Collect for 22 July and the new Preface).

It is precisely in the context of the
Jubilee of Mercy that our Holy Father Pope Francis has taken this decision,
in order to underline the relevance of this woman “who so loved Christ and
was so greatly loved by Christ”, as Rabanus Maurus affirms on various
occasions when he speaks of her (“dilectrix Christi et a Christo plurimum
dilecta”:
De vita Mariae Magdalenae,
Prologus
), as well as Saint Anselm of Canterbury who says of her “chosen
because you are beloved and beloved because you are chosen of God” (“electa
dilectrix et dilecta electrix Dei”:
Oratio
LXXIII ad sanctam Mariam Magdalenam
).
It is true that ecclesial tradition in the West, especially since the
time of Gregory the Great, has identified Saint Mary Magdalene, and the woman
who anointed Christ’s feet with perfume in the house of Simon the Pharisee,
and the sister of Lazarus and Martha, as one and the same person. This interpretation continued to influence
western ecclesiastical authors, Christian art and liturgical texts relative
to this Saint. The Bollandists made a
detailed study of the problem of identifying these three women and prepared a
path for the liturgical reform of the Roman Calendar. The outcome of this reform of the Second
Vatican Council led to the texts of the
Missale
Romanum
, the Liturgia Horarum and
the
Martyrologium referring to Mary
of Magdala. What is certain is that
Mary Magdalene was part of the group of Jesus’ disciples, she accompanied him
to the foot of the Cross and, in the garden where she met him at the tomb,
was the first “witness of Divine Mercy” (Gregory the Great,
XL Hom.
In Evangelia, lib. II Hom. 25,10
).
The Gospel of John tells us that Mary Magdalene wept because she could
not find the body of the Lord (Jn 20:11); and that Jesus had mercy on her by
letting himself be known as her Master, thus transforming her tears into
paschal joy.

Taking advantage of this opportune
moment, I would like to underline two ideas inherent in the biblical and
liturgical texts of this Feast which assist us to better grasp the importance
of this holy woman for today.

On the one hand, she has the
honour to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection (“prima testis” –
Hymnus, Ad Laudes matutinas), the
first who saw the empty tomb and the first to hear the truth about his
resurrection. Christ showed special consideration
and mercy to this woman who showed her love for Christ by seeking him in her
anguish and suffering in the garden, or as Saint Anselm says in the prayer
mentioned above with “lacrimas humilitatis” (“the tears of humility”). In this way it is possible to highlight the
contrast between the woman present in the garden of paradise and the woman
present in the garden of the resurrection.
The first spread death where there was life; the second announced life
from a sepulchre, the place of death.
As Gregory the Great underlines: “Quia in paradiso mulier viro
propinavit mortem, a sepulcro mulier viris annuntiat vitam” (“Indeed because
a woman offered death to a man in Paradise, a woman announces life to the men
from the tomb”:
XL Hom. In Evangelia,
lib. II, Hom. 25
). Yet, there is
more, as we see precisely in the garden of the resurrection where the Lord
says to Mary, “Noli me tangere” (“Do not cling to me” Jn 20:17). This is an invitation to enter into an
experience of faith that goes beyond materialistic assumptions and the human
grasping after the divine Mystery which is not simply addressed to Mary but
to the entire Church. This is an
ecclesial moment! This is an important
lesson for every disciple of Jesus Christ to neither seek human securities
nor the vainglory of this world, but in faith to seek the living and risen
Christ!

On the other hand, precisely
because she was an eyewitness to the risen Christ, she was also the first one
to bear witness to him before the Apostles.
She fulfils the command of the Risen Lord: “‘Go to my brethren and say
to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your
God.’ Mary Magdalene went and
announced to the disciples ‘I have seen the Lord’ and she told them that he
had said these things to her” (Jn 20:17-18).
Thus, as already indicated she becomes an evangelist, that is a
messenger who announces the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection or, as
Rabanus Maurus and Saint Thomas Aquinas say, she becomes the “apostolorum
apostola” because she announces to the apostles what in turn they will
announce to the whole world (Rabanus Maurus
, De vita beatae Mariae
Magdalenae, XXVII;
Saint Thomas Aquinas, In Ioannem Evangelistam Expositio, c. XX, L. III, 6). It was with good reason that the Angelic
Doctor applied this term to Mary of Magdala, for she is the witness to the
risen Christ and announces the message of the Lord’s resurrection just like
the rest of the Apostles. For this
reason it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman should have
the same rank of Feast as that given to the celebration of the Apostles in
the General Roman Calendar and that the special mission of this woman should
be underlined, she who is an example and model for all women in the Church.

Arthur Roche, Archbishop Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Discipline of the Sacraments