Feast Day: July 22

Patron of:

• against sexual temptation
• apothecaries
• contemplative life
• contemplatives
• converts
• druggists
• glove makers
• hairdressers
• hairstylists
• penitent sinners
• penitent women
• people ridiculed for their piety
• perfumeries
• perfumers
• pharmacists
• reformed prostitutes
• tanners
• women

Mary Magdalene was a penitent sinner from whom Jesus cast out seven demons. She became a friend and follower of Our Lord. Tradition identifies her as the sinful woman from Luke Chapter 7:

And behold, a woman who was in the city, a sinner, found out that he was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, so she brought an alabaster container of ointment. And standing behind him, beside his feet, she began to wash his feet with tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and she kissed his feet, and she anointed them with ointment. Then the Pharisee, who had invited him, upon seeing this, spoke within himself, saying, “This man, if he were a prophet, would certainly know who and what kind of woman is this, who is touching him: that she is a sinner.”  ... And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with tears, and has wiped them with her hair. You gave no kiss to me. But she, from the time that she entered, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil. But she has anointed my feet with ointment.  Because of this, I tell you: many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much." Luke 7:37-39, 44-47

After Jesus rose from the dead, and after His Ascension into Heaven, Mary of Magdala traveled about the country. She proclaimed the Gospel to all she met, eagerly sharing the news, "Christ is risen!" Arriving in Rome, she sought an audience with Tiberius Caesar, intending to complain about the treatment of the people of Judea under the governance of Pontius Pilate.

Mary came from a wealthy and influential family. And so Tiberius granted her request for an audience. It was customary at the time to bring  a gift to the emperor under these circumstances, each according to her means. Mary knelt before Caesar and held our her gift, a snow white egg.

"Christ is risen!" she said.

Tiberius knew of the events surrounding the death of Jesus. He was slightly amused as he listened to Mary.

"My child," he said to her,  "how can a man rise from the dead? That is no more possible than it is for the egg you hold to turn bright scarlet." Before he uttered the last word he watched in awe as the egg Mary held turned a bright red.

"Christ is risen," she said again. "New life rising from a sealed tomb, just as new life rises from a sealed egg."

With such miraculous evidence, Caesar could no longer dismiss the stories he heard. And so he listened as Mary recounted the many abuses of Pilate and his soldiers, all performed in the name of Caesar. In response, Caesar reassigned the governor to Vienne. Tradition tells us that Pilate died an unpleasant death.

For this reason, from that day to this, Christians have marked the Resurrection by giving each other brightly colored eggs, a symbol of new life rising from a sealed tomb.