The figure of Mary Magdalene looms large in the history of early Christianity, yet much about her life remains shrouded in mystery. She appears only a handful of times in the canonical Gospels, but those brief mentions paint a picture of a woman who was a devoted follower of Jesus, witness to his crucifixion, and first to see him resurrected. Over the centuries, however, Mary‘s story has been embellished, misinterpreted, and exploited, turning her into everything from a redeemed sinner to a wealthy saint to the wife of Christ himself.
Equally enigmatic is the fate of Mary‘s physical remains after her death. A number of relics attributed to her have surfaced over the years, including a skull, hand, tooth, and foot bone, each claimed to be a holy vestige of this remarkable woman. But are any of them the real deal? Or are they medieval forgeries, products of a pious desire for physical closeness to the divine? Let‘s dive into the mysterious world of Mary Magdalene‘s relics and try to separate fact from legend.
From Disciple to Sinner to Saint: The Evolution of Mary Magdalene
To understand the significance of Mary Magdalene‘s relics, we first need to examine her portrayal in scripture and tradition. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all mention Mary as a follower of Jesus who witnessed his death and resurrection. Luke 8:2 also notes that Jesus had exorcised seven demons from her, suggesting a woman who had struggled with spiritual affliction before finding healing in Christ.
However, in a homily from 591 AD, Pope Gregory I conflated Mary Magdalene with two other women in the Bible: Mary of Bethany, who anoints Jesus‘ feet, and an unnamed "sinful woman" in Luke 7:36-50. This blending of identities led to centuries of Mary being portrayed as a redeemed prostitute in Western art and literature. It wasn‘t until 1969 that the Catholic Church officially rejected this characterization, but the image of the penitent sex worker persists in the popular imagination to this day.
At the same time, other traditions have painted Mary in a more exalted light. The non-canonical Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Philip, and Pistis Sophia all depict her as a leader among the disciples, privy to secret teachings from Jesus. The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as "Equal to the Apostles," while medieval legends claim she evangelized France and spent decades in prayerful solitude. By the High Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene had been transformed into a wildly popular saint, leading to a boom in the circulation of her supposed relics.
The Skull of Saint-Maximin: A Relic of Dubious Origins
The most famous of Mary Magdalene‘s alleged remains is a skull housed at the Basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the south of France. According to local tradition, Mary spent the last 30 years of her life as a hermit in a nearby mountain cave before being buried in the town of Saint-Maximin. The skull was first mentioned in 1279, when Charles II of Naples gifted it to the Dominican monks at the Saint-Maximin monastery.
Today, the blackened skull is displayed in a golden reliquary behind glass, brought out every July 22nd for Mary Magdalene‘s feast day. In 1974, a team of scientists was allowed to examine the relic, concluding that it belonged to a woman who died around 50 years old in the 1st century AD, had dark hair, and was of Mediterranean ancestry. While this seems to match what we know of Mary Magdalene, carbon dating techniques from the 70s were far less precise than today, and there‘s no way to definitively prove the skull is hers.
In fact, there are good reasons to be skeptical of the relic‘s authenticity. For one, the earliest references to Mary Magdalene‘s activity in France date to the 9th century, nearly 800 years after her death. The skull‘s appearance is also suspect – its black color may be due to age and decay, but could also be the result of fumigation techniques used in medieval times to preserve relics and make them appear ancient. Without more reliable provenance, the Saint-Maximin skull remains an object of faith rather than confirmed history.
A Saintly Smorgasbord: Hands, Teeth, and Feet
The skull is far from the only body part claimed to belong to Mary Magdalene. Her left hand allegedly resides at the Simonopetra Monastery on Greece‘s Mount Athos, where it‘s said to be incorrupt, fragrant, and warm to the touch – assertions that strain credulity for all but the most ardent believers. Then there‘s the lone tooth on display at New York‘s Metropolitan Museum of Art, with no explanation for how it found its way from 1st century Judea to 20th century America.
Perhaps strangest of all is the foot bone venerated at the Church of St. John of the Florentines in Italy, purportedly belonging to the first foot that entered Christ‘s empty tomb on Easter morning. Again, the relic‘s backstory is nebulous at best, with no concrete evidence linking it to Mary Magdalene or the resurrection.
So why the proliferation of Mary Magdalene‘s relics across medieval Europe? It‘s partly due to the rise of pilgrimage culture in the Middle Ages, which created a demand for holy objects and sites associated with saints. Possessing a relic conferred prestige and spiritual authority on a church or monastery, as well as attracting droves of pilgrims (and their money). In an age when physical remains were thought to provide a direct conduit to the divine, even a tenuous connection to a popular saint like Mary Magdalene could put a place on the map.
Relics as Expressions of Faith and Longing
Ultimately, the factual truth of Mary Magdalene‘s relics may matter less than what they represent to those who venerate them. The enduring power of her story – of devotion, witness, and redemption – has resonated with believers for centuries, making tangible traces of her life precious beyond measure. Medieval Christians lived in a world saturated with the sacred, where the line between heaven and earth was tantalizingly thin. Relics offered a physical way to bridge that gap, to touch and be touched by the holy.
In that sense, the proliferation of Mary Magdalene‘s relics across Europe can be seen as an expression of the deep love and fascination she has long inspired. The specifics of each relic‘s origin may be lost to history, but their spiritual significance endures. They are, in essence, manifestations of the longing for closeness to the divine that Mary Magdalene has evoked for believers across time and space.
That‘s not to say the historical truth is irrelevant – as the saying goes, facts are stubborn things. But in the case of Mary Magdalene‘s skull and other relics, the facts are frustratingly elusive, leaving us with a mystery that may never be fully solved. In the end, perhaps it is the mystery itself that keeps us coming back to her story, generation after generation. A figure at once familiar and enigmatic, Mary Magdalene embodies the paradoxes and possibilities of faith in ways that continue to captivate us today, whether or not we can prove her bones are real.
Comparative Table of Mary Magdalene‘s Purported Relics
| Relic | Location | First Mentioned | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skull | Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume Basilica, France | 1279 | 1974 examination: 1st century AD woman, died around 50, Mediterranean ancestry. Authenticity unproven. |
| Hand | Simonopetra Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece | Unknown | Claimed to be incorrupt, fragrant, and warm. No scientific analysis. |
| Tooth | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA | Unknown | No historical or archaeological provenance. |
| Foot Bone | Church of St. John of the Florentines, Italy | Unknown | Dubious connection to Mary Magdalene or the resurrection. No analysis. |
Sources:
Jansen, Katherine Ludwig. The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 2001.
Jurich, Marilyn. "Mary Magdalene: Saint, Sinner, Skeleton?" National Catholic Reporter, 22 July 2018, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/mary-magdalene-saint-sinner-skeleton.
Kostova, Rossitsa. "Tales of a Peripheral Saint: The Mary Magdalene Relics at Saint-Maximin." Archeologia Bulgarica, vol. 23, no. 2, 2019, pp. 39-62.
Kuznar, Zachary A. "Mary Magdalene and Her Dear Sister: Innovation in the Late Medieval Mural Cycle of Santa Maddalena in Rencio (Bolzano)." Gesta, vol. 59, no. 1, 2020, pp. 51-77.
Mycoff, David, editor. A Mary Magdalene Reader: Excerpts from Her Legends and Texts. Liturgical Press, 2021.
