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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (22. July) is the feast day of: Mary Magdalene (1st cent.) One of Christ's disciples (oops, I suppose she shoud have a less exalted title, unless perhaps you're a gnostic), who, after having "seven devils" driven out of her was a follower, stood by Jesus on the cross, was one of the women who went to anoint his body, and was the first to see the resurrected Christ (mistaking him for the gardener at first). She is often identified with Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, or with the woman who anointed Jesus' feet in Luke 7. Legend about MM's later life breaks into two tracks, East and West. According to eastern legend, Mary went with the BVM and John to Ephesus, and she died and was buried there. The rather more spectacular western legend tells that Mary, Lazarus, and Martha (and Sarah) sailed to southern Gaul. They all evangelized Provence, and Mary became an extremely penitential hermit (even giving up clothing, but a kindly and modest God made her grow a very thick and shaggy coat of hair (cf. especially the statue by Tilman Riemenschneider, in which she looks like my cat Benedict). Joseph of Palestine (d. c. 356) Joseph was a Jew, a Talmudic scholar of Tiberias. But in the course of his studies, he became a convinced Christian. After his conversion, Joseph was favored by Constantine, and spent the rest of his life building churches and preaching in Palestine. Wandrille (Wandregisilus) (d. 668) Wandrille was born near Verdun and brought up at the Austrasian Frankish court. In 628 he and his wife agreed to separate and enter the monastic life. Wandrille spent time at several monasteries, ending up at Fontenelle (Normandy), where he founded his own monastery (St-Wandrille). Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice [log in to unmask] ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html