Print

Print


By the tenth century, the three Marys could have two meanings in the 
West.  The first was Mary Magdalene and her two companions, Mary 
Cleophas (the mother of James the lesser) and Mary Salome, who came to the 
tomb on Easter morning.  The second was the three daughters of St. Anne, the 
Virgin Mary, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Salome.  This extended Holy Kinship 
was explicated in Haimo of Auxerre's 9th century commentary on Paul's 
Epistle to the Galatians.  A good introduction to the cult of the Kinship 
is provided by Kathleen Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn in their collection 
of essays on the cult of St. Anne.

At present, I am studying the cult of Mary Salome, the third member of 
either collection of Marys.  Throughout the twelfth century, Mary 
Salome's branch of the Holy Kinship received criticism because of doubts 
about the existence of her supposed father Salome, Anne's third husband.  
In the thirteenth century, she recovered her standing by an association 
with the rising cult of Mary Magdalene in Provence and by the inclusion 
of the Holy Kinship in Jacobus de Voraigne's Golden Legend.  At the same 
time, she developed a separate following in Veroli, Italy.

Althought most of what I am working with is later than the tenth century, I 
hope that this is helpful, or at least interesting.

Thomas Swaner
Loyola University Chicago


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%