Has Mary Magdalene been canonized ? Is there a document substantiating the 1969 church correction of M.Magdalene's status from prostitute & her placement in the Roman calander ?

-- Richard Michael Clifford (rclifford@milwpc.com), May 03, 2004

Answers

Yes, Mary Magdalene was canonized. The tradition of a repentant woman, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene being three different women has been adopted in the revised Roman calendar of 1969 and is reflected in the 1969 Roman Missal. The Roman Missal is authoritive.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 03, 2004.

Hello All,

Just to expand upon this a little further, Mary Magdalene is officially a saint in the Catholic Church due to the process of "the Sense of the Faithful." In other words, the Christian Community, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, declared her to be a saint long before the Church created an official canonization process. The same is said for the apostles and the saints of the patristic era. When the Church did create the canonization process, it accepted the saintly status of those who had historically been considered saints by believers. St. Jerome was one of the last to be named a saint in the "older fashion," and some scholars (pointing to his famous temper) jokingly say that Jerome lucked out, as he may not have made it through an official canonization process.

Mary Magdalene's former status of being a prostitute is not clearly presented in Scripture, but, historically, some have interpreted certain passages as an implication of it. One may certainly question how fair history has been to her in this regard. On another note, there are a number of parishes and missions that name St. Mary Magdalene as their patron.

God bless, -Deacon Eric

-- Eric Filmer (erfilmer@hotmail.com), May 04, 2004.

Welcome Eric, I enjoyed your post.

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), May 04, 2004.