Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, "apostle to the apostles". The Lentz icon above has long been my favorite image of the Magdalen and I have a paper copy of it somewhere.
Mary Magdalen is frequently pictured holding an egg. Here's the legend behind that:
After the ascension of Christ to Heaven, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel to many and among them Tiberius Caesar, who it is said, proclaimed publicly to Mary Magdalene as she attended a feast at his palace that it was no more likely that Jesus rose from the dead than it was that the white egg she held in her hand would turn red. As Mary stretched out her hand the egg turned blood red. This was the beginning of the tradition of exchanging red colored eggs at Easter.This has always been a special day for me because it is the closest major feast day to my birthday. And Mary Magdalen is greatly inspiring as an independent woman who fearlessly proclaimed the gospel.
And I love the part of the story where Christ's first appearance after the resurrection was to this Mary.annie c
ReplyDeleteWow! I stumbled here and now I don't want to leave! Your blog is beautiful, I love all the art you have posted.
ReplyDeleteI'll be stopping back again, you can be sure of it. (Plus, I like meeting new people!)
Jessica
Wow.
ReplyDeleteI'd never seen her icon before. Thanks. Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteEllie!!!
ReplyDeleteI knew that icon in your next post looked familiar! And then when I scrolled down to this one I just had to check magdalene.org and sure enough! I love Mary so deeply and her feast day is also the anniversary of when my husband and I first met. I love Sofia Christine's art and your blog reminded me to get back to her site and make a purchase.
And happy birthday!