Life of Saint Mary Magdalene and of Her Sister Saint Martha

The cult of the penitent Magdalene grew rapidly in western Europe in the Middle Ages, as a number of shrines and church dedications attest. This medieval narration, tracing in imaginative detail the lives of the two sisters after the Resurrection of Christ, provides a model for christian women.

Although modern Roman Catholicism and Protestantism agree with the early Eastern Church in distinguishing between Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the penitent in Luke's Gospel, the western Church...