Noli me tangere; Alonzo CANO; circa 1640; oil on canvas; Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Web Gallery of Art

The Gospel according to John, chapter 20

On the morning of the Resurrection, Mary was near the empty tomb

  And when she had said this, she turned round, and saw Jesus standing, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her : "Woman, why do you weep? whom do you seek?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him: "Sir, if you have borne him hence, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."  Jesus said to her : "Mary !" She turned , and said to him in Hebrew: "Rabbouni !" - that is to say, Master.   Jesus said to her: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."  (John 20:14-17)

Comment
 

The apparition narratives show how Jesus gives himself to be seen to the witnesses he chooses in order to strengthen them in their certainty that he remains with them.

They must recognise the crucified Christ of the Passion in the risen Christ of Easter.

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is the name given to Mary of Magdala who was born in that town on the bank of the Lake of Galilee. This woman has followed Jesus who has delivered her from the “seven demons”. It is Mary Magdalene who is at the foot of the cross and who first notices the resurrection of Jesus. With Mary, the mother of Jesus, she is then the most present woman in the Gospels.

But very soon Christians have purposely confused this woman with the sinner whose name is not revealed and who weeps at the feet of Jesus (See The Sinner at Simon’s House) and with Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’ sister (See The Raising of Lazarus).

By combining these elements, the tradition has made Mary Magdalene a sinner in love with Christ. She has become a celebrated saint; churches bearing her name have multiplied and many girls have borne her patronymic.

Mary Magdalene is the type of the repentant sinner whose erotic beauty and penitence have both been celebrated by artists; this has become a theme of meditation on the vanity of the world.

The Penitent Magdalene;
Georges de LA TOUR; 1638-43;
oil on canvas;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In the 19^th century, her name was also given to a delicacy made famous by Marcel Proust’s novel, Remembrance of Things Past.

   A madeleine is a small buttery sponge-cake in the shape of a scallop shell, the badge of the pilgrims to St James of Compostela. Until the French Revolution, madeleines were made and sold by nuns in Commercy (Lorraine, France) to support their convent dedicated to Mary Magdalene.