My mental image of Mary Magdalene—right or wrong—will forever be Anne Bancroft. Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth, was highly favored among religion teachers in my elementary school who wanted a break from teaching, and Bancroft played the feisty and “fallen” Mary. I know my class watched the entire 382-minute film at least twice throughout my early school years. It still is an epic piece of work, although Zeffirelli and his team aggressively pushed the prostitute narrative. And that just isn’t true of the woman known as the “Apostle of the Apostles.” But this much is fact: Mary Magdalene was complicated, brave, loyal, filled with love, and prone to sin. In short: She was human.
Improperly branded for 20 centuries, she deserves better. Remember, as Jesus’ followers were in hiding after his death, it was Mary who alerted them to his resurrection. But she also had a hand in building up the early Church, as Mark Etling, PhD, explains in his article “Mary Magdalene: Leader and Visionary.” She was, he asserts, imbued with an understanding of how to continue Jesus’ mission perhaps more so than the others. “Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a leader of the apostles,” he writes. “Only she receives a personal vision from Jesus. She possesses greater spiritual maturity than the others.” It’s a terrific read.
The staff of St. Anthony Messenger hope you like what you see in this publication. From my letter to Carlo Acutis, who will be canonized this month, to a luminous reflection on St. Francis’ “Canticle of the Creatures” by Darleen Pryds, PhD, we hope this issue finds you well.
