Mary Magdalene Trivia Quiz

Answer: A female disciple who ministered to Christ and witnessed the Crucifixion.

Mary Magdalene has frequently been identified with the woman who, in all four Gospels, anoints Jesus' feet with precious ointment and dries them with her hair (In Matthew, Mark, and John this occurs shortly before the Passion and, thus, prefigures Christ's burial, when his body will, once again, be anointed).

In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, this woman is unnamed and is rebuked by the disciples for her extravagance, but is defended by Christ. In the Gospel of John, she is identified as Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha (in whose home Jesus is staying at the time) and it is Judas alone who criticizes her. In the Gospel of Luke (7:35), she is identified as a sinner (presumably a prostitute) who hears that Jesus is dining in the home of a Pharisee and comes to see him and anoint his feet. The Pharisees are aghast that Christ will allow himself to be touched by such a woman, but he defends her and tells her that her sins are forgiven, which causes further astonishment. In the very next chapter, Luke lists the women who ministered unto Christ and the Twelve, including Mary Magdalene; he makes no connection between her and the "sinner" he has just written about. Neither do the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, both of which mention Mary Magdalene, make any statement connecting her to the woman who anoints Christ.

The name "Magdalene" indicates that Mary was from Magdala, a town along the Sea of Galilee, whereas Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, was a resident of Bethany. None of the Gospels make any mention of Mary Magdalene's having had a sinful past or of her having been a prostitute.

Answer: Demonic possession

Luke 8:2 mentions Jesus preaching throughout Jerusalem, accompanied by the Twelve as well as "...certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, who is called the Magdalene, from whom seven devils had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many others, who used to provide for them out of their means."

Some have argued that the fact that Mary was afflicted with "seven devils" is indicative of a previously sinful and degraded life. Others have alleged that the "seven devils" were embodiments of the "Seven Deadly Sins". Still others have speculated that Mary, as a young woman, may have been sold out as a "bond slave" to pay off her family's debts (with women in these cases, providing sexual favors was often part of the deal) and that her "demonic possession" was a form of mental illness brought on by the trauma of this experience.

Of these theories, the last has, at least, some historical and psychological merit; much of what was called "demonic possession" in Biblical times would today probably be recognized as either mental illness or, perhaps, epilepsy or Tourette's syndrome and the ordeal of being a "bond slave" could well have triggered mental illness. However there is no scriptural basis whatsoever to suppose that Mary was ever a bond slave or a prostitute, and it seems reasonable to suppose that the authors of the Gospels would have mentioned this had it been true. As for the first idea, demonic possession was, in Biblical times, considered a punishment from God either for one's own sins or the sins of one's fathers however, once again, the Gospel authors present no evidence on this point. As for the second theory, the concept of the "Seven Deadly Sins" (as opposed to the sins themselves) is not found in the Scriptures; it emerged during the patristic period and gained popularity in the Middle Ages. The best explanation is that Mary, quite simply, was either actually possessed by demons or suffered from a variety of mental, emotional, behavioral, and/or psychological disorders , whose nature may have appeared to suggest demonic possession to people of that time.

Answer: In Galilee, along the Sea of Galilee

Magdala, now known as el-Mejdel, was a fishing village between Capharnum and Tiberias whose primary industry was salted, pickled fish (the name Magdala means "tower" or "fortress"; it came to be called "Madgala of the Fishes" to distinguish it from another town of the same name, no longer extant).

In the New Testament, Jesus came here after the miracle of the loaves and fishes. It was a wealthy village in Biblical times (Mary Magdalene is believed, by some scholars, to have been of independent means), but is said to have enjoyed an unsavory reputation, which may partly account for the persistent image of Mary Magdalene as a sinner or prostitute.

Answer: True

This interesting, if bizarre legend did, in fact, surface during the Middle Ages, when many fantastic legends about saints and martyrs of the early Church abounded. The legend states that, having performed the miracle of turning water into wine, Christ convinced John to follow him and become his disciple. Since this involved renouncing his bride, Mary was left unexpectedly bereft of her new husband and, out of desperation and shame, turned to a life of prostitution. Christ convinced her to abandon this sinful life and follow him, which reunited her with John; however, they took a vow of mutual chastity (a popular plot device in medieval saint-legends).

There is, of course, no Biblical foundation whatsoever for this fantastic tale.

Answer: John

The Gospel of Matthew states that, on the morning of the third day, Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" (who may have been the mother of Christ, Mary the wife of Cleophas, or Mary Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John) came to the tomb, found the stone rolled away, and saw an angel sitting upon the stone, who gave them the news of the Resurrection and told them to share this news with the other disciples. The Gospel of Mark gives a similar account, except that there are three women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (the wife of Zebedee, alternately called Mary Salome, not the daughter of Herodias) and the angel sits inside the tomb. In Luke's Gospel, the women are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza (Herod's steward). They see two men in dazzling garments, who tell them the good news and command them to inform the disciples, who dismiss the story as nonsense.

John's Gospel gives Mary Magdalene the greatest prominence in the Resurrection narrative; in his version she comes alone to the tomb and finds it empty and the stone rolled away. She informs Peter and John of what she thinks is Jesus' removal from the tomb, whereupon they return with her to see for themselves. Entering the tomb after they leave, Mary sees two angels (who, interestingly, had not been seen by the two apostles when they had looked into the tomb). They ask why she is weeping, but tell her nothing. Rather, it is Christ himself who appears to Mary and tells her to spread the word of his Resurrection to the others.

Answer: False

Mary speaks in the Gospel of St. John, after the Resurrection. Finding the tomb empty, she tells Peter and John "They have taken away our Lord from the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him." When the two angels at the empty tomb ask her why she is weeping, she replies "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him". Jesus then appears to her and asks "Woman, why art thou weeping? Whom dost thou seek?" Mary, who does not recognize him and mistakes him for the gardener, says "Sir, if thou hast removed him, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus then calls her by name, upon which she exclaims "Rabboni!" (master).

After Jesus enjoins her to tell the others of his resurrection, she goes to the Twelve and says "I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me."

Answer: The descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost).

Pentecost, the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit (also called Whitsuntide or Whitsunday), is considered to be the birthday of the Church. The account of this event in the Acts of the Apostles describes Mary, the mother of Jesus, as being present in the upper room with the apostles, but does not mention Mary Magdalene (who, indeed, is never mentioned in the scriptures again after the Gospel of John). El Greco's depiction of this scene, however, shows a veiled woman (almost certainly Mary Magdalene) to the right of the Virgin Mary.

Answer: Matthew

According to the narrative: "Levi (Matthew) answered and said to Peter, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect man and acquire him for ourselves as He commanded us, and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said."

The "Gospel of Mary" has become the subject of avid interest in recent years, in part because of the feminist movement and in part as a result of Dan Brown's provocative 2003 novel "The Da Vinci Code", which theorizes that Mary was, in fact, Jesus' wife and the mother of his children. It also maintains that the "Holy Grail" of legend, depicted in Da Vinci's "Last Supper", was in fact the womb of Mary Magdalene, which carried Jesus' offspring.

Answer: Disciple

The Roman Catholic Church's identification of Mary Magdalene with the repentant sinner in the Gospel of Luke seems to have begun with Pope St. Gregory the Great in the sixth century and persisted well into the twentieth. In 1969, the church calendar was revised to distinguish Mary Magdalene both from the repentant prostitute and from Mary of Bethany.

Her current designation in the church calendar is "disciple" (the church's calendar also now recognizes certain saints as "husband" and "wife", these states being considered as blessed as "virgin", "confessor", "martyr", "widow", "religious", etc.)

Answer: Myrrh bearer, and of Apostolic zeal.

The Eastern Church has traditionally held Mary Magdalene to be "equal to the Apostles". According to Byzantine legend, she appeared before Pontius Pilate to plead for the life of Christ. After the Resurrection, she went to Caesar himself to proclaim that Christ had risen from the dead. Caesar is said to have mocked her, stating that a man could no more rise from the dead than an egg could turn from white to red. Mary then picked up an egg from the table, which immediately turned red in her hand. This legend has led to the exchanging of red-colored Easter eggs in the Eastern Church, and Byzantine icons of Mary Magdalene depict her holding an egg, instead of the usual vial of ointment. On May 4, the Eastern Church celebrates the transfer of Mary's relics, which were in the Monastery church of St. Lazarus in Constantinople; they were eventually transferred to Rome and entombed in the Lateran Church. Some, however, are enshrined in the basilica of St. Maximum in Marseilles.

Answer: Maudlin

In art, the Magdalene is frequently shown weeping for her many sins, wringing her hands, and gazing soulfully towards Heaven (usually in a state of erotic semi-undress). In paintings of the Crucifixion and Deposition from the Cross, she is also seen weeping at the foot of the cross (Giotto's depiction of her staring in horror at Christ's nailed feet is particularly memorable).

Over time, the image of the perpetually weeping Magdalene became something of a cliche, and the word "maudlin", from an old English spelling- or pronounciation -of Magdalene or Madeleine (the French version of the name) came into being. Maudlin, according to Webster, means "Weakly and effusively sentimental" or "Drunk enough to be emotionally silly" (I know of no legend which holds that Mary was a dipsomaniac!). The name of Magdalen College in Oxford is typically pronounced "Maudlin".

Answer: Provence

This legend supposes that the Magdalene was the sister of Lazarus and Martha. In one version of the story, the three of them set off to evangelize France; in another, they are set adrift by their persecutors in a boat with no oars or rudders and are guided miraculously to Aix en Provence.

There, Mary is alleged to have converted the king and queen of Gaul and evangelized the Franks, thus becoming the apostle of France. Lazarus became the first bishop of Marseille, and Martha (believe it or not) conquered and subdued a dragon, which had been laying waste to the countryside (a far cry from the drudgery of the kitchen!). Mary eventually ended as a hermitess living in a cave in the Maritime Alps, which is charmingly named La Sainte-Baume (The Holy Fragrance) in her honor; a sweet odor is believed to perpetually hover about the place.

This legend has, of course, no historical basis, though its emphasis on Mary as an evangelist is certainly interesting. Historically, Mary is generally believed by scholars to have traveled with St. John the Evangelist to Ephesus, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus (whom Christ had left in the care of John from the cross).

Answer: Perfumers

As mentioned above, Mary Magdalene has been wrongly identified with the nameless woman who anointed Christ with ointment; she has also been confused with the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed Christ at Bethany. However, the Gospels do mention her bringing myrrh and other spices to anoint Jesus' body at the tomb, so her patronage of those who make and/or sell perfumes and colognes is rather apt. In art, her symbol is a vial or jar of fragrant ointment.

The patron of laundresses is St. Veronica who, according to a pious medieval legend, wiped Christ's face with her veil during the Passion, after which she found the image of His face imprinted upon it. The patron of undertakers is St. Joseph of Arimathea, who had Christ's body interred in his own sepulcher, which had been hewn out of rock. There is, believe it or not, a patron saint of prostitutes (or, more appropriately, "fallen women"): St Afra, a 4th century native of Augsburg. Afra was a prostitute until her conversion to Christianity, upon which she renounced her old life and ultimately was martyred for her faith.

Answer: Paris, France

L'Eglise de Sainte Marie Madeleine, usually referred to simply as La Madeleine, is on the Rue Royale near the Place de la Concorde (Maxim's famous restaurant is to the left). The magnificent Romanesque structure, which bears a striking (and probably not coincidental) resemblance to the Parthenon and echoes the architecture of the Palais Bourbon across the Seine, has a fascinating history. Work on it began in 1764, however problems with the design led to its beng torn down soon after. Work was resumed in 1777, but was interrupted by the Revolution.

In 1806, Napoleon ordered it to be transformed into a "Temple de Gloire" to commemorate the glory of the French army, but this plan was abandoned after the Arch de Triomphe was built for this purpose.

At one point it was a railway station, but it was rededicated as a church in 1842. The church, which hosts several weekly concerts, boasts a celebrated pipe organ built by Aristide Cavaille-Coll in the latter 19th century.

Answer: The Song of Songs

The moving image from the Gospel of John of the distraught Mary seeking the place where Jesus' body has been taken, and finally encountering the risen Christ, is beautifully prefigured in this passage from the Old Testament "Song of Songs" (a.k.a. the "Song of Solomon" or the "Canticle of Canticles") 3:1-4: "In my bed at night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him and found him not. I will rise, and I will go about the city: in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him and found him not.

The watchmen who keep the city found me: 'Have you seen him whom my soul loveth? When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth."