page_title: New Testament people named Mary
section_title: Mary Magdalene
hierarchical_section_title: New Testament people named Mary / Mary Magdalene
caption_attribution_description: Română: Magdalena
context_page_description: The name Mary appears 61 times in the New Testament, in 53 verses. It was the single most popular female name among Palestinian Jews of the time, borne by about one in five women, and most of the New Testament references to Mary provide only the barest identifying information. Scholars and traditions therefore differ as to how many distinct women these references represent and which of them refer to the same person.
  A common Protestant tradition holds that there are six women named as Mary in the New Testament: Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; Mary of Bethany; Mary mother of James the younger; Mary mother of John Mark; and Mary of Rome.
  A common Roman Catholic tradition includes six New Testament saints called Mary: Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James and Joses; Salome; Mary of Clopas; Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus.
  And there are other variations. In most traditions at least three Marys are present at the Crucifixion and at the Resurrection, but again traditions differ as to the identities of these three, and as to whether they are the same three at these two events.
context_section_description: Mary Magdalene is named three times in Matthew, four times in Mark, twice in Luke and three times in John, and was given the title Apostle to the Apostles by no less a person than Augustine of Hippo.
  All four Gospels name her as one of the small group of women who found the tomb empty, all but Luke name her as one of the many women present at the Crucifixion, and Luke names none of the women who had followed him from Galilee, which would include her. Matthew and Mark both name her as one of the small group who placed the body in the tomb.
  Prior to the Crucifixion, however, the only explicit mention of her is in Luke 8:2, in which she is one of only three named of the many women accompanying Jesus in his travels. Here she is also described as one of the women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, and as the one from whom seven demons had gone out.
  Several scholars and traditions identify her with other women in the New Testament, but none of these are universally accepted.
  Roman Catholic tradition, in particular, has from time to time identified her with both Mary of Bethany and with the unnamed woman who was a sinner of Luke 7:37–39, resulting in the view that she is mentioned more times than Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the New Testament, and also giving rise to the legend that made her a model of a penitent sinner and even, according to Pope Gregory, a reformed prostitute. This view, which was taken to its extreme in Legenda Aurea (c. 1260), is no longer affirmed by the Roman Catholic Church  but remains in popular devotion.
  Her feast day is July 22, and is celebrated then by the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches and by the Church of England.
caption: Magdalena by Gheorghe Tattarescu
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