St. Mary Magdalene and the Dominican Order

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Today the universal Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene - great sinner transformed by the forgiveness, mercy and grace of her beloved Lord into a great saint.

Over the centuries various spiritual writers have referred to her to as the Apostle to the Apostles, the Evangelist of the Resurrection and the Apostle of the Ascension.

The Dominicans have a great devotion to Mary Magdalene as explained here by the Nashville Dominicans. She is also the patroness of the Dominican Order. You can find out why by watching this most informative presentation by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P..

Before visiting those sites, why not join the rest of the Dominican family, by reading the following excerpt from the Life Of St. Mary Magdalene by Rabanus Maurus, which is offered as the second reading in today’s Office of Readings  in the Dominican supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours:

“Mary believed in Christ, drawing her faith in him from hearing the longed-for voice of her Lord and seeing his beloved countenance. The mustard seed that Jesus the good gardener had planted in the garden of her heart, had taken root there and became a large bush of steadfast faith. Undoubtedly she believed that the Christ she had seen was the Son of God, the true God, the one she had loved while he lived. He had truly risen from the dead, the one she had seen dying; he was truly equal to God the Father, the one she had sought as he lay in the tomb.

The Savior was won over by the gentle demand of the long-standing love which never ceased to burn in the heart of his dear and special friend. In the heart of this woman of faith, who had come to anoint him, he already knew for certain, since there was no secret between them, that he was soon to ascend to his Father. He made her the "apostle" to the Apostles of his ascension; he repaid this "standard bearer" with a worthy reward of grace and, first and foremost, a privilege of glory and honor in return for the many deeds of kindness which she had bestowed on him. A short while before he had made her the "evangelist" of his resurrection, saying: Go to my brothers and tell them: The Lord says: I am going to my Father through nature, and your Father through grace; to my God, for as a human being I am under God, and your God, since I am mediator between you and God. He said this and then vanished from before her eyes.

This woman, who was given such a great and special dignity of honor and grace by the very Son of God, the Lord and Savior, hastened to fulfill her ministry as an apostle, her duty of honor. She went with headlong haste to the Apostles and said: "Rejoice with me, all you who love the Lord," for the one I sought appeared to me, and while I wept at the tomb I saw my Lord. He said to me: Go to my brothers and tell them: The Lord says: I am going to my Father, who begot me before all ages, and to your Father, who adopted you as his children, to my God, for I came down from God, and to your God, for you have been lifted up.

Mary announced to her co-apostles the good news of the resurrection of the Messiah: I have seen the Lord, and she prophesied the ascension: And he said to me: I am going to my Father and to your Father.“