The two faces of Magdalene
THIS week, we have a tale of two Magdalenes, the first penitent, the second, one would like to think, quietly triumphant. The first is the sainted Mary of Magdala, the disciple of Jesus who witnessed the Crucifixion and was the first to see him after the Resurrection. An unfortunate consequence of so many of the women in Christ’s life being called Mary was that, in 591, in an Easter sermon, Pope Gregory I conflated three of them into a composite who had been a
