Except for the mother of Jesus, there are few women in the Bible as honored as Mary Magdalene. St. Mary was the sister of St. Lazarus and St. Martha and one of Christ's disciples and was present when he died. Early on the morning of the resurrection, she was the first to see the risen Lord. While Jesus was alive, he cast 7 demons out of her, and she was one of his disciples. She also was one of the many who assisted Jesus and the Apostles with her own money.

According to legend, Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat with no sails or oars by opponents of the early Church - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were set adrift and came ashore at Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume (français). She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. Just before she died St. Mary was miraculously transported to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

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