The Making of the Magdalen : Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages

Best known during the Middle Ages as the prostitute who became a faithful follower of Christ, Mary Magdalen was the most beloved female saint after the Virgin Mary. Why the Magdalen became so popular, what meanings she conveyed, and how her story evolved over the centuries are the focus of this compelling exploration of late medieval religious culture. Analyzing previously unpublished sermons, Katherine Jansen uses the lens of medieval preaching to examine the mendicant friars' transformation of Mary Magdalen, a shadowy gospel figure, into an emblem of action and contemplation, a symbol of vanity and lust, a model of perfect penance, and the embodiment of hope and salvation. She draws on diverse historical sources to reveal the laity's devotion to Mary Magdalen, which departed significantly from the friars' image of the saint, signaling a major development in popular religious practice and personal piety. Finally, the author comprehensively addresses the question of the House of Anjou's alliance with the Magdalen, and illuminates the relationship between politics and sanctity in southern France and Italy. Jansen shows how perceptions of the Magdalen merged with errors and misunderstandings to shape the social, spiritual, and political agendas of the later Middle Ages. She brings to life the rich complexity of medieval culture, which condemned female sexuality and women's preaching and yet popularized the veneration of Mary Magdalen as a former prostitute chosen by Christ to be the "apostle of the apostles," the first to witness and preach the Good News of the Resurrection. Best known during the Middle Ages as the prostitute who became a faithful follower of Christ, Mary Magdalen was the most beloved female saint after the Virgin Mary. Why the Magdalen became so popular, what meanings she conveyed, and how her story evolved over the centuries are the focus of this compelling exploration of late medieval religious culture.Through the lens of medieval preaching, as well as the responses of those who heard the sermons preached, Katherine Jansen brings to light previously unpublished sermons to show how and why the mendicant friars transformed Mary Magdalen, a shadowy gospel figure, into an emblem of action and contemplation, a symbol of vanity and lust, a model of perfect penance, and the embodiment of hope and salvation. But the friars are only the first part of the story. Jansen also draws on a wide variety of historical sources -- from saints' lives to patronage patterns -- to examine the laity's reception of the saint. She reveals that the laity's devotion to Mary Magdalen departed in significant ways from the friars' image of the saint, signaling a major development in popular religious practice and personal piety. In her final chapter the author recounts comprehensively for the first time the House of Anjou's alliance with the Magdalen. In doing so, she illuminates the not uncomplicated relationship between politics and sanctity in southern France and Italy in the later medieval period.Using visual and textual evidence, Jansen offers a fascinating analysis of how medieval perceptions of the Magdalen merged with errors and misunderstandings to shape the social, spiritual, and political agendas of the later Middle Ages. As she reconstructs themedieval Magdalen, Jansen brings to life the rich complexity of the medieval world, which vehemently condemned female sexuality and women's preaching and yet popularized the veneration of Mary Magdalen as a former prostitute chosen by Christ to witness and preach the Good News of the Resurrection as the "apostle of the apostles".The Making of the Magdalen will appeal to readers of medieval history and religion, to those with an interest in the study of women, sexuality, and gender, and to those who are interested in saints throughout the ages. "Best known during the Middle Ages as the prostitute who became a faithful follower of Christ, Mary Magdalen was the most beloved female saint after the Virgin Mary. Why the Magdalen became so popular, what meanings she conveyed, and how her story evolved over the centuries are the focus of this compelling exploration of late medieval religious culture." "Through the lens of medieval preaching, as well as the responses of those who heard the sermons preached, Katherine Jansen brings to light previously unpublished sermons to show how and why the mendicant friars transformed Mary Magdalen, a shadowy gospel figure, into an emblem of action and contemplation, a symbol of vanity and lust, a model of perfect penance, and the embodiment of hope and salvation. Jansen also draws on a variety of historical sources - from saints' lives to patronage patterns - to examine the laity's reception of the saint. She reveals that the laity's devotion to Mary Magdalen departed in significant ways from the friars' image of the saint, signaling a major development in popular religious practice and personal piety." "The making of the Magdalen will appeal to readers of medieval history and religion, to those with an interest in the study of women, sexuality, and gender, and to those who are interested in saints throughout the ages."--Jacket from hard cover edition "Best known during the Middle Ages as the prostitute who became a faithful follower of Christ, Mary Magdalen was the most beloved female saint after the Virgin Mary. Why the Magdalen became so popular, what meanings she conveyed, and how her story evolved over the centuries are the focus of this compelling exploration of late medieval religious culture.". "Through the lens of medieval preaching, as well as the responses of those who heard the sermons preached, Katherine Jansen brings to light previously unpublished sermons to show how and why the mendicant friars transformed Mary Magdalen, a shadowy gospel figure, into an emblem of action and contemplation, a symbol of vanity and lust, a model of perfect penance, and the embodiment of hope and salvation. Jansen also draws on a variety of historical sources - from saints' lives to patronage patterns - to examine the laity's reception of the saint. She reveals that the laity's devotion to Mary Magdalen departed in significant ways from the friars' image of the saint, signaling a major development in popular religious practice and personal piety.". "The making of the Magdalen will appeal to readers of medieval history and religion, to those with an interest in the study of women, sexuality, and gender, and to those who are interested in saints throughout the ages."--BOOK JACKET. Frontmatter Illustrations (page vii) Acknowledgments (page xi) Abbreviations (page xv) A NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION, TRANSLATION, AND NAMES (page xvii) Introduction (page 3) ONE "In Memory of Her": From History to Legend (page 18) PART I: THE MENDICANT MAGDALEN TWO The Vita Apostolica (page 49) THREE The Vita Activa (page 100) FOUR The Vita Contemplativa (page 116) PART II: THE WAGES OF SIN FIVE "Vanity of Vanities, All Is Vanity" (page 145) SIX "There Was a Sinner in the City" (page 168) PART III: DO PENANCE SEVEN The Exemplar of Perfect Penance (page 199) PART IV: RESPONSES EIGHT Responses to the Scriptural Saint (page 247) NINE Responses to the Legendary Saint (page 265) TEN In the Shadow of the Virgin (page 286) ELEVEN The House of Anjou: A Royal Response (page 307) EPILOGUE "In Memory of Her": From Legand to History (page 333) BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED (page 337) INDEX (page 371) On 9 December 1279 an ancient sarcophagus in the crypt of the church of Saint-Maximin near Aix-en-Provence was opened and its contents inspected. Katherine Ludwig Jansen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [337]-370) And Index.