St. Mary Magdalene Prayer and Feast Day (July 22)

St. Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven devils, followed him to the foot of the Cross and was the first to see him risen from the dead. He sent her to announce the Resurrection to the Apostles, and so the Church calls her “the apostle of the apostles.” In 2016 Pope Francis raised her memorial on July 22 to a feast, like the feasts of the Apostles. Below are prayers to St. Mary Magdalene for conversion, for those who grieve and for faithful love, the Gospel of her Easter morning, and the truth about who she was.

A prayer to St. Mary Magdalene

Written for this page:

St. Mary Magdalene, Jesus set you free,
and you loved him with all your heart.
You stood by his Cross when others ran away,
and you were the first to see him risen.
Pray for me, that I may love Jesus faithfully,
seek him when he seems absent,
and tell others with joy that he is alive.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention). Amen.

A prayer for conversion and freedom

St. Mary Magdalene, the Lord freed you from seven demons.
Pray for me and for (name), bound by sin, addiction or despair.
Ask Jesus to set us free,
and to fill the place of every chain with his love. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page. See the Catholic prayer for deliverance.

A prayer in grief

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb weeping, and Jesus called her by name.

St. Mary Magdalene, you wept at the empty tomb,
thinking your Lord was lost forever.
Stay with me in my grief for (name).
Help me to hear Jesus call my name,
and to believe that love is stronger than death. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page. See prayers for deceased loved ones.

A prayer for women who serve the Church

St. Mary Magdalene, you and the other women followed Jesus
and supported him from your own resources.
Bless all women who serve the Church as mothers, teachers, religious sisters,
catechists and volunteers, and make them messengers of the Resurrection. Amen.

This prayer was written for this page.

The Gospel of Easter morning

The reading of her feast day:

But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
And she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid.
They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid him.
When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to him: Rabboni (which is to say, Master).
Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.
Mary Magdalen cometh, and telleth the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.

The Catechism teaches that Mary Magdalene and the holy women “were the first to encounter the Risen One,” and so became “the first messengers of Christ’s Resurrection for the apostles themselves” (CCC 641).

Who was Mary Magdalene?

The Gospels tell us that Mary came from Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus freed her from seven demons, and that she was one of the women who traveled with him and the Twelve and supported them:

And it came to pass afterwards, that he travelled through the cities and towns, preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God; and the twelve with him:
And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth,
And Joanna the wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who ministered unto him of their substance.

She stood at the foot of the Cross with the Mother of Jesus, watched where he was buried, and came to the tomb early on the first day of the week.

For many centuries the Western Church, following a homily of Pope St. Gregory the Great in 591, identified her with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7 and with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. That is why she was often painted as a repentant sinner with long hair and a jar of ointment. The Gospels do not say this, the Eastern Churches always distinguished the three women, and the reformed Roman calendar of 1969 treats Mary Magdalene as a distinct person. There is no basis in the Gospels for the claim that she was a prostitute.

According to an Eastern tradition she later went to Ephesus; a Western legend says she went to Provence, in southern France, and spent her last years in prayer in a cave at Sainte-Baume.

Feast day and patronage

Feast day: July 22, a feast since 2016. A novena can run from July 13 to 21.
Patron of: converts, penitents, those who grieve, women, perfumers and pharmacists, and the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).
Symbols: a jar of ointment, long hair, an egg (from an Eastern custom of Easter eggs), and a skull in paintings of her as a penitent.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Mary Magdalene called the apostle of the apostles?

Because the risen Jesus sent her to announce his Resurrection to the Apostles (John 20:17–18). The title goes back to the early Church and was used by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?

The Gospels never say so. The idea came from identifying her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7, an identification the Church no longer makes in its liturgy.

When is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene?

July 22. Pope Francis raised her celebration from a memorial to a feast in 2016.

What is St. Mary Magdalene the patron saint of?

Converts, penitents, those who grieve, women and perfumers.

More prayers

Texts and sources

Scripture: John 20:11–18; Luke 8:1–3, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 641.
Congregation for Divine Worship, decree raising the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to a feast (June 3, 2016).
The prayers were written for this page.