The reason is that I have always been fascinated by Mary of Magdala as I find her eminently more human (the Church will not burn me at the stake for this) than the Virgin Mary. And my English Rose, Rosa ‘Mary Magdalene’ with its complex and appealing (to me) myrrh scent and its gradual change from soft pink to white is one of my faves. Today, August 5, 2019 the rose is covered with blossoms. Since nobody of botanical importance is coming for a visit to our garden in the next while I did not flinch (ok, just a bit) when I cut this raceme with 7 blooms. As I have written before, it is difficult to scan a white rose because when the white petals touch the scanner bed they overexpose. I have to raise the flowers, and that means that the result will not be sharp but painterly in soft focus.

Below is a neat little fragment by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano from his Mujeres. The English version is my translation.

Marías – Eduardo Galeano

En los evangelios, María aparece poco.

La Iglesia tampoco le prestó mayor atención, hasta hace cosa de mil años. Entonces la madre de Jesús fue consagrada madre de la humanidad y símbolo de la pureza de la fe. En el siglo once, mientras la Iglesia inventaba el Purgatorio y la confesión obligatoria, brotaron en Francia ochenta iglesias y catedrales en homenaje a María.

El prestigio provenía de la virginidad. María, alimentada por los ángeles, embarazada por una paloma, jamás había sido tocada por mano de hombre. El marido, san José, la saludaba de lejos. Y más sagrada fue a partir de 1854, cuando el papa Pío IX, el infalible, reveló que María había sido sin pecado concebida, lo que traducido significaba que también era virgen la mamá de la Virgen.

María es, hoy por hoy, la divinidad más adorada y milagrera del mundo. Eva había condenado a las mujeres. María las redime. Gracias a ella, las pecadoras, hijas de Eva, tienen la oportunidad de arrepentirse.

Y eso fue lo que pasó con la otra María, la que figura en las estampitas, al pie de la santa cruz, junto a la inmaculada.

Según la tradición, esa otra María, María Magdalena, era puta y se hizo santa.

Los creyentes la humillaron perdonándola.

Marys – Eduardo Galeano

In the gospels, Mary makes a small appearance.

The church does not pay much attention to her either until about one thousand years ago. Then the mother of Jesus was consecrated as mother of humanity and a symbol of the purity of faith. In the 11^th century, while the church invented Purgatory and obligatory confession, 80 churches in homage to Mary sprang up in France.

Prestige came about from her virginity. Mary, fed by angels, made pregnant by a dove, had never felt the hand of a man. Her husband, Saint Joseph greeted her from afar. She was even more sacred as of 1854 when Pope Pius IX , the infallible, decreed she had been conceived without sin. This meant, when translated, that Mary’s mother was also a virgin.

Mary is today, the world’s most worshiped and miracle-maker person. Eve had condemned women. Mary redeems them. Thanks to her, those sinning daughters of Eve have the opportunity to repent.

And that is what happened to that other Mary, the one that appears in paintings at the foot of the cross, right next to the immaculate.

According to tradition, that other Mary, Mary Magdalene, was a whore and she became a saint.

Believers humiliated her by forgiving her.