Marcella | |
---|---|
Disciple of Jesus | |
Born | probably on Bethany, Roman Empire |
Died | Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, Roman Empire |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
Major shrine | Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume |
Feast | 31 January |
Marcella, according to Catholic tradition, was a disciple of Jesus and a servant of the brothers of Bethany. She is known for being the companion of Saint Martha during the Christianization of the current French region of Provence. [1]
According to the Golden Legend, Marcella would have been a Christian servant of the brothers Marthe, Mary and Lazarus of Bethany, together with Sarah and Maximinus, also Christians. [2] [3] In the work "The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me" by Maria Valtorta, Marcella was responsible for announcing the agony of Lazarus and witnessing the resurrection of Jesus together with other women. [4]
When the persecution of Christians in the Holy Land began around the year 44, Marcella, Sara, Maximinus and the brothers of Bethany were thrown into the Mediterranean Sea in a boat without oars that arrived in what is now the French commune of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. [5] [6] Along with them, other Christians: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas and Mary Salome. Some versions also include Susanna, Joseph of Arimathea and Sidonius in the group. [7]
In French territory, the group was welcomed by herders from the region, however they decided to separate to propagate the deeds of Jesus in different places. [8] Marcella accompanied Marthe during her preaching in the ancient Roman province of Viennensis, near the city of Marseille, and later in Avignon, allowing herself to be guided above all by prayers during the evangelization of those people. [9] [10]
Her relics rest with Maximinus, Sidonius and Susanna in the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene, in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. [11] [12] Her memory is celebrated annually on January 31 by the Provençals. [13]
Mary Magdalene was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus's family. Mary's epithet Magdalene may be a toponymic surname, meaning that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Roman Judea.
Martha is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to Jesus resurrecting her brother, Lazarus.
Vézelay Abbey is a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery in Vézelay in the east-central French department of Yonne. It was constructed between 1120 and 1150. The Benedictine abbey church, now the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, with its complex program of imagery in sculpted capitals and portals, is one of the great masterpieces of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture. Sacked by the Huguenots in 1569, the building suffered neglect in the 17th and the 18th centuries and some further damage during the period of the French Revolution.
The Tarasque is a creature from French mythology. According to the Golden Legend, the beast had a lion-like head, a body protected by turtle-like carapace(s), six feet with bear-like claws, a serpent's tail, and could expel a poisonous breath.
Maximin was the sixth bishop of Trier. Maximin was an opponent of Arianism, and was supported by the courts of Constantine II and Constans, who harboured as an honored guest Athanasius twice during his exile from Alexandria, in 336–37 and again in 343. In the Arian controversy he had begun in the party of Paul I of Constantinople; however, he took part in the synod of Sardica convoked by Pope Julius I, and when four Arian bishops consequently came from Antioch to Trier with the purpose of winning Emperor Constans to their side, Maximinus refused to receive them and induced the emperor to reject their proposals.
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is a commune in the southeastern French department of Var, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Located 40 km (25 mi) east of Aix-en-Provence, the town lies at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains. Baume or bama is the Provençal equivalent of cave. The town's basilica is dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Vézelay is a commune in the department of Yonne in the north-central French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is a defensible hill town famous for Vézelay Abbey. The town and its 11th-century Romanesque Basilica of St Magdalene are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Maximin or Maximinus or similar may refer to:
Aix Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence in southern France is a Roman Catholic church and the seat of the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence and Arles. The cathedral is built on the site of the 1st-century Roman forum of Aix. Built and re-built from the 12th until the 19th century, it includes Romanesque, Gothic and Neo-Gothic elements, as well as Roman columns and parts of the baptistery from a 6th-century Christian church. It is a national monument of France.
The Sainte-Baume is a mountain ridge spreading between the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var in Southern France. Its summit is 1147 metres high.
The Three Marys are women mentioned in the canonical gospels' narratives of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Mary was the most common name for Jewish women of the period.
The A8 autoroute, also known as La Provençale, is a 224-kilometer (139 mi)-long highway in France that runs between Aix-en-Provence and the A7 to the Côte d'Azur.
Aix-en-Provence TGV is a high-speed railway station located in Cabriès, Bouches-du-Rhône, southern France. The station was opened in 2001 and is located on the LGV Méditerranée. The train services are operated by SNCF. It serves the city of Aix-en-Provence, 15 km north-east of the station, Vitrolles, northern Marseille, 20 km south of the station and the Marseille Provence Airport.
Michel Serre (1658–1733) was a Catalan-born French painter.
Jean-Esprit Isnard (1707–1781) was a French pipe organ builder.
Saint Maximinus of Aix was the first bishop of Aix-en-Provence in the 1st century.
Jean-Baptiste Guesnay was a French Jesuit and author.
St. Sidonius is traditionally held to be St. Maximinus of Aix's successor as Archbishop of Aix. He is also traditionally held to be a blind man healed by Jesus. The incident is often held to be Jesus healing the man blind from birth in John 9, but the man healed in this incident is more commonly associated with St. Celidonius, Protobishop of Nîmes. The name Sidonius literally means "from Sidon", so he could have been part of the Syro-Phoenician crowd that followed Jesus in Matthew 15:21 and Mark 7:24.
Communauté d'agglomération de la Provence Verte is an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Brignoles and Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. It is located in the Var department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. It was created in January 2017. Its seat is in Brignoles. Its area is 947.5 km2. Its population was 98,529 in 2017, of which 17,179 in Brignoles proper.
The relics of Mary Magdalene are a set of human remains that purportedly belonged to the Christian saint Mary Magdalene, one of the female followers of Jesus Christ. The most famous relic is a blackened skull, displayed in a golden reliquary at the basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, in Southern France, which has been described as "one of the most precious [relics] in all Christendom" and "one of the world's most famous sets of human remains". Other relics said to have belonged to Mary Magdalene include a foot bone located at the basilica of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Italy, a left hand located at the Simonopetra Monastery in Greece, a tooth displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and a rib in the Vezelay Abbey, the Basilica of Ste. Magdalene, in Vezelay France.