No figure in the Christian pantheon except Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and John the Baptist has inspired, provoked, or confounded the imagination of painters more than the Magdalene. The claims, speculations, and traditions that have been “hung” on Mary Magdalene often resemble in thickness and length the locks of hair that cover her body like a raccoon coat in certain medieval (...)
Article
Picturing the Magdalene
How Artists Imagine the Apostle to the Apostles
The remainder of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you’re not currently a Commonweal subscriber in print or online, an online-only subscription costs just $34 a year. Click here for immediate access.
In a talk at the Northeast Catechetical Conference about twenty years ago, Fr. John R. Aurelio, author of many books, translated the words of the resurrected Jesus to Mary Magdalene as:
“Don’t hold me back.” (This might change the Scriptural direction we go, and may have even changed how the artists saw this encounter).
Fr. John then went on: ‘How does one hold back a rainbow’ which he used to help conceptualize resurrection.