Annotation CIX

”A woman came to him, having an alabaster [box] of ointment.” — Matthew 26:7

On the three Magdalenes.

Origen, treatise 35 on Matthew, asserts that there were three Marys Magdalene — or [three] women — who anointed Christ: the first, a harlot, who anointed the Lord in the house of the Pharisee, of whom Luke writes in chapter 7; the second, who anointed his feet six days before the Passover in Bethany in [her] own house — and this was Mary the sister of Lazarus, having an approved and admirable life, whom John mentions in chapter 12; the third, who two days before the Passover poured ointment upon the head of Jesus in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, of whom Mark chapter 14 and Matthew chapter 26 speak. With Origen agree Theophylact, in the commentaries on chapter 7 on Luke, and Euthymius, in the explanation of chapter 26 on Matthew. John [Fisher], bishop of Rochester, attacked this opinion — defended by James, bishop of Vienne — in three volumes.

There are [others] who posit only two women anointers of the Lord: one, the harlot, who anointed first the feet at the Pharisee’s [house] and then the head of Christ in the house of Simon the leper; the other, the sister of Lazarus, anointing the feet of the Lord as he supped at her house. Of this number is Chrysostom, homily 81 on Matthew and homily 61 on John; and Bernard, in the sermon on the Magdalene, mentions two, but somewhat differently.

There are others who assert only one Magdalene, the sister of Lazarus — [who], in the house of the Pharisee, in the house of Simon the leper, and in the house of Lazarus, twice anointed the feet [and] once the head. Among these are held Augustine, book 2 On the Agreement of the Evangelists, chapter 9; Gregory, in the homily on the Magdalene; Bede, book 3 of the commentary on Luke; Christian Druthmar, chapter 26 on Matthew; Rabanus, on Luke 7; and very many others. Following whose opinion, Odo, abbot of Cluny, in the hymn which the Dominican church now uses, sang thus:

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who committed so many crimes, from the very jaws of Tartarus returns to the threshold of life.

St. Ambrose, in book 6 on Luke, says that it can be said both that there was one [woman], and [that there were] several.