Following Mary Magdalene steps

Legend tells of a journey that took place after the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth,  Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Maximin (one of the 72 disciples) and about 70 other Christians, in 48 B.C. sailed and  landed in a French town, Saint-Mary-of-the-Sea, not far from Marseilles (the then-called shores of Gaul).

Trials are nothing else but the forge that purifies the soul of all its imperfections.

During Mary’s time in France, legend details stories of preaching the gospel with her brother Lazarus. During her reflection years, Mary Magdalene found solace in a cave in the mountain – which was difficult to access – where she lived for 30 years in severe penance until she died.

This is the Saint Baume cave (or La Baume of Mary Magdalene), also known as “the grotto”, and since the 5th century, pilgrims from all around the world gather here to pray her and honor what’s believed to be some of her remains: a bone and a tress, kept in what it is now a Dominican convent constructed in 1279 into the cave.

People who go there now can find a shrine and see a sarcophagus made of marble that was proclaimed to be the tomb of Mary Magdalene. The 1st-century tomb was uncovered in the year 1279 during excavations of the crypt beneath a small church in St. Maximin in France. The leader of the excavation was Charles II, the Count of Provence, who claimed he was spurred to do so by a dream in which Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to him.

They say that a “wonderful and very sweet smell” was noted by people there when the sarcophagus was opened. They believed the smell was symbolic of the perfume Mary Magdalene poured on Jesus’ feet before his death. Upon discovery of the tomb, Charles II built a grand basilica, Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, in place of the old church.