Saint Mary of Egypt
![[Saint Mary of Egypt]](saintm22.gif "40kb gif painting of Saint Mary of Egypt, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
- Maria Aegyptica
- Memorial
- 3 April;
1 April in the Greek Church
- Profile
- Beautiful, spoiled, cynical, disenchanted, rich child who was the center of her family's pride, and repaid them by running away at age 12.
Ran to Alexandria, Egypt where she worked as a dancer, singer, and prostitute for 17 years.
Took ship on a pilgrimage to Palestine, hoping to ply her trade among the pilgrims, and then in Jerusalem.
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross she moved with the crowds to the church, looking for customers.
At the church door she found herself repelled, unable to open the door; she was overcome with remorse for her life and exclusion from the Church.
She repented, and asked for Our Lady's guidance; a voice told that to find rest, she should cross the Jordan River.
The next day she crossed the river, wandered into the desert, and took up the life of a hermit for nearly 50 years as penance.
She lived on herbs, berries, and whatever came to hand.
She met Saint Zosimus of Palestine.
She once told him to come back exactly one year from that day; when he did, he found she'd died; with a lion help, he dug her grave.
Zosimus later wrote a biography of her, and her life was a popular story in the Middle Ages.
- Born
- c.344 in Egypt
- Died
- c.421 in the desert near the River Jordan of natural causes;
relics at Rome, Naples, Cremona, and Antwerp
- Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
- Patronage
-
penitent women,
reformed prostitutes,
sexual temptation
- Representation
-
being chased from the church by an angel with a sword;
kneeling before a skull;
naked but clothed with long hair;
receiving Holy Communion from Saint Zosimus;
sitting under a palm tree and looking across the Jordan;
washing her hair in the Jordan;
with Mary Magdalene;
with the lion who dug her grave;
woman holding three loaves of bread;
- Additional Information
-
Google Directory
Catholic Encyclopedia
For All The Saints
New Catholic Dictionary
Saint Andrew of Crete
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