St Gregory the Great

Pope Saint Gregory the Great on Mary Magdalene


Maria Magdalene, quae fuerat in civitate peccatrix, amando veritatem, lavit lacrimis maculas criminis. (Mary Magdalene, who was a sinner in the city, by loving truth, washed away the stains of sin with her tears.)
--Pope St Gregory the Great, Homily 25 in Evangelia.


She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? … It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord’s feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer’s feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance, for as much as she had wrongly held God in contempt.

---Pope St. Gregory the Great, Hom. 33 (591AD)