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In the New Testament, we find quite a few Marys but only one Martha! She was the sister of Mary and Lazarus of Bethany and up until February 2021, she had a feast day to herself on 29 July. In 2021 Pope Francis approved a decree changing the liturgical feast of St Martha to include her brother Lazarus and sister, Mary.
There are thousands upon thousands of canonized saints. The Roman Martyrology is the liturgical book that records these canonized saints according to their feast days. Certain days may well have a dozen or more saints, for every saint (and blessed) has a feast day. Only a relatively small number of these saints are on the “universal calendar,” meaning that the entire Church observes their feast days. Changes to the universal calendar are made from time to time by the Holy Father, updating the calendar as new saints are canonised.
For example, when St Faustina Kowalska was canonized in 2000, she had a feast day assigned (October 5). But it was only in 2021 that Pope Francis added that feast to the universal calendar. (He did it as a one hundredth birthday gift to St John Paul II, who was born on May 18, 1920).
There are also local calendars, for dioceses, nations, or religious orders, which include saints important to those communities. This can mean that several American saints are celebrated in the United States but are not on the universal calendar.
Mary or Mary?
Through Church history some very prominent voices had argued that Mary of Magdala was the same person as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Recent studies, which influenced Pope Francis’ decision, have now determined that the two Marys were different people.
This initial ambiguity was reflected in the liturgical calendar. Mary Magdalen, referred to in the thirteenth century by St Thomas Aquinas as the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ (because it is she who announces to them the news of the risen Christ, what they will announce to the world) had for a long time her own feast day on July 22. The octave day of her feast, July 29, was the feast of St Martha. The setting of Mary Magdalene and Martha an octave apart would suggest a link between the two, namely that they were the sisters at Bethany.
When the Roman martyrology was last updated in 2001 and 2004, it listed July 29 as the feast of St Martha as well as of her sister Mary and brother Lazarus. So, it was already clear in the liturgy that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were separate women. However, there was an anomaly. Even though all three – Martha, Mary and Lazarus – shared a feast day in the Martyrology, only Martha’s feast was in the universal calendar. The Pope corrected that with his 2021 decision.
The decree establishing the new joint feast day notes that, “ in the household of Bethany the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit of and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason, the Gospel of John states that he loved them.” The three siblings gave an “important evangelical witness” by welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life.”
On one visit, recorded in Luke (10: 38-42), Martha complained that Mary sat listening to Jesus, leaving her with all the work. Jesus gently reproved her saying, “It is Mary who has chosen the better part.” Martha thus became the prototype of the activist Christian and Mary the symbol of the contemplative life. Given that Mary had the “better part” it was strange that Martha got prime billing in the universal calendar and Mary did not, but that was due to the Magdalene ambiguity.
Bearing Witness
In Aramaic the name Martha means “the lady, the mistress”, the feminine counterpart of “the master.” In the incident described by Luke, Martha is introduced as the woman who “welcomed Jesus into her house.” So, hospitality is her prominent virtue.
When Lazarus had died and was buried it is Martha who goes out to meet Jesus on his way to their house and accosts him (Jn 11:21-22): “If you had been here my brother would not have died, but I know that even now whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.”
And when questioned by Jesus, she shows she is a woman of faith: “I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who was to come into this world.” Moved by her faith, Jesus went to the tomb and ordered that it be opened. Martha’s faith was confirmed by Jesus through raising Lazarus back to life.
The decree which included all the siblings in Bethany in the one feast states that: Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death.
Written by Marie–Therese Cryan