New Pilgrimage Route in South of France Follows Traditional Path of St. Mary Magdalene ncregister.com

Medieval accounts suggest that after the Ascension of Christ, several of his closest companions fled persecution in the Holy Land and spent the rest of their earthly life in the South of France. Among them were Sts. Martha and Lazarus of Bethany, St. Maximinus of Aix and St. Mary Magdalene, the latter of whom is regarded as the patron saint of the region of Provence.

According to tradition, Mary Magdalene reached the coast by boat and landed in a city known today as Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. After evangelizing the whole area, in particular the city of Marseille (Massilia), she settled in a grotto nestled in the heart of a nearby mountain, which would become later the Sanctuary of Sainte-Baume, where she dedicated the rest of her life to prayer. Her tomb, considered the “third vault of Christendom” (after the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and St. Peter’s tomb under the Basilica in Rome), is located in Saint-Maximin, at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains, and has been kept by the Dominicans for centuries…

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