Dénivelée: 335m Durée: 2h00
According to ancient legend, Mary Magdalene and her exiled companions fled Palestine soon after the death of Christ. They somehow landed on the shores of Provence, where she traveled around spreading the word of the gospel. She spent the last thirty years of her life in contemplation, living in a grotto in The Saint Baume Mountain. "Baume" is derived from a Provençal word meaning "grotto". Today we made the trek to see the famous cave where one of the witnesses of Christ's resurrection spent her retirement years.
La Grotte Sainte Marie Madeleine
The Altar inside the Cave of Mary Magdelene
View from 335 meters atop The Saint Pilon
We continued our hike upward to the Saint Pilon Chapel at the top of the Saint Baume Mountain, where we had a panoramic view of the region of the Var all around us.
The Relics of Sainte Marie Madeleine
The last stop on our Mary Magdelene tour today was the town where she died in the arms of her close friend, Saint Maximin, the bishop of Aix. Her relics had been buried in order to be protected from looters, and rediscovered in 1279. In 1295 construction began on a Basilica worthy to house her precious remains. The Basilique Sainte Marie Madeleine in the town of Saint Maximin, named after her friend and companion in exile, acts as a reliquary for what is believed to be her skull encased in gold, and a vial with a patch of skin from her forehead which had been touched by Christ after his resurrection.
What a memorable place...
So glad that you visited and documented it.
Meilleurs voeux!!
Posted by: blueVicar | Friday, 13 June 2008 at 08:36 PM