Saint Mary of Egypt

Zosima Zozime A monk from Palestine who discovered Mary of Egypt. s, a religious of eminent virtue, after having lived for a long time in a monastery in Palestine, passed, by an inspiration of God, into another, built on the banks of the Jordan. It was the custom that, every year, on the first Sunday of Lent, the religious, after having participated in the divine Mysteries and taken a little refreshment, would go out and withdraw alone into the vast expanse of the deserts, to apply themselves there more perfectly to penance and to the meditation of the sufferings of Our Lord; they would only return to the monastery for Palm Sunday. This holy man made these religious retreats year after year, and penetrated as far into the solitude as time would allow him. Once, when he had moved twenty days' journey away from any human habitation, as he was making his prayer at the hour of Sext, that is to say at noon, he perceived from afar the appearance of a human body walking before him. At first, he feared that it might be a specter, and armed himself with the sign of the cross; but, considering more attentively what he saw, he recognized that it was truly a person, whose body, however, was all black and scorched by the heat of the sun, and the hair, which fell only to the shoulders, was white as wool.

He had a great desire to speak to her and to know who she was; but as he saw that she was fleeing, and that she was going to hide in the thickest of the forests, he pursued her with ardor and cried out to her: "Why do you flee from me, servant of God (he did not yet know that it was a woman)? Wait, I pray you, for this old man and this sinner, and do not disdain to speak to him for the love of Him who has made you undertake such a rigorous penance." At these words, she stopped, and answered him: "Abbot Zosimas, forgive me, I am a sinful woman whom modesty does not permit to approach you without being covered; that is why, if you wish to speak to me, bless me, and throw me your mantle to cover me, and put me in a state to enjoy your conversation." Zosimas, very astonished to hear himself named by a person who had never seen him, recognized that she had the spirit of God; and desiring all the more to be informed of her life, he threw her his mantle. This woman, having wrapped herself in it, said to him while weeping: "Father Zosimas, what do you want from this sinner whom you pursue in this way?" — "I ask you," he said, "for your blessing." — "But it is much more appropriate," she replied, "that you give it to me yourself, you who have been a priest for so many years, and who have so often approached the holy altars." This speech surprised the holy old man even more, and at the same time strengthened him in the thought that this meeting was assuredly a stroke of the hand of God; that is why he made no difficulty in replying to her, with tears in his eyes: "I admit that I have the advantage over you by the character of the priesthood; but you surpass me in merits before God, since He has revealed to you who I am, and He has hidden from me who you are; I pray you therefore to be willing to console me with your blessing." The Saint said: "Blessed be the Lord of heaven and earth, who has such great care for the salvation of souls!" Zosimas answered: Amen. Then she withdrew a little to the side, and turned toward the East to make her prayer, during which she appeared raised from the ground by more than a cubit. Zosimas was frightened by this, and it came to his mind that it could be a phantom. But, the prayer finished, she said to him: "What do you fear, Zosimas? I am not a spirit, but a simple woman made of dust and ashes." This speech reassured him, and, after having blessed God, he inquired who she was, how she had lived, and why she was doing such an austere penance. The Saint answered him in these terms:

I am a native of Egypt, and, from the age of twelve, fleeing the corrections of my parents, I left their house and went to Alexandria, where I abandoned myself to every kind of libertinage, without fear of God or shame before men. I lost the modesty that persons of my sex carry on their brow, and which nature has given them to serve as a bridle to their levity; and I spent more than seventeen years in the disorders of impurity, without aspiring to any other reward for my crimes than the pleasures I found therein. Finally, I fell into such great disorder that, seeing one day in Alexandria several people embarking to go to Jerusalem to solemnize the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the fancy took me to embark with them, with the design of engaging in crime those I could win over, and of obliging them, by this means, to pay the expenses of my journey; so much so that many were lost through my artifices; and even now that I recount it, and that I often think of it, I tremble with fear, and I am astonished that the sea did not swallow me in its waves, or that the earth did not bury me in its bosom, to precipitate me alive into hell. Arriving in Jerusalem, I multiplied my crimes even more, and was more debauched in this holy city than I had been in Alexandria. Finally, the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross having arrived, and everyone going to the church to see and revere this adorable wood, instrument of our salvation, I also wanted to slip among the crowd, and enter the church with the rest of the world; but when I approached the door, it was impossible for me to pass further, because a secret force prevented me from entering. After having made all my efforts in vain several times, I began to think whence it could come that, everyone entering so easily into the church, I was the only one to whom entry was forbidden; and, upon this thought, my soul was enlightened by a divine light which, unsealing my eyes, made me see that in this abominable state to which I was reduced, I did not deserve to enter this holy temple of God. This feeling gave me great regret for my sins; I began to beat my breast, and to weep hot tears; and, having perceived an image of the most glorious Virgin Mary, I turned toward her, and said to her while sighing: Glorious Vir gin, who have borne a God made man, and image de la très-glorieuse Vierge Marie Mother of Jesus, who appeared to Bertrand. who have given Him to the world, I am not worthy to look at you, and even less to be looked at by you; for you have always been most pure and most chaste, and I am but a sewer of impurity. But since God became man to save sinners, do not abandon, O holy Virgin, her who is alone, without help and without any other recourse or asylum than yours; permit that I may enter the church to see the salutary Tree of our redemption; and I promise you never again to defile my body with sensual pleasures, and that upon seeing the holy Cross, I will renounce all the things of the world, and will follow in the future the path of salvation that you will show me. After this prayer, I entered without difficulty into the church, where I saw the holy Cross, which was publicly exposed; but I looked at it with much apprehension, considering the enormity of my offenses. Having finished my devotions, I returned to the image of the holy Virgin, before whom I had previously made my prayer, and said to her: It is time, O most holy Virgin, that I accomplish the promise that I have made to you; teach me the place where it pleases you that I dwell, and what I must do. I heard a voice that said to me: If you cross the Jordan, you will find rest there. Believing that this word was addressed to me, I begged Our Lady again to take me under her protection, and I went toward the Jord an with Jourdain River miraculously crossed by the Hebrews. three small loaves of bread. I arrived that same day at the edge of the river, having watered the path with my tears; I washed my face and my feet in this water sanctified by the baptism of my Savior; and, after having confessed, I received the divine Mysteries that give life, in a monastery of Saint John the Baptist which was not far from there; I then entered deep into the desert, always hoping in the mercy of this Lord who calls sinners and who saves those who convert perfectly to Him, and I have remained there until now to satisfy, through penance, for the disorders of my former life.

After the holy Sinner had given this account to Zosimas, he asked her how many years she had been in this desert, and what temptations she had experienced there. She replied that she had been there for forty-seven years, and that the battles the demons had waged against her were so terrible that the mere memory of them still made her shudder; that she had opposed them with prayer, tears, groans, and continual vigils; that she constantly prostrated herself face to the ground to implore the help of heaven. She confessed that it was only through the special assistance of the Blessed Virgin, who was her surety before her Son, and toward whose image she had often turned in spirit, that she had persevered in the exercise of her penance; that, however, these temptations had lasted only seventeen years; after which she had enjoyed until then, that is to say for the space of thirty years, a profound peace, and had received from God very great graces, through the intercession of the same Virgin, her protectress.

Zosimas, delighted by these miracles, could not sufficiently adore the excess of God's mercy. But, clarifying all things, he asked her further how she had lived, and what she had worn during so many years. She told him that after eating her three loaves, she had spent seventeen years eating only wild herbs and roots; and that, for clothing, she had had none other than those she had brought to the desert, which had worn out and rotted with time: which had made her suffer infinitely from cold, heat, and hunger. But, after this long trial, God had so powerfully sustained her with His word, and covered her with the robe of innocence, that she no longer had need of food or clothing: "for man does not live by bread alone, but he lives also by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

The holy old man was astonished that she quoted the Holy Scripture: she confessed to him that she had never read it nor heard it, but that Our Lord had given her some knowledge of it by Himself.

Then she earnestly begged Zosimas to reveal nothing of what he had seen and heard as long as she lived, and told him that the following year he should not leave his monastery, according to his custom, at the beginning of Lent; but that on the evening of Holy Thursday he should do her the favor of bringing her the Holy Eucharist to the banks of the Jordan, where she would be, and come to give her communion. Finally, after commending herself to his prayers, receiving his blessing, and warning him to tell his abbot, named John, to watch over his community because things were happening there worthy of correction, she parted from him, keeping for a time the cloak he had lent her. Zosimas kissed the ground her feet had trodden; and, bathed in tears and filled with the sentiments of true devotion, he returned to his monastery.

The following year he did not fail to carry out what the holy Penitent had prescribed for him: he did not go out with the other religious at the beginning of Lent; but on the Thursday of Holy Week, having secretly placed the Holy Host in a chalice, he went in the evening toward the Jordan, carrying with him the b read of Jourdain River miraculously crossed by the Hebrews. life and this adorable instrument of our salvation: which was not extraordinary in those days, when the faithful were permitted to carry it into their homes. Not finding the one he was looking for at first, he was agitated by various fears; and above all he was troubled as to how he or she could cross the river: but a moment later he saw her on the other side, and saw that, having made the sign of the cross over the water, she crossed it on dry land. This miracle surprised him so much that, completely beside himself, he wanted to prostrate himself at her feet; but she cried out to him not to do so, because he was a priest and was carrying a God in his hands. Upon her arrival, they prayed together, and the Saint received communion from the hands of Zosimas with a devotion and an abundance of tears that cannot be expressed. Then, raising her eyes and voice toward heaven, she said these words of the elder Simeon:

"Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your promise: for my eyes have had the happiness of seeing your salvation."

Zosimas had also brought a small basket of figs, dates, and lentils; he begged her to receive it from his hand. She took three lentils and brought them to her mouth; but she thanked him for the rest, telling him that the grace of the Holy Spirit was sufficient to prevent the death of the soul. However, she asked him for a new favor, which was to return the following year to the place where he had first seen her, assuring him that he would again have the consolation of seeing her there: which she had no difficulty in obtaining. They then parted, having mutually promised to pray for one another, as well as for the Church, for the empire, and for all sinners. The Saint crossed the Jordan again as she had crossed it, walking lightly on the waters as on dry land, and the man of God returned to his monastery.

When the Lent of the following year arrived, he left according to custom, and reached the place of their first meeting in twenty days. Perceiving no movement on any side, he became very anxious; and addressing God, he said, his eyes bathed in tears: "Reveal to me, I pray, Lord, this incomparable treasure that you have hidden in this desert: let me see this prodigy of penance that the world was not worthy to possess." Saying this, he advanced a little further, and saw, by the favor of a ray of light, her holy body deprived of life, and lying on the ground in a very modest posture; he kissed her feet, sang for her the psalms and suffrages that are ordinarily said for the dead, and watered the earth with his tears. He was in distress as to whether he should bury her. But his distress was immediately lifted by these words which he found traced on the sand: "Abbot Zosimas, bury the body of poor Mary; return to the earth what belongs to it, and pray for m e. I Marie Former sinner from Alexandria who became a hermit in the desert. died on the very night of Good Friday, after having received the divine food of the Holy Eucharist."

By this, the holy old man was instructed in three things: first, the name of this holy Penitent, which he had been extremely anxious about and had forgotten to ask her; second, the time of her death, which had occurred six or seven hours after she had received Holy Communion. Here, we see two great miracles: the first, that in such a short time she had traveled a journey of twenty days; the second, that her body had remained for a whole year without corruption, and without the wild beasts having dared to touch it. Finally, he learned that God wanted him to give her burial in this solitude. A lion served as his minister in this office of charity: it dug the earth with its claws, and made a pit capable of containing a human body; and, after Zosimas had placed these holy remains in it, it came to cover it. All the inheritance of this incomparable woman consisted of the poor mantle that the holy Abbot had thrown to her; he inherited it as a great treasure, and brought it back to his monastery, no longer as a piece of furniture that belonged to him, but as a precious relic. He recounted to the monks the wonders he had seen, wonders which appeared all the more credible, as John, the superior of that house, discovered there the disorders of which the Saint had warned him.

Since then, her body has been found and her bones distributed to various churches. Pope Hormisdas, who was elected in the year 513, gave some to Saint Eleutherius, Bishop of Tournai. An abbot from Calabria brought the greater part to his abbey in the year 1059, from where the head was transferred to Naples. The cities of Cremona in Italy, Antwerp in Flanders, and Munich in Bavaria also claim to possess some. The year of her death is not certain. The continuators of Bollandus maintain that it was in 421; their reasons are highly probable. As for the day, there is also a diversity of opinions: the Latins place this death on the first of April, and the Greeks on the ninth. We have followed the Roman Martyrology, which places it on the second of the same month. It appears that she lived 78 years, namely: 42 years with her parents, 47 years in disorder, and 48 years in penan ce. As for S saint Zozime A monk from Palestine who discovered Mary of Egypt. aint Zosimas, he lived 400 years in great holiness which has always been recognized, both in the Greek Church and in the Latin Church. Cremona possessed his head.

The legend of Saint Mary of Egypt was very popular in the Middle Ages: thus, we still find it written today on the stained glass windows of the cathedrals of Bourges and Auxerre. A very curious capital found at the Toulouse Museum also reproduces two scenes from her life.

Saint Mary of Egypt is the patroness of the Penitents. — The details of her existence are striking enough that it is easy to guess how she was represented. — There is one of her relics at Mailly (Somme).

See Monumens inédits de l'apophatisme de Marie-Madeleine, etc., by M. Fabbri Fattino, edited by Migne; Monographie de la cathédrale de Bourges, by Fathers Cahier and Martin, the Desert Fathers, the Acts, etc.