Christ’s ever faithful Mary
QUESTION Where does the notion come from that Mary Magdalene was a former prostitute? I can find no evidence in the Bible. There is no biblical evidence that Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) was a prostitute. Nevertheless, the powerful popular image of her as a fallen and redeemed woman has been fostered through the centuries through works of art that have accentuated her sensuality and spirituality.
Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name 12 times in the Gospels, more than most of the Apostles, and she is the second most mentioned woman after the Virgin Mary. She was the first person to see the resurrected Christ.
her legend is cemented by the story of how Jesus cleansed her of seven demons (Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9). Through the ages this has been argued as proof of past wickedness, though most scholars agree that Jesus cured her of an illness, rather than possession.
Almost unique among women in the Bible, she is not identified in terms of being a mother, wife or sister. It is believed that she was probably a wealthy, independent woman who financially supported Jesus’s ministry.
Mary Magdalene proved herself a woman of indomitable will. Unlike the Apostles, who scurried off after the Crucifixion, she remained strong. her faithfulness was rewarded with the appearance of the resurrected Christ.
her transformation to penitent prostitute was sealed on September 14, 591, when Pope Gregory I delivered a homily stating: ‘She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary [of Bethany], 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 unguents to perfume her flesh acts.’
Pope Gregory had misrepresented or misunderstood the Gospel narrative conflating different Marys, including Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, and Mary the sinner who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, into a more salacious figure. From that time on she became ‘penitent Mary’ and a ‘great sinner’.
Paul’s epistles make it clear that women held prominent and respected positions in the early Church. however, this new religion of equality could not hold out against the rising tide of patriarchalism. It seems possible the Church suppressed Mary Magdalene’s authority by attacking her moral character.
The misconception about Mary Magdalene was finally corrected in 2016 when the Vatican conceded that as the first messenger of the resurrected Christ, she was the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’.
Simone Bowen, Nottingham. QUESTION Why do sailors call the Royal Navy ‘the Andrew’? No oNe knows, though there is plenty of speculation. The story commonly told is of Andrew Millar, leader of a notorious press-gang during the Napoleonic Wars, who pressed so many men that sailors thought the Navy belonged to him.
An alternative tale states that Andrew Millar was the royal Navy’s quartermaster and had such a monopoly on supplying royal Navy warships that he was said to ‘own the Navy’.
however, there is no historical record of either man.
Another theory is that it is derived from a 16th-century slang term for a merchant ship. Shakespeare used this term in The Merchant of Venice: ‘And see my wealthy Andrew dock’d in sand, Vailing her hightop lower than her ribs.’ This refers to a Spanish ship called Andrea captured by British sailors in 1596.
The expression Andrew Millar only became well known in the 19th century. Its earliest use in print can be found in 1812’s A Vocabulary of The Flash Language, an underworld dictionary by the convict James hardy Vaux, who was deported to Australia three times.
he defines Andrew Millar’s lugger as a king’s ship or vessel. A reference in 1867’s The Sailor’s Word-Book by Admiral W. h. Smyth marks an important shift in meaning to describe the Navy: ‘Andrew or Andrew Millar. A cant name for a man-ofwar and also for government and government authorities.’
Andrew Woodcock, Alresford, Hants. QUESTION Do sugar cane plants need to be propagated each year? SUGAr cane is a tall-growing grass cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions because it can store high concentrations of sucrose (sugar) in its stem.
Most commercially grown sugar cane is a hybrid with sterile cultivars and thus is planted vegetatively — rooting seed cane pieces that have been cut from the stems of established cultivars.
The seed cane is cut into stalk sections, called billets, setts or seed pieces, containing one or more buds.
They are placed into furrows 3in to 7in deep, placed lengthwise at the bottom of the furrow and covered with 1in or 2in of soil. The eyes at each node will sprout, turning upward to grow out of the soil.
As sprouts emerge, farmers gradually fill the furrow with more soil and mound it around the base of the young plants as they grow. Cane need to grow for ten to 14 months before harvesting. In more technologically advanced countries, cane is planted mechanically.
A single mature planting can be cut and regrown indefinitely. But cane produces its best yield and quality in its first five to seven years. In large, mechanised plantations, canes are replanted after two or three harvests. In traditional smaller fields where there is hand harvesting, it is replanted after ten years.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, G2 6DB. You can also email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published, but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.