MARY OF EGYPT, Saint. - Commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on April 2; it is not established, however, that she was venerated with a liturgical cult in antiquity. The oldest source that speaks of her is Cyril of Scythopolis in the biography of St. Cyriacus. Cyril recounts that, having gone to visit Cyriacus together with the monk John, the latter showed him the tomb of M. and told him her story as he had learned it from the saint herself.

She was a singer in the church of the Anastasis in Jerusalem and, realizing that many were tempted on her account, she decided to withdraw, and retired to a cave in the desert, living there for 18 years in absolute solitude and penance. The monk John added that, on returning from a visit to the abbot Cyriacus, he found her dead, and with the help of the monks of the Laura of Sauca he buried her in the same cave where she had lived, blocking its entrance.

At the beginning of the 7th century St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, making use of Cyril's account, wrote a legendary biography, according to which M., born in Egypt, would have been led to penance and the eremitic life after a lustful life spent in Alexandria. The life of St. Moschus in his Spiritual Meadow is likewise legendary.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Aprilis. I, Paris 1865, pp. 68-90; F. Delmas, Remarques sur la vie de St. M. l'Égyptienne, in Échos d'Orient, 4 (1900-1901), pp. 35-42; id. Encore et M. l'Égyptienne, ibid., 5 (1902), pp. 15-17; H. Delchaye, Sanctus, Brussels 1927, pp. 226-28; E. Schwartz, Kyrillos von Shytopolis (Texte und Unters., 49), Leipzig 1939, p. 233 ff.; Martyr. Romanum, p. 122.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec8_maria_egiziaca_santa, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Maria Egiziaca, santa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {120--121}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/maria-egiziaca-santa} }

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Mary of Egypt, Saint

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