Martha 98538 221481113 2008-06-24T18:12:17Z Underwaterbuffalo 6833051 {{otheruses}} {{Infobox Saint |name=Saint Martha |birth_date= |death_date= |feast_day=[[June 4]]/[[July 29]] |venerated_in=<br>[[Roman Catholicism]]<br>[[Eastern Christianity]]<br>[[Anglican Communion]]<br>[[Lutheran Church]] |image=St Martha penitents MNMA Cl22763.jpg |imagesize=150px |caption= |birth_place= |death_place= |titles=Virgin |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes=broom; keys; ladle<ref>[http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm05.htm saintm05.htm<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |patronage=butlers; cooks; dietitians; domestic servants; homemakers; hotel-keepers; housemaids; housewives; innkeepers; laundry workers; maids; manservants; servants; servers; single laywomen; travellers<ref>[http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm05.htm saintm05.htm<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }} <!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Jesus Bethany.jpg|thumb|Mary anoints Jesus in Bethany in this [[icon]]. Martha serves the meal in the background.]] --> '''Martha''' ([[Aramaic language|Judæo-Aramaic]] '''מַרְתָּא''' '''Martâ''' "The lady", [[French language|French]] '''Sainte Marthe''') was the sister of [[Lazarus]] and [[Mary, sister of Lazarus|Mary]], and she witnessed her brother's [[resurrection]]. ==Biblical and [[Roman Catholic]] Traditions== {{Infobox Painting| image_file=martha_and_mary.jpg | title=Christ in the House of Martha and Mary | artist=Velázquez | year=1618 | type=Oil on canvas | height=63 | width=103.5 | city=London | museum=[[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]]}} According to the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] of 1913<ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/St._Martha?oldid=345575 St. Martha, Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)] (slightly paraphrased)</ref> :''In the canonical Scripture, Martha is mentioned only in [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 10:38-42; and [[gospel of John|John]] 11, 12, sqq. The Aramaic form occurs in a [[Nabatean]] inscription found at [[Puteoli]], and now in the [[Naples Museum]]; it is dated AD. [[5]] (Corpus Inscr. Semit., 158); also in a [[Tadmor, Syria|Palmyrene]] inscription, where the Greek translation has the form ''Marthein'', AD. [[179]].'' :''Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are depicted by John as living at [[Bethany (Israel)|Bethany]], but Luke would seem to imply that they were, at least at one time, living in [[Galilee]]; he does not mention the name of the town, but it may have been [[Magdala]], and we should thus, supposing [[Mary of Bethany]] and [[Mary Magdalene]] to be the same person, understand the appellative "Magdalene". The words of John (11:1) seem to imply a change of residence for the family. It is possible, too, that Luke has displaced the incident referred to in Chapter 10. The likeness between the pictures of Martha presented by Luke and John is very remarkable. The familiar intercourse between the Saviour of the world and the humble family which Luke depicts is dwelt on by John when he tells us that "[[Jesus]] loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus" (11:5). Again the picture of Martha's anxiety (''John'' 11:20-21, 39) accords with the picture of her who was "busy about much serving" (''Luke'' 10:40); so also in ''John'' 12:2: "They made him a supper there: and Martha served." But St. John has given us a glimpse of the other and deeper side of her character when he depicts her growing faith in Christ's Divinity (11:20-27), a faith which was the occasion of the words: "I am the resurrection and the life." The [[John the Evangelist|Evangelist]] has beautifully indicated the change that came over Martha after that interview: "When she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come, and calleth for thee."'' :''Difficulties have been raised about the last supper at Bethania. John seems to put it six days before the [[Pasch]], and, so some conclude, in the house of Martha; while the [[Synoptic Gospels|Synoptic]] account puts it two days before the Pasch, and in the house of [[Simon the Leper]]. We need not try to avoid this difficulty by asserting that there were two suppers; for John does not say that the supper took place six days before, but only that Christ arrived in Bethania six days before the Pasch; nor does he say that it was in the house of Martha. We are surely justified in arguing that, since ''[[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]]'' and ''[[Gospel of Mark|Mark]]'' place the scene in the house of Simon, St. John must be understood to say the same; it remains to be proved that Martha could not "serve" in Simon's house.'' [[Image:Église Collégiale Sainte Marthe (Tarascon).jpg|thumb|St Martha's Collegiate Church in Tarascon]] ==[[Eastern Orthodox]] tradition== According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, Martha went to [[Cyprus]] with her siblings [[Mary, sister of Lazarus|Mary]] and [[Lazarus]], where [[Lazarus]] was appointed the first bishop of Kition. All three died in [[Cyprus]]. According to one legend, Martha left [[Judea]] after [[Jesus]]'s death, around AD [[48]], and went to [[Provence]] with her sister [[Mary, sister of Lazarus|Mary]] (potentially [[Mary Magdalene]]) and her brother Lazarus. Martha first settled in [[Avignon]] (now in [[France]]), then went to [[Tarascon]], where a [[monster]], the [[Tarasque]], was a constant threat to the population. Martha managed to tame the monster and eventually died in Tarascon, where she was buried. Her tomb is located in the [[crypt]] of the local Collegiate Church. ==[[Gnostic]] Tradition== She appears in the sacred gnostic text [[Pistis Sophia]]. She is instructed by the risen Christ on several of the repentances that must be made in order to have salvation. She also makes several prophetic interpretations of different [[Psalms]].<ref>[http://gnosis.org/library/pistis-sophia/ps042.htm Pistis Sophia, Chapter 38]</ref> ==Memory== Martha is a Christian [[saint]] in the [[Eastern Orthodox church]]es, the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and the [[Lutheran Church]]. Her feast day is [[June 4]] in the Orthodox tradition and [[July 29]] in the Roman Catholic tradition. Among the Orthodox, she is commemorated collectively with the other [[Myrrhbearers|Myrrh-bearing Women]] on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (the Third Sunday of [[Easter|Pascha]]—i.e., the second Sunday after Easter). She also figures in the commemorations of [[Lazarus Saturday]] (the day before [[Palm Sunday]]). ==Depictions in Art== *[[Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Velázquez)|''Christ in the House of Martha and Mary'']] - an early work by the Spanish painter Velázquez. * [[Christ in the House of Martha and Mary]] - by [[Johannes Vermeer]] *"The Sons of Martha" - A poem by [[Rudyard Kipling]]. ==See also== * [[Lazarus]] * [[Myrrhbearers]] * [[Mary, sister of Lazarus]] * [[Martha and Mary Magdalene (Caravaggio)]] ==References== <references/> * {{Catholic Encyclopedia}} == External links == {{commonscat|Martha}} * [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=79 St. Martha] on catholic.org * [http://goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=556 Mary & Martha, the sisters of Lazarus] * [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm05.htm Patron Saints: Martha] * {{CathEncy|wstitle=St. Martha}} * [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden239.htm "The Life of Saint Martha"], text from the ''[[Golden Legend]]'' {{New Testament people}} [[Category:Followers of Jesus]] [[Category:Saints from the Holy Land]] [[Category:Eastern Orthodox saints]] [[Category:Christian saints]] [[Category:Order of the Eastern Star]] [[de:Martha von Bethanien]] [[es:Marta de Betania]] [[fr:Marthe (Bible)]] [[ko:베타니아의 마르타]] [[it:Marta di Betania]] [[nl:Marta (Bijbel)]] [[ja:マルタ (マリアの姉)]] [[pl:Marta z Betanii]] [[pt:Santa Marta]] [[sv:Marta (helgon)]] [[zh:馬大]]