Abstract
As our new contribution to the scientific knowledge of Holy Maria-Magdalena remains, we have studied pollens and several vegetal tissues of fennel adhering to her hairs by optical microscopy and SEM-EDX. Pollen grains, foliar, pedicelar and stem debris found are characteristics of Foeniculum vulgare. Detailed examination of these tissue debris shows that the plant involved was carefully processed and cultivated. Fennel symbolism is an important attribute to the Ma-rie-Madeleine worship concerning the French “Tradition des Saints de Pro-vence”.
Highlights
Maria-Magdalena, named here Ste Marie-Madeleine (3?-63?), is the most abundantly cited women of the four Gospels
As our new contribution to the scientific knowledge of Holy Maria-Magdalena remains, we have studied pollens and several vegetal tissues of fennel adhering to her hairs by optical microscopy and SEM-EDX
Bernard Gui, who was an auricular witness of the facts, wrote: “In the year of grace of Jesus-Christ in 1279, the nineteenth day of December, the Prince Charles, son of Charles King of Sicily, Count of Provence and King of Sicily, had looked for the body of Ste Marie-Madeleine with so much solicitude and as much a devotion in this holy oratory in which St Maximin, one of the seventy disciples of the Seigneur Jésus-Christ, venerated in the Aix formerly, had given one burial place...”
Summary
Maria-Magdalena, named here Ste Marie-Madeleine (3?-63?), is the most abundantly cited (at least twelve citations, without taking account some repeats) women of the four Gospels. She (and her companions) attained further the towns of Marseilles and Aix-en-Provence, where they evangelized the Provence region Thereafter, she withdrew for thirty years to the cave of La-Sainte-Baume, where she died (in 63); she was buried in the currently named village of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-. Foeniculum vulgare is an upright, branching perennial herb (Supplementary Figure 2) with soft, feathery, and almost hair-like foliage growing up to two metres tall. It is typically grown in vegetable and herb gardens for its aniseflavoured foliage and seeds, both of which are commonly harvested for use in cooking. The bright golden flowers are produced in large and flat terminal umbels (with thirteen to twenty rays) bloom in July to August
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