According
to legend, a party of disciples fleeing persecution in Judah shortly
after the crucifixion sailed to the south of what is now France and
landed in the location of the present town of
Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The refugees included the three Marys:
Magdalen, Salome and the mother of James, along with Martha of
Bethany and Joseph of Arimathea.
In
the Camargue, no-one would entertain the notion that this story is
not literally true. Though the whereabouts of the Magdalen's remains
are disputed, everyone knows that Salome and the mother of James are
buried in Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (above right) and Martha in Tarascon (below left). It is
unthinkable that the popular medieval competition between shrines to
rediscover relics of saints
in order to attract pilgrims, the medieval equivalent of tourists,
had anything to do with it.
Even
leaving aside the question of relics, the association of Mary
Magdalen with the area has very strong traditional roots. It was of
course a part of the old story on which The Da Vinci Code
was built. The Albigensian Heresy (Catharism) in the early middle
ages, and the 19th / 20th century mystery of Rennes-le-Château
have also some possible links to the story.
Today these churches are still places of pilgrimage, and
Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the site of an annual Roma pilgrimage in honour of their patron St Sarah, whose relationship to the ship of refugees is not entirely clear. She may have been a servant or a local woman who welcomed them.
The strength of feeling that surrounds these places is entirely convincing to romantics like me.
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