For centuries, pilgrims have ascended the winding way to the abbey church of the Magdalene crowning the hill at Vezelay, often crawling on their hands and knees in penitence and petition. Construction on the basilica of La Madeleine began in 1096 and it very quickly became the fourth most popular of all sites of Christian pilgrimage, attesting to the enormous sway that the Magdalene still held over the hearts and minds of the population of that time, a thousand years after her death. Based on legends that she and her family had fled to Gaul as refugees before the first orthodox gospels were even written, the fascination and hold that Mary Magdalene held over this ancient land was both powerful and mystifying. What was the fascination that has held a whole nation in its thrall for nearly two millennia? Was Mary really the founder of the Celtic Church? Was there a connection between Mary and the Cathars? If so, has her cult survived to this day in the countryside of Celtic Europe? After the death of Yeshua, did Mary really flee from Jerusalem to travel to Southern France with her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Joseph of Arimithea, and other disciples, to work and preach among the people of Gaul, and eventually to found the Celtic Church before supposedly retiring from public life to spend the last thirty years of her life in a hermits cave in the mountains of Ste Baume? Is there any real evidence to support the popular theories and legends behind the life of this mysterious woman? What was it about this mysterious woman that led her followers, Cathar and others like them, to die in their thousands during the holocaust of the Albigensian crusade rather than deny their faith and belief? Join with us as we travel through the magnificent country of Southern France to make a spiritual journey back in time to explore this fascinating legend, and attempt to find answers to some of these questions. Marvel with us as we seek to understand the wondrous power of this extraordinary yet enigmatic woman who left behind such a rich spiritual heritage, and yet with whom history has dealt so harshly, and with such premeditated injustice. Next page > For more information or to reserve your place, contact alex@laconneau.org |
