In the hills of Provence in France, beneath the basilica of Saint‑Maximin‑la‑Sainte‑Baume, there is a relic believed to be the head of Saint Mary Magdalene.
According to the Provençal tradition, Mary Magdalene came to southern Gaul after the Resurrection and during the early persecution of the disciples. She is said to have crossed the sea with companions associated in Christian memory with the early Church, eventually reaching the coast of what is now southern France. From there, the story places her final years in the Sainte‑Baume mountains, where she lived in prayer and penance in a cave that remains a place of pilgrimage to this day.
For generations, local Christians held that Mary Magdalene had not only lived in Provence, but had also been buried there. That belief gained dramatic force in 1279, when Charles II of Anjou ordered excavations at Saint‑Maximin. Beneath the church, excavators uncovered ancient sarcophagi, and one tomb was identified as especially significant. When it was opened, the discoverers reported finding the remains of a woman together with an inscription in Latin reading, “Here lies the body of Mary Magdalene.”
Medieval accounts surrounding the opening of the tomb added to the sense of wonder. Writers described a sweet fragrance issuing from the sarcophagus, a sign often associated in older Christian tradition with holiness. The skeleton was said to be nearly intact, and reports claimed that hair still remained attached to the skull.
The most famous part of the relics became the skull itself. It was eventually placed in a richly decorated reliquary and enshrined in the crypt of the basilica at Saint‑Maximin‑la‑Sainte‑Baume, where it is still venerated. A glass opening reveals the face of the skull, making it one of the most arresting relics in Christian Europe. Over time, devotion to the relic drew pilgrims from near and far, and the basilica became one of the best known pilgrimage sites connected to Mary Magdalene.
The tradition also holds that the lower jaw was missing when the relics were discovered. Later ecclesiastical accounts connected that missing jaw to a relic preserved in Rome, and the story developed that the jaw was ceremonially reunited with the skull. Pope Boniface VIII recognized the relics at Saint‑Maximin in the late 13th century, a decision that gave the shrine enormous prestige and helped secure its place in the devotional life of medieval Christendom.
Each year, especially around July 22, the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, the relic continues to be carried in procession through Saint‑Maximin. The public display of the skull is not merely a curiosity preserved from the medieval world; it remains part of living Catholic devotion. In that sense, the relic is not only about the past, but about the enduring desire of the faithful to remain close to the saints through tangible signs of memory and presence.