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Mary Magdalene

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A devoted follower of Jesus, traditionally identified as the first witness to His resurrection, symbolizing penitence, loyalty, and revelation.

Detailed Definition
Mary, delivered from seven demons, funded Jesus’ ministry and stood at the cross. She announced the risen Christ to the apostles. In poetry, Mary Magdalene represents transformed devotion, the dignity of women as primary witnesses, and the dawn of resurrection hope—often symbolizing the faithful heart that seeks and finds the living Lord.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John 20:16, Jesus calls “Mary!”—a moment captured in T.S. Eliot’s “Ash-Wednesday” as intimate recognition; Medieval legends depict Mary Magdalene as penitent, inspiring Rossetti’s “Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon the Pharisee”; Contemporary feminist poetry reclaims her as “apostle to the apostles” based on John 20:18; Denise Levertov’s “The Magdalene” portrays her as witness whose grief turns to proclamation; In Easter poems, her voice—“I have seen the Lord”—resonates as first gospel announcement; Some liturgical litanies honor her as model of transformative love.
Additional Notes
Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, is a key witness to the crucifixion and resurrection; long misidentified as a repentant prostitute (a conflation corrected by modern scholarship), she is now celebrated as “apostle to the apostles”; her story invites poetic reflection on healing, witness, and the reclamation of female voice.
Also Known As
Mary of Magdala the Magdalene Saint Mary Magdalene
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