St. Mary of Bethany
The sister of Martha and Lazarus who sat listening at Jesus' feet and anointed him at Bethany; since 2021 the three share 29 July.
Canonized
St. Mary Magdalen — the article that also treats Mary of Bethany (Catholic Encyclopedia)
- The Church keeps two feasts a week apart: Mary Magdalene on 22 July, and Martha, Mary and Lazarus together on 29 July. The second was added in 2021. For centuries many writers in the West thought Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene were the same woman. The Church now lists them separately, and this record follows the calendar.
- Everything here is what the sources say about the sister of Martha by name: she is the sister of Martha and Lazarus (Luke 10:38-42, John 11), she sat at Jesus' feet and listened to him, and she anointed him at Bethany. Jesus defended her for it and said she would be remembered wherever the gospel was preached. Nothing from Mary Magdalene's story is carried over — not the seven demons, not the cross, not being first to see him risen — because those are hers only if the two women are the same person, and the sources do not settle that.
- Mary Magdalene has her own record here and it is worth reading next: it is built from the same encyclopedia article, read from her side. Her feast is 22 July; this memorial is 29 July.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1907-1913), Hugh Pope, 'St. Mary Magdalen'. This is the only article the encyclopedia has that covers her; there is none under her own name, because it treats the two women as one person. It was written before the calendar was reformed in 1969, so it is not the source for her feast day. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm
- Universal Calendar, 29 July — 'St Martha, Mary and Lazarus' (memorial), from the Liturgy Office of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. The same page lists Mary Magdalene on 22 July, which is how we know the Church treats them as two people. https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/Universal/JulUC.shtml
- The decree that made 29 July the memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, from the Congregation for Divine Worship, 26 January 2021. Martha's record here says more about what changed. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/02/02/210202c.html
- No patronage is recorded for her. The one document held for her — the encyclopedia's article on Mary Magdalen — was searched for 'patron' in August 2026, and the word is not in it.