In 1983, Margaret Leonard discovered a book that changed her life. Margaret was a devout Catholic, and the book was Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
Because the book “…suggested that Jesus was married and that his wife and progeny fled Jerusalem and survived in Western Europe,” Margaret said, “I almost dropped the book and fled from the library.” But she didn’t run. Instead she kept reading.
In 1990, under the name Margaret Starbird, she wrote The Woman with the Alabaster Jar. Three years later, Kathleen McGowan comes into the story. She discovered Margaret’s book in 1993.
Kathleen wrote: “…my search for the truth about Mary Magdalene began in 1993. For this I have to thank Margaret Starbird, because it was her book, The Woman With the Alabaster Jar, in combination with Holy Blood Holy Grail, which made me decide that I had to dig deeper into my own French roots. As many of you know, this led me to the South of France for the first time in 1995 to do deeper research, and I haven’t stopped since.”
One of the places in the South of France to which Kathleen has made numerous pilgrimages is Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. This is the town in southeastern France where remains of Mary Magdalene can be seen in the basilica.
The basilica was consecrated in 1316 after a miraculous discovery had been made there. On December 12, 1279 a sarcophagus was found proclaiming the remains to be those of Mary Magdalene.
The Magdalene, as many believe, fled from the Holy Land in a boat with neither rudder nor sail, landed at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and then travelled to Marseilles where she converted the locals. She retired to a cave in the mountains of Sainte-Baume later in her life and was buried in Saint-Maximin.
The basilica has been an important pilgrimage site for hundreds of years. In 1515 it was visited by a young woman who later became the Queen of England.
Anne Boleyn was in France, in service of the new queen consort, Queen Claude, when they, along with Claude’s mother-in-law, Louise of Savoy, journeyed from Lyons to Marseilles to welcome Francis I back from his victory at the Battle of Marignano. During that trip, they stopped at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume to see Mary Magdalene’s tomb.
Is there a deeper connection that links Anne Boleyn with Mary Magdalene? It is a link that Kathleen McGowan has been investigating for the past ten years, and that has culminated in a book scheduled for release in December.
The Boleyn Heresy is the fourth historical novel in Kathleen’s Magdalene Line series, and she will be releasing it in New Orleans during her December 2 – 5, 2022 “Magdalene Movement” retreat. Registrations are still open for this event from Body Mind Spirit Journeys, but there are only three spaces left.
The workshops will include discussions on the lives and teachings of the women who claimed descent from Mary Magdalene, with a special presentation on Anne Boleyn and the French queens who were her mentors.
Click Here For Full Details of Kathleen’s New Orleans Retreat
Photo credits:
Jan van Scorel – Maria Magdalena (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam version) Jan van Scorel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Anne Boleyn, head and shoulders, in a roundel; below, a putto holding a torch downwards, Anne Boleyn’s head and an axe. Engraving by J. Houbraken, 1738, after H. Holbein the younger.