It is the handyman woman who together with her sister Maria in Bethany near Jerusalem welcomed the Lord Jesus in his home and, upon the death of his brother Lazzaro, resurrected by Christ, professing: “You are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who comes into the world”. His name means “lady”. She is protector of housewives, domestic, hoteliers, hosts and cooks. The first to dedicate a liturgical celebration to her were the Franciscans in 1262.
“Lord, tell my sister to help me”
Marta is the sister of Maria and Lazzaro di Betania, a village about three kilometers from Jerusalem. In their hospitable house Jesus loved to stop during preaching in Judea. On the occasion of one of these visits, Marta appears for the first time. The Gospel presents it as the woman of the house, urges and investigated to welcome the welcome guest worthily, while her sister Maria prefers to listen to the master’s words. So the reproach that Marta moves to Mary is not surprising: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to serve? So say that you help me».
Jesus’ response can play as a reproach to the effective massage: «Marta, Marta, you inhale you and you worry about many things; Only one is necessary: Maria instead chose the best part, which will not be removed. ” But reproach is not, comments S. Agostino: «Marta, you have not chosen evil; Mary, however, chose better than you». Nonetheless Maria, considered the evangelical model of contemplative souls already by S. Basilio and S. Gregorio the Great, does not seem to appear in the liturgical calendar: the holiness of this sweet figure of woman is out of the question, since it was confirmed by the same words of Christ; But it is only Marta, and not Maria nor Lazzaro, to appear in the calendar, as if to repay it for prompt attention to the person of the Savior and to propose it to Christian women as a model of industriousness.
The profession of faith
The disheartened and misunderstood profession of Massaia has redeemed by this effective saint named Marta, who simply means “lady”. Marta reappears in the Gospel in the dramatic episode of the resurrection of Lazzaro, where implicitly asks the miracle with a simple and wonderful profession of faith in the omnipotence of the Savior, in the resurrection of the dead and in the divinity of Christ, and during a banquet in which Lazzaro himself participates, recently resurrected, and also this time we present ourselves in the guise of a handyman.
The lesson given by the teacher did not concern, evidently, his commendable laboriousness, but the excess of trouble for material things at the expense of inner life.
On the following years of the Saint we have no historically ascertainable news, while abounding the legendary stories. The first to dedicate a liturgical celebration to S. Marta were the Franciscans, in 1262, on July 29, that is eight days after the feast of Santa Maria Maddalena, improperly identified with her sister Maria.
On 29 July the brothers of Marta, Maria and Lazzaro are also remembered
Since 2021, on 29 July the memory of the saints is in the general Roman calendar in the general Roman calendar Marta, Maria and Lazzaro. He arranged it Pope Francis accepting the proposal of the Congregation for Divine Cult and the Discipline of the Sacraments which published the relative decree. So far in the general Roman calendar the memory of the Marta alone had appeared. Motivating the decision, the decree, signed by the then prefect of the Dicastery, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and the secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche, underlines “The important evangelical testimony” offered by the three brothers “in guest at home the Lord Jesus, in lending him cordial listening, in believing that he is the resurrection and life”.
“In the house of Bethany – the Lord Jesus has experienced the spirit of the family and friendship of Marta, Mary and Lazzaro, and for this reason the Gospel of John says that he loved them. Marta generously offered him hospitality, Maria listened to teachingly her words and Lazzaro promptly left the sepulcher by command of the one who humiliated death “.
The decree explains that “the traditional uncertainty of the Latin Church about the identity of Mary – the Maddalena to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection, Marta’s sister, the sinner to whom the Lord put his sins – who decided the enrollment of the Marta alone on July 29 in the Roman calendar, found a solution in studies and times, as attested by today’s Roman Martyrology who commemorates in that day. In addition, in some particular calendars the three brothers are celebrated together on that day. The memory must therefore appear in all calendars and liturgical books for the celebration of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours; The variations and additions to be adopted in the liturgical texts, attached to this decree, must be translated, approved and, after confirmation of this dicastery, published by the episcopal conferences “.
