After "beeka Amerikana brekafasta" I tore off another sheet of my Vatican curial calendar (yes, the Sabine Farm has that too), to find that today is the feast of the Myrophorae.
Thus, I flipped open my 2004 Martyrologium Romanum (yes… that too) and found…
2. Hierosolymae, commemoratio sanctarum mulierum Mariae Cleophae et Salome, quae cum Maria Magdalena bene mane Paschatis ad sepulchrum Domini venerunt, ut corpus eius ungerent, et primae nuntium resurrectionis eius audiverunt. … At Jerusalem, the commemoration of the holy women Mary of Cleopas and Salome, who with Mary Magdalen came at first dawn of Easter to the tomb of the Lord, in order to annoint His Body, and were the first who heard the annoucement of the resurrection.
They are called the "myrophorae" because they "carried – myrrh" with them. They are especially important in Eastern liturgy.
Other "Myrrhbearers" are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
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So this is wierd. My daughter is called Ioanna and delights in knowing that her holy Patroness is also a Myrrhbearer. And in the East, so she is (St Ioanna myrophora). Is she not in the Martyrology just because she isn’t named in the Gospel as present at the tomb?
Saint Joanna, the wife of Chuza, is listed in the 2004 Martyrology on 24 May.
Is that image one of Sr. Marie-Paul Farran’s icons (via the Conception Abbey Printery)?