St Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Martha was the sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany. Jesus gently reproved her when she complained about Mary not helping with the cooking when he came to visit (Luke 10: 38-42). In the Gospel of John, Martha appears at the Raising of Lazarus. It is also recorded that Martha served Jesus at supper six days before the Passover. (John 12: 1-2).

A medieval legend claims that Martha, Mary and Lazarus evangelised Provence. Her supposed relics were placed at the church in Tarascon in 1187. (Many thanks to a reader has pointed out that there is an old bas-relief carving in the cathedral in Marseilles of a very clearly female figure preaching to the princes of Marseilles. She notes the old guide book describes the carving as 'Lazarus preaching to the princes of Marseilles'…)

Martha is a patron of housewives and lay sisters. She is often depicted with a ladle, a broom or a bunch of keys. At Chichester Cathedral she is represented in a Romanesque sculpture of the Raising of Lazarus.

On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar, to replace the existing celebration of Saint Martha alone. Together they are patrons of siblings.