Why is this French title, Notre Dame, so well-known around the world and used so widely as opposed to the English “Our Lady” or the Italian “Nostra Signora”?
NOTRE DAME DE CHARTRES
To unravel this, we need to start our investigation at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres. It was built in the 11th century, at the height of the Templars, as were many Notre Dame churches, and because it contains unusual features, it has been speculated that there was heretical Templar involvement. For instance, the famous Magdalene window has panels that portray Mary Magdalene at the raising of Lazarus and Mary Magdalene in Bethany, anointing Jesus’ feet with her hair, which both contradict the church’s invention of Mary of Bethany, who is alleged to be the sister of Lazarus and Martha. But this window proclaims otherwise.
THE WINDOWS
There are two other panels in the window that interest us. Here is one panel that shows the Magdalene stepping off a boat.
There is no story in the Bible that tells us about a boat journey the Magdalene took. Where has she travelled to? And who is this person, dressed as a bishop, preaching in the Magdalene window? He is even shown present in a panel of her death. How does he relate to the Magdalene?
And even more surprising, in the Paris church of Saint Severin, there is another Magdalene window that has our man in his bishop’s costume, with the Magdalene in pride of place at the top.
So here the Magdalene is preaching under a tree; to our left is the boat she has travelled in, and there is our bishop at the top. So what secret do these windows contain?
FIRST CENTURY ISRAEL
It begins way back in Israel just after the Romans took over the administration of Judea in 6 AD. Josephus reports that the Zealots were attacking any person who collaborated with the Romans: ‘Looting their property, rounding up their cattle, and setting their dwellings on fire.’
These troubles ended with the Jewish War, which began in 66 AD and was more than a war against the Romans; it was a revolution, as Josephus reports that:
‘The king’s troops, inferior now in numbers, were driven out of the Upper City… Their opponents took their fire to the records office, eager to destroy the moneylenders’ bonds and so make impossible the recovery of debts, and enable the poor to rise with impunity against the rich.’ (Josephus, ‘The Jewish War’)
As early as 40 AD we know the rich were leaving Israel in droves, travelling to Jewish communities in places like Alexandria. But the very rich Jews often sailed across the Mediterranean to Gaul, and Josephus even reports that two of Herod’s sons sailed there. We have written evidence that there was a huge quantity of Jews in the area of the Narbonne by 600 AD, as Archbishop Julian of Toledo described the region as ‘a brothel of blaspheming Jews’. Why blaspheming Jews as opposed to ordinary Jews is the question? These Jews were not uneducated peasants; an English monk, Theobald of Cambridge, wrote: ‘The chief men and rabbis of the Jews who dwell in Spain assembled together at Narbonne, where the Royal Seed resides, and where they are held in the highest esteem.’ These are clearly well-educated men, including a rabbi and princes. What insider knowledge did these Jews bring with them about Israel and perhaps about Jesus, whose brother James was still functioning in Israel till 62 AD? Could this be why they were called blaspheming Jews?
THE JOURNEY
According to longstanding tradition, a boat landed in Gaul around 45 AD with a Jewish family from Bethany who knew the story of Jesus very well: Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus and Maximin, said to be one of the 72. I say ‘tradition’ as opposed to ‘legend’ because this is an oral transmission, from generation to generation, of facts deeply rooted in the history of the area. The developing town and church was called Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer. This town should be one of the most holy sites in Christendom. But is it? Not at all; it is a small seaside resort with a fairground. Compared to Lourdes, where a young girl thinks she saw the Virgin Mother, Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer is miniscule. Every attempt seems to have been made to downplay it.
Suddenly in 1448, pictures and statues appear that suggest the Bethany family are not in the boat, but instead there were three Maries: Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacob and Mary Salome, and even their servant Sara, but none of the others. Where are Martha and Lazarus and Maximin, and where did these other two Maries come from? This looks exactly like the same tactic used during the resurrection of Jesus to downplay the Magdalene. In John’s Gospel Mary Magdalene is alone when she discovers the empty tomb and then meets Jesus and mistakes him for the gardener:
‘Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.’
But now look at the synoptic Gospels, which were the original Bible, starting with Mark:
‘When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.’
What reason could there be for adding these others? These are the same people added to the landing place of the Magdalene in 1448. Is it an accident, or is it the same tactic used in Notre Dame-de-la-Mer? Add others to remove the importance of the Magdalene. Of course After the Da Vinci Code, many believe the constant attacks on the Magdalene by the church were to do with a marriage between her and Jesus, which, while possible, I think is very unlikely for reasons that will become obvious later.
After adding these extra Maries, they changed the name of the town to the awkward Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to reflect these other Maries and remove Notre Dame from the title.
Can you believe they then made a concerted effort to even disassociate Mary Magdalene completely from the site? From the three Maries, you can now see that the statue in the church has only two European-looking ladies!
Which Mary is missing from this tableau? Why, the Magdalene, of course! A town and a church dedicated to her landing has had her removed. I could not believe my eyes, and in the tourist shop outside I resented paying three euros, but I had to buy this postcard of the outrage. See, it says Mary Jacob and Mary Salome and even the servant Sara, but no Mary Magdalene!
The actual original name of the town and the church was Notre Dame-de-la-Mer, not mentioning other Maries at all, but now we have the other Maries, plural, but no Mary Magdalene. And I think it must be becoming obvious to you that Notre Dame was originally Mary Magdalene, not the Virgin Mother. While at other Notre Dame churches they just said it was dedicated to the Virgin, even if the Magdalene window at Chartres says otherwise, here at Notre Dame-de-la-Mer there was no way they could claim the name Notre Dame was the Virgin, as she had nothing at all to do with the place, so the name of the town and the church had to be changed to protect the secret of who Notre Dame was.
You may be surprised that even Notre Dame de Paris, built during the height of the Knights Templar in the 12th century, was dedicated to Mary Magdalene. The man responsible for the building of Notre Dame in 1163 was the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully. His history shows links to the beliefs of the Templars, who were just rising to their heights. For instance, he converted a synagogue that was seized from the Jews of Paris and duly consecrated it as a church dedicated to Mary Magdalene! So the Magdalene was foremost in his mind, but what about the Virgin Mother? Sully forbade the celebration of her feast of the Immaculate Conception in his diocese. So I think it is clear whom he and the masons actually dedicated Notre Dame to, as did Victor Hugo when he wrote ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’, as he was steeped in the French esoteric world.
THE BLACK MADONNA
One interesting feature of the postcard is the inclusion of the statuette of Sara, the supposed Egyptian servant who is venerated by the Gipsy horsemen of the Camargue. I think this is one of the many Black Madonnas that appear in this very area of France, where the Magdalene lived and preached. So one assumes these are probably statuettes of Mary Magdalene. So Sara is probably the real image of the Magdalene, and those two Europeans in the boat are total inventions
Remember, the Magdalene was born a Jew and died a Jew, as Christianity had not yet been invented till Paul got to Rome in 62 AD, and I would suggest, like most original Israelites, she looked like Ethiopians. Geneticists have discovered that the purest surviving remnant of the Children of Israel identified by CMH tests is the tribe of Black Jews in India. The Bene Israel and the Black Jews of Cochin, who show a genetic affinity not only to Ethiopians and Yemenites but also to the tribe of Black Jews in South Africa, the Lemba, whose relation to the ancient Hebrews has also been confirmed by the presence of high frequencies of the CMH. Thus, genetics confirms that the ancient Hebrews were Black.
And you can see that in the earliest image of Peter and Paul they have African features, but in the later one they have been given Roman noses and wavy hair.
And you will now find in modern images they have become totally European.
Local legend has it that Martha travelled towards Avignon and ended up in Tarascon, where she lived and died and is buried there in St Martha’s Church. Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and Maximin travelled on to Marseille, where Mary Magdalene began to preach and Lazarus became the first bishop of Marseille, probably preaching Jesus’ mystic Judaism in synagogues. Women cannot preach in synagogues, which is why the Magdalene is always shown in the open air preaching or under a tree, as in the Saint Severin window.
The Magdalene went on to Aix, where Maximin had become the first bishop of Aix, and it is he who appears preaching in the Magdalene window in Chartres Cathedral. In her final days the Magdalene retreated to a mountain cave which became known as La Sainte Baume (The Saint of the Balm), where she remained for the last years of her life in contemplation and prayer.
At the end, she left the cave and came down to Aix and died in the arms of Maximim. That Maximin travelled with the Magdalene, and that she spent time with him in Aix before she retreated to the cave. And the fact that she died in his arms does suggest to me that they were lovers. But I leave that one for you to decide.
The main point is that, if this story was an invented story, as the church wishes to suggest, why does an unknown character like Maximin play such an important role that he is placed so dominantly in the Magdalene windows? An invented story would include a well-known disciple like Philip, not an unknown one. So this points to the story being true. One other detail that may disappoint the Da Vinci Code lovers is there is no child ever mentioned with the Magdalene, so that story is pretty unlikely.
But why all this attempt to downplay the Bethany family? This family that Jesus so loved taught the real story of Jesus, which contradicted Luke in Rome, and that is why they were attacked. Mary being called a prostitute and Lazarus totally cut out of the Bible! Yes, you heard that right. The original Bible was the three synoptic books, Matthew, Mark and Luke; John was not added till Luke died. They are called the synoptic, meaning seen with one eye, because many of the stories are similar. But in this early Bible we are never told who lives in Bethany, and Lazarus is totally missing from the text. We know he was cut out because a letter was found written by Clement of Alexandria telling of a cut between verses 34 and 35 of Mark 10 that contained the raising of Lazarus. So the one eye that dominates the synoptic Gospels is Luke’s.
We have some evidence that they contradicted church teaching because Archbishop Julian of Toledo in 600 AD described the region as ‘a brothel of blaspheming Jews’. Why are they blaspheming Jews, as opposed to ordinary Jews? Because they told a different story of Jesus than that created in Rome. And that story is now available.
© 2025 JULIAN DOYLE: Author of the book ‘The Assassination of Mary Magdalene’
