Mary Magdalene (Maria Magdalena) has the distinction of being the second-most well-known woman in the New Testament, after, of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She is honored as a saint by many Christian denominations. Because of the proliferation of the use of the name “Mary” in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene got the probably erroneous reputation early on of being a “bad” girl. This portrayal was furthered by early church fathers and emphasized by religious art over the centuries. There is, in fact, no evidence to associate her with the woman Mary who was the acknowledged sinner, but the confusion took hold and actually seems to have imbued her with a certain sympathetic identity. Who needs another saint, anyway? In the Gospels, Mary Magdalene is credited with three pretty big events: she witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus, his burial, and then the empty tomb from which Jesus rose after three days. These are solemn occasions, and they are unconnected to the stories of the woman from whom seven demons were exorcised, the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus, or the woman who dried her own tears with her sensuous long red hair. Contemporary Gnostic accounts go so far as to depict her as Jesus’ most beloved apostle who is called upon to spread his word, thus sparking an outrage of jealousy from the Apostles, particularly Peter. Who knows where legend ends and lies begin? Whatever her own truth, Mary Magdalene lives on today in a special aura, and we welcome the solicitude of one who was, perhaps, just like the rest of us – flawed and yet – ever striving.

Mary Magdalene has the distinction of being the second-most well-known woman in the New Testament, after, of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She is honored as a saint by many Christian denominations. Because of the proliferation of the use of the name “Mary” in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene got the probably erroneous reputation early on of being a “bad” girl. This portrayal was furthered by early church fathers and emphasized by religious art over the centuries. There is, in fact, no evidence to associate her with the woman Mary who was the acknowledged sinner, but the confusion took hold and actually seems to have imbued her with a certain sympathetic identity. Who needs another saint, anyway? In the Gospels, Mary Magdalene is credited with three pretty big events: she witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus, his burial, and then the empty tomb from which Jesus rose after three days. These are solemn occasions, and they are unconnected to the stories of the woman from whom seven demons were exorcised, the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus, or the woman who dried her own tears with her sensuous long red hair. Contemporary Gnostic accounts go so far as to depict her as Jesus’ most beloved apostle who is called upon to spread his word, thus sparking an outrage of jealousy from the Apostles, particularly Peter. Who knows where legend ends and lies begin? Whatever her own truth, Mary Magdalene lives on today in a special aura, and we welcome the solicitude of one who was, perhaps, just like the rest of us – flawed and yet – ever striving.

Aretha Franklin is an extremely gifted African-American singer popularly dubbed “The Queen of Soul”. As with so many of her ilk, she got her start singing gospel in church and made her breakthrough in the late sixties with such monumental hits as “Think” and “Respect”. Aretha is one of the best-selling female vocalists of all time, and has won numerous awards, including 17 Grammys, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also did a hilarious turn as a singing waitress in the Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi comedy hit movie, “The Blues Brothers”, in 1980. In 2005, Aretha was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but perhaps her crowning accomplishment to date is her singing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural ceremony.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was a Pulitzer Prize winning American poet and playwright, almost as well known today for her love life as for her writing. Edna was an unconventional and independent person from childhood, when she insisted on calling herself “Vincent”. Although one of three daughters of a working, single mother, Edna was provided an education at Vassar by a sympathetic mentor. She plunged headfirst into the life of New York Bohemia, joining the Provincetown Players, writing, exploring early feminist ideals and conducting multiple affairs with both sexes. By 1923 she had won the Pulitzer and was in demand as a poet, her success at which would last her lifetime. She enjoyed a long, open and mostly happy marriage to a non-writer who enabled her to concentrate on what was essential to her, guarding her health and her space assiduously. If she did nothing else at all, she would always be remembered as the woman whose “…candle burns at both ends” and, indeed, it did give “a lovely light”!

Ida Lupino was a hard-working film actress as well as being one of the first women directors of film and television. English born, Ida Lupino came to the United States in 1933 after launching a successful career in her homeland. She started at Warner Brothers with modest success, often being on suspension for refusing studio proffered roles. Moving to Columbia Pictures in the late 1940s, Ida began finding herself pulled toward directing, eventually becoming the first actress to produce, direct and write her own films, including 1953’s film noir, The Hitch-Hiker. Ms. Lupino continued acting well into the 1970s, but her directing efforts were now centered on television. The earthy, no-nonsense Ida Lupino seems to be undervalued today, both as an actress and as a pioneer of women directors; perhaps her renaissance will come along someday.

Dame Agatha Miller Christie was the extraordinarily prolific British mystery writer who created two of the most beloved detectives of the genre: Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Prolific hardly begins to describe it – Agatha Christie’s works rank third in sales after the Bible and William Shakespeare! Not content with all of that, Agatha Christie also produced several romance novels under the name “Mary Wesmacott” and also wrote the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap. She was born into the wealthy upper middle class, and portrayed that genre most successfully in her fiction. Colonels, country squires, dames, ladies and earls pepper her prose, and she is distinctly British. One never forgets that Poirot, however clever, is a foreigner! Agatha Christie has provided cozy comfort for millions down through the years, not the least of which derives from some of her own personal history. While married to the very handsome airman, Archibald Christie (with whom she had her only child, a daughter, Rosalind), Agatha disappeared for a ten day period when their marital troubles (that is to say, Archie’s mistress) became apparent. Her disappearance was top news, and thousands participated in the search before she was discovered at a hotel in Yorkshire. She never publicly explained the affair – well, she was a woman of mystery, after all! In later years, Agatha had a long and happy marriage to Sir. Max Mallowan, an archeologist, whom she accompanied on many Middle Eastern digs. She wrote continuously, right up until her death, and her work is as appreciated today as it was in her lifetime.

(Mary) Louise Brooks was an American actress in the silent era whose beautifully coiffed bobbed haircut started a trend in the twenties. Kansas born, Louise started her career as a dancer (George White’s Scandals and Ziegfeld’s Follies) and was soon spotted and signed by Paramount in 1925. After a series of successful silents, Louise walked out on Paramount over a wage dispute and went to Germany, where she made her most famous film, Pandora’s Box, with Austrian filmmaker, G. W. Pabst. Upon her return to Hollywood, she was essentially black-listed, a fact that seemed not to matter to her, as she claimed to have loathed the town anyway. Louise spent the remainder of her career, until 1938, playing bit parts and acting in un-credited roles. She briefly returned to Wichita, Kansas, and finally wound up in New York, where she worked as a clerk at Saks Fifth Avenue. She enjoyed a revival in the fifties after being rediscovered by French filmmakers, and then again in the eighties, when American film historians sought her out and interviewed her in depth on film. Louise married twice, briefly, and had no children. An affair with William Paley, the founder of CBS, netted her a small stipend; she lived alone and modestly until her death, shortly after publishing her memoir, Lulu in Hollywood. Today Louise Brooks is a cult figure, looked up to by thousands who never heard of other silent stars, as an icon of reckless independence and open sexuality in an age that frowned upon anything of the sort for women.

St. Francis of Assisi was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (nicknamed “Francesco”) to a wealthy Italian family. In his youth he indulged in the usual antics common to a 12th century carefree young man, but a serious illness apparently gave him time to ponder the nature of his soul. He soon began the ministry that would last his lifetime, that of preaching, renouncing material possessions, embracing chastity and endeavoring to love all God’s creatures, human and non. Pretty big order! So an order he founded – the Franciscans, along with a cloistered order for women, the Poor Clares. Legend is rather difficult to separate from fact, but St. Francis is credited with introducing the Nativity Scene as a fixture at Christmas time, as well as having received the stigmata – the wounds of Christ’s crucifixion. (Well, perhaps that’s a bad example of legend versus fact.) In his day, Francis apparently also traveled to Egypt in an unsuccessful effort to convert the sultan non-violently (as opposed to the methods of the “Holy” Crusades). Francis was declared a saint within a couple of years of his death; today he is one of the most beloved figures in this sanctified pantheon, and is closely associated with an abiding love for animals. The current Catholic pope, Jorge Bergoglio, honored him by taking his name upon his election as Pope Francis. We hope it proves to be as popular as Leo and Pius!

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Evelin.

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Janiah.