St. Martha: The sister of Lazarus and Mary

St. Martha

The sister of Lazarus and Mary.

When Jesus came to their house, Mary sat at his feet and listened, but Martha "was cumbered about much serving" and complained of her sister to Jesus. She is the patron saint of good housewives and is represented in art in homely costume, bearing it her girdle a bunch of keys and holding a ladle or pot of water in her hand.

Like St. Margaret, she is accompanied by a dragon bound, for she is said to have destroyed one that ravaged the neighborhood of Marseilles, but she has not the palm and crown of martyrdom. She is commemorated on July 29, and is patron of Tarascon.

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