Egyptian Mary, penitent (5th century)

Biography

One day she joined an expedition of pilgrims who were going to the Holy Land to pray, but she was going to walk and have fun. Upon arriving at the Holy Sepulchre, while the others were entering to pray, she felt a hand stopping her three times and heard a voice telling her that she was not worthy of entering that sacred site because she was enslaved by sin. She began to cry and when she looked up, she saw an image of the Virgin looking at her with compassion. He promised him that if he allowed him to enter the temple, he would leave his life of sin and dedicate himself to prayer and penance. He was immediately able to enter the temple and since then for forty years he lived in the desert suffering from hunger and thirst, terrible heat and very cold. There she was found by a holy priest named Zosimus, turned into a living skeleton. He brought her Communion on Holy Thursday and on Friday María Egipciaca died, spreading the fame of her holiness and the miracles worked through her intercession to many countries.