The Three Marys

In some traditions, as exemplified in the Irish song Caoineadh na dTrí Muire,[4] the Three Marys are the three whom the Gospel of John mentions as present at the crucifixion of Jesus:[5] These three women are very often represented in art, as for example in El Greco's Disrobing of Christ.

All four gospels mention women going to the tomb of Jesus, but only Mark 16:1 mentions the three that this tradition interprets as bearing the name Mary: The other gospels give various indications about the number and identity of women visiting the tomb: The Roman Martyrology commemorates Mary Magdalene on 22 July.

[6] What may be the earliest known representation of three women visiting the tomb of Jesus is a fairly large fresco in the Dura-Europos church in the ancient city of Dura Europos on the Euphrates.

The fresco was painted before the city's conquest and abandonment in AD 256, but it is from the 5th century that representations of either two or three women approaching a tomb guarded by an angel appear with regularity, and become the standard depiction of the Resurrection.

In various Catholic countries, particularly in the Kingdom of Spain, the Philippines and Latin American countries, images of the three Marys (in Spanish Tres Marías) associated with the tomb are carried in Good Friday processions referred to by the word Penitencia (Spanish) or Panatà (Filipino for an act performed in fulfilment of a vow).

[13][14] They carry attributes or iconic accessories, chiefly enumerated as follows: The Blessed Virgin Mary is not part of this group, as her title as Mater Dolorosa is reserved to a singular privilege in the procession.

[22][23] For some centuries, religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries frequently presented Saint Anne with her husbands, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as a group known as the Holy Kinship.

[24] Classicists have observed some similarities and parallels between the depiction and representation of the Three Marys and those of the Three Fates (Moirai) who are the three goddesses of destiny in Greek mythology.