The Lover’s Tower

By Fr. Cristobal Vilaroig

We have spoken of Italian and Spanish pilgrims who visited the Holy Land in Ottoman times. Now let’s turn to the French who followed after them: the Jesuit, Michel Naud.

Father Michel Naud, SJ, came to Galilee around 1670. He could barely see Magdala since, according to him, the guides “made us go quite fast.” So fast that he made a mistake, and he was convinced that the village of El Mejdel (that is, Magdala) was Bethsaida: “Its remains are so unremarkable that many of us did not even see it.” However, on his way to Tiberias, he saw by the sea a ruined tower, which the locals called Burj el-‘Asheq (The Lover’s Tower), and the guides told him that it was the ancient Magdala. “This Magdalum was the castle from which St. Mary Magdalene took her surname.” They also told him that “you can still see the walls of a church there,” although the rush they were in prevented Fr. Naud from approaching the place to verify it. What Father Naud describes does not seem to be what we know as Magdala, but instead the site where the Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene is currently located, halfway between Magdala and Tiberias.