Much has been made in recent years of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalen, mainly because of Dan Brown's runaway best-seller, "The Da Vinci Code," and the subsequent film version that was released earlier this year, albeit to mixed reviews, and now the DVD version that became available last month.

There have been two extreme positions on the Jesus-Mary Magdalen relationship. On the left, we have people who baldly assert that, of course, Jesus and Mary Magdalen were married and had a child, even though there is no evidence to support such speculation.

At the opposite extreme is the view that, of course, Jesus could have had no close relationship with any woman, save the Blessed Mother, as if any non-maternal relationship with a woman would have somehow compromised his sanctity and even his godliness.

One finds a broad spectrum of such views in the recently published "Secrets of Mary Magdalen: The Untold Story of History's Most Misunderstood Woman," edited by Dan Burstein and Arne J. De Keijzer (New York: CDS Books).

Back in 1983 (the week of August 12, to be exact), I did a column on "the human side of the papacy," which offered comments on some contemporary books on recent pontificates, including Paul Murphy's "La Popessa" (New York: Warner Books), concerning Pope Pius XII's long-time collaborator, Sister Pasqualina, and "Pontiff," by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts (New York: Doubleday).

I pointed out that one of the striking elements in "Pontiff" was the reminder (perhaps a revelation to many) that some of our recent popes have had nuns very close to them in the exercise of their pastoral offices, both before and during their pontificates.

It was Sister Vincenza who found Pope John Paul I dead in his bed. She had been with him in the years prior to his election. Not surprisingly, some Vatican officials tried unsuccessfully to delete her from the story surrounding the pope's death.

Another nun, Sister Giacomo, served as Pope Paul VI's head of household and personal nurse. But it was Sister Pasqualina, long-time aide to Pius XII, who stands far above all others in terms of proximity and importance.

She had come into Eugenio Pacelli's personal service long before his election to the papacy in 1939 and remained with him to the very end, when she was unceremoniously expelled from the papal apartments by Cardinal Tisserant, then dean of the College of Cardinals.

Sister Pasqualina had been feared --- and deeply resented --- by many high-ranking cardinals because she had served as the pope's confidant and "gate-keeper." No one got in to see him without her say-so.

Some of the greatest priest-saints in the history of the Church also had close female friends and collaborators. St. Francis of Assisi famously had Clare, the foundress of the Poor Clares, who, like her friend and spiritual mentor, was canonized only two years after her death. It was during Francis' final visit to her that he composed his famous "Canticle of the Sun."

Early next week (December 12) we celebrate the feast day of yet another close female friend and spiritual associate of a great priest-bishop, St. Francis de Sales.

Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) had been married at age 20 but the happiness of that marriage was undermined by the deaths of her three oldest children soon after birth and then of her husband in a shooting accident. After that latest tragedy, Jane took a vow of chastity and lived for a time with her three surviving children.

Upon hearing Francis de Sales preach, the young widow persuaded him to become her spiritual director. His advice was always practical, and she began devoting herself to the needs of children, the poor, the sick, and the dying.

However, when she later informed Francis of her desire to enter a cloister, he advised against it and proposed instead that they establish a non-enclosed religious community for women, the Order of the Visitation.

Francis and Jane carried on what can only be described as a voluminous correspondence over many years. In one of his letters, he wrote, "With you I speak as I do with my own heart," reminding us again that some of the Church's greatest priests have had close friendships with supportive women.

According to Jane Frances de Chantal's biography, she was personally devastated by Francis de Sales's death in 1622, after which she experienced periods of spiritual aridity. She died almost 20 years later on her way home from a visit with the Queen of Austria in Paris. Significantly, her body was taken to Anneçy and buried next to Francis.

Someone had the good sense to arrange that.

Father Richard P. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.