Does Martha move to today's France and end up stopping a deadly beast in Jesus name? An ancient tradition claims it is so!
Tarrascon, today's France, the eventual residence of Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary?
It is interesting that the Martha spoken of in the Bible, sibling of Mary and Lazarus, does not necessarily disappear from history after the crucifixion of Jesus. It is recorded by some that she ended up going to France and eventually died there, and that the location of her burial is locally famous. You can search What ended up happening to Martha from the Bible and read a lot more about her later life (purportedly, anyway!) But one point of interest to me was reading that in some tellings of her life story she faces down a dangerous beast, pacifies it in the name of Jesus, and leads it to the nearby village where it has been terrifying the residents. It's a killer, this beast! (if real, most likely what we would call a dinosaur of some type, from the description!) Here is a bit on this from Wikipedia:
A further legend relates that Martha then went to Tarascon, France, where a monster, the Tarasque, was a constant threat to the population. The Golden Legend describes it as a beast from Galatia; a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than a horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, that dwelt in a certain wood between Arles and Avignon. Holding a cross in her hand, Martha sprinkled the beast with holy water. Placing her sash around its neck, she led the tamed dragon through the village.[18]
There Martha lived, daily occupied in prayers and in fastings. Martha eventually died in Tarascon, where she was buried. Her tomb is located in the crypt of the local Collegiate Church.
End Quote from Wikipedia.
So, kind of an interesting and possibly historical tidbit to mention about her, I guess. There are a huge number of mentions of 'dragon-like creatures' from continental Europe and the United Kingdom in the last 2,000 years. Sometimes when they had tight tough scales covering their body, such as are spoken of in the final 3 chapters of Job concerning that beast, such beasts seemed 'fish-like' to people because of these scales. It seems stubborn to reject the idea that such animals existed. More likely they were simply hunted out (mainly) due to harm done to people, harm to valuable stock animals and due to the fact that men find hunting pretty exciting. Did Martha take charge of one such animal in France in Jesus' name? The power of Jesus certainly allows for it, I know that much. There are a couple more accounts on the Deeds of God website of missionaries and priests making similar type beasts docile in the name of Jesus.
Britain in medieval times had many Christian churches which kept the local community diaries, and there were many descriptions of the local authorities having to come out and hunt down beasts hurting the flocks and killing local people...and the descriptions in many of those cases would suggest what we would today call dinosaurs of various types, but which were often called dragons in the 'church annal' descriptions, though sometimes they were also described in a fair amount of detail concerning their physical appearance.
I saw a poster where someone has compiled a French map (with depictions) of mythical or anciently described French beasts, now gone. Here is the URL https://www.pucaprinthouse.com/post/mythical-beasts-of-france
Englishman Edward Topsell, a clergyman in the late 16th and early 17th century, compiled info about fabulous beasts he had heard of or found record of. You can find some of his work here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-history-of-four-footed-beasts-and-serpents-1658/
But most importantly, here is yet another eye-witness associate of Jesus who remained a believer and influenced many throughout her life, per this account. Jesus was real. Jesus is real. His power was real. His power still is real.