Women Priests in the Ancient Church

1. Properly ordained women priests

In the Early Church it has never been a general practice to ordain women as priests for reasons explained elsewhere.

However, there have been exceptions to this general rule. It seems that in a number of countries women were ordained priests.

The evidence can be found both in archeological inscriptions and historical records. Read these documents:

• "Notes on the Female Priesthood in Antiquity", by Prof. George Otranto in Journal of Feminist Studies 7 (1991) no 1, pp. 73 - 94.
• ‘The Problem of the Ordination of Women in the Early Christian Priesthood’, by Prof. George Otranto, paper of USA lecture tour, 1991.
• Letter of Atto, Bishop of Vercelli, to the priest Ambrose.
• ‘The Fractio Panis and the Eucharist as Eschatological banquet’, by Damien Casey in the Mcauley Electronic Journal 2 (2002).

Here is a tombstone for the Catholic woman priest Leta in South Italy, 4th cent. AD.

See also:

• The ordination of St. Brigit of Kildare as a bishop (6th cent. Ireland; ascribed in a legend to an ‘accident’ inspired by the Holy Spirit)

2. Women in pastoral leadership roles

There are also examples of women involved in pastoral ministries that came close to the priesthood.

• In the second-century ‘New Prophecy’ movement, which was originally not a heresy, Prisca and Maximilla were leading prophets. See the article by Anne Jensen.
• Both in East and West sacramentally ordained women deacons served the parishes.
• In the early sixth century, three bishops from the region of Lugdunensis (present-day Lyon ) in France: Licinius of Tours, Melanius of Rennes, and Eustochius of Angers, attempted to restrain two Celtic priests who encouraged the participation of women in the liturgy.
• Until the 16th century, in the Basque regions of France and Spain, socalled soreras or freilas exercised a female ministry that is probably a remnant of the early women's diaconate.

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Read the books that complement our website:

The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church. Unmasking a Cuckoo's Egg Tradition This book by John Wijngaards, published by Darton, Longman & Todd (UK), Continuum (USA), Media House (India), as well as in Italy, France, Holland and Japan, is a classic on the topic. More information here. Reviews

Women Deacons in the Early Church. Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates Another classic by John Wijngaards published by Canterbury Press (UK), Crossroad (USA), and Berne (Netherlands). More information here. Reviews

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