Feast of St. Phoebe, September 3

On September 3rd, we commemorate the feast of St. Phoebe, deacon and benefactor to the early Church. We celebrate her gifts, her courage and, through her example, the contributions of all women to the Church. We seek Phoebe’s guidance and intercession as, throughout the Synod, we rethink women’s participation in the practices and structures of the Church. 

We know St. Phoebe only from a brief reference in scripture. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes,

I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is (also) a minister [in Greek, diakonos] of the church at Cenchrae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy ones, and help her in whatever she may need from you. For she has been a benefactor to many and to me as well.
Romans 16:1-2.  

From this short introduction of Phoebe to the Christian community in Rome, we learn she is “our sister,” that is, a believer in Christ, from Cenchrae, a seaport near Corinth. Phoebe answered God’s call to minister to God’s people during the earliest days of the Church, when Christians were aggressively persecuted. It is believed she was the reader and interpreter of Paul’s letter upon its delivery in Rome. That Paul entrusted Phoebe with this task, and that she was a deacon of the Church and benefactor to Paul and others indicate she was a woman of influence in her society. 

We celebrate St. Phoebe as Church leaders prepare to gather in Rome for the General Assembly of the Synod. “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod, notes that the global listening sessions brought forth an appeal from all continents to rethink many aspects of women’s participation in the Church, including a request that the Church continue its discernment in relation to a female diaconate.

This desire was expressed by the participants in the listening sessions conducted here at St. Ignatius Parish. The Final Report of the Synod at St. Ignatius reflects a call for “revisions to the structure and teaching of the Church to allow women to exercise the ministries - both structural and sacramental - to which each may be called by virtue of her baptism, the gifts she has received, and the movement of the Holy Spirit in her heart.” Such revisions would include, “the reestablishment of the ordained diaconate for women.” As the only person identified in the New Testament by name as a deacon, St. Phoebe is a fitting and welcome companion for this particular discernment. 

As a faith community, in celebrating St. Phoebe we join in prayer for the Global Synod, deepen our devotion to an inspiring but little-known saint, and honor the gifts of women ministers and leaders in our Church. Let us follow in the footsteps of St. Phoebe in our synodal journey. 

Abundant thanks to Discerning Deacons for providing the resources and materials that informed this article. For more on St. Phoebe and on Discerning Deacons, visit
discerningdeacons.org

Ruth Robinson, Worship Commission member