Ancilla Dei
In early Christian inscriptions the title ancilla Dei is often
given to a deceased woman. From the meaning attached to this term
in the Middle Ages it has sometimes been assumed, without
sufficient proof, that the persons so qualified in the first age
of Christianity were consecrated virgins. The inscriptions
containing this formula are of two classes: one, in which it is
merely stated that a given person was ancilla Dei; the other, from
which it is clear that this title was sometimes given to persons
who certainly were not religious. It is with the latter class that
we are concerned. The former class is the more numerous, but one
of the latter is quite explicit. This informs us that a certain
monument was erected by a husband to his wife, whom he styles Dei
ancilla -- "(Laur)entius Rufine coniugi Dei anci(llae) . . ." (De
Rossi, Roma Sott., III, p. 11, n. 4). In a Roman inscription of
the first quarter of the sixth century a certain Guttes is
referred to as ancilla Dei, and it is further stated that she was
nonnes -- "in presence of the nun Guttes, a handmaid of God" (sub
presenti� nonnes Guttes, ancille Dei). This reference proves that
even in the sixth century, ancilla Dei is a title not peculiar to
religious; the author regarded it as necessary to state explicitly
that she was nonnes (Cabrol, Dict. d'arch. chr�t, 1902). From the
pontificate of St. Gregory the Great (590 - 604), however, only
nuns, as a rule, were qualified by this title: "ancillas Dei quas
vos graec� lingu� monastrias dicitis" (Greg. M. Ep., vi, 23).
MAURICE M. HASSETT
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver, Colorado, USA, 80228.
(
[email protected]) Taken from the New Advent Web Page
(www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
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