St Phoebe, Pray for Us!

Elizabeth Young rsm, 3 October 2024

We had a very big day today, with several events all centered around the deacon St Phoebe, who was St Paul’s emissary to … Rome! The clouds rained all day, as did my nose, and I hope I haven’t passed germs on to anyone. Firstly, a delegation of our larger group met with Fr Enda Murphy, the head of the office of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Three years ago, a Discerning Deacons team met with him to ask about the liturgical celebration of St Phoebe, and he had advised them to try to grow her devotion. So the meeting was an update on how it has been going, and where we might go from here.

Fr Enda was very hospitable and welcoming, inviting us to sit around the table and tell our stories of her devotion from our various contexts. What followed was pretty amazing. We heard from the US, Canada, Bolivia, Brazil and Australia just how much people have been inspired by her in their faith. Some of the contributions were about quantity (the number of St Phoebe Feast Day celebrations around the world, the icons, the songs, the learning) and some were about quality (her being received “with dignity” helped women who lived without dignity, she kept one of our members in the Catholic Church, she inspired children, her devotion was growing synodality and co-responsibility). I was able to share about all the St Phoebe commemorations in Australia in the last 3 years, and how our group takes both St Phoebe and St Stephen as patrons – she is valued by men and women in diaconal roles and authorised ministry.  

Fr Enda was clearly impressed that the devotion had “already born much fruit”, and discussed various ways that we could go forward, acknowledging the limitations of his office and the complexity of the liturgical calendar. We found common ground in wanting to lead people back to Christ, and examined other possibilities such as votive Masses and patronages. We left with several things to follow up, and all determined to keep building this valuable devotion.

The next part of the day with Discerning Deacons included a prayerful walk from St Peter’s Square to the Church of San Lorenzo nearby. We held images of St Phoebe as well as men and women saints who had worked together in ministry. Some of us also encountered Synod delegates, experts and facilitators from the Synod floor. I happened to talk to some from Australia, Burkina Faso, Italy, the US, Luxemborg and Canada. Something that I learned was that the diaconate was mentioned in the Synod today, as an example of the synodal process stalling over some issues (my paraphrase of the discussion). As one of our group asked later, how is access of women to the diaconate an exception to the consultative methods of a Synod on Synodality?

We had heard of the update reports from the Study Groups, including the one on Some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms. Unlike the other Study Groups, it did not name its members, though it did briefly show two photos of them. At the moment there does not seem to be a readiness to advance women’s access to the diaconate, but they are continuing to discern on the ministeriality of both men and women.

If this sounded disappointing, our afternoon Prayer Service for St Phoebe was full of the opposite: hope. We gathered in the church of a significant early deacon, St Lawrence, underneath the Franciscan cross of San Damiano. St Francis was also ordained a deacon and not a priest. Over more than 90 minutes, we prayed, sang, performed ritual actions and heard readings, preaching and testimonies. We began with the Rosella, our Odawa/Ojibway elder, who performed a smudging ceremony with us. Then we processed various images of St Phoebe to the sanctuary, including our Marice Sariola icon from Australia.

It was so powerful to listen to women who have felt a call to serve their communities on the margins more deeply, and to be blessed with baptismal water by the ordained clergy who were present. After the gospel reading from Luke, of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples, Sr Laura from Brazil preached a compelling word to us to be missionary disciples. The Holy Spirit sometimes moves as a quiet breeze, and sometimes as a wild tempest. We can never lose hope! Finally, we blessed the Synod members who were present, and promised to pray for them.

In the evening, we held yet another St Phoebe service online for our friends and supporters around the world. Again, we sang and prayed, beginning with the Adsumus chant of the Synod, which gave me a cold chill all over. I was very grateful to all those who participated with their prayers and presence, including my Mum, Sisters and ACED members from Australia who joined us in the middle of the night! Throughout this day and this Synod, we have felt St Phoebe’s intercession, our deacon forebear in faith and unofficial patron of all women in ministry and deacons.