Posted on 02/25/2015 6:49:58 AM PST by WhiskeyX
The frescoes of the Santa Priscilla catacombs in Rome call our knowledge of the past into question and challenge the teachings of the Church. Amanda Ruggeri investigates.
When archaeologists in Rome at the end of the 19th Century began to excavate the Catacombs of Santa Priscilla, they hoped to find treasure: intricately carved monuments and vibrant frescoes of the type found in other ancient, underground cemeteries. Instead, they found devastation.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I’ve been to the catacombs of Rome. Not for the claustrophobic! But I must say the figure who is identified as a woman looks like a man to me.
The author of this story seems to have an agenda...
I certainly can't tell from the face or figure, but 1 Corinthians 11 says that women are to keep their heads covered (and men, their heads uncovered) in the Christian church. But how one can infer she is 'leading' anything is pure speculation out of the mind of the beholder. Perhaps she is praising, prophesying, or just breaking out in 'jazz hands'.
That’s a man, baby.
Too bad the pictures from Corbis or Getty can’t be posted.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/2k/rh/p02krhd0.jpg
The Catacombs of Santa Priscilla reopened to the public in 2013 after years of restoration (Max Rossi/Reuters/Corbis)
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/464_261/images/live/p0/2k/rh/p02krhf2.jpg
One fresco may depict women celebrating a Eucharistic feast — although the figures may also be celebrating a funeral banquet (Getty)
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/464_261/images/live/p0/2k/rh/p02krhhx.jpg
A fresco that shows a female figure with her hands outstretched has been put forward as evidence of women priests in the early Church (Max Rossi/Reuters/Corbis)
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/464_261/images/live/p0/2k/rh/p02krhj3.jpg
One of the images in the catacombs could be the first ever depiction of the Virgin Mary — or it could just show a woman holding a baby (Wikipedia)
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