PHOEBE (Φώβῳ, “radiant”). — A woman commended by St Paul to the Romans (Rom. 16:1–2) under three titles: 1) as “our sister,” that is, as a Christian converted from paganism; this seems to be indicated by her name, which is that of a pagan divinity; 2) as a “deaconess [v.] διάκονος” of Cencre (v.)”; 3) as a “patron (προστάτης) of many, and of myself as well.”
This is the only passage in the New Testament in which the term διάκονος, used in the feminine, seems to indicate an ecclesiastical office. The Vulgate renders it generically as “quae est in ministerio”; better is the Ambrosiaster: “ministra.” She must have been a wealthy elderly woman, perhaps a widow, who devoted herself with great commitment to the office entrusted to her by the Church. From the subscriptions of many Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Coptic codices it appears that P. was the bearer of the Epistle to the Romans (v.). The Roman Martyrology commemorates her on 3 September. Pietro De Ambroggi