STORPIA, HEALING OF THE. – The Gospel of St. Luke recounts the miraculous healing of a woman who had been crippled for 18 years: “et erat inclinata nec omnino poterat sursum respicere” (Lk 13:10-13).
In the cemetery “inter duas lauros,” the scene of this miracle performed by the Saviour is depicted within an arcosolium of a cubicle from the first half of the 4th century. In the arcosolium, the other representations also pertain to women, namely the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, the conversation of the Redeemer with the Samaritan woman, and the deceased woman at prayer. The woman is shown bent over with her arms outstretched before her; the Lord holds the pallium in His left hand and, resting His left foot on a stone, bends toward the afflicted woman to place His right hand on her head, healing her, precisely as the evangelical text states: “et imposuit illi manus et confestim erecta est” (Lk 13:13). This scene is the only one known thus far in early Christian iconography; it has been reproduced under the entry “miracolo,” vol. VIII, cols. 1069-70.