This fresco scene has three separate images, with debates as to what they represent. Some argue that these images represent a marriage, motherhood, and death of a woman - possibly the Priscilla who donated the land for the catacombs. The Vatican believes that the person featured is not a woman, but is actually Jesus. However, a strong argument can be made that the image on the left depicts a woman holding a scroll while being ordained by a male bishop. The woman on the right side of the fresco is wearing the same robe as the bishop on the left and also holds an infant. The woman in the middle also wears the bishop robe with other vestments of a bishop, with her arms in the orans pose - a pose used to publicly lead holy prayer or worship. Though the debates continue, the careful attention to the details of the clothing, in great similarity to those of a bishop, strongly suggest that this represents a woman in Christian leadership.

Orans is a Latin word that means “a praying person,” and was common in art throughout the third through seventh centuries. It was often depicted by a woman who is standing, covered in a veil, looking up toward heaven, with her arms open, bent, and elevated. This image was popular throughout the Roman Empire and pagan art as well as Christian art. In the pagan world, the orans can be found in paintings, gold discs on glassware, coins, and depicted as statues. This pose “could signify a praying figure, or more typically the virtue of pietas, which stresses family loyalty, devotion, and duty to one’s kinfolk,”2 and was often associated with women of imperial families.

In Christian catacomb art, many Old Testament biblical characters are depicted in the orans pose, such as Susanna. There are also female saints such as Veneranda, Dionysia, Grata, and Petronilla, whose names are written alongside their frescoes. Differing from Roman pagan art, Christians modified the pose to align with their beliefs. While for Christians, the orans pose served to depict pietas, they also used it to represent Christ’s outstretched arms on the cross. It is also important to note that the prayers of female widows and virgins, due to their ascetic life, were understood to have powerful prayers. Women depicted in orans pose, especially those of the ordained office of widows and virgins, represented these powerful prayers and perhaps their liturgical contributions to the church.

Sources:
• Cohick, Lynn and Amy Brown Hughes, “Christian Women in Catacomb Art,” 76. In Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.

• Jensen, Robin Margaret. “Non–narrative Images: Christian use of classical symbols and popular motifs,” 35. In Understanding Early Christian Art. New York: Routledge, 2000.