St. Phoebe Day

St. Phoebe was a woman of great courage and deep love. She answered God’s call to minister to God’s people during the earliest days of the Church when persecution against Christians was strong. She earned the trust of Paul, who depended on her to handle communications with the ecclesial community in Rome.

St. Phoebe’s feast day, September 3, is in the current Roman Martyrology. Her day’s liturgical status is not of a feast or a memorial but that of a “commemoration.” Her liturgy is celebrated in Eastern Rite and Orthodox Churches. Growing her devotion is one way to help restore her memory and instate a liturgy to commemorate her in our tradition. 

In celebrating St. Phoebe Day, we pray for our universal Church as we journey together in synod, we celebrate women’s gifts and contributions to our Church, and we bear witness to the critical and urgent need to re-think women’s participation in the Church—including in the areas of preaching, governance, and the diaconate—as Church leaders prepare to gather in Rome for the start of the synod’s Universal Stage, moving from consultation and discernment toward concrete proposals for action within our Church.

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