PHEBE, a Deaconess of the Port of Corinth, call’d Cenchrea. St. Paul had a particular Esteem for this holy Woman; Theod. ad Rom. xvi. p. 115.and Theodoret thinks the Apostle lodged at her House for some Time, while he continued in or near Corinth. ‘Tis thought she brought to Rome the Epistle he writ to the Romans, wherein she is commended and recommended in so advantageous a Manner. Rom. xvi. 1, 2.He says, I commend unto you Phebe our Sister, which is a Servant of the Church which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh Saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever Business she hath need of you: For she hath been a Succourer of many, and of my self also. Some Moderns have advanced a Notion, that Phebe was Wife to St. Paul, but none of Vide Toletum in Rom. xvi.the Antients have said any thing like it. ‘Tis thought in Quality of Deaconess she was employ’d by the Church in some Ministrations suitable to her Sex and Condition; as to visit and instruct the Christian Women, to attend them in their Sickness, distribute Alms to them. The Martyrologies mention Phebe on the third Day of September.
Library / Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged
Volume II · P
Phebe
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Augustin Calmet, O.S.B., “Phebe,” in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged, English translation, Mind of the Church, https://mindofthechurch.com/works/calmet-dictionary/p/phebe/.