| This work aims to give the Fractio Panis the most thorough treatment possible. Although scholar after scholar has looked to this fresco as a central piece in an argument for or against women's ordination, a well-rounded examination of this seminal piece of work is missing from our body of knowledge. In order to truly and effectively evaluate the Fractio Panis's evidentiary value in the debate over women's ministry, it needs to be analyzed using many sources of knowledge on a wide range of topics. I work to convincingly gender the figures through a reading of the clothes, posture, and hairstyles, and to trace the development of the Eucharist in the Early Church along with burial rituals. Although scholars have long singled out the Fractio Panis in order to treat it as a completely unique and revolutionary piece of archeological evidence, this fresco exists within an utterly vast landscape of catacomb art. The Fractio Panis is far from unique. It is only through thorough treatment that an erudite and convincing argument can be made. I present an interpretation of the Fractio Panis that recognizes some of the figures as women. The available evidence only allows for three of the figures to be identified as women: the figure wearing the veil and the figures immediately to her right and left. The gender of the three other figures cannot be identified. The final figure, the one on the viewer's far left, is mostly likely a man. Interestingly, this is the same figure that was first identified as the priest. Does this mean I believe the Fractio Panis depicts a male priest consecrating the Eucharist for a (potentially) mixed gender group? No, the far left figure is the person at the table of the lowest social standing: he is either a slave or a child. Yet, the scene can still be a depiction of the Eucharist. Although the Fractio Panis is certainly of funerary significance, it also portrays an early Christian ritual. Which of the figures leads this ritual, however, is not clear. |
