Ancilla Dei

In early Christian inscriptions the title ancilla Dei is often 
given to a deceased woman. From the meaning attached to this term 
in the Middle Ages it has sometimes been assumed, without 
sufficient proof, that the persons so qualified in the first age 
of Christianity were consecrated virgins. The inscriptions 
containing this formula are of two classes: one, in which it is 
merely stated that a given person was ancilla Dei; the other, from 
which it is clear that this title was sometimes given to persons 
who certainly were not religious. It is with the latter class that 
we are concerned. The former class is the more numerous, but one 
of the latter is quite explicit. This informs us that a certain 
monument was erected by a husband to his wife, whom he styles Dei 
ancilla -- "(Laur)entius Rufine coniugi Dei anci(llae) . . ." (De 
Rossi, Roma Sott., III, p. 11, n. 4). In a Roman inscription of 
the first quarter of the sixth century a certain Guttes is 
referred to as ancilla Dei, and it is further stated that she was 
nonnes -- "in presence of the nun Guttes, a handmaid of God" (sub