Editing Priest (section)

=== Ancient Rome ===
{{See also|College of Pontiffs}}
In [[ancient Rome]] and throughout Italy, the ancient sanctuaries of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and [[Proserpina]] were invariably led by female ''sacerdotes'', drawn from women of local and Roman elites. It was the only public priesthood attainable by Roman matrons and was held in great honor.

A Roman matron was any mature woman of the upper class, married or unmarried. Females could serve public cult as [[Vestal Virgin]]s but few were chosen, and then only from young maidens of the upper class.<ref>[[Barbette Stanley Spaeth]], ''The Roman goddess Ceres'', University of Texas Press, 1996, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, ''In Verres'', 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.1; Plutarch, ''De Mulierum Virtutibus'', 26.</ref>