In the Roman Catholic beliefs, there is a woman that stomps on a serpant and kills it. The serpant is supposed to be the devil, but who is the woman? Also, where can we find this reference in the Bible?

LeakyPickle

Too bad it wasn't Eve. We all might be in better shape. Jan 30 06, 8:42 PM

lanfranco

In Revelation 12, there is a woman in labor described as being clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet, wearing a crown of twelve stars, and menaced by a great red dragon. Traditionally, and especially in Catholic art, she has been identified as the Virgin -- particularly the Immaculate Conception. Although, in Revelation, the woman does not kill the dragon -- he is bound for one thousand years by an angel -- in Christian iconography, the Virgin may be shown treading on and destroying a serpent in a reference to this text. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1215832 Jan 30 06, 9:28 PM

lanfranco

Here is Caravaggio's "Madonna del serpe," particularly famous interpretation of the concept, with the Virgin, accompanied by St. Anne, assisting the Christ Child to tread on the serpent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_and_Child_with_St._Anne_(Dei_Palafrenieri)_(Caravaggio) Jan 30 06, 9:32 PM

mementoflash

Many statutes of Mary - Christ's mother - show her standing on a snake. Jan 30 06, 11:03 PM

JoshCaleb12

What's interesting about this is that in Genesis 3, the woman Eve, is told by God that (or more acurately, the serpent is told) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [a] and hers; he will crush [b] your head, and you will strike his heel. ... and that is considered one of the very first Messianic promises of the Old Testament. But, it is the offspring that is said to crush the serpent's head, not the woman... http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=3&version=31 Jan 30 06, 11:53 PM

Arpeggionist

What is so messianic about this? What God was saying in Genesis is that for eternity the snake had doomed itself to a hostile relationship with humanity - that from then on snakes and humans would have a predilection to killing each other. The Talmud places the "snake in the Land of Israel" as one of the five species of pests that may be killed on the Sabbath. Jan 31 06, 1:36 AM

H0T-Lead

The earliest reference appears to be Genesis 3:14-15 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Jan 31 06, 8:16 AM

Baloo55th

They manage to make almost everything in the (Christian) Old Testament into a prophecy of Christ. Even things like the one about a young woman shall bear a child and call him Emmanuel - which when you read it is specifically a short term prophecy that the king being prophesied to will see in the next few months at the latest. What they do with interpreting the Song of Songs is quite unbelievable. They seem unable to accept that it is merely a bit of semi-erotic poetry that got in there by accident. Feb 01 06, 6:17 PM