This is, I suppose, an abbess, but her crozier might easily cause her to be mistaken for a female bishop, and her crown (unusual but not unheard-of for an abbess) is something one associates with the papacy. She is also holding a book, as is the Female Pope of the Tarot.
These two depictions of Samson show that holding a lion's jaws open (as in the Strength card of the Tarot) was standard symbolic shorthand for victory over that beast.
2 comments:
The first looks like St. Etheldreda of Ely: http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/iu4.jpeg
Thank you! Halfpenny didn't mention who she was. Etheldreda was both an abbess and a queen, hence the crozier and crown.
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