We are not sure of the meaning of the word "presbytis" that describes here a deceased woman. The literal meaning "the old woman" is not evident as the inscription mentions that the woman was fifty years old when she died so she was not senile. Possibly "presbytis" was a byname to distinguish Kale from another woman of the same name, or to mark her standing in the group to which she adhered. Another possibility is that she was a wife of a presbyter. Some scholars, however, proposed that Kale was an actual Christian officeholder, mainly on the basis of Letter 14 of Gelasius I (492-496) in which the pope reproaches women who officiate at the sacred altars [1981], and other Italian inscriptions of "presbyterae" or "sacerdotae" (for the discussion in favour of this interpretation see Eisen 2000: 128-129).