All Saints Day and the Sistine Chapel

Today is All Saints Day, and on this day in 1512 - Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public.

I wonder if this was done intentionally. Certainly the Last Judgement scene gives us a meditation on the place of the saints with Christ through eternity. But there are twelve figures painted upon the pendentives that are also worth thinking about on All Saints Day. All twelve prophesied or represent some aspect of the coming of Christ. Seven of them are male: prophets of Israel. Five of them are female: the prophetesses (sibyls) of the classical world.

They are:
Persian Sibyl (PERSICHA) representing Babylonia
Erythraean Sibyl. (ERITHRAEA) who was from Chaldea and prophesied in Ionia, an area of present day Turkey.
Delphic Sibyl. (DELPHICA) who prophesied near Delphi, but was not associated with Pythia, the oracle.
Cumaean Sibyl. (CVMAEA) prophesied at a Greek colony near Naples
Libyan Sibyl (LIBICA) who prophesied at an oasis in the Libyan desert.

From a Protestant perspective, these five should have no such place of honor, but I love the way Michaelangelo includes them. They remind me of Matt. 8:11, where Jesus says,

"I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."

Won't it be wonderful when we get to meet all those folks at the Feast?