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ROxVlA

SOTTERRANEA
OR

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

ESPECIALLY OF THE

CEMETERY OF SAN CALLISTO

COMPILED FROM THE WORKS OF COMMENDA TORE DE ROSSI
WITH THE CONSENT OF THE A UTHOR

BY

REV.

J.

SPENCER NORTHCOTE,

D. D.

PRESIDENT OF ST MARY's COLLEGE, OSCOTT

AND

REV. W.

R.

BROWNLOW,

M.A.

TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

LONDON
LONGMANS,. GREEN, READER, AND DYER
1869
\^All rights

of Translation reserved]

pkintkd

liy

edinburgh
ballantyne and company,
Paul's wokk.

THE INSTITUTE Cr MEDIAEVAL STUDIES

10

el^/jSley

TOr"iONTO

E,

place
CAf^ADA,

DEC 10 1S3I
3431

PREFACE
'HpHE

interest

which the

Roman Catacombs have

excited in the minds of our countrymen, espe-

-*-

cially of those

made

who have

visited the Eternal City, has

them with that most full

and accurate information upon the subject which is

long

us wish to present

contained in the

Two

RoMA SOTTERRANEA

courses were open to us

of

De

either to bring out

embody

a translation from the Italian original, or to

a work of our
facts

own

incomparably

been

respects

more

the

The

the

easier,

first

and

whom we

beyond the reach of many

in the

We

summary

as

entirely

to our readers,

be found to contain as

dimensions would allow

De

Rossi's tw^o

in

1864 and 1867,

bi-monthly

it

size

therefore decided on the plan adopted

believe, will
its

some

in

were most anxious

volume which we now introduce

and which, we

would

But the

satisfactory course.

and cost of such a work would have put

to benefit.

in

the most interesting and important

which those volumes contain.

have

Rossi.

volumes oi

but

Bidlettino

Roma

also

di

of

not only of

Sotterranea, published

many

Archeologia

in

his

Cristiana,

of

articles

papers read by him before learned societies

and elsewhere, and of

fair

his occasional

in

Rome

contributions to

iv

Preface.

works published by

others, such

as

the Spicilegium

Solesmense of Cardinal Pitra, &c.

It

was our intention

one time to have drawn up a

at

tabulated statement, showing the exact portion of

works from which each part of

Rossi's

compiled

had been

but as those works are unhappily without

was not entervolume was taken in hand, some

and the intention referred

indices,

tained

this

De

when

first

this

three or four years ago,

it

to

was found that the benefit

to

be derived from such a statement would not be likely to

repay the labour of drawing

it

out.

Nevertheless,

been thought worth while to retain a number of

it

has

refer-

ences in the notes, wherever they happened to have been

preserved in our MSS., and either related to some mere

obiter dicta

even by

which might easily have been overlooked

who had

persons

studied

original,

or

minor works which we

belonged to some of those

have enumerated, and which are

known

the

not

so

generally

works of our author.

as the larger

more important omission, which will be regretted

by many of our readers, requires a word of explanation.

We

allude to the Inscriptions on the grave-stones of the

Catacombs.

But

was too large a subject to be

disposed of satisfactorily at the end of a volume already
longer than was desired. Moreover, it would hardly be
fair,

this

either to the subject or to our author, to handle

this question

Christiance,

until

the second volume of Inscriptiones

on which he

have been published.

That volume

Christian inscriptions of
tian

doctrine and

attempt to put the

coveries in the

at present engaged,

is

Rome

practice
fruit

of

shall

will contain all the

which bear upon Chris-

and should the present

De

Rossi's wonderful dis-

Catacombs within the reach of English

readers meet with sufficient encourasrement, a similar

epitome

Preface.

already begun of his

labours in the fields of

Christian epigraphy will soon follow.

we have

In the arrangement of this volume,

De

in the main, the order of

to

whom

the subject

commend

Rossi himself; but to those

altogether new,

is

a certain departure from this

would do well

followed,

we should reThey
order.

to postpone the perusal of the Introduc-

tion, or Literary

History of the Catacombs, until they

have

Books

read

first

account

and

I.

of their origin

which contain an

II.,

and real

Then the

history.

Introduction would form a suitable link between the

general treatment of the subject in Books

I.

and

II.,

and the more minute examination of one particular

cemetery (San

Book

Book

III.

complete

which forms the subject of

Callisto),

on Christian Art,

IV.,

The

in itself.

last

of course,

is,

two chapters of

are,

it

in

great part, taken from the works of Bosio and of Padre

Even

Garrucci.

we

here, however,

are indebted for

many important additions and corrections

Book V. is compiled from
of De Rossi.

works

to the

that part of

the Commendatore's volumes which was contributed

by

his brother.

chapter in Book
in

Book

III.,

It is a
I.,

development, partly of the

and partly of the second chapter

of this volume.

of our readers this

Book

We

suspect that to

seem dry and

will

of the assistance of the

sections

by which we have

of

certainly indispensable to those

is

thoroughly into

the

illustrated

matter,

and

its

rest.

it

tedious,

yet, the

study

who would go

satisfy

as to the solidity of the foundation on

conclusions

many

numerous plans and

in spite

it

last

which

themselves

De

Rossi's

Its special value lies in the fact of

being an examination of the subterranean excava-

tions themselves,

which are made to bear testimony to

the successive periods of their

own

N
7 I'^O

construction, and

vi

Preface.

thus

its

conclusions are drawn

from a source quite

independent of those historical documents which have

been the main guide of Gio. Battista de Rossi

in all

his labours in this field of Christian archaeology-

We

have prefixed a chronological table and a

list

Catacombs according to their ancient appellations and their position on the various roads out of
Rome, which we hope may assist our readers in forming
a clearer notion both of the history and geography of
of the

the cemeteries referred to in the course of the work.

Penally,

it

may be

well to

add

that,

although both

Editors are jointly responsible for the whole volume,

the

first

portion, to the fifth chapter of

mainly the work of Dr Northcote

the text, and Note
Chair),

is

the work of

Easter Tuesday,

1869.

in the

Mr

IV.,

is

the remainder of

Appendix

Brownlow.

Book

(on St Peter's

LIST OF PLATES
AT THE END OF THE VOLUME.

The pages

refer to the passages

where they are described or alluded

to.

Page

Plate.
I.

Damasine Inscription found in Papal Crypt (See Plan L^

Atlas B^ 4),
.
Copy (probably by Pope Vigilius) of Damasine Inscription
.

II.

to St Eusebius,

found in his Crypt (Atlas, V)e

i),

147

170

up by St Damasus,
.170
IV. Fresco of Moses, from a aibictihini near to Area VI.,
248
Cyprian
in
of
Saints
Cornelius
and
the
Crypt
of
St
V. Fresco
Lucina (Atlas Tih 3),
.181
painting of Second
VI. Ceiling of citbictihim near the above
Century representing in the centre Daniel between the
lions, and in the corners the Good Shepherd alternately
with a female orantr, which is probably the Blessed
Virgin (on the walls of this same chamber are painted
Plate XIV. I, and Figs. 14 and 19),
,
255

III.

The same,

as originally set

......
.

VII. Fresco of Jonas,

VIII. Frescoes from Bosio

(i)

Good Shepherd and

Virgin with Birds (Bosio,

p.

387) from ciibiciihim in

Cemetery of Saints Peter and Marcellinus,

(2) Noe, from Cemetery of St Agnes (Bosio, p. 449),
(i) Lazarus from Cemetery of Saints Peter and MarIX. Do.
.

cellinus (Bosio, p. 359),

(2)

255
241

247

Three Children from Cemetery of St Hermes

(Bosio, p. 565),

X.

....

244

the Blessed

Virgin Mary and

(i)

The

(2)

The Adoration of the Magi, from Cemetery of Saints

Blessed

of Second Century in a cttbiciihim of St Priscilla,

and Marcellinus, a Fresco of

.245

the Prophet Isaias, Fresco

tlie

Third Century,

258

Peter
.

257

List of Plates,

Vlll

Page

Plate.

XL

(i)

Sacrifice of Isaac,

(2)

Our Lord under

from cubicnhtin A3, Fresco of Second

Century,

cubicidiivi \?,
(3,

....
....
....

same

4) Fossors painted

age,

on either side of the doorway of

aihnn A4, Third Century,

XIL

(i)

The Smitten Rock and

Holy

.....

(i)

Symbol

(2)

Cemetery of St Lucina as Plate VI.,

Eucharistic Symbols, from cubiachcm A2,

(3)

Sacrifice of the

of

Eucharist, from the

same ciibicuhim

Mass symbolically depicted

A3(seeXIIL),

265
lb.
lb.

269

in

224

XV. Papal

272

the Fisher of Souls, from cubi-

position with them,

199

cithi-

aihim A2, Second Century,

(2) The same subjects, from cubiculum A3,
(3) Paralytic carrying his Bed on the same wall with 2,
XI I L The Eucharistic Feast, from cubiaihim A3, where it is
painted between XL i and XIV. 3, forming one com-

XIV.

270

the symbol of Orpheus, from ceiling of

214
in cubicuhwi

266

must have appeared in the time of St

Damasus, restored by De Rossi from fragments found
Crypt, as

in the

XVI.

Crypt

it

.....

itself,

Christ and the Apostles under symbol of

147

Good Shepherd,

painted in the lunette of an arcosolmm, probably to-

wards end of Third Century,

in the

with Plate IV. (see Atlas, Area VII.

XVII.

same cubiculum
237

3),

(i)

Bronze Medal of Saints Peter and Paul, of First or

(2)

Gilded Glass of St Peter as Moses, in Vatican Library,

Second Century, found

in

Cemetery of St Domitilla,

XVIII. Gilded Glasses from the Catacombs

(i)

.....

284
287

Blessed Virgin between Saints Peter and Paul, in Pro-

paganda Museum,
Agnes with two Doves, in Vatican Library,
XIX. Sarcophagus found at St Paul's on Via Ostiensis, now
(2) St

.Lateran

XX.

285

286

in

Museum,

300

Sarcophagi with Pagan Sculptures used by Christians in

.......

ages of persecution
(i)

Dolphins, Epitaph of Longliaiius, buried on the

April,

{2)

Atlas

6t/i

Orpheus and Fisherman my sweet Furia, holy soul,

A description will be found at the end of the Volume.
;

of

297
300

LIST OF WOODCUTS.

Page

Fig.
1.

General view of the Gallery of a Catacomb with Graves,

2.

Plan of arenai'ia immediately above the Catacomb of St Agnes,

3.

Plan of part of that Catacomb from Padre Marchi,

4.

General appearance of an

5.

Table-tomb, called also sepolcro or loado a mensa,

6.

Chamber

7.

8.

Sepulchral Stone found in a Catacomb on Via Latina, having

arcosoliiivi,

two Chambers

Marcellinus-and Peter,

engraved upon
herd,

it

h(i7iinare giving light to

View

Monogram,

the

explained in page 213,

'3^
Saints

.34

and Good Shep-

the P'ish,
.

'55

of entrance to Cemetery of St Domitilla, Via Ardeatina,

.......
.......

10.

Fresco of Vine on Ceiling of Cemetery of St Domitilla, First

11.

Remains of

12.

Painted

Century,

Fi-esco of Daniel in

Century,

Chamber

in

Cemetery of St Domitilla,

closes a loculus in a very ancient part of the

73
79

which

Lower Gal-

.82

Area of St Lucina,
Sheep with Milk-pail, in aibiailuvi of St Lucina, (described

lery of

.......
.

14.

Two

15.

Sarcophagus, with inscription,

it)

72

.80

Stone (having a Lamb, Dove, and Anchor engraved on

still

in p. 225),

form of Epitaph similar

cilla,

found

Blastiamts, peace with thee

103

to the very ancient ones in St Pris-

....

in very ancient ciibiciihim of St Lucina, adjoin-

ing that described in p. 225,

Epitaph of Pope Cornelius,

16.

71

First

Cemetery of St Pretextatus, Second Century,

Epitaph of St Januarius by Pope Damasus,

13.

30

cut

Catacomb of

29

.30

in

26
28

Catacomb of St Agnes, with Chairs and Bench

in

out of the solid tufa,

9.

Fresco of the Baptism of our Lord

109

.118

described under

in the cubiculuni

119

Fig. 15,

Epitaphs of Popes St Antheriis, St Fabian, St Lucius, and St

Eutychianus,

^37

List of Woodc2Lts.
Page

Fig.

who had

17.

Statue of St Cecilia, by Maderna,

18.

Inscription (with

19.

Fresco of Doves from the cicbiatlian in which

rupt in 1599,

Soteris,

23.

24.
25.

166

Fig. 14, First or

......

Fresco of

Lamb

Catacomb of St Domitilla,

27.

Different forms of the Cross and

28.

Sarcophagus found
Tyranio,
Syrens,

in

Monogram

of Christ,

Crypt of St Lucina, with

and Sculpture representing

Grapes.

for

225

230

Monogram

of

........
Ulysses

There

the

as

II,

the

runs

evidently the

232

an error towards the end, of

is

original

lANNIIIAENSV,

and

Doves plucking

Inscription found in Crypt of St Lucina, with

at

225

with Shepherd's Crook and Milk-pail, from very

ancient part of

29.

is

Second Century,
.185
Good Shepherd in centre of Ceiling of the adjoining
.201
Chamber,
Epitaph from very ancient part of Catacomb of St Priscilla,
207
Another Epitaph from the same,
.213
Frescoes of Gospel Stories illustrating the Holy Eucharist, from
Catacombs of Alexandria,
.221
Sepulchral Stone from ancient Christian Cemetery at Modena,
223
Fresco of Lamb with Palm and Milk-pail, being one of those in
each of the four corners of a atbiaihim in Saints Peter and
Marcellinus,

26.

arcosolhini in the

Fresco of

22.

21.

.157

.....

Monogram and Doves) on an

Cemetery of St

20.

seen her body incor-

SABBATIAOVEVIXI
work of a stone-cutter
qme vixit ami.

ignorant of letters, and intended for Sabbatia

.......
.......

months,"
30.

who

mens, v.; "Sabbatia,

Hi.,

vSculpture of Elias being taken

seum,

Madonna and

up

and

lived three years

into

Heaven,

in

five

.....

250

Child in Catacomb of St Agnes, early

31.

Fresco of the

32.

Sarcophagus with Pagan Good Shepherd, and Cupid and Psyche

part of Fourth Century,

found beneath the floor of atbiaihim Q^ (Atlas, B^

San

238

Lateran Mu-

Callisto, described in p. 298,

7),

in

.261

257

Gilded Glass, with Saint Peter as Moses, in Vatican Museum,

287

34.

Fragments of Glass Paten found

290

35.

Sarcophagus,

T)Tf.

still

at Cologne, a.d. 1864,

containing the body of a man, ornamented with

unfinished figure of the deceased, veiled and clothed in tunic

and pallium, with a

books

at his feet

roll

book

of a

described

in his

in p. 299.

hand, and a box of

At

either

end

This and two other sarcophagi,

sliepherd with a dog.

is

like-

wise containing bodies, were found in the aibiciilian, where

they

C^

now

2),

are,
.

close to the staircase in

.

Area VII.
.

(Atlas,
.

294

List of WoodaUs.
Fig.

36.

xl
Page

Sarcophagus representing the Passion,

Fourth or Fifth Century,

Lateran Museum, of

in

-307

Spandrils of arches on Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, A. D. 359,

38. Glass in the Vatican Library, representing Christ between Sts.
37.

Peter and Paul

as

Bethlehem

Lamb, and

also Christ as the

Lambs Jews and

the Faithful

Gentiles coming from Jerusalem and

Mount

to

{Becle)

Sion,

whence flow the four

....
....
....

Evangelical Streams, united in the Mystical Jordan,

39. Part of Wall of Gallery of St Hermes,

40.

Section of Gallery in St Hermes,

41.

Section of Gallery supported by brickwork,

42.

Plan of part of Catacomb of St

43.

Gilded Glass in the Louvre Collection, representing

Priscilla,

329

,...,.,
.....
.......
......
.......

336

Section of the Cemetery of St Callixtus,

46.

Elevation of outer Wall of

47.

Elevation of inner Wall of

Ambulacrum C in
Ambulacrum A,

48. Second Period of Excavation,

Connexion with Arenarium,
49. Third Period
50.

Section of Secret Staircase into Arenarium,

51.

Fourth Period of Excavation

52.

Fifth Period

53.

Section of Galleries,

54.

Last Period of Excavation

55.

St Peter's Chair,

Galleries

earth,

323

324
332

Plan of principal Area of St Callixtus, in the First Period of

323

vSt

44.

316

Callixtus,

45.

Excavation,

312

-341

342

345

347

349

Union with a second Area,

made when

Works

old ones were

of St

340

it,

Damasus,

filled

343

with

353
353
354
389

ERRATUM.
In page 37, Note
Ixxii, 4.

(*),/f';-

Tacitus Hist.

iii.

65, 75,

read Dio Cass. Hist.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
The

dates

(if

Pontijjcnlis ; the dates of the

ROMAN EMPERORS.
NERO.

First Persecution,

A.D.

67

leni,
.

DOMITIAN,

NERVA,
TRAJAN,
H.ADRIAN,

....

ANTONINUS

PIUS,

M. AURELIUS,

PETER,

ht

Vaticano

jtixta

Palatiiiin

Jjixta corpus B. Petri in Vaticano.

'

93
q5
98
103
ITO
117
120
127
138
142
156
161
168

PLACE OF BURIAL.

POPES.

LINUS,
70
79
81

....
.

to the Lihej'

Neroniannm.

GALEA, OTHO, VITELLIUS

VESPASIAN. FallofJcrHsaTITUS,

and the place of their burial according

Emperors are only proximately exact.

the Popes' accession are given,

CLETUS,

CLEMENT,

Jtcxta corpus B. Petri in Vaticano.

{i.e., in the Crimea.)

hi Grcecia,

ANACLETUS,

Juxta corpus B. Petri.

Juxta corpus B. Petri in Vaticaninn.

EVARISTUS.

ALEXANDER.

SIXTUS I.,
TELESPHORUS,
HYGINUS,
.

PIUS I.,
ANICETUS,

Via Noinentana, inilliario VII.

Jjixta corpus B. Petri in Vaticanutn.
Juxta corpus B. Petri iti Vaticatio.
Juxta corpus B. Petri in Vaticano.
Juxta corpus B. Petri in Vaticano.
In cceinet. rio Callixti V) see page 141.
!

SOTER,

In cocmeterio Callixti Via Appia

(?)

see p.ige 141.

177
180

COMMODUS,
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS,

'.

193
197

ELEUTHERUS,

VICTOR,

ZEPHYRINUS,

Juxta corpus B. Petri

in

Va ticano.

Juxta corpus B. Petri in Vaticano.

hi cocmeterio suo juxta ccein. Callixti
Via Appia.

CARACALLA,
MACRINUS,

211
215

CALLIXTUS,

hi cceineterio Calepodii, via

A urclia,

milliario III.

HELIOGABALUS,

ALEXANDER,
MAXIMIN,
GORDIAN,
PHILIP,

GALLUS,
VALERIAN,

....
....

GALLIENUS,

CLAUDIUS II.,
AURELIAN,

TACITUS, FLORIAN, PROBUS,

URBAN

230

PONTIANUS,

235

ANTHEROS,

I,

236
238
244
250

FABIANUS,

253
254
257
259
268
270
274

LUCIUS,

Appia.
being

In crypta, juxta ccemet. Callixti, in

In
171
In
hi
In

STEPHEN.
SIXTUS II.,.
.

DIONYSIUS,
FELIX,

cceineterio Prcetextati, Via

cceineterio Callixti, after

brought back fiom Sardinia.

hi cocmeterio Callixti, Via Appia.
In cocmeterio Callixti, Via Appia.

CORNELIUS,

hi
hi

prcedio B. Lucince.
ccenieterio Callixti, Via Appia.
coemeterio Callixti, Via Appin.
coemeterio Callixti, Via Appia.
cametcrio Callixti, Via Appia.
basilica Via A urelia milliario II.

EUTYCHIANUS,

In coemeterio Callixti, Via Appia.

CAIUS,

In coemeterio Callixti, Via Appia.

NUMERIANCARINUS,

DIOCLETIAN,

218
222

283
284
290

MARCELLINUS,

In coetneterio

Priscillce,

Via Salaria,

in cuhiculo claro.

GALERIUS M.4XIMIAN,

CONSTANTINE MAXENTIUS,

....

303
309

MARCELLUS,
EUSEBIUS,

311

MELCHIADES,

Edict of Milan,

312

Peace given
Chnrch,

CONSTANTINE,

314

SYLVESTER,

In coemeterio Priscillce, Via Salaria.

In coemeterio Callixti in crypta.

In cocmeterio Callixti in crypta.

to the

Via Salaria,

inilliario III., in cocmeterio Priscillce, [in basilica.']

LIST OF CEMETERIES,

MENTIONED IN ANCIENT HISTORICAL

RECORDS, ON THE VARIOUS ROADS.

GREATER CEMETERIES.

LESSER CEMETERIES

CEMETERIES

ROADS.

Constructed after

Names

Primitive Names.

APPIA,

Callixti <r-

I.

u-r

Century,
of peace.

Or, Isolated

in 4th

Time

of

the Peace of the

Martyrs.

27.

S. Xysti.
S. Csecilise.

'

Tombs

Church.

Soteridis.

SS. Xysti et Cornelii.

S. Januarii.

SS. Urbani, Felicissimi

Aj^apiti, Jannarii, et
Quirini.

SS. Tiburtii, Valeriani,

Maximi.

et
3.

Ad Catacumbas,

S. Sebastiani.

4.

Domiti'Jas,

SS. Petroniila;, Nerei,

S. Petronillae.

ARDEATINA,

5.

Basilei,

6.

Commodillse,

SS. Marci

et

38.

Balbinae sive

39.

Damasi.

40.

Julii via Portuensi, mill,

iii , S. Felicis via Portuensis.
S. Felicis via

S.

et Achillei.

Marci.

Marce!-

liani.

OSTIENSIS,

Sepulcrum

SS. Felicis et Adaucti

Pauli
Apostoli in praedio
Lucinse.

29.

Coemeterium
thei in horto

TimoTheo-

nis.

Ecclesia S. Thec'se.
31- Ecclesia S. Zenonis
30-

PORTVENSIS,
AURELIA,

7.

Ponntiani

ad
P ileatum,

iirsumf
.

Abdon

et

Sennen.

S. Anastasii, pp).

Innocentii, pp.

S.

S. Pancratii.

g.

Liicinse,

/
I

10.

CORNELIA,

SS.

Calepodii,

SS.

Processi

et

Mar-

41

Aurelia.

tiniani.
S.

Agatha; ad Giiulum.

S. Callisti via Aurelia.

Julii via Aurelia.
32.

Memori A Petri Apostoli

et

sepultura;

episcoporum

in

Va-

ticano.

FLAMINIA,
CLIVUS CUCUMERIS,
SALARIA VE-)

S. Valentini.

TUS,

12.

Ad Septem Columbas,

13.

14.

caput S. Joannis.

Hermetis,
SS. Hermetis, Basil'a:;
Proti, et Hyacinthi.
S. Pamphyli.
S.

Basillee,

SALARIA
NOVA,

Ad

15.

Maximi,

S. Felicitatis.

Ecclesia S. Hilariae
in horto ejusdein.
SS. Chrj'
34. Crypta
33.

santi et Darise.
35.

Coemeterium Novella;.

XV

List of Cemeteries, &c.

List of Cemeteries

Coiitiiiiied.

GREATER CEMETERIES.

LESSER CEME-

CEMETERIES

TERIES;
ROADS.

Primitive

i6.

Names

Names.

in 4th

Time

Thrasonis,

Century,

of Peace.

Or, Isolated Tombs of

Martyrs.

Constructed after
the Peace of the
Church.

S. Saturnini.

'C
17.

Jordanoiuni,

18.

Priscillse,

19.

Ostrinnum

S. Ale.xandri.

SS. Alexandri, Vitalis

et Martialis et VII.

Virginnm.

S. Silvestri.

^OMENTANA,

.ATINA,

S. Marcelli.

Coemeterium

vel

triani,

Ad Nymphas

1 Fontis

majii'^.

36.

Coemeterium S. Agnetis
in
ejusdem

37.

Ccemeterium

S. Petri-

agello.

S. Petri.

S.

Ni-

coniedis.

LTBURTINA,
.ABICANA,

20.

21.

Cyriacse,

22.

Ad Duas

S. Hippoiyti.

S. Laurentii.

Gorgonii.
SS. Petri et Marceilini.
S.

Lauros,

S. Tiburtii.

S. Castuli.

23

S. Gordiani.
SS. Gordiani et Epimt

24
'\

\
25.
26.

Aproniani,

achi.

SS. Simplicii et Servi

Quarti
et
Hani,
Quinti, et Sophise.
S. Tertullini.

S. Eugenia;.

42.

In Comitatu
sive

SS.

Quatuor

Coronatorum.

CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PART
Modern Authors. Roma

I.

Sotterranea

Its discovery

fifteenth

century by Franciscan friars and by

and

companions

his

In

Visited

Ppmppnio Leto

1578 visited by Baronius

Researches

De Winghe, and Macarius Bosio His

of Ciacconio,

Page
in

life

and

Immense learning and industry His labour the Catadanger Posthumous publication of
combs and
Roma
success
terranea, and
value and general arrangement Sad
Catacombs At length prevented by
destruction of antiquities
the Popes Protestant notices of Catacombs -John Evelyn Burnet and Misson Fabretti custode of Catacombs Succeeded by
Boldetti Works of Boldetti, Buonarrotti, Marangoni, and Bottari
eighteenth century Christian Museum
the Vatican D'Aginwork and devastations Padre Marchi De Rossi
Follows system of Bosio His sources of information,
labours

in

Sot-

his

its

Its

its

in

in

in

court,

his

PART
Ancient Records.

II.

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum Its value

and antiquity Almanac of Furius Dionysius Filocalus InscripLiber Pontificalis Martyrologies Acts
tions of Pope Damasus

of martyrs, their importance even

when

Itineraries of pilgrims in seventh century

at

Monza

vSt

Papyrus

Gregory the Great,

BOOK

of doubtful authenticity

in time of

list
.

of oka

ORIGIN OF THE CATACOMBS.

CHAPTER

General Description. Position and extent of

I.
Catacombs Their number and names Their origin and purpose,
and distinctions from sand-pits or ai'enaricc Explanation of terms

i?

Contents,

xvii

Different kinds of tombs The Catacombs places of pilgrimage

were removed Their abandonment and
the

Page

as

until

re-

relics

discovery in sixteenth century,

CHAPTER

Social and Religious Position of the First

Christians. The Roman Church in Apostolic times

comprised among

'25

II.

Roman
Jews

members persons of noble rank, Greeks and

Scattered notices of them in Pagan authors The Flavii
its

Flavins Clemens,

the

Pomponia Grecina Their

Flavia
position At

and martyr

consul

political

Domitilla

first

confused

with the Jews, and protected as a sect of a legalised religion

Proscribed by Nero
jan and Pliny
princes,

First persecution Domitian Nerva

-Tra-

Insecure position of Christians even under tolerant

'35

CHAPTER III. Roman Laws and Custoj^is

Christian

affecting Burial.
by the ordinary privileges of

sepulchres protected

Roman tombs Even

times of persecution

in

places readily adapted for Christian

appurtenances

Catacombs

Roman

cemeteries Their

originally limited

by the

burial-

size

size

and

of the

and customs

Funeral confraternities
Might
have been made use

of by Christians as a safeguard

Instance of this having been done

superincumbent area, as in St Eucina

Rome,

their rules

in

easily

First edict expressly against Christian cemeteries

Valerian,

by Emperor

-45

Roman

contrasted
with Christian
extra-mural Their character as
dead,
cemeteries ^Jewish Catacombs Christians did not burn

Christian cemeteries small and

but buried them
vate Examples of these very early cemeteries,
-5^

CPIAPTER

Beginning of the Catacombs.

IV.

burial-

places,

their

entire

First

pri-

BOOK

II.

HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS.

CHAPTER
origin

I.

The Catacombs

in

the First Ages.

of some of the Catacombs Papal

Apostolic

crypt on the Vatican

St Priscilla on the Via Salaria

St Paul's on the Via Ostiensis
Cemetery of Ostrianus or Fons Petri Signs of antiquity CemeEntrance and arrangement
tery of St Domitilla Its description

Character of

its

paintings

Evidences of Apostolic

antiquity

Description of the very ancient cemetery of St Pretextatus on the

Via Appia Its architecture Tomb of St Januarius Plis epitaph

Damasine characters Tomb of St Quirinus

Alexander on the Via Xomenlana,

in

Catacomb of St
.

-63

Contents.

xviii

Page

CHAPTER

From the beginning of the Third Century

II.

TO Constantine's Edict of Peace,

a. d,

312. Public Chmtian

Cemetery of St Callixtus Under the pontificate of

St Zephyrinus Burial-place of the popes Other public ceme Edict of Valerian against the Christian cemeteries Martyrdom of St Sixtus
and St Laurence Cemeteries restored
Pope Dionysius Necessity of concealment Christians attacked
cemeteries Martyrdoms
them Used as hiding-places
Their condition from Aurelian
Diocletian Confiscated by the
and restored by Maxentius
St Melchiades Parishes or
of Rome Each had
own cemetery Their
administration Reflections upon
portion of

cemeterres

teries

to

II.

in

in

to

to

latter,
titles

ecclesiastical

its

their history,

this

CHAPTER

83

From the Edict of Milan to the Sack of

III.

Gradual disuse of subterranean

Basilicas of the martyrs Care of St Damasus for the
Catacombs His labours and inscriptions Catacombs as places
of pilgrimage Described by St Jerome Also by Prudentius
Damage caused by indiscreet devoScene on the festa of a
tion and private interment Rapid disuse of Catacombs as buriala.d. 410,
places Total cessation
-95
Rome by

Alaric, a.d. 410.

cemeteries^

saint

after

CHAPTER

From

410 until their Final Abandonabandoned as burial-places -Still frequented as shrines Profaned by the Goths under Vitiges, a.d.
537 Repaired and cared for by the popes First translation of
Afterwards by
relics from Catacombs, a.d. 756, by Paul I.

ment.

IV,

a.d,

The Catacombs

Paschal

I.

and other Popes

Origin of the

Final abandonment of Catacombs

name Catacomb,

BOOK

.104

III.

CATACOMB OF ST CALLIXTUS.
CHAPTER

I,

Its

Discovery and Identification.

Pre-emi-

nence of the Via Appia, both in Pagan and Christian

Its

cemeteries and shrines described by ancient

in or near the

Catacomb

of St Callixtus

writers

Rome-

Those

Basilica of St Sebastian

The temporary resting-place of the bodies of St Peter and St

Paul Their translation Erroneous medieval inscriptions in the

Catacomb beneath this basilica Proof that the Catacomb of St

Callixtus is not there Discoveiy of the crypt of St Cornelius

And

of the Papal crypt,

.110

II. Distinction of the several parts of the

Catacomb of St Callixtus. Difficulties of mapping theCata-

CHAPTER

xix

Contents.

Overcome by Michele de Rossi Several different arecB of

cemeteries originally independent Crypt of St Lucina Belonged
originally
the Gens Ccecilia Who w^as St Lucina Characarea The central area of St Callixtus Another
of
subsequently added to
Cemeteries of St Soteris and of

Page

combs

to

this

teristics

a7'ea

it

St Balbina,

CHAPTER
plaster
lations

I20

III. The Papal Crypt. Pls entrance 6'n7#// on the

Of three kinds Mere names -Prayers and pious ejacu-

Invocations

the crypt itself

of saints

Their

antiquity

Examination

of

Ancient altar Original epitaphs of popes of third

Burial of bishops at that period Rarely, but sometimes

their own churches Popes buried in this cemetery
Pontianus Anteros Fabian Lucius
Zephyrinus -Urban
martyred in Catacomb of St Pretextatus
Eutychianus Sixtus
century

away from

I.

II.

Inscription

Pope Damasus concerning

of

it

-Has

been erro-

Caius Traces of Diocletian persecution

cemetery Tomb of
Melchiades Inscription by
Pope Damasus
Papal crypt Vast number of martyrs menneously applied to St Stephen
in this

vSt

in

tioned in itineraries not improbable,

130

IV.
Crypt of St Cecilia, General appearance of
chamber History of St Cecilia Her martyrdom and burial
Her body discovered and translated by Paschal I. Found in-

CHAPTER
this

corrupt, h.Vi. 1590

-Examined by Cardinals Baronius and

Sfron-

Statue by Maderna from the body

Critical examination of the crypt
discovery and excavation
paintings and
drati

itself

Its

Its

other decorations
scriptions

and

of St Cecilia
\ii

V.

graffiti

in

tomb of St

Cecilia, by inand correction of the Acts

the crypt Saints depicted on

of the

Verification

Alterations made

lumiiian',

CHAPTER

Identification

^S^

EpriAPH of St Eusebius. Crypt of St Eusebius

inscription found there Which had

Fragments of a Damasine
been restored

Its

ficate of St

CHAPTER
to

in the sixth or seventh

importance as supplying a
Eusebius,

VI.

century Inscription explained

lost

page of history of the ponti-

.166

The Sepulchre of St Cornelius. Inscription

Saints Parthenius and Calocerus

Labyrinth

connecting

the

cemetery of St Callixtus with the crypts of St Lucina Family of

St Cornelius^ How his epitaph came to be in Latin instead of
Greek His sepulchre described Damasine inscription there,
and also one by Pope Siricius, restored by De Rossi Fresco of
St Cornelius and St Cyprian, its date and peculiarities Another
Pillar near tomb of St Cornelius
of St Sixtus and St Oplatus

6'ra^// on :h; piaster,

'175

XX

Co7itents.

BOOK

IV.

CHRISTIAN ART.
Page

CHAPTER

Antiquity and Original Types of Christian

I.

Opinions of D'Agincourt,

Art.

Raoul Rochette, and others on

the antiquity of Christian paintings

De Rossi claims a very high

and even apostolic antiquity for many of the frescoes in the Catacombs Protestant testimony to the same effect The birth of
Christian art Its progress checked by persecution
Explanation
of the canon of the Council of Elvira against pictures in churches

Means of distinguishing the dates of paintings The nimbus,

introduction and prevalence

gram

Evidence

Sketch

from

style,

Letters

on garments

and choice of

of early history of Christian art

Christian artists

The

its

mono-

subject, locality, &c.

In

apostolic times

by no means confined themselves to Pagan

models, as was supposed, from the discovery of two Gnostic cemeteries

......

Christ represented as Orpheus and

Division of our subject,

CHAPTER

Symbolical

II.

Paintings.

the

Good Shepherd

Symbolism

i86

explained

and their abuse

Sheep and dove of living and

Rules for interpreting symbolical representations

The anchor a symbol of hope

deceased Christians Dove joined with other symbols The
ils

symbolical use confined to ages of persecution

of Christ and of a Christian- Origin of

Instances

of

ments of

Used with a ship,

art

its

bread (St John

its

A symbol

fish

both

use as symbol of Christ

use by the Fathers in this sense and in monu-

xxi.)

a dove, or an anchor

Fish and

explained of the Holy Eucharist by St Au-

gustine and the rest of the Fathers

Confii-med by epitaphs of St
Similar paint-

Abercius and of Autun, and by monuments of

art

Catacomb of Alexandria Summary of evidence on this

Holy Eucharist symbolised
subject, and importance of conclusion
by milk in very ancient frescoes, as in acts of St Perpetua and by
its different forms and disguises
The
St Augustine -The cross
ings in a

monogram

'CHAPTER

....

its

successive modifications,

202

Allegorical Paintings Parables of our Lord

of these paintings e.g.. The vine 71ie wise
many
give the key to
and foolish virgins The Good Shepherd its frequency and vaIII.

rious forms

CHAPTER

Explanation of Plate XVI.,

IV.

Biblical Paintings.- Subjects taken

Scripture are but few in number, and confined in

ment

fish

a type of the resurrection

frojn holy

mode

being, in fact, symbolical rather than historical

the ark typical of baptism, not copied from

and the

of treat-

Noe

in

Pagan typeJonas

The ivy or gourd Daniel

233

xxi

Contents.

in

the den of lions, and the three children

Magi

Moses

......

off his shoes

ecclesiastical authority,

CHAPTER
No

real portrait of Christ, or of the Blessed Virgin

The

239

Holy Mother, and

Historical paintings extremely rare

Lord described by Kiigler

ing

These subjects probably chosen by

Paintings of Christ, His

V.

THE Saints.

Page
of the

and the resurrection of Lazarus

striking the rock,

Moses taking

Adoration

in

Catacombs

A bust of our

saints generally represented pray-

The Blessed Virgin as an orante in Catacomb paintings, sculp-

and glasses Sometimes, perhaps, as a

of the Church
Remarkable fresco of her Catacomb of St Agnes She
tures,

figure

in

is fre-

quently represented with the adoration of the Magi,

always three

-Very

who are

nearly

ancient painting of the Blessed Virgin and

date of the
Other paintings of Our Lady, St Joseph, &c.,
CHAPTER VL Liturgical Paintings. Liturgical paintings are
necessarily very rare Remarkable
of them
cubicula near
Child with Isaias, in Catacomb of St Priscilla

Its

second century

251

in

series

Made in second and third century Description

them Explained by Tertullian Baptism under figures of

the papal crypt

of

smitten rock, a fisherman, and the paralytic carrying his bed

Holy Eucharist

Consecrating

priest

clothed in paUiiun only

Church represented by a woman praying Answers to objections

Sacrifice of Isaac explains the companion scene
Resurrection

of Lazarus forms a conclusion to the series

teachers and of fossors

Other
CHAPTER

Series

liturgical paintings in

Various articles found

in the

of

probably drawn out by aitthority

Catacomb of St

Gilded Gl/sses found

VII.

^Jonas Painting

in

Priscilla,

the Catacombs.

Gilded glasses Vatican

Description of these glasses
others Two found recently

Catacombs

in

Museum In England and elsewhere

-Their

discovery by Bosio and

The

at

making them known only in Rome, and

practised there only in the third and fourth centuries
Subjects
Pagan Social and domestic ^Jewish But
depicted on them
most frequently Christian Description of some of these BibliFigures of saints Most favourite subject is Saints
cal subjects
Cologne

art of

Peter and Paul

Probably used

at

the feast of these apostles,

which was very solemnly observed at Rome in the fourth century

Eighty glasses have these apostles on them Inscriptions round
them Ancient portraits of the apostles Valuable bronze medal

"

of them found in cemetery of St Domitilla

They are

variously

on glasses Sometimes to symbolise the Roman

Church with St Agnes and other saints St Peter under the type
Large
of Moses, illustrated by sarcophagi and fresco paintings

represented

262

Contents.

xxii

with small medallions

pateitcE,

let into the glass

Whether

Page
these

......

glasses have been used for chalices

in the third century,

Glass

patens and their use

275

Christian use of
cophagi dates from apostolic times Tomb of St Petronilla and of
was not a common mode of burial During the ages
St Linus

CHAPTER

Christian Sarcophagi.

VIII.

sar-

It

of persecution, Christian subjects were not sculptured on sarcophagi,

for obvious reasons

But Christians selected from Pagan shops those

them Pastoral scenes TJie Good Shepherd

subjects which suited

Instances

of such subjects as Cupid and Psyche, and Ulysses

and the Syrens Orpheus, &c. The sarcophagi in the Lateran
Museum Large one from St Paul's described and explained representation of the Holy Trinity The fall
The adoration of the

Magi

Christ

giving sight to the blind

Eucharistic

symbols

Lazarus St Peter in three scenes Daniel among

and the prophet Habacuc Small statues of the Good

Resurrection of

the lions,

Sarcophagus, with history of Jonas,

subjects Sarcophagi, with Cain and Abel, the
Magdalene Cover with sheep carrying
Shepherd

Noe, and other

and St Mary
(r/^?/;//;^'//^ Sarcophagus
fall,

which once contained the relics of the Holy Innocents, having

figures of Mary and Lazarus, St Peter's denial, Moses receiving
tlie

law, the sacrifice of Isaac, St Peter as Moses, Daniel, heal-

Sarcophagus with
Sculpture of the Agape

ing of the blind and paralytic, and Zaccheus

labaj'um, and scenes from the Passion
.

Sarcophagus under a canopy, representing Christ

rounded by the apostles, St Peter's

in glory,

sur-

denial, the smitten rock,

and

Sculpture of Elias ascending into heaven The

The Nativity Sarcophagus of Junius Kassus, date,

Npli me tangere

pallium

its

and the subjects on

the arches

it,

Statue of

canon paschalis

especially the lambs in the spandrils of

St Hippolytus

Of the third century

......

Plis

Note on the comparative frequency of the various

subjects sculptured,

BOOK

295

V.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE CATACOMBS THEMSELVES.

CHAPTER

I.

Testimony of the Catacombs to their Chris-

tian Origin. Scope of

as burial-places

work Catacombs used

Pagan inscriptions them

this part of the

by none but Christians

accounted for Their Christian origin

in

first

vindicated by Padre

Marchi First proof the nature of the rock in which the Catacombs are excavated The various volcanic strata of the Roman
:

Contents.

xxiii
Page

Campagna

Second

proof: the form of the Catacombs as con-

Instance of arenariunt
Grounds of the theory
examined Meaning of the term

trasted with that of pozzokxna quarries

Hermes

converted into the Catacomb of St

of their Pagan origin stated and
ciypttB

ai'e/iarice

which seem

the case of

Examination

i.

St Cornelius

Chrysanthus and Daria

cilla

5.

4.

tlie rule,

ancient records

in

The Quattro Coronati

2.

3.

viz., in

Saints

St Crescentianus in cemetery of Pris-

St Hippolytus, &c.

exceptions prove

of passages

arenatiw with the Catacombs,

to identify the

These

on Via Appia.
,

apparent
.

3^7

CHAPTER

Testimony of the Catacombs to the mode

II.
OF TiiEiR Construction and Development. Scope of this

Locality of Christian cemeteries, and distance from the

On high ground Excavated tufa grainilare Systems of

chapter
city

in

galleries,

another

each horizontal, though in different

flats,

one below

Section of geological strata Mode of excavation Dif-

ferent periods to

be distinguished

area in which are the

in the

First period Second period:

period a deeper piano
signs of necessity
concealment, connexion with arenariiini
Union with a second area previously
Fourth period ar Fifth period: earthing up of
during the Diocletian
crypts of the Popes and of St Cecilia

level of galleries

lowered

Third

tried,

for

distinct

galleries

cosolia

persecution Sixth period

earth Last

formation of small galleries upon

this

works of St Damasus Recapitulation and

development of catacombs generally,
333

period

application to

CHAPTER

III.
Analytical Description of the Plan of the
most important Area of the Catacomb of St Callixtus, 360

APPENDIX.
Note
Note
Note

....

The finding of the body of St Hyacinth

The Acts of St Cecilia
C St Peter's Chair
A.
B.

(p. 22),

(p. 68),

(p.

15),

1.

Description of the Chair in the Vatican.

2.

Historical Notices of

3.

Another Chair of St Peter

379
387

.388

it.

in the

Cemetery of

Ostri-

anus.
4.

The two Feasts

of St Peter's Chair.

Note D. Burial near the sepulchres of saints (p. 102),

Note E. Altars in the primitive church (p. 184),
Note F. The origin of the pallium (p. 310),
Note G. Description of the Atlas accompanying this volume,

INDEX,

399

401

404
406
409

INTRODUCTION
TO

ROMA SOTTERRANEA
LITERARY HISTORY.

ITS

PART

I.

MODERN A UTHORS.

ON

the

day of May,

last

who were

a.d.

1578, 'some

labourers, Discovery,

digging pozzolaiia in a vineyard (now the

'^'^'

'^'

property of the Irish .College) on the Via Salaria, about two

miles out of

Rome, came unexpectedly on an

old subterra-

nean cemetery, ornamented with Christian paintings, Greek

and Latin inscriptions, and two or three sculptured sarco-

The

phagi.

discovery at once attracted universal attention,

and persons of
amazed," writes
she had other

own

her

classes

all

flocked to see

contenjporary author,

unknown
beginning now

cities,

suburbs,

her,

to

to

it.

" at

"

Rome

finding

"was born

name and

the

that

concealed beneath

understand what she had

before only heard or read of:" and "in that day," says
Rossi,

was

the knowledge

of

De

i?^;;?^

It

is

true

that the

man who was

destined to be the

first

thoroughly to explore and describe this city of the dead, was as

yet only three years
ing

Of Roma
terranea.

Sotterranear

men whose

old;'"'

learning

but even then there were not want-

and industry

* Bosio,

Rom.

sufficed to

keep

alive the

Sott., p. 511.

Sot-

Literary Histoiy of Roma Sotte^^ranea.

newly enkindled flame of love

one hundred and

fifty

Nearly

for Christian antiquities.

years before, and at various intervals

Karlier visits

during half a century, the same, or at least precisely similar,

of

objects had been seen in another vineyard on the opposite side

friars,

of the citv

who saw them were either men of reliby motives of piety, or men of learning, with

but those

gion, attracted

Among

enthusiasm only for what was Pagan.

the

first

class

must be reckoned certain Franciscan friars, whose visits to the

Catacomb of St Callixtus between the years 1432 and 1482
are recorded
in

by scribblings on the walls of two or three

"

one quarter of that cemetery.

holy place," {fuit hie

writes Brother

ad

Lawrence of

Came

visitajidtim

here to

cubicula
this

visit

sanctum loaun

istu7?i,)

with twenty brethren of the

Sicily,

order of Friars Minor, January 17th, 145 1.

Another visit was
"
made in 1455, ^^ ^^^^ week in which Pope Nicholas V. died,"

(hebdomada qua defuntus

tian's

19th,

some Scotchmen

1469;

quidem Seoti hie fuerunt^)

numerous

visitors

&:c.

An

V.)

est pp. JV.

entered with a large party,

in

1467,

Not

&c.

abbot of St Sebas-

magna

{euj?i

eomitiva,)

May

(MCCCCLXVII.

one, however, of these

seems to have thought of making any

torical or antiquarian

his

examination of the precious monuments

of the past which were before them.

The

other class of visitors

whom we have alluded belonged to the same period, but were

men of a very different character. The names of Pomponio
Leto and Other littei'ati, his associates in the famous Roman
to

and Roman
/

cacemicians,

^Qg^jg^iy,

may

Still

be read

in

several places

of the same

quarter of the Catacombs, written there by themselves, with

the addition of their

title

as

Unanimes

a7itiquitatis A7natores,

one of these seems ever to

;
have made any study of what he saw, certainly none ever
or Fe7'serutatoi'cs

wrote about
Pomponio
^ ^'

yet not even

it.

Those who

are familiar with the literary history of the

teenth century, will

remember how these men

fell

fif-

into disgrace

with the Sovereign Pontiff, Paul IL, on suspicion both of being

and of conspiring against the Government.

first of these charges was their
One
pedantic conceit of taking old Pagan classical names m place
of their Christian ones but it has always been a matter of
controversy how far the charge of conspiracy was really supported by evidence; and Tiraboschi hardly mentions any
infected with heresy

of the grounds for the

Modern AiUhors.
appreciable ground for

at

it

We

all.'^

are not here concerned

with the religious or political integrity of the

in elucidation of

an obscure point

while to mention that the

name

of

history,

in

Academy yet,
it may be worth
;

Pomponio Leto

these newly-discovered memorials of him, with the

is

found

title

in

of Foii-

Maximus, and even Font : Max : regnans ; and that other

titles are added to some of the names, showing the dissolute
habits of the Academicians, and that they were not ashamed
to perpetuate their own memories as lovers, not only of ancient
names, but of ancient manners. We must also express both
our regret and surprise, that men whose lives were devoted to
the revival of learning, and of whose chief it is particularly

tifex

recorded that he applied himself to the elucidation of

antiquities "

which were then being disinterred," should have

been familiar with these

earliest

monuments

of Christianity, and yet never have

excite

them

believed,

by

of the heroic age

sufficient interest to

felt

to investigate their history, or to publish anything

about them.

at all

Roman

may

Whatever, therefore, they

we cannot wonder

their contemporaries,

at the charge

and which we

have

really

brought against them

find addressed to

one

of them by a bishop even after their acquittal, that they were

more Pagans than

We
been

fear,

justly

indeed, that this charge might at that time have

urged against

Roman Academy.
first

Christians.

many more

Now, however,

than the
in the

members

of the

year of which

we

spoke, a.d. 1578, Christian learning and Christian morality

were

in a far

more hopeful condition

in the

Eternal City.

It

was the age of St Ignatius Loyola, St Charles Borromeo, and

Baronius, the friend and disciple of the latter,
St Philip Neri.
was already engaged on his immortal work, the " Ecclesiastical
Annals," in more than one page of which he shows the warmth
of his interest in the

new

discovery,

and

his just appreciation

He

was among the first to visit it and

had not his time been fully absorbed by his own gigantic work,
he might, perhaps, have become its first explorer and historian.
As it was, this labour and honour seems rather to have fallen
of

its

importance.

to the lot of foreigners resident in

themselves.
can,

Rome, than

to

Romans

They were Alfonso Ciacconio, a Spanish Domini-

and two young Flemish laymen, Philip de Winghe, and

* Storia della Litteratura Italiana, torn.

vi.

part

i.

pp. 93-97.

Baioniiu

Literary History of Roma Sotterranea.

Joannes Macarius, (the Grecised form of Jean THeureux ;) and

the labours, even of these, were not destined to be of much
service in

spreading a knowledge of the Catacombs

among

their contemporaries.
Researches of
'

De Winghe,

Ciacconio was a

man who

delighted in investigating and

and possessed a valuable

museum of Christian and Pagan antiquities. He also employed artists to copy for him some of the more remarkable
Their skill, however, appears
paintings in the Catacombs.
hardly to have been equal to their good intentions, since we
are told that Noe in the Ark, with the dove bringing him the
olive-branch, was represented and explained as " Marcellus,
Pope and Martyr, instructed by an angel whilst he is preaching."
De Winghe, not unnaturally, was dissatisfied with his
friend's performance, and had the paintings more faithfully
These copies were seen and used both
re-copied for himself
by Macarius and Bosio. All traces of them, however, have
now been lost, unless De Rossi be correct in supposing that
collecting curiosities of everv kind,

he has discovered a few in the Imperial Library

how, they were never

made

at Paris

any-

Had De Winghe lived,

the first author on Roma Sotter-

public.

he would, doubtless, have been

Baronius, Frederic Borromeo, and other good and
ranea
learned men set their hopes upon him, and his talents and in;

dustry seem to have been in every

He

tions.

the

summer

way worthy of

their expecta-

died, however, at a very early age at Florence, in

of 1592

and

his

MSS.,

after

having formed part

of the famous library of the Bollandists, were sold in 1825,with the rest of that magnificent collection, and

now remain

The notes of Ciacunedited in the Royal Library at Brussels.

conio, exceedingly voluminous and miscellaneous, appear never
have been prepared for publication, and still lie buried in
The
various public and private libraries of Rome and Naples.
to

and Macarius. labours of Macarius were scarcely more fruitful ; they were
continued during a residence of twenty years in Rome, and the

which they resulted was prepared for publication, and

The
even licensed for printing on the 2 2d of June 1605.
author, however, although he lived until 16 14, left his work

work

still

in

in

MS.

to a public library in Louvain.

annotated by Bollandus,

who announced

died before redeeming his promise

and

It
its

it is

was afterwards

publication, but

only

in

our own

Modern
day that Padre Garrucci,
script to the

The

S.J.,

Aicthors.

has given this precious manu-

pubhc*

and some others mentioned

by De Rossi, great as they may have been, fade into insignificance when compared with those of Antonio Bosio, who has
justly been called the true Columbus of this subterranean
world.
He was a man worthy to be had in remembrance.
De Rossi seems unable to speak of him without a certain
feeHng of enthusiastic reverence and devotion, in which all
labours, however, of these

lovers of Christian archeology can scarcely

Maltese by

resided in

^^'

to sympathise.

an advocate by profession, Bosio had His

birth,

Rome

fail

Antonio

from his

earliest years with his uncle,

who

life

and

^^^^"'"^

was Procurator e or Roman agent for the knights of Malta.

His attention was drawn to the subject of the Catacombs,
while he was yet very young, and when once he had taken up
its pursuit he never abandoned it.
The earliest date recorded
in his book, and found written on the walls of the Catacombs,
is December 10, 1593, the year after the death of De Winghe,
when Bosio himself was not yet eighteen and his labours
were continued both in the cemeteries themselves, and in
studying the works of authors from whom he expected to
derive information on the subject, for the six and thirty years
of his subsequent life.
His industry was prodigious and the Immense
volumes of his MSS., still extant in the Bibliotheca Vallicel- )^^^"S and
mdustry.
liana (the Oratorian Library) at Rome, are a wonderful monument of it. Two of these volumes, containing upwards of
two thousand pages folio, besides fifty pages of index, all in
his own handwriting, show that he had read carefully through
all the fathers, Greek, Latin, and Oriental; all the collections
of canons and councils, ecclesiastical histories, lives of the
saints, and an immense number of theological treatises, including those of the schoolmen ; in fact, every work in which
he thought there was a chance of finding anything in illustration of his subject.
In two other volumes of the same size he
;

'

transcribed the " Acts of the Martyrs," especially of

who

suffered

Rome,

in

all

those

together with other ancient records

which bore upon the topography of the Christian cemeteries.

*
qua;

Hagioglypta

Roma

1856.

sive pictw'(2 et sciilpfurcE sacra; antiquiores

rcpaiiin'iir, explicata a

prasertim

Joanne V Flciiracx {Macario.)

Paris.

Literary History of Ro7na Sotterranea.

These were taken from MSS.

And

yet

it

is

in the

Vatican and other Ubraries.

certain that even these

He

represent the whole of his writings.

Labours

Latacom

in tlie
Ks.

volumes by no means
himself refers to other

commonplace books of his which are now lost.

Again, in making our estimate of the labours of this truly
gj-gat man, we must never forget the anxious, fatiguing, and
even dangerous nature of his subterranean researches. When,
from

he had ascertained some-

his study of ancient records,

thing as to the probable position of a Christian cemetery on

the Appian or other of the

Roman

roads, Bosio would explore

with the utmost diligence

all

the vineyards of the neighbour-

liood, in order to discover,

if

possible,

bowels of the earth

and

some entrance

often, after returning again

into the

and again

same spot, his labour would be all in vain. At another

time he would hear of some opening having been accidentally
made into a Catacomb, by the digging of a new cellar or a well,
and would hasten to the spot, only to find that the whole place
was so buried in ruins that all ingress was impossible. Even
when an entrance was once effected, he still had to force a
passage, often by the labour of his own hands, through the
to the

Dangers of
us woi <.

accumulated rubbish of ages

clear,

or, if

the galleries were tolerably

drawn too

there was the danger of being

far

in

tlie

eagerness of discovery, and of being unable to retrace his steps

through the intricate windings of these subterranean labyrinths.

In

fact, this

danger was actually experienced on

company with Pompeo Ugonio and

December 1593. They had penetrated

visit to

the Catacombs, in

others,

on the loth of

into a

Catacomb about a mile

distant from St Sebastian's,

having forced their way into a lower

opening
far, that,

level,

and
by means of an

one of the chapels, they incautiously proceeded so

when they wished to return, they could not recognise

in

To add

the path by which they had come.

their lights failed

" that I should defile

of the martyrs."

to their perplexity,

them, for they had remained underground

longer than they had intended

Bosio,

his very first

by

and

my

" I

vile

began

to fear," says

corpse the sepulchres

Taught by this experience, he always in

him a quantity of candles, and other

future visits took with

requisites sufficient for

two or three days.

This indefatigable examination of

tlie

Catacombs, and of

ancient documents connected with them, was continued, as

all

we

Modern Authors.

and then Bosio too paid the Publication of

Koma
debt of nature, without having either completed his work, or ^^]^
Sotterraiiea,
published any part of it. It seemed as though Roma Sotterranea a.d. 1632.
were never to be revealed to the world at large. The work of
have

said, for six

and

thirty years,

'^

Bosio was, however, too important to be allowed to

had those of

as

much

He

his predecessors in these researches.

also powerful friends,

who would

had

of so

fruit

His papers and other property had

labour to perish.

been bequeathed

not suffer the

buried

lie

to the

Order of the Knights of Malta, with

whom, as we have seen, his uncle had been ofiicially connected.

The ambassador of the Order then at Rome, Prince Carlo
Aldobrandini, showed the MSS. to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the librarian of the Vatican, the nephew of the reigning
and the Maecenas of those days.
once recognised their value, and lost no time

Pontiff, the friend of Galileo,

The

cardinal at

engaging Padre Severano, of the Oratory, to put the

in

ing-stroke to the work.

tician

An

finish-

eminent architect and a mathema-

were employed to draw the plans and maps which were

the Knights of Malta undertook the expense

still

wanting

and

in five years' time the magnificent

volume which we now

possess was produced and dedicated to

was welcomed by the whole

Pope Urban

VHL*

and archaeological world

with the utmost eagerness, and the demand for it was such that
a Latin translation was begun almost immediately after its
It

appearance.

literary

Its success,

Bosio himself had at one time intended to com-

pose the whole work in Latin, and a portion of

that language,

may

still

through some oversight

it,

written in

be seen among his MSS., although

was not incorporated into

Something appears to have pre-

this portion

Severano's original edition.

vented the publication of Severano's translation

not until fifteen or sixteen years later that a

new

and

it

was

translation,

with considerable alterations and omissions, was published by

Aringhi, in 165 i.t

Although Bosio's work was never completed according

own
*

original design, yet the omissions

Roma

were

for the

to his Value of

most part ^^sios

Sotterranea, opera postiima di Antonio Bosio compos ta disposta

cd accresciiita da Giovatini di Severano, Sacerdote delta Congrcgazione delP

Roma,

Oratorio.

63 2.

t Roma Subten anea

Roma?,

65

1.

novissifua post /Int. plosinm

ct

Joan. Severanum.

work.

Literary History of Roma Sotterraiiea.

such as could be supplied from the works of other authors.

Had

been spared, he intended to have described and

Church with

his life

illustrated the practice of the earliest ages of the

reference to the administration of the sacrament of penance,

the viaticum, extreme unction, prayers for the dying and the

dead, and other matters connected with the death and burial of
In these particulars his book was deficient, but in

Christians.
its

detailed account of each cemetery which he

was most complete

Its general

^"'

had

visited

it

and the whole was admirably arranged on

He

a very simple principle of topography.

the great consular roads which led out of

took in order

Rome, and

all

collected

every historical notice he could find concerning the Christian

cemeteries

on each of them

their

precise

position,

their

names, their founders, and the martyrs or other persons of

tinction

who had been

buried in them.

of this information examined

all

He

dis-

then by the light

Catacombs he had seen,

proper name and history.

the

and endeavoured to assign to each its

That his conjectures were often erroneous, is only what might
have been expected from the known inaccuracy and sometimes
spuriousness of the Acts of the Martyrs and other authorities
by which he was led but these were the only guides which
could then be had and the system itself is quite unexceptionable, indeed, the only one that can be safely followed in laying
;

solid foundation

for

treatment of the whole

scientific

subject.
Destruction of
antiquiues in

Catacombs
suice their re-

covery

It is

much

to

be regretted, therefore, that the work so wisely

i^gm^
should not have been continued on the same plan and

with the same diligence. But the re-discovery of the Catacombs

^

^^^ ^^^ ^ matter of merely archaeological interest the devotion of the faithful was excited by the report that in those dark
:

recesses might
;

most disastrous
early

be lying concealed the remains of saints

and the concessions made to the piety of indivisearch for and extract these relics proved in the end

and martyrs
duals to

still

Roman

to the cemeteries, as authentic records of the

Church.

Instead of the ecclesiastical authorities

taking this matter into their

own hands,

as they have since

happily done, and proclaiming themselves the watchful and

jealous guardians of such precious treasures, they permitted a

number of private persons, acting independently of each other,

It is true, that rules were laid down, and
to make excavations.

Modern Authors.

learned pamphlets were written to prove the value of these

rules, for the identification

have no reason

to

and

translation of the rehcs,

and we

doubt that they were scrupulously observed.

we may

But, in the interests of Christian archaeology,

complain that those engaged

in the search

justly too long per

had no regard

for

^^^^

^^

'

the preservation of monuments, whether of painting, sculpture,

or inscriptions, which

came

in their way.

They

did not even

care to keep a record of what they had seen, which would at

least

have provided materials

for future litterati to continue the

work of Bosio. Many of these permissions to extract relics were

given to religious communities and all the explorers availed
themselves, in their researches, of some of the workmen who
had been employed by Bosio. None of them, however, followed any systematic and comprehensive plan and soon afterwards the permissions were all revoked and vigorously repressed
by the Popes. We find traces of them for the last time during
and under Clement IX., about
the pontificate of Urban VIII.
A.D. 1668, the arrangements which still prevail were definitely
settled.
The loss, however, sustained by Christian archaeology
in the interval is incalculable
and all must heartily sympathise
with De Rossi, both in his lamentations, and his astonishment
that such ravages should have been tolerated in silence under
;

stopped at
p^p^jf about
1688.

the very eyes, as

it

men

were, of such

as Holstenius, Allaccius,

and other antiquarians who were then living in Rome. We

learn something of the nature and extent of our loss from the

Lost treasures,

incidental notices which occur in the writings of the archaeolo-

seventeenth century

gists of the
all

thus,

we hear of a sepulchre

covered with gold, of a superb cameo, a series of the rarest

coins and medals, various ornaments in crystal and metal,

(S:c.,

besides a multitude of other objects which were secretly sold

by the labourers engaged

in the excavations

but

we

are told

nothing as to the precise localities in which any of these things

were found.

Had

but an accurate record been kept of

all

work of reconstructing the history and topography of these cemeteries would have been comparatively easy
and certain.
After the works of Bosio and Aringhi, tlie literary history of Nothing new
"^ ^^^ ^^
the Catacombs remains a blank for nearly half a century. They
discoveries, the

had taken

their place

among

...

the mirahilia of

such were an object of curiosity to

1700.

Rome, and

all intelligent travellers

as

but

Lite7^ary History

lo

John Evelyn,
^

^^'

who wrote about them were

more influenced by
religious than by scientific motives.
Bosio's work had been the
means of recalling some learned Protestants to the bosom of the
Church ;"" and thenceforward the subject became an arena for
party Strife.
John Evelyn, indeed, who visited Rome in 1645^
was content simply to record what he saw or heard, but not so
Evelyn was first taken to tlie subthose who came after him.
those

of Roma Sotterranea.
generally

terranean cemetery at St Sebastian's, " where the Fulgentine

monks have
"

"

their monastery."

They

led us

down," he

says,

which they affirmed went divers furlongs under

The sides or walls which we passed were filled with

into a grotto

ground.

bones and dead bodies,

laid as

it

were on shelves, whereof

and now and then a

At the end of some of these
subterranean passages were square rooms with altars in them,

some were shut up with broad

crosse or a palme cut in them.

stones,

been the receptacles of primitive Christians

said to have

times of persecution, nor seems

Rome

being detained in

out of towne, to

much

visit

a corn-field, guided by two torches,

a

little

hole,

says, "

the famous

what we had seen

like

He

Catacomb.

to visit another

being

By and

improbable."

We took

Roma

Here,

at St Sebastian's.

we

about twenty paces, which delivered us into a

miles, as Bosio

for divers

in his

roomes,

book.

that

in

crept on our bellies into

depth in the bowells of the earth, a strange and

them

coach

Sotterranea,

large entrie that led us into several streets or allies, a

age

by,

longer than he expected, he was per-

suaded
little

it

in the

We

good

fearefull pass-

has measured and described

ever and anon cam.e into pretty square

seem'd to be chapells with

altars,

adorn'd with very ordinary ancient painting.

and some

Many

skeletons

and bodies are plac'd on the sides one above the other in
degrees like shelves, whereof some are shut up with a coarse
flat stone, having ingraven on them Pro Christo,t or a crosse
and palmes, which are supposed to have been martyrs. Here,
in all likelyhood,

were the meetings of the primitive Christians

during the persecutions, as Pliny the younger describes them,

* Bottari,

t
is

It

Rom.

Sott.

t.

i.

pref. p. v.

would seem that neither Evelyn nor

same blunder
Catacombs to

is

his guides

monogram

knew Greek.

'I'liis

and we are afraid the

even now sometimes repeated by persons showing the

clearly their misinterpretation of the

strangers.

-^,

A lUhors

Modern
As

was prying about,

found a glasse phiale,

fill'd

Many

conjectured with dried blood, and 2 lachrymatories.

the bodies, or rather bones, (for there appear'd nothing

lay so entire as

only touch'd

plac'd

if

art of the chirurgeon,

Thus

to dust.

all

fell

by the

but being

we returned almost

into the daylight, and even choked by

when we came
smoke of the torches."*

blind
the

of

else,)

wandering two or

after

three miles in this subterranean raseander,

was

as

the letters of Bishop Burnet, t

He

forty years later.

Rome, on

who

same scenes

visited the

reckoned upon

countrymen's

his

one hand, and

on the

gious prejudices,

very different tone pervades

Burnet, 1685.

reli-

ignorance of

their

the other, with such confidence, that he hazarded

the astounding statement that " those burying-placcs that are

pompous

graced with the

ihQ puticoli mentioned

sort of the

Roman

care about

them were

come

of

title

Catacombs

are

no other than

by Festus Pompeius, where the meanest

and so without any further

slaves were laid,

left

to

rot,''

and that the Christians did

them until the fourth or fifth cenby some other writers in the same
strain, as for example, Misson, who, being unable to deny that
Christians had certainly been buried here in very ancient times,
only insisted that " this w^as no reason for excluding others

not

tury.

into possession of

He

was

follow^ed

from being interred there

also,

were

in those holes that

Misson,. 1714.

set

apart for the dregs of the people." j

The controversies which arose out of ignorant or malicious

falsehoods like these, contributed nothing to archaeological

science,

and are not therefore worthy of any detailed mention

We

in this place.

repeat, therefore, that there

is

a blank of

half a century in the literary history of the Catacombs, from

Aringhi to Fabretti, who, in the year 1700, deserves our

grati- Fabretti's

tude for havino- preserved the account of two cemeteries un^.

known

to

contained.

Bosio,

He

Catacombs, and
removal of any
-'

together with the inscriptions which they

had been appointed,

it

belonged to his

relics that

who

held

superintend the

it

for

In this post
^

more than

A new

voyage

to Italy, tve.

in the years

London, 1714.

Vol.

ii.

1685 and 1686.

part

i.

Boldetti on
^'^'^'1^!^'^"

p. 166.

^""

tiquities, A.D.

thirty 1720.

* P^velyn's Memoirs, edited by Bra}', 1819, pp. 153, 164.

t Some letters from Italy and Switzerland

Rotterdam, P. 209.

Inscriplions,
a.d. 1700.

in 1688, custode of the

office to

might
be discovered.

he was succeeded by Boldetti,

^'^^'"''^.o"

Literaiy History of Roma Sotterraitea.

12

years, but who, unfortunately, did not possess sufficient

knowledge or love of archaeology to enable him to make the most

of the great opportunities he enjoyed.
During his time, whole
regions of Roma Sotterranea were brought to light, galleries of
tombs that had remained apparently unvisited since the last
corpse was buried in them, a vast number of inscriptions,
medals, and other treasures came under his notice and yet
it is doubtful whether any account of these things would have
come down to us had he not been commanded to write in the
:

defence

Mabillon's

of religion.

anonymous

letter

de cidtu

sanctorum ignotorum had attracted considerable attention, and

had been made of it by Misson and other

Protestant controversialists seemed to demand an answer.
Boldetti was therefore desired to publish an account of the
rules which had been followed by himself and his predecessors
in the extraction of relics
and he accompanied this with a
description of the discoveries that had been made in the
Catacombs generally during his own time.* The object of
his work, however, being not scientific, but religious and
apologetic, its contents were arranged with this view, and its
the unfair use which

value as a contribution towards the complete history of the

subterranean city of the dead was proportionably diminished.

Buonarrotti

on the Gilded
Glasses oi the

Catacombs.

Buonarrotti, who had assisted Boldetti in the archaeological

^^^^^ ^^ j-^-g y^Q^v himself wrote a valuable book on the vessels
'

or fragments of gilded glass found in the Catacombs, t

a sub-

ject

which has been handled afresh and with great erudition

our

own day by Padre

Marangoni,

assistants,

A.D. 1740.

qj.

to

Garrucci, S.J. %

Marangoni, who was

Another of

officially

in

Boldetti's

associated with

^^gjj^y years in the guardianship of the cemeteries,

him

seems

have intended to carry out Bosio's plan of making a minute

and

faithful report of every

new

discovery arranged according

and topographical outline of that great man,

and corrected by any new light thrown upon the subject by
After he had continued this plan for about
later discoveries.
to the historical

* Ossenjazioni sopra

cemeteri dei SS. Martiri ed antichi cristiani di

Roma. Roma, 1720.

f Osservazioni sopra alcuni franimeiiti di vast antichi
Firenze, 1 716.
figure trovati nei cimeteri di Roma.
X
di

di vetro oriiati di

Vctri ornati di figure in oro trovati nei cimiteri dei o'istiani primitivi

Roma

raccolti e spiegati

da

Raff'aele Gairiicci,

D.C.D.G.

Roma,

1858.

Modern Authors,
sixteen or seventeen years, an accidental

" Truly/' says

papers.
relating

The

losses."

little

that

fire

destroyed

all his

am

Rossi, " the history which I

De

seems to be but an

13

Iliad of misfortune

remained from

the results of his subsequent labours,

and irreparable

this fire, together

with

Marangoni published

in

the Acta Sa?icti Vidoriiiim. 1740.

The Roma Sotterranea of Bottari,* published by command

of Clement XIL, was a mere republication of the plates from

Bottan's

Roma

^''^^''^'2^/'''''

the work of Bosio, illustrated with great care and learning, but

not arranged in any order, nor enriched by any additions^

unless

we reckon one which we could

well have spared, viz.,

the paintings of a Gnostic sepulchre falsely attributed to the

These have seriously perplexed and misled

authors, especially Raoul Rochette, who founded upon
great measure his theory as to the origin of Christian art.
Christians.

The

learned students of Christian archaeology

who

later
it

in

flourished Latter part of

during the latter half of the last century, such as Mamachi,

Olivieri, Zaccaria, Borgia, &c.,

made

works of Bosio, Aringhi, Boldetti, and

tises

^^^JJlJ.^'^

considerable use of the

Bottari, in their trea-

on various points of Christian antiquity, but do not

for themselves, or even to have taken

appear to have explored

any notice of the new discoveries that were being made year

by year in some part of the ancient cemeteries. Benedict

XIV., by founding the Christian Museum in the Vatican Christian MuLibrary, and collecting there the inscriptions that had hitherto f^""^ lounded
been dispersed among the various churches, relieved antiqua- XIV.
rians of the labour of examining the places where these inscriptions were found, and even such an archteologist as Marini
does not appear to have thought

Catacombs themselves.

it

worth while to

visit

the

D'Agincourt, indeed, penetrated their D'Agincourt,

recesses to find materials for his History of the decline of the ^^^'
fine arts; and,

modern

The attempt
it

^,

fossors the last lesson in the art of destruction.

signally failed,

resulted in the ruin of

never be replaced.

and was not long persisted

many

Indeed,

* Sadture e Pittiire Sacre

precious

it is

est7'atte

in,

but

monuments which can

truly lamentable to see

what

dai Ciuiiteri di Roma, pjibblicatc

g'ia

dagli autori della Rotna Solterranea ed ora miozutmintte date in hice colic
spiegazioni.

*''

by attempting to detach the pictures from the His devastaon which they had been painted, taught ^1"^ "^

walls of living rock

the

Roma,

734-1 754.

Litera7y History of Ro7na Sotterra?iea.

14

a record of destruction the history of the Catacombs has been,

almost ever since their re-opening

The

in

the sixteenth century.

paintings which were seen at that time in the crypts on

the Via Salaria, by Baronius and others, had been destroyed

when Bosio

the

revisited

Padre Mazzolari,

S.J.,

place

years

fifteen

afterwards.

the pious author of the Vie Sacre, was

only just in time to traverse the gallery accidentally opened

near San Lorenzo in 1779, before he saw the work of devastation ruthlessly accomplished under his very eyes.
The
lessons of destruction taught

by D'Agincourt have been only

too frequently followed even as recently as our

own

The

day.

vast extent of subterranean territory that has to be guarded

from injury, and the

Catacombs

to time be gained to the

dental openings in the

soil,

to prevent depredations

may from

time

consequence of

acci-

with which access

facility

in

make it difficult for the authorities

we cannot but regret that there

still

should not have been always a succession of antiquarians, able

and
Padre Marchi,
.J.,

A.D.I 41.

willing to transmit to posterity a faithful record of each

new discovery as it was made.

At the begmning of the present

century, tokens of a reviving

Catacombs may be traced

some of the proceedings of the Roman Archaeological Society, and in a few

ij^|-gj.gg{-

jj-^

^\^Q

other writings.

Marchi,

It

to

S.J.,

was reserved, however,

give the

interest in the subject

1

for the late

great impulse

first

which

in

is

now

to

Padre

that lively

so universally

felt.

In

84 1, he commenced his great work on the Monuments of

Christian Art.'''
It is almost needless to enter upon

early

any detailed examination

they were

since

Jesuit,

partly in

labours

the

of

interrupted

consequence of the

and

of this

finally

learned

abandoned,

political vicissitudes of the times

by which his own Order was especially affected ; and also

because he was conscious that the work of rehabilitating (so
to say) these venerable monuments of antiquity, and setting

them

forth before

the public in their original integrity, was

necessarily reserved for one

had begun
the

soil.

one of
*

to publish

He

who should come

prematurely

at

who was

at first

He

most he had but broken

had, how^ever, imparted his

his scholars,

after him.

own enthusiasm

to

the frequent companion

Moiminenti dcUc arti CJiridianc Priviitivc ndla Mdropoll del Cnslian-

esinio.

Roma,

844.

A iithors.

Modern
subterranean

of his

whom
and whom

he

expeditions,

exploring

recognised as a vakiable fellow-labourer,

he

soon
finally

urged in the most pressing manner to undertake the work

which he found too great

De

scholar was
his

learning,

talent,

own

for his

whom

Rossi, of

it

This

failing strength.

were hard to say whether De

and industry have done more

Rossi,

for the

work of discovery in subterranean Rome, or the discoveries

he has made done more for the increase of our knowledge of it.
At any rate, the fruits of his labour speak for themselves for
whereas before his time only two or three important historical
monuments''^ had been discovered in the Catacombs during
more than two centuries of examination and all of these the
;

result

of accident,

the

excavations directed by the

mission of Sacred Archaeology, of which

the

most active members, have brought

years six or seven historical

and

in

De

Rossi

is

Comone of

to light within a few

monuments of

the utmost value,

every instance he had announced beforehand with more

or less accuracy what was to be expected.

We

are naturally led to ask after the cause of so great a

From what new

contrast.

sources had

De

Rossi derived his

was his new system for extracting ore from His system
old mines ?
The answer is soon given, and it is much more research,
simple than we might have expected from the magnitude of the

information

or what

be accounted

effects to

He

for.

plan as had been originally laid

followed the same general

down by Bosio

he studied

same ancient authorities, but with the addition of two

or three more of considerable value which in Bosio's time lay
Father March indeed had
buried in the MSS. of libraries.
known these new authorities but he had not adopted Bosio's
also the

Moreover, the particular object whicli

topographical system.

he had proposed to himself, led him precisely in the opposite

direction from that to which these new guides offered to conduct him.

They

guide-books

written

were, in
in

fact, veritable

the seventh

guides

itineraries or

and eighth centuries by

Abdon and Sennen, and other

San Ponziano, on the Via Portuensis, discovered
by Bosio the crypt of SS. Felix, Adauctus, and Emerita, discovered by
Marangoni, behind the Basilica of St Paul's, on the road leading to St
Sebastian's
and the tomb, the original epitaph, and the body of St
Hyacinth, found in the cemetery of St Hermes, by Padre Marchi.
(See
Note A. in Appendix.)
*

The

baptistery and paintings of SS.

crypts in the cemetery of

;

of

Literary History of Roma Sotterranea.

i6

who

pilgrims from foreign countries,

carefully put

the sacred places which they visited in

enumerated
his

first

Now

Rome.

on record

all

Especially they

the tombs of the martyrs, as they lay each in

all

resting-place

the

in

suburban cemeteries.

different

these were the precise spots in the

Catacombs where

Damasus and other popes had made many material

They had built spacious staircases to conduct the
immediately to the object of their pious search
Iwn'maria to supply light and

air

widened the

St

changes.
pilgrims

opened more
galleries, or

added vestibules to the chapels or raised small basilicas above

ground and for the support of these, solid substructions of
masonry had been sometim.es necessary in the crypts themselves.
But when the Catacombs ceased to be used, not only
were all these works left to perish by a process of natural decay,
;

they also attracted the greedy hand of the spoiler, so that after
the lapse of seven or eight hundred years every centre of his-

had become a mass of ruins. Whereas, then, it

was the special desire of Father Marchi to recover, if possible,
toric interest

galleries

and chambers of the Catacombs

condition as

first

they were

ance of bricks and mortar

in

in

their primitive

hewn out of the rock, any appearthe way of his excavation was suf-

him aside from that part of the cemetery altogether.

De Rossi, on the other hand, shrewdly judged that the
crypts which had been changed into sanctuaries contained the
Whervery key, as it were, to the history of each Catacomb.
ever one of these could be recovered and identified, we had a
certain clue to the name and history of the cemetery in which
ficient to turn

was found. He hailed, therefore, every token of ruined

masonry in the heart of a Catacomb with the keenest delight,
as a sure sign that he was in the immediate neighbourhood of
what he most desired to see and the results have abundantly
it

proved that he was not mistaken

His sources cf
information.

The

in his reasoning.

importance of these results renders

it

worth our while

enumerate and give some short account of the authorities

which have furnished the clue to their discover}^ They are such
|.q

as the rash criticism of the last century

tuously

condemned

tyrologies, the

as worthless,

the

would have contemp-

old Calendars and Mar-

Acts of the Martyrs, the Lives of the Popes, and

and
need of great

the Itineraries of pious pilgrims of the seventh, eighth,

ninth centuries.

Doubtless

tliere

has been

Ancie7it Recoi^ds.

17

patience and ingenuity to disentangle the thread of truth from

web of confusion with which it has been sometimes interwoven in these documents. Nevertheless, they have proved
the

themselves such efficient guides, that henceforward no account

of Roma Sotterranea can be considered complete that should
pass them over in silence.

PART

II.

ANCIENT RECORDS.

PERHAPS

be found

to

amnn ;

is

the so-called Alartyi'ologhun Hierojiymi-

a work which, though not put together in

until the

end of the

certainly contains

sixth or

many

Church

martyrs,

is

observe, that
the
to

it

is

The exceeding

up both the

known

acts

to require proof.

care of the

should, each in his

faithful notaries

own

region, with
search out the acts of the martyrs ;""

middle of the third century,

the regions

of her

relics

It is sufficient to

recorded of St Clement, before the end of

be divided among the

in the

and the

century, that " he caused the seven regions [of

first

^^^^^^^"^^^

present form

its

portions of far older martyrologies be-

in treasuring

too well

The Martyr-

perhaps even the seventh century,

longing to the ages of persecution.

early

Roman Church

the most ancient record of the

among

the deacons,

it is

Rome]
who

of the Church,

diligent

and

care

zeal

and of St Fabian, Pope

added that " he divided

and appointed seven sub-

deacons to superintend the seven notaries, that they might

collect in all their details

Most of

(/;/

mteg7^o) the acts of the martyrs."t

these invaluable records perished in the terrible perse-

was impossible but that some few of

them should have escaped, and these furnished the first groundwork of the martyrology of which w^e are speaking. The most
cution of Diocletian.

authentic copies of

Still it

it,

say the Bollandists,J

make no mention

of a single martyr after the time of the apostate Julian

any, for example,

In

itself this is

who

no sure

suffered

under the Vandals

criterion of its antiquity

not of

in Africa.

but there are

other internal evidences which warrant our assigning one portion, or

*
Ij.

perhaps we should rather say one edition, of

Lib. Pontif.

c. iv.

Acta Sanct. Octob.

torn. ix. p. 269.

it

Tbid.

to the

Its antiquity,

Literaiy History of Roma Sotterranea.

earlier part of the tliird century,

another to the beginning of

the fourth, and a third to the beginning of the

An

evidence of the

of these dates

first

who was Pope

of St Antherus,

November, whereas

Now,

length of his pontificate "

precisely the interval

dates

was

so that

we

on the 24th
assigned to

it is

the Liber Fontificalis gives as the

one month and twelve days," which

between the two above-mentioned

November

confident that the 24th of

feel

century.

that the anniversary

a.d. 235, appears

in all later Martyrologies

the 2d of January.

is

is,

fifth

really the date of his succession to the

Chair of St Peter,

not of his death.

But the anniversary of the accession of a pope,

as indeed that of

any other bishop,

during his lifetime

whence

it

is

never celebrated except

follows that this particular por-

tion at least of this ancient Martyrology

up during the

must have been drawn

pontificate of St Antherus.

And

it is

not a

little

remarkable, that although his pontificate lasted for so short a

him

time, yet the Liber Poniificalis expressly records of

that

" he diligently sought out from the notaries the Acts of the

Martyrs, and stored them up in the church;"

it

goes on also

to say, "

on account of which he received from the Proefect

Maximus the crown of martyrdom." It is by observing similar
notes, which only the keenness of modern criticism has taught

men

to appreciate, that archaeologists

have been able to detect

hand of a later compiler or copyist of this Martyrology, who

must have lived in the time of Miltiades, or between a.d. 311 and
314; and a third in the time of St Boniface I., or between a.d.
418 and 422, since festivals are noted here of Ordin. Mi/tiadis,
on July 2d, and Bonifacii Epi de Ordinatioiie^ on the 29th of
December, besides the depositio of each of these pontiff's on the
But it would
days on which we still commemorate them.
the

occuj^y us too long to

and even the

copyists,

errors

show
and

in

each case

how

contradictions,

of

the repetitions,

various

these

have often proved of service in furnishing a clue by

means of which the ingenuity and patience of learned antiquarians have succeeded in unravelling the truth.

We

must con-

tent ourselves with observing that this Martyrology

estimable value, as having preserved to us

much

is

of in-

that

would

otherwise have perished.

Almanac of
Fur. Dion.
Filocalus.

j^

for

we

order comes the Christian Almanac,

chronological

can call it by no more appropriate name,) the first edi

Ancient Records.
tion of

19

which appears to have been published

the latest, with highly ornamented illustrations, in a.d.

This consists of

Furius Dionysius Filocalus.

lists

or burials of the popes from Lucius to Julius

352,

of the principal Christian

and
354, by

in a.d. 336,

of the deaths

i.e.,

a.d. 255 to

festivals celebrated

during the

year, especially of martyrs, but including also Christmas-day,

Cathedra

and other immovable

Petri,

logue of the popes from St Peter to

feasts

finally,

In

Liberius.'"*

a catathis last

catalogue the deaths of the popes begin to be registered from

seem to show that the

had been probably compiled from
some older work, such as the Chronicon of Hippolytus. But
the most important of these documents is undoubtedly the first
of the three.
It follows immediately upon the list of prefects
of the city, and this list, evidently compiled with great accuracy
from contemporary registers, begins in like manner from the
the time of St Antherus, which would
earlier portion of the history

year 254.

two

Is this

synchronism purely accidental

ters of the

government

or were the

from state documents, the public regis-

really derived

lists

At

first

sight

it

might seem an almost

extravagant conjecture to suppose that the names of the popes

should have been known to the

civil

governors of pagan Rome,

and

of.

Yet

ofiicially

taken cognisance

even

certain, that

it is

many churches

as early as the beginning of the third century,

used to pay a tribute to the government that they might escape

from persecution, and

for this

purpose they were enrolled on

the registers of the police (so to speak), where they found them-

TertuUiant takes care to remind them,

selves, as

company.
Decius

Again,

strictly

we read

that,

in very strange

death of Fabian,

after the

forbade the election of a successor, and was

when he heard of the appointment of Cornelius.

In genuine Acts of Martyrdom the question is sometimes

greatly enraged

When

asked, to what church the prisoners belong.

* This catalogue
latter riame

is

the ecclesi-

generally quoted as Liberian, or Bucheriajt

being taken from

its

first

editor,

^gidius Bucherus,

S.J.

the

De

Doctrina temporum.

Antwerp, 1634.
+ Non decet Christum pecunia constare. Quomodo et martyria fieri
possent in gloriam Domini, si tributo licentiam sectoe compensaremus.
.... Massaliter totse ecclesiae tributum sibi irrogaverunt. Nescio dolen-

dum

an erubescendum

sit,

cum

rum, inter tabernarios et lanios

Christiani

in matricibus Beneficiariorum et Curiosoet fures

quoque vectigales continentur.

balnearum

De fiiga

et

in

aleones et lenones

persec.

cc. xii.

xnt.

Litei^ary History of Roma Sotterranca.

20

astical property is restored

bishops that the surrender

the sacred books are

after a persecution,

is

against

siastical hierarchy.

the

from them

them and

their clerics

All this seems to indicate a certain

special edicts are issued.

knowledge and even recognition of

And

'''

made

to

ordered to be

demanded

is

it

it

is

their position in the eccle-

very curious to observe how-

some of the difficulties in this catalogue are immediately cleared

up, if we suppose it to have been derived from civil and official
sources.

Thus, for instance,

it is

stated of the year 304, that

at this time the episcopacy ceased for seven years, six months,

and twenty-five

This statement cannot be reconciled

days.

even with the dates given elsewhere in the same

observable that

was precisely during

it

this very

(at least legally)

Pontificalis

suppressed.

but

it is

time that Dio-

and that the hierarchy

cletian confiscated the loca ecdesiastica,

was

list

Again,

we read

in the Libe7'

that Maxentius required of St Marcellus that he

should deny that he was a bishop, (because he had not been

and his name accordingly does not appear in this

However, be this as it may, from whatever source these
list.
lists may have been originally procured, it is certain that they
have proved to be of the greatest use in the hands of De Rossi.
Inscriptions of
To these we must next add the numerous inscriptions comI->amasus.
pQgg(^ i^y Pope Uamasus, engraved by the same Furius Filocalus,
recognised,)

and

set

tombs.

up by the Holy Pontiff

Several of these

at so

many

of the martyrs'

monuments destroyed by

the Goths,

Lombards, and other sacrilegious barbarians, were restored,

more or less correctly, by later popes many are preserved to
us only through the copies that were taken by learned ecclesi:

astics or pious pilgrims in the ninth or tenth centuries

some few

and some also have been

These
monuments, wherever
recovered by De
they are found, are witnesses of the utmost value on questions
relating either to the history or the geography of the Catacombs.
The Liber Fontificalis, or, as it is sometimes (less correctly)
yet remain in their original integrity,

Rossi himself

Liher Pontifi'^'^^^^'

by the Librarian Anastasius, is

was, from the first, formed out of docu-

called, the Lives of the Pontiffs

our next authority.

It

ments more ancient than

itself,

like the Mai^tyrologium

Hierony-

Rossi does not hesitate to say, that the proofs of this new and
unexpected fact are so strong that they amount ahiiost to a complete
*

De

demonstration.

R. S.

II. 372.

Ancient Records.

21

mianimi^ and there had been at least three versions or editions

of

it

before the days of Anastasius.

made

at the

century,
tion of

beginning of the sixth

in the

may even be

but a porif

Its statements are often at variance

Almanac and

the most ancient Martyrology,

especially in the matter of dates

yet these very variations are

and enable us

useful,

traced to the times of St Damasus,

not to a yet earher period.

with those of the

sometimes

of these had been

beginning and about the middle of the eighth

and another
it

Two

to detect the truth.

Often

they record some

they are accounted for by the fact that

mstead of the day and place of

their original burial.
Certainly there could be no object in
changing the dates without reason the compiler can only have

translation of the popes' relics,

followed some other authority.

The Martyrologies
sometimes useful

of Bede, of Ado,

Usuard and

others, are Other Martyr-

but they are inferior in importance to the

Acts of the Martyrs, which, even when not authentic, often Acts
contain most valuable fragments of truth.
critics

Tillemont and other

of his school have dealt with these venerable

of antiquity too summarily.

monuments

Disgusted by the flagrant ana-

chronisms, or the barbarous diction, or the tone of legendary

exaggeration, or the historical

them, they have found

criticise

it

and distinguish

difficulties

which abound

in

easier to reject altogether than to

whilst a

more learned and cautious

examination not unfrequently succeeds in detecting many

and genuine story. The Acts of St Cecilia, for

example, which were so thoroughly set aside by Tillemont that
he questioned whether there had ever been such a virgin and
martyr in Rome at all, and suspected that her history might
perhaps have been a myth imported from Sicily, are certainly
traces of a true

not, in their present form, a

genuine and original document;

they are not contemporary with the martyrdom

contrary, both in the preface

and

in the

itself; on the
body of the Acts there

are clear tokens of a writer in the time of peace, between the

and fifth centuries ;* nevertheless it is equally certain

must have been composed upon very minute and
truthful records, since a number of circumstances which they
narrate were most exactly confirmed on the rediscovery of her

fourth

that they

The

liturgical prayers

sions to them.

both of Leo and of Gelasius abound with

allu-

of the

Literary History of Roma Sotterranea.

22

end of the sixteenth century, which relics were

certainly hid from every human eye at the time of the compila-

relics at the

tion of the Acts.

Moreover, on a

various readings even of the

Acts,

easy to detect the

it is

critical

MSS. which

little

coinparison of the
still

exist of these

additions and embellishments

They are precisely such as we

might have anticipated ; and it is probable that the original
compiler did not use greater license in dealing with the mateintroduced by later writers.*

rials

before him, than his

In either case,

it

own

successors used towards himself

was not such

the story, nor to distort

its

as to destroy the substance of

principal features, historical or geo-

and as most of these spurious Acts (if they must still

be branded by this opprobrious epithet) were written before the
sacred deposits in the Catacombs had been translated from their
first resting-place, they have been of great service in enabling De
Rossi to reconstruct both the history and the geography of subterranean Rome. The same may be said also of some incidental
notices in the ancient Liturgical Books of the Roman Church.
graphical

Itineraries of
pilgrims in
the seventh
century.

All these documents, however, were accessible to the prede-

cessors of

De

Rossi,

and were

freely

made

use of by them.

To

him belongs the credit of having demonstrated by argument,

and still more by actual discovery, the immense importance of
the information to be derived from the ancient Itineraries or
local guide-books to the sanctuaries of

descriptions

may be

One

Rome.

of these

seen in the works of William of Malmes-

bury, where he records the visit of the Crusaders to

Rome,

a.d.

resting

1095 ;t but as this description speaks of the Saints

subterranean sepulchres, it is manifest that the chrostill

in their

nicler has copied

it

centuries before his

from some document written four or five

own time and there is internal evidence
:

650 and 680. Another of these Itineraries, about a century later, was pubhshed
by Mabillon, in 1685, from a MS. in Einsiedlen and a third,
that

it

was written between the years

a.d.

belonging to the tenth century, by Eckart, in 1729, from a MS.

in the library of Wurtzburg.
These, however, are all surpassed

by two others which were discovered about a hundred

years ago in the library of Salzburg, and published as an
appendix to an edition of the works of Alcuin, with which the
in value

See Note

t In

tlie

F).

in

Appendix.

excellent edition of Duffus Hardy, torn.

ii.

539-544.

Aiicient Records.

MSS. had been

accidentally

internal evidence that

bound

2o
It

up.

certain from

is

one of these, and that the most exact,

was written between the years 625 and 638, and the other

many

not

on the

The

a genuine Itinerary, written

first is

and abounds with topographical notices of all that

saw, above ground or below, on his right hand or

spot,

the writer
his

years later.

is

He

to the east or the west.

left,

starts

from the centre of

Rome, and proceeds northwards through

the Flaminian gate

and

he does not return to

in visiting the various roads in order,

Rome and make

a fresh beginning every time, but goes across

from one road to another by by-paths,

The

many of which still remain.

second, though following the same general plan and taking

each road

in succession, is

not the real journal or description

of what had been seen by the traveller himself; rather,

tokens of being an epitome of some larger work.

bears

it

However,

both of them were written before the practice of translation of

had begun, so that the minute topographical details

which they record have reference to the original condition of
the Catacombs before their sanctity had been profaned or their
relics

traditions obscured.

In the same category with these Itineraries

the

of relics collected by the

list

Abbot John,

may be
in the

classed Papyrus

days of St

Gregory the Great, and sent to Theodelinda, Queen of the

Lombards. This list, written on papyrus, together with many
of the

relics

themselves,

and the

little

parchment

labels

attached to them,

We

must

not,

is still to be seen in the cathedral of Monza.'''

however, be misled by the word " relics^''' and

picture to ourselves, according to

modern custom, the bodies

portions of the bodies of saints.

St

Gregory himself

or

specifies

the only kinds of relics that in his day were permitted to be

away by

carried

stantina

the faithful.

"When

the

Romans

they do not touch the bodies

piece of linen in a box, which

He

writes to the

Empress Con-

present the relics of the saints,

their

is

custom

is

only to put a

placed near the holy body,

and which they afterwards take away. ... In the time of the

Pope

St Leo,

some Greeks, doubting of

ceeded blood, as
* It

is

has been published

See also

the virtue of these

brought scissors and cut the linen, from whence pro-

relics,

p.

Epist.

reported by the ancient inhabitants.'"!

])y

Marini, Papin Diplom.,

p. 327,

No. CXLIII.

377.
lib.

iii.

ep. 30.

The

pieces of linen were calleil brandi.-a.

list

of

Literary History of Roma Sotterranea.

24

But besides these, drops of the oil from the lamps which
burned before the tombs of the saints were frequently carried

away

as relics

and

St

Gregory often sent these oka

These

glass phials to persons at a distance."

;

By comparing

natural) in the order of his visits.

this local order

with the topographical notices in the Itineraries,

been enabled

to decide with accuracy

De

into these details

ques-

To

follow

to transcribe

many

would require us

work, and would weary the unscientific

entire pages of his

reader.

It is sufficient to say, that a careful

amply repay

all

Rossi has

many important

tions concerning the localities of particular tombs.

him

in little

were the

by John the Abbot and in the list of them he

records every shrine which he visited, and this (as was

relics collected

carefully

latter

who

study of them will

are capable of appreciating the keenness

of his criticisms, and the happy boldness with which he

quently seizes upon some

fre-

or hint about a fact, before

fact,

unnoticed, but which eventually leads to valuable discoveries.

These

This work an

nl^S^rer!
De
Rossi's.

are the principal sources of information of which

Rossi has

made

use in his

Roma

Sotten^anea ;

of them he has constructed a very

its

history.

The

and

and by the help

life-like

narrative of

it

has cost him to do this can

who

take the pains to follow him

labour which

only be appreciated by those

full

De

through the slow, deliberate, sometimes almost wearisome

and examine in detail the mass of

minute criticisms by which he insists upon justifying every step
which he takes and for this it is indispensable that the whole

method of

his operations,

work should be read exactly as he has himself written it.

Many threads of his argument are so subtle, yet so strong and
so necessary to the establishment of his conclusions, that they

can neither be omitted nor reproduced

form, without injury to their substance.

must perforce leave untouched

in

any compressed

These, therefore,

nevertheless,

we hope

to

we
be

able to extract from his pages sufficient matter to set before

our readers an intelligible account of the history of the Catacombs, sufficiently supported both by the language of ancient

documents, and by the remains which his researches have

enabled us to see and examine for ourselves.
* This custom

may even now be

observed in the Church of Sant' Agostino,

from the lamp that burns i^efore the statue of the

where people take

oil

Madonna

and from other

del Parto,

shrines.

BOOK

I.

ORIGIN OF THE CATACOMBS.

CHAPTER

I.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
^

^HE

J-

daily-increasing celebrity of the

Roman Catacombs

might almost seem to render a general description of

them unnecessary

who does

for

not know,

(General de-

^
the

cau-

not by per- combs,

if

sonal observation, at least from the accounts of friends or from

popular literature, the leading features of that marvellous city

of the dead which has received the appropriate
Sotterranea, subterranean

Rome ?

Roma

Nevertheless, so

many

errors

mixed up with these popular accounts, and our know-

are often

ledge of the subject has been so

in

of

name

much improved

point of accuracy and of extent, that

clearness,

it

set before

them

at

once some outline

tained in the following pages.

We

as concise as possible, not strengthening

readers, if

we

what

to

fill

is

con-

make our statement

it

at present

proofs or arguments, but leaving these to be supplied

come

both
to

at least of

shall

late,

conduce

will

and the general convenience of our

of

by any

when we

in the several parts of the picture in detail.

The Roman Catacombs

a name consecrated by long usage, Theirposition

but having no etymological meaning, and not a very determinate

geographical
in the

one are

a vast labyrinth of galleries excavated

bowels of the earth

in the hills

around the Eternal City

''^^

^^t^"^-

Roma

26
not in the

hills

beyond the

amount of
if

on which the

walls.

city itself

Their extent

superficial soil

ever, pass

Sottcrranea.

beyond the

I.

for they rarely,

from the

even

five,

on each of these levels

one above

so that, on the whole,

them;

that

is

stretched out in one continuous line, they would

extend the whole length of Italy

from two to four

feet in width,

to the nature of the rock in

itself.

and vary

The

galleries are

in height

which they are dug.

on both sides are pierced with horizontal niches,

excavated

Gallery with Tombs.

there are certainly not less than 350 miles of

if

but in

and they cross and recross one another, sometimes

at short intervals,

to say,

city,

for these are often

levels, or pia??i, three, four, or

Fig.

the other;

enormous, not as to the

third milestone
;

but in those

built,

which they underlie,

the actual length of their galleries

on various

is

was

according

The

walls

like shelves

a book-case or berths in a steamer, and every niche once

General Description.
At various

contained one or more dead bodies.

succession of shelves

may be made
and the

for a

that

room

doorway opening into a small chamber;

chambers are generally pierced with

walls of these

way

graves in the same

intervals this

moment,

interrupted for a

is

27

as the galleries.

These vast excavations once formed the ancient Christian

^
Rome

cemeteries 01

and continued

they were begun

century,

T
apostolic times,

be used as burial-places of the

to

the capture of the city

third

m
-

by Alaric

in

or parishes, within the city

twenty-five or

number of her

twenty-six of them, corresponding to the

and besides

till

In the

the year 410,

Roman Church numbered

the

faithful

titles,

these, there are about

twenty others, of smaller dimensions, isolated monuments of

special martyrs, or belonging to

Originally they

this

belonged to private families or individuals,

all

the villas or gardens in which they were

who had embraced

of wealthy citizens

devoted of their substance to His

ancient

titles

owners,

many

of which

the faith of Christ,

and

Hence

most

service.

still

survive

the next two centuries

Lucina, for example,

Priscilla,

whose property
;

Prsetextatus,

Via Portuensis

family,

also a cotemporary of the

on the Via Ostiensis

lay

Commodilla,

Cyriaca, on the Via

on the Via Appia

Pontian, on the

and the Jordani, Maximus and Thraso,

on the Via Salaria Nova.

These names are

still

who bore them.

their formation, as

on the Via Appia; or St Mark, on the Via

that of St Callixtus,
;

upon

Other Catacombs are known

by the names of those who presided over

Ardeatina

all

attached to

various catacombs, because they were originally begun

the land of those

who

lived at various periods in

Flavia Domitilla, niece of Vespasian

their

and others of the same

same name, who

or at least of the

Tiburtina

dug being the property

were taken merely from the names of their lawful

lived in the days of the Apostles,

Apostles

or that private family.

or of the

principal martyrs

who were

buried in

them, as SS. Hermes, Basilla, Protus and Hyacinthus, on the

Via Salaria Vetus

or,

lastly,

by some

])eculiarity

of their

Their number
names.

^'''-l

Roma

28

Sotterranea.

ad Cataciunbas on

position, as

the Via Appia,

and ad dims

Lauros on the Via Labicana.

of learning

who have

had an opportunity of examining these excavations,

that they

Their origin

It

has ahvays been agreed

among men

were used exclusively by the Christians as places of burial and

of holding religious assemblies.

placed

it

beyond a doubt,

Modern

now

that they were also originally de-

signed for this purpose and for no other

deserted sand-pits

research has

{are?iarice)

that they were not

or quarries, adapted to Christian

development, with important modifications, of a

uses, but a

form of sepulchre not altogether unknown even among the

heathen families of Rome, and

x"^

common

in

among

use

the

\
\\

Fig.

Jews both
for

in

2.

Plan of Arejiaria at St Agues.

Rome and

Our

elsewhere.

may judge

readers

themselves, even from the miniature specimen here set

before them,

how

easy

it

is

to distinguish the galleries of an

These plans represent

arenaria from those of a Catacomb.

a portion of the cemetery, commonly called of St iVgnes,

Via Nomentana, and of a sand-pit which

to the

same

scale

;)

lies

over

it,

in the

(both drawn

and the greater width of the passages

excavated in the sand-pit, and the greater regularity of those

in the

Catacomb, are

attention,

and

characteristics

suffice to

which

at

once

arrest the

impress upon our minds the essential

difference between them.

At

first,

without

the

let

work of making the Catacombs was done openly,

or hindrance, by the Christians

the entrances to

General Description.

29

them were public on the high-road or on the

galleries

and chambers were

in the third century,

much

necessary to withdraw them as

public eye

new and

Fig.

3.

should

fall

became

now

the

effected

Part of Catacomb of St Agnes.

cramped and

and even the

fettered, lest

liberty of

what was holy

under the profane gaze of the unbaptized.

Each of these
hypogcBiwi,

it

as possible from

often difficult entrances were

in the recesses of deserted arenai'ice^

Christian art was

and the

freely decorated with paintings of

But early

a sacred character.

hill-side,

i.e.,

burial-places

was called

in ancient times either

generically, a subterranean place, ox coemeterium, Explanation

a sleeping-place, a

new name

of Christian origin, which the

Pagans could only repeat, probably without understanding;-''

sometimes also martyr iiun, or
to signify that

of the

faith.

it

An

coJifessio,i (its

Latin equivalent,)

was the burial-place of martyrs or confessors

ordinary grave was called hats or loaibis,

* Euseb.

II. E. vii. 11.

t Hence

the crypt under the high altar of the Vatican Basilica

the Confession,

i.e.,

the tomb, of St Peter.

is

if

called

Roma

30
it

contained a single body

mii?Ji,

and

fossores,

chambers

or hisonium^ trisomum^ or quadriso-

them was

burial in

do not seem

galleries

The

contained two, three, or four.

if it

dug by

Sotterra7iea.

had any

to have

specific

in the galleries themselves,

more elaborate kind

are to be seen of a
like a sarcophagus,

The

called depositio.

name

but the

In most of these chambers, and

w^ere called cubiciila.

sometimes also

graves were

one or more tombs

a long oblong

c/iasse,

either hollowed out in the rock or built

Fig.

4.

Arcosoliuin.

up of masonry, and closed by a heavy slab of marble lying

horizontally

on the

top.

The

niche over tombs of this kind

was of the same length as the grave, and generally vaulted

a

in

semi-circular form,

Fig.

5.

whence they were

Sepolcro a meiisa or

called arcosolia!''

Table-tomb.

Sometimes, however, the niche retained the rectangular form,

in

which case there was no special name

tinction's
*

sake

we may be allowed

for

to call

it

it,

+ De Rossi

calls

it

sepolcro a viciisa.

dis-

a table-tomb.t

Solium was used to denote the urn of marble or terra

the Pagans sometimes buried their dead.

but for

cotta, in

which

Ge7ieral Description,
Those of the

arcosolia Avhich

were also the tombs of martyrs

were used on the anniversaries of

birthdays)

brated

as

vaults, others

their deaths [JVatalitia, or

whereon the holy mysteries were

altars

some of

hence, whilst

cele-

the cubiada were only family-

were chapels, or places of public assembly.

It

probable that the holy mysteries were celebrated also in the

is

private vaults,

pants

on the anniversaries of the deaths of

and each one was

these private occasions

Fig.

sufficiently large in itself for use

but in order that as

Interior of a Cicbiailuni in St Agnes, luith chairs

6.

their occu-

many

on

as possible

and bench

heivji out oj

the rock.

might

assist at the public celebrations, two, three, or

of the cubicida were often

light

made

and ventilation through one

close together,

way

this

in

some

as

many

as a

parts of the

public worship

soil

up

to the

open

air.

hundred persons might be collected

Catacombs

whilst a

receiving

shaft or air-hole, {lumiiiare^

pierced through the superincumbent

In

all

even four

still

to assist at the

larger

same act of

number might have been

dispersed in the ciibicula of neighbouring galleries, and received

Roma

32

Sotterraiiea.

there the Bread of Hfe, brought to

and deacons.
be found

them by the

assistant priests

Indications of this arrangement are not only to

may

in ancient ecclesiastical writings; they

still

be

seen in the very walls of the Catacombs themselves, episcopal

chairs

chairs,

benches
design

and

the chambers were

when peace was

by,

as

hewn

out of the living rock,

first

made.

restored to the Church, the

were constantly visited as objects of pious

(;;;^(;a^combs

and

or deaconess,

having formed part of the original

remaining where they were

By and

Catacombs
recjuenie

for the faithful,

when

still

the presiding deacon

for

interest,

and of course the graves of the Popes and other principal

The number

martyrs became special centres of attraction.

of the faithful

who

flocked to these shrines on the annual

recurrence of their respective festivals was immense

it

became necessary

entrance and
the

to provide

and

exit,

number
verse,

so that

more commodious means of

ways

and improve

to enlarge

Pope Damasus distinguished himself

chapels within.

above others

in other

in his devotion to this

work

he also

set

up a

of inscriptions at various places, generally written in

and

all

engraved by the same

artist, in

which he some-

times commemorates the triumphs of the martyrs, and sometimes his

The

own work

of restoration or decoration at the tomb.

continued to be celebrated here as long as the

festivals

bodies of the martyrs remained in their original resting-places,

till

the transla'

A.D. 750
then neglect;

But these having been desecrated, and sometimes plundered,

by the Lombards and other invaders of Rome,

j-g]j(^s

gotten.

all

the principal

were removed into the city-churches by the care of succes-

sive Popes, during a period of sixty or seventy years,

from the middle of the eighth century; and when

this

beginning

had been

done, the catacombs were naturally neglected, and by degrees

forgotten.
turies

They remained

and a

Augustinian

half,

friar,

so

that

in oblivion for nearly

when Onuphrius

seven cen-

Panvinius,

an

considered the marvel of his age for learn-

ing and industry, published a work in 1578 on the " Ceremonies

of Christian Burial and the Ancient Christian Cemeteries," he

Genei^al DesciHptlou.

33

could only gather their names from the x\cts of the martyrs

He

and other ancient documents.

three of

them were

at all accessible,

San Lorenzo, meaning

that at

expressly states that only

may

the single gallery which

that at St Sebastian's,

(as is clear

yet be seen from the

window of

and

that of St

the chapel of St Cyriaca in the Basilica

belonging to his own order.

same

It

and a

cemeteries,

the ancient

desire

happened, however, that in

an accident brou2:ht to

year, is 78,
.

these

itself,

on the Via Flaminia, which lay under property

Valentine

this

from his description)

was soon enkindled, both

of

much time and

labour;

But

in the interests

could only

this

lost,

except by a

and a comparison of

be discovered

tents with the notices to

of

was impossible to

it

reconstruct their history, which had been

careful examination of them,

either

know something more about

such venerable monuments of antiquity.

fruit

in 1578.

more interestmg than

far

of religion and of learning, to

be the

another of Re-discovered

light

their con-

books.

in ancient

It

has been already shown in our sketch of the Literary History

of the Catacombs,
authors,

how

the

during

degrees of success

work has been attempted by many

this

last

two hundred

and how,

in

years,

own

our

with various

Commen-

day, the

datore de Rossi, having had his interest awakened to the

subject from his earliest youth, having devoted to
great

natural

and

abilities

untiring

industry for

its

study

more than

twenty years, and having, moreover, enjoyed some advantages

beyond most of
both

his predecessors, has far outstripped

in the extent

the opportunity

and importance of

and the necessity

his discoveries.

them

all

Hence

volume, which

for the present

aims only at putting within the reach of English readers the

fruit of

steps,

from

De

Rossi's labours.

we propose

Callixtus in particular

and then
;

after

to describe the

which we

which they throw upon early Christian

in

faithfully in his foot-

to trace the history of the

first

their beginning,

Treading

order that this work

may be done

Catacombs

cemetery of St

shall consider the light

art

and

well,

doctrine.

and

that

But

we may

Roma

34
satisfy

Sotterra7iea

our readers that the history

foundation,

it

introduction

is

necessary that

we

shall give rests

we should go back

of Christianity into

on a sure

to the first

Rome, and make a

review of the legal and social position of

its

brief

professors even

from the days of the Apostles.

Fig.

-],-

^cciiuu uj K-ndinoers in Catacomb of Saints Marcellino and Ptetro, sJtoiving

lo%ver end of tli.c shaft of the li,in:na7-e, with dcve pai7ited on it.

CHAPTER

II.

THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS POSITION OF THE FIRST

ROMAN CHRISTIANS.

THE

in the metro-

sowing of the seed of the gospel

first

poHs of the ancient Pagan world

obscurity.

It

is

certain,

involved in some

is

however, that

that

were

''

among

in

the
Christians

Rome

must have been

it

For we

almost simultaneous with the birth of Christianity.

know

Among
first

the witnesses of the miracle of Pentecost

strangers of

Rome, Jews and

proselytes

"

'"

and on

the return of these strangers to their homes, the wonderful

sight they
others,

had witnessed would be

at

had heard would be

and the solemn

tidings they

mouth

mouth among

lated from

to

Moreover, the Gentile converts

once communicated

circu-

the Jews of the capital.

"the

in

Italian

band,"t of

which Cornelius was a centurion, probably returned to

native city soon after the appointment of
the

kingdom of Judea,

St Peter,

at the accession of Caligula,

who had been about

the

would agree with the

tradition

rate, the faith

of the

which assigns

Roman

and

same time miraculously

Caesarea, this
a.d.

42 as the

date of the coming of the Prince of the Apostles to

At any

to

and these

movement

them from

released from prison, accompanied

their

Herod Agrippa

too would have given a fresh impulse to the

if

to

Rome.

Christians was " spoken

of in the whole world

"J as early as a.d. 57; and it is the

opinion of learned and impartial judges that, even from the
first,

there were several of noble blood

made

profession of this faith.

* Acts

ii.

10, II.

"
lb. X.

From
r.

and high rank who

were native
Qi-geks

the time of Caesar Jews.

X

Rom.

i.

8.

and

Roma

36

Mr

downwards," says

Roman

into every

Many

Sotterranea.

Merivale, " Jews had thrust themselves

society,

and not

least into the highest.

rank had more or

citizens of every

openly addicted

less

themselves to Jewish usages. and tenets; and when a Jewish

sect ventured to transfer

obedience from the law of Moses

its

to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the

seem

the capital of the empire would

Romans

Greeks, and

We

Scattered
notices of

Cormth

tne Church at

theiT^

of

adherents in

its

have embraced Jews,

to

equal proportions."

'''

are not unmindful of the Apostle's testimony relative to

^i

in nearly

number

them many wise according

;

many noble

"

r.

that

viz.,

there were not

to the flesh, not

many

amongst

mighty, not

t nevertheless everything combines to show

among the higher classes, and

families at Rome, was more exten-

that the spread of Christianity

even among the imperial

from the very

sive,

ecclesiastical

history

would have led us

to

Indeed,

to expect.

the consul
fact

of his martyrdom

Eusebius has told

us, writing so

know

little

beyond

that

little

which

long after the event, and at

so great a distance from the scene of

inscriptions have

know

of Apollonius, the senator and

martyr under Commodus, we only

of Flavins Clemens,

Domitian, we

relative of

how

" of Cesar's household "

Paul sent a special salutation

and

easy to see

is

it

the Church

of

Thus no memorial has reached

names or condition of those

whom St

the

legends

pious

or the

scanty and imperfect these are.

us of the

than either the records of

earliest times,

Ancient metrical

it.

been found, celebrating the praises of another

named Liberalis, holding the highest office in

and laying down his life for the faith, whose memory

noble patrician,
the State,

in all other respects

also have
burial,

rank

by

is

been found,

in

more recent

their husbands, of

(clarissima;), in the

most ancient parts of

* History of the

d scq.

buried in oblivion.

noble

Other inscriptions
times, recording the

Roman

ladies of senatorial

common graves of the galleries in the

the Roman cemeteries.
It was only

Romans under

the Empire,

vii.
I

380.

Cor.

i.

See also
26.

vi.

436,

Position of the First

Roman

Christiaiis.

37

from the pages of a Pagan historian* that we knew of the profession of Christianity, or at least of a great interest in

towards

partiality

own

our

until, in

by

enlarged

it,

it

by Marcia, concubine of Commodus,

day, this intelligence has been confirmed

Philosophumena.

newly-discovered

the

and

and
Ter-

beginning of the third century,

tullian,t again, writing at the

us that Septimius Severus protected Christian senators

tells

and

their wives, but says nothing as to their

names

or number,

excepting indeed that in another place he says boldly, before

Pagan world, that not only were the

the whole

Roman

empire

full

cities

of the

of Christian people, but even the senate

and the palace.

One

cause of the extreme scantiness of our information as

to the early Christians in

all ecclesiastical

Diocletian

them

and there was nothing

Nevertheless

we

at least

Indeed

us.

it

wrote about

it is

interesting

it

temper or practices

as a special

theme

for

to

Pagan

was not altogether overlooked by

it

whose

histories

Pagan rather than

and remarkable

One

Church.

some length
it

of these

it

facts

will

% that

have not reached

to Christian writers that

in the

be well

annals of the early

for us to dwell uj^on at

in this place, as the history of a

we

Catacomb depends

allude to the early conversion of

family of the Flavii Augusti, that

Vespasian to the throne.

is,

some of the

of the family which gave

His elder brother, Titus Flavins

Sabinus, had been Prefect of the city in the year in which the

Princes of the Apostles, Sts Peter and Paul, suffered martyrdom;

and

it is

certain, therefore, that

contact with them, and heard

He

is

^^'^" ^^^^ ^'^'

indebted for our knowledge of some of the most

are

upon

commend

in the

and we know, from the testimony of Eusebius,

some

doubtless the destruction of

is

records during the last terrible persecution by

of Christianity to
writers.

Rome

chiefly in

he must have been brought into

somethmg of

the Christian faith.

described by the great historian of the empire as

* Tacitus Hist,

iii,

65, 75.

Hist.

Ecd.

iii.

18.

Ad

Scapul.

c.

4.

e.g.,

of the

^^"'

J^ 0/71 a Sotterraiiea.

38

man whose innocence and justice were unimpeachable ;* a

mild man, who had a horror of all unnecessary shedding of
Towards the

blood and violence.

close of his

he was

life,

accused by some of great inactivity and want of interest in

public affairs

others thought

him only a man of moderation,

anxious to spare the lives of his fellow-citizens

spoke of
ties

others again

his retiring habits as the natural result of the infirmi-

we

Whilst

of old age.

to the cause of a certain

listen to all these conjectures as

change which seems to have come

over him in his declining years, the question naturally occurs

to us,

whether

ings towards the

verted to

it ?

but at least

possible that he can have

it is

is

lean-

Christian faith, or even been actually con-

a question which cannot

It is
it

had some

now be answered

com-

certain that charges of this kind were

monly urged against Christians t and

;

the fact that

some of

descendants in the next generation were undoubtedly of

faith, gives

his

this

a certain degree of probability to the conjecture.

Flavins Sabinus seems to have had four children, of

whom

the

most conspicuous was Titus Flavius Clemens, the consul and

He

martyr.

sister to the

as

Emperor Domitian, and

mother,

her

who was

married the daughter of his cousin,

Flavia

called

Domitilla,

by the same name

Flavia

Domitilla

the

younger bore her husband, the consul, two sons, who were

named

respectively, Vespasian junior,

and Domitian

having been intended to succeed to the throne

junior,

and the

famous Quinctilian % was appointed by the Emperor himself

to

be

tians,

their tutor.

At what time

their parents

and what was the history of

became

their conversion,

Chris-

we do not

martyrdom and Domitilla's

Flavius

know; but

Clemens.

banishment are attested by Dio Cassius.

His words

" Domitian put to death several persons,

and amongst them

the facts of Clement's

are, that

Flavius Clemens, the consul, although he was his nephew, and

* Tacitus Hist.

iii.

t " Infructuosi

in negoliis diciniur."

Instit. iv.

I,

i^

2.

65, 75.
Terliill.

ApoL,

Hist, l.wii. 13.

% 42.

Position of the First Romaji Christians,

who

although he had Flavia Domitilla for his wife,

The charge

relation of the Emperor's.

been condemned, going

Jews
their

after the

of atheism was brought

had

also

manners and customs of the

and some of them were put

goods confiscated

was a

also

them both, on which charge many others

against

39

to death,

and others had

but Domitilla was only banished to

Pandatereia," an island opposite the Gulf of Gaeta, half-way

between Ponza and Ischia, now known by the name of

Learned

Maria.

agreed that the atheism and adop-

critics are

Clemens

tion of Jewish manners, here urged against Flavins

and

were

his wife,

Sta.

in reality nothing else than a profession of

Christianity, the charge of atheism never having

specifically against the

Jews.'"'

been brought

Both Christian and Pagan

writers afike testify to the persecution

which Domitian

tuted against Christians towards the end of his

life

insti-

and we

cannot understand the motives which have led some modern

writers to call

However, we are not

in question.

it

concerned with

this

fact.

We

at present

only care to insist upon the

Christianity of this branch of the imperial family,

martyrdom of the consul,

facts

whose importance

and the

will

soon be

recognised.

Had

Martyrs

immediately after the death of the apostles, Chris-

tianity

that,

it

been handed down

in

any Acts of the

was within an ace of mounting the imperial throne,

that a cousin

and niece of the Emperor not only professed the

new religion, but

account,

also suffered exile,

we can imagine

and even death

to scorn

by many modern

but the testimony of Dio Cassius, to which

haps that of Suetonius

itself,

on

its

with what vehemence the pious legend

would have been laughed

also, is received

critics

we may add

per-

with greater respect.t

There was yet a third lady of the same noble

the

family, bearing st Domitilla.

same name of Flavia Domitilla, who was a granddaughter

(on the mother's side) of Titus Flavins Sabinus, and consequently a niece of the consul.
like
*

her aunt,

Merivale,

vii.

and

381.

for

the

She, too, suffered banishment,

same cause

profession

lie accuses the consul " cojitei/ip/issivur

of the
iitaiicr.''''

Roma

40
Christian faith.

Sotterranea.

speaking of

It is in

we have already

has that striknig passage to which

and which

testifies

Christian

religion,

century.

He

had by

referred,

so clearly to the marvellous spread of the

even before the expiration of the

first

has just had occasion to mention the latter

and he says

part of Domitian's reign,

faith

Eusebius

this lady that

this

time shone so

far

"

The

and wide,

historians did not refuse to insert in

teaching of our
that even

Pagan

some

narratives

their

account of the persecution and the martyrdoms that were

suffered in

Some,

it.

many

mentioning, amongst

Domitian,
sister

(a. d.

others,

Flavia

97,)

to

for her

the

island

the fifteenth year

in

Roman

consuls of those

testimony for Christ, was punished by

The same

of Pontia.^'

writer,

refers,

for

we

and

shall

that

meet

name
it

is

Bruttius.

his

in

" Chronicon," * gives the name of one of the authors to

he

of

daughter of a

the

Domitilla,

of Flavins Clemens, one of the

days, who,
exile

have marked the time accurately,

too,

whom

worth remembering,

It is

again in the cemetery of the very same

He

St Domitilla whose exile he had recorded.

was a friend

of the younger Pliny, and the grandfather of Crispina, wife of

the

Emperor Commodus.
supposed that there

It is generally

by a Pagan

ancient notice,

Christianity of a

Roman

writer,

therefore, to be altogether omitted

Grecina.

Qf

We

in

lady was accused of having embraced the

superstition ;" that the matter

of her husband,

who pronounced

in the

more
to

which ought not,

we mean

read that,

still

conversion

the

the wife of Plautius,

Britain under Claudius.

'

of

lady of rank,

Pomponia

Pomponia Grecina,

another

is

that

who conquered

the year 58, this

rites

was referred

by Tacitus,

of " a foreign

to the

judgment

presence of a number of her relations,

her innocent

that she lived afterwards to

a great age, but "in continual sadness;" no one, however,

interfered with her in this matter
* St
p.

Hieronym.

605, ed. Migne.

Iiiterp. Cliron.

any more, and

Eus. Pamph.,

A.i).

in

the

98, Opera, torn,

end
viii.,

Position of the Fii^st

it

Roman

Christians.

was considered the glory of her character.*

confessed that the language in which this history

is

has the history

with the Catacombs

itself

nevertheless

It

must be

is

recorded

we have read from Dio about

not so precise as what

Flavii, neither

41

it

the

so intimate a connexion

has

point of contact

its

with them, and the ordinary interpretation of the " foreign

been intended

as having

superstition,"

for Christianity, has

from an inscription

lately received considerable confirmation

found

in the

of the same

Catacomb of

name and

St Callixtus,

showing that a person

family was certainly a Christian in the

next generation, and buried in that cemetery.

These glimpses

y-ii

and imperfect as they

Christians, slight

when we come

at the social condition of the first

1

to study the

Catacombs, they

will

are, are

subject,

much more
religious

and

The

political

position of the
fij-st Chris^^"^'

be found to furnish some very interesting

still

however, and one on which

easy to throw sufficient

position

valuable

period in the history ot the

first

examples of " undesigned coincidences."

portant

Roman

light,

is

more imis

it

happily

the political or

of Christians in the eye of the law,

consequently their freedom with reference to the

rites

and
a.nd

usages of burial.
It is certain that, at

upon the Christians

as

first,

the Imperial

Government looked They

only a sect of the Jews.

Gallio, the fectof the^

proconsul of Achaia, drove both Paul and his accusers from

his tribunal, refusing to adjudicate

upon

and of names, and of your law."t

" questions of a

word

Claudius Lysias wrote to

FeHx, procurator of Judea, saying that Paul had been accused

before

him "concerning questions of the Jewish law;"j: and

Festus explained to Agrippa that the clamours of the Jews

against the Apostle were about

own

superstition,

"

Mox

X Tb.
'
II

in

gloriam

questions of their

and of one Jesus, deceased,

affirmed to be alive."

" certain

The

vertit."

Im})ulsore Chresto."

whom

Paul

very terms in which Suetonius

Aniial.

xiii,

32.

xxiii. 29.

+ Acts

Suet, in Claud. xx\'.

were

xviii.

lb. XXV. 19.

12-17.

||

J^^'^-

re-

Roma

42

Sottei^ranea.

mentions the expulsion of the Jews from

Rome

under Claudius,

and which we know included the Christians Aquila

Priscilla,'''

while they indicate

Jews against the

show

faith,

by the

a disturbance raised

at the

same time

and

that, in the eyes

Romans, both the Jews and the Christians were regarded

of

and the same

as belonging to one

how

easy to see

Romans

the

the matter, since

Indeed

religion.

not

is

it

could take any other view of

was notorious that the Christians worship-

it

ped the God of Moses and the Prophets, and claimed that
was the fulfilment of

their religion

and

of Judaism,

figures

afi'orded to

all

the promises,

types,

and thus enjoyed the protection

Judaism.

Now Judaism,
religious rites, "

both in

its

national customs

and

distinctive

its

Rome itself," was expressly recognised

Roman laws frolii the days of Julius

even in

and protected by the

we have

Caesar ;t and though under Tiberius, J and (as

just

seen) under Claudius, the Jews were banished from the city,
yet this was merely a temporary suspension of the decree of
the

same emperor, which permitted " the Jews, who

the world under us, to keep

their ancient

being hindered so to do."

This

is

are in

customs without

proved by the

Rome

St Paul, a few years afterwards, finding at

all

fact of

very

many

Jews, and being allowed to assemble them at his lodgings,

and preach
tions
in

to

them without

prohibition.

From

inscrip-

on Jewish Catacombs, and from incidental expressions

Suetonius,

it

is

evident that this protection extended to

both classes of proselytes.

Church continued

to

As

long, therefore, as the Christian

be confounded with the Jewish

the Christians would enjoy the

in their assemblies

akin

||

to

and

protection of the

in the burial of their dead.

the Jewish religion, as Tertullian says,1[

* Acts xviii.

2.

+ Joseph, Ant.

xiv. lo, 8.

religion,

law both

They were
"and

lived

I^)- xviii. 3,

5.

Acts xxviii. 1 7-31.

lb. xix. 5, 3.
^ " Nosquoquc ut Judaicre religionis propinquos^ sub uinljiaculo insignis11

simev

i-elii^ioijis

ccrte licitar

Tcytull.

Ad A'a/ioncs,

i.

1 1.

Roman

Position of the First

under the shadow of that most famous

Christians.

43

about whose

religion,

lawfuhiess there was no question."

The

Tews, however, vigorously denounced their supposed Christian

co-religionists,

and became,

Rome,

in

as elsewhere,

Thenceforward

cause of the persecution of the Church.'^

became necessary

Roman Government

that the

reli-

gion proscribed
the first by the Roman

^^'
it

should either

legally recognise the Christian religion as well as the Jewish,

or else proscribe

it.

The burning

of

Rome by

" This," says Sulpicius

decided between these alternatives.

speaking probably with exact historical accuracy,

Severus,

was the beginning of

cruelties against Christians

afterwards,

and decrees

the religion was forbidden even by express laws,

be a Christian." J
does not appear, however, that there was any further open

were published declaring

It

First persecu-

accusations and unjust punishment of the Christians,

false

"

Nero, and his

be

to

it

illegal to

persecution of Christians for a period of thirty years after

Domitian, as we have seen, renewed

Nero.

and putting

to death even

same Emperor

Christians, however,

the author of the work

so far as to say

(c.

were protected by

preted too
tion

De

liberty.

strictly, for

whoever

and

and

their operation,

Pliny's

successor,

may have been

else

Nerva.

to her

This, however, must not be inter-

"

famous

of the Christians, and

proselytes,

though

had never been

for awhile suspended,

could be revived at any time, as in fact

Nerva.

his

the statutes which created the distinc-

the " religion " of the Jews

;

Both Jews

Church was then restored

between the impiety or " atheism

repealed

The

family.

Mortibtis Perseaitorum'^'' even goes

3) that the

former condition of

own

fiscal regulations.

Nerva,|| so that Lactantius, or

"

his

banishing Domitian.

the Jews and their proselytes

also persecuted

connected with the

for matters

and

members of

it,

it

was on the death of

Trajan distinctly says that

letter to

Pliny's letter
to Trajan, a.d.

* Merivale,

+ " As soon
they

fell

vi. p.

under the ban of an

+ Sulp. Sev. Hist.

Tertull. Apolog.
II

449, note

viii. p.

361

Mamachi

as the Christians established their

ii.

5.

41.

illicit

religion."

Orig., tona.

Aferivale,
g

i.

lib. vi. 5.

independence of Judaism,
vii.

381.

Sueton. in l^omit.

xii.

104.

Roma

44

Sotterranea.

God; and

the Christians worshipped Christ as

the Emperor's

reply leaves no doubt as to the state of the law, for while he

counsels Pliny not to originate active measures against them,

nor to seek for them, yet he tells him that if they were denounced,

and brought before the

tribunal, the laws required that they

should be punished, unless they consented to renounce their

Non licet esse

faith.

vos

was the cruel but plain

Roman law against the very existence

letter

of the Christians,

of the

and

their

only means of escape were to be found in the hindrances put

way of accusers by benevolent and

in the

And
when

even

tolerant princes.

did not always prove a sufficient protection,

this

the malevolence of individuals insisted

Thus, when the Senator Apollonius,

execution of the law.

in the reign of

informer was

on pressing the

Commodus, was accused

condemned

to

of Christianity, the

be broken on the wheel

but

Apollonius was required to defend himself before the Senate,

and

martyrdom by

suffered

decapitation, " as there

who had been once

of long standing with them, that those

to

trial,

and would by no means change

From

not be dismissed." t

was always suspended

descended, and the
to suffer

no

for,

their purpose, should

the time of Nero, then, the sword

over the

disciples,

Church.

always

was required

"Sometimes

them

and

invite

ceive a

vow

to the genius of the

to sprinkle

it

altar of

with incense, and con-

Emperor," % which,

if

they

they were at once liable to capital punishment as

refused,

and

rebels.

It is

no part of our present purpose

pursue the history of the Church's fortunes through

vicissitudes during the

have given
principle

more

it

were made

insecure,

them before the

to drag

Jupiter,

origin

led

whenever the jealousy of the State was awakened,

special edict

traitors

was a law

first

three centuries.

this general outhne,

and

on which they depended.

to

It is

to

all

its

enough

to

have pointed out the

How

this

and development of the Roman Catacombs

affected the
will

appear

clearly in the sequel.

* Tertull.

Apolog.

vi. 4.

f Euseb. H. E.

v,

21.

% Merivale,

vi.

451.

CHAPTER

III.

ROMAN LAWS AND CUSTOMS AFFECTING

IT

BURIAL.

Roman law to Christian sepulclires pro^.

protect, or even to tolerate Christianity, that the sepul- tected by ordidoes not follow, from the refusal of the
.

chres

who

of those

professed

would be interfered

it

with. "'^T

,^^^'^

Neither the correspondence of Pliny and Trajan, nor any other

cotemporary document of the

first

two centuries, can be

alleged in proof ot any difficulty attending Christian burial, or

any necessity

for

concealment.

In

fact,

required a special

it

decree against the Christian cemeteries, such as

with in A.D.

to

203,

tended by law over

we

meet

first

exclude them from the protection exall

No

burial-places.

classical scholar

need be reminded of the sacred character which attached to

such places

Athens

it

chosen to

among

peoples of antiquity.

In

entered into the preliminary examination of

men

fill

the civilised

the highest offices of the State, whether they

been negligent

in

the care of their father's sepulchre.'"'

111-1111
Rome, land which had been
-r^

was protected by
indeed, ipso facto

by

all

once used

for

sacei-^

purposes of burial
It did not,

for this could only be effected

the ceremonies of a ritual consecration

in the technical

In

special privileges of the law.

become

had

but

it

became,

language of the time, religiosus ;\ and one of

the chief consequences of this religious character, which henceforth attached to

it,

was

its

exemption from many of the laws

which regulated the tenure or transfer of property.

* Xen. Mem. ii. 2, 13.
+ " Religiosum locum unusquisque sua voluntate
infert in

locum suum. Marcian. Digest,

i.

8, 6, 4.

facit,

It

could

dum mortuum

Privileges of

Roman

tombs.

Roma

4^

Sotterraiiea.

not become the lawful property of a

scription

and

;'"'

man by

usucapio, or pre-

was inalienable, belonging exclusively and

it

for ever to the families of those

who had been

buried in

In times of war, and during any prolonged period of

disturbance, those rights

observed

Hence

but the law, at

the

sacred

henceforth

does not descend to

it

remained always the same.

on ancient

inonunie7itu7n

in other words, "

7ie seqiiatu7^ ;)

my

it

Roman monuthem

hceredes ex

This tomb and

all

testa7ne7ito

that belongs

can neither be bought nor sold

heirs with the rest of

my

property

but must ever remain inviolate for the purpose to which

destined

viz.,

it,

as a place of sepulture for myself

family," or certain specified

in

some

members only of

fact of

have

my

and

the family

or,

not of the same family.

rare instances, others also,

Thus, without any desire on

mere

civil

strictly

or something equivalent to

letters,

H.M.H.EX.T.N.S., {Hoc

it is

least,

frequent recurrence

ments of these

to

were probably not always

it.

his part,

the Christian, by the

burying his dead, put his sepulchre under the pro-

tection of the

Roman

laws,

and though he himself might be an

outlaw, yet his burial-place was secure from disturbance, and

under the guardianship of the

Po7itifices^

who from

time. to time

inspected the tombs, and without whose permission no serious

alteration could be
Christian mar-

allowed
the honours of

tyrs

burial.

made, t

The Roman Government

,,,...,,.,.
who had forfeited their

also permitted the bodies of those

.,law

lives to the

burial to

any who asked

distinctly confirmed,

* Cic.

De

Legibus,

t De Rossi

ii.

for

Diocletian and

them. J

by a new

,,,.
denvered

to be

edict,

up

for

Maximin

this merciful provision

24.

{Bulletiino, 1865, pp. 89, 90]

shows that

this

permission was

only necessary as far as the portion of the sepulchre above ground was
concerned, and that there was a regular system of fees which removed all
In fact, so insignificant were these, that the Christian Emperor
difficulties.

Constans confirmed the Pagan Pontifices

in their authority

over

Roman

sepulchres.

X " Corpora animadversorum quibiislibet pdentihts ad sepulturam danda

This law illustrates the fact of "Joseph of
Digest, xlviii. 24, 2.
sunt."
Arimathea going in to Pilate and l)egging the Body of Jesus."

Roman Laws and

and

Btmal. 47

Gusto?ns affecting

was only under very special ciicumstances, says Ulpian,

it

that this permission

Of

was ever refused.

we know

course,

from ecclesiastical history that some of the Christian martyrs

among

precisely

w^ere

reason of the exception

who

faithful

who were

the few

excepted, and the

expressly mentioned,

is

that the

viz.,

survived might not have the consolation they so

highly prized, of preserving and honouring the sacred

there

Still

tion

no

is

trace in the

Catacombs had

two centuries of such prohibi-

first

and, as a matter of

some of the most ancient

fact,

from

their origin

pious Christian, generally a

relics.

this very

circumstance, that a

Roman matron

of noble rank,

own

buried the remains of some famous martyr on her

pro-

perty.

The

extent

which the private burial-places of

to

made

Christians could be

brethren in the

appear
more clearly
^ *

faith, will

if w^e

'

character, but the

Roman

the area in which the

Size of

Roman

available for the necessities of their adapted

was the sepulchre

that not only

Roman

itself

cemeteries.

invested with a sacred

law included in

monument

for

consider Christian

protection also

its

stood, the hypogewn^ or sub-

terranean chamber, which not unfrequently was formed beneath

it,

and perhaps even the

sessions attached to

monuments which

sepulchral

Rome

feet

backwards into the

field,

FR

IN

IN

pedes

P.

/;/

us

[so

how many

many]

agro^ pedes

pubHc roads leading

the

line

into

tell

upon most of the

Letters inscribed

it.

belonged to the monument.

AG

P.

From

way.

The

by 300.

example

[so

many]

24 feet by

15, &:c.

feet,

marble
*

slab,
I

Sat.

more

/// froiite,
it

ap-

sepulchre

or less, each

gives us 1000 feet

Sometimes

larger; for instance, 1800 feet

ment given on

Roman

was very much

it

these inscriptions

Horace*

in

Sometimes of course

feet square,

much

classical

Roman

125

and how many

feet of frontage,

pears that quite a moderate-sized area for a

might have extended

and other pos-

buildings, gardens,

by 500

less, e.g.,

also
is

it

16

was very Ancient

the measure-

once a part of the monument

viii.

12.

^
^i-J^f^^"

plan
^^'^

48 Romait Lazvs and Customs affecting Btirial.

itself,

which was dug up many years ago on the Via Labicana,

and given

to the

museum

at

On

Urbino.

not only

this slab,

and depth

are the usual measurements of frontage

carefully

recorded, but also the private or public roads which crossed

the property, the gardens

and vineyards of which

swampy land on which grew nothing but

the

it

reeds,

consisted,

(it is

Harundi7ietum^ and the ditch by which, on one side

it

was bounded.

we cannot

tell

Unfortunately the slab

is

called

at least,

not perfect, so that

the exact measurements of the whole.

Enough,

however, remains to show that the property altogether was not

than twelve Roman yz/^^r<^,or nearly 350,000 square

less

feet;

and

other inscriptions are extant, specifying an amount of property

almost equal to

this,

Huic monumento cedunt

an assignment of property to a single tomb was

for so large

much

not so

monument {e.g.,
agri puri jugera decern)."'^ The necessity

as belonging to a single

mausoleum

the vastness of the

to

be erected, as

because certain funeral-rites were to be celebrated there year by

year, sacrifices to

be offered,

be given, &c.

feasts to

and

for

these purposes semicircular recesses {exedrce)y^^xQ provided, with

sofas,

and

all

house also

lived

things necessary for the convenience of guests.

{custodia)

who looked

sites for the

was often added,

after the

annual

in

monument, and provided the

festivals,

and

The Catacombs themselves not only

Plan of Cata-

hmits of the
excavations.

...
showmg

the care that

requi-

for his support the gardens,

vineyards, &c., were set apart as a perpetual

combs shows
the mode and by

which the person

was taken

endowment.

illustrate these

lest

remarks,

the subterranean exca-

above ground to
the limits assigned
yations should transsjress

^
<=>

the

a7'ea

of the sepulchre

small a?ra might be

number

now

of bodies.

made

The

how

a comparatively

available for the burial of a great

crypt of St Lucina, for example, which

forms part of the Catacomb of St Callixtns, and in which

St Cornelius

was

but also show

was buried

in the

middle of the third century,

originally confined within an area the

can be exactly determined

100

feet

ifi

* Gruter, Inscript. p. cccxcix.

dimensions of which

froute,
I.

180

iji

agro

Roman Laws and

CtLstoms affecting Burial. 49

and there was a building of some kind above

it,

which

in the

beginning of the fourth century, (prior to the conversion of

Constantine,)

if

much

not at a

earUer period, was certainly in

Now

the possession of the Christians.

Rossi has counted upwards of 700

in

locjili^

M. de

this crypt

and considers

that,

allowing for galleries destroyed, and others not yet thoroughly

explored, 2000 would be a very moderate figure at which to

estimate the

number of persons buried

within this area, which

forms a very small and by no means crowded part of the

cemetery of St Callixtus.

Hitherto

Roman

we have considered

by the

the facilities afforded

laws relating to private mausoleums, under cover of Rome

which individual Christians, possessing property, might, by

observing the requisite formalities, secure to themselves and

an inalienable resting-place for their

to their poorer brethren

But though the charity of the more wealthy Christians

dead.

was

in the early

ages proverbial, and

we may be

sure that they

took heed to the burial of the poor, and even of the slaves,

whose bodies were

Christian
find

by

laid side

cemeteries,'''

yet

that the Church, in

from apostolic example, we

as,

its

side with their masters in the

corporate capacity, provided for

the maintenance of those Christians

tain themselves,t

it

is

men might hold

use of the

called,

we should

to main-

laws whereby a society

rather call them,

for the

of tes-

us of the existence, both in

to

Rome, of

corporations,

name and

Now, a multitude

that society.

come down

republican and imperial

were

Roman

a place of burial in the

members of

timonies have

who were unable

worth while to inquire whether there

were any provisions under the

of

number of collegia,

as they

confraternities, guilds or clubs, as

whose members were

associated

with a view to the due performance of the funeral-rites.

* "

Funeral con-

Apud

Lactant.
t Acts

ii.

nos inter pauperes

Div. Inst.
44,

45

v.
iv.

14,

et divites,

servos et dominos interest nihil."

15.

34-37

vi.

In-

Tim.

v.

16.

Roma

50

which are

scriptions,

these

Sotterranea.
extant, testify to nearly eighty of

still

each consisting of the members of a different

collegia^

trade or profession.

There are the masons and carpenters,

and

bakers and cooks, corn-merchants and

soldiers

sailors,

wine-merchants, hunters and fishermen, goldsmiths and black-

and carders of wool, boatmen and

smiths, dealers in drugs

doctors and

divers,

word,
not

it

its

would be hard

deity.

in

the only

bond of fellowship

confraternities were built.

Sometimes (gene-

They were

this

ciiltores

the worship of

Jovis^ or Herailis^ or Apollinis

memory

deceased benefactor whose

alitores

what trade or employment had

Sometimes they merely took the

DiancE.

e.g.^

and musicians

scribes

indeed) the members were united in

rally,

et

to say

Nor was

collegium.

upon which such

some

bankers,

statuai^iun

title

of some

they desired to honour,

clipeorum L. Abiilli Dextri ;

et

and

sometimes the only bond of union appears to have been

service
,.

a funeral con-

in the

same house

or family.*

^inscription, belonging to a collegium

of slaves,

and was erected "

long and curious

which consisted mainly

honour of Diana and An-

in

fraternity.

tmous, and for the burial of the dead^' in the year a.d. 133,
reveals a

number of most

nal organisation, which

purpose to repeat.

entrance, with a keg of

month

afterwards.

it

interesting particulars as to

not be altogether beside our

will

certain fixed

good wine

assisted.

be paid on

be allowed

member

Rome,

to

for his

be distributed

died at a distance

three of the confrater-

and so much was

to be

" convictoruvi qtu ttna eptdo vcsci solentP

Can

nity were to be sent to fetch the body,

collegium was

to

which was

If a

of more than twenty miles from

One

to

and then so much

besides,

much was

funeral, a certain proportion of

sum was

For every member who had regularly

paid up his contribution, so

Amongst those who

its inter-

vague and ambiguous phraseology have been adopted by some congregation of Christians for the purpose of concealment ? See Biillettmo,
A collegium quod est in domo Sergiev Pauliucc, reminds us of "the
1864, 62.
Church which is in their house," (Rom. xvi. 5.) It is also worthy of notice
that the ancient privileges of these collegia were confirmed by an edict of
Septimius Severus about a d. 200.
lliis

Roman Laws and

Ctistoms affecting Burial.

allowed them for travelling expenses.

If the master of the

would not give up the body, the deceased member was

slave

nevertheless to receive

buried

in

The

good wine.

was

to

any of the members, being a

If

effigy.

He

the funeral-rites.

all

owed

received his freedom, he

the coUegitun an

newly-elected

president

the members.

be

slave,

amphora of
must

{inagister)

inaugurate his accession to office by giving a supper to

in

all

members dine together

Six times a year the

honour of Diana, Antinous, and the patron of the

collegiimi

and the allowance of bread and wine on these occasions was

specified,

so much

to every

mess of

No

four.

complaints or

disputed questions might be mooted at these festivals, " to the

end that our

feasts

ever wished

to

study

may be merry and

enter

this

the rules before

all

glad."

confraternity,

he

Finally,

who-

was requested to

entered, that

he

might not

grumble afterwards, or leave a dispute as a legacy

to his

*
heir.

In connection with these

collegia^ it

is

to be

remarked

that. Christians

though the ordinary assemblies of the Christians were

bidden bv the edicts of Traian
appears from Pliny's

made

letter,

a2:ainst

clubs

yet an exception

for-

Uictoerice),

as the legal sanc-

was expressly

favour of associations which consisted of " poorer

in

members of

society,

who met

together every

month

make a

to

small contribution towards the expenses of their funerals." t

To
rites

understand how Christians might shelter their funeral-

under

this exception,

we have only

to recall the

words

in

which Tertullian describes to a heathen ruler the habits of

Christians

at

makes a small

when he
one
a

is

the

end of the second century: "Every one

contribution, on a certain day in the month, or

chooses, provided he

compelled,

common

all is

is

only willing and able

voluntary.

fund of piety

since

The amount

it is

is,

expended, not

as

for

it

no

were,

in feasting

* " Les Antonins,'' par le Cte. de Champagny, torn, iii., Append. 399.
t " Permittitur tenuioribus stipem menstruam conferre, dum tamen semel
in

mense coeant." /?4vj/.

xlvii. 22,

I.

themselves of

societies,

Roma

52

Sotte^^ranea.
but in feeding and

or in drinking, or in indecent excesses,

burying the poor ^'

and even of

&c.'''

This Subject has lately received

other practices
connection

|-j.g^|-JQj^g f^-Q^-j

with funeral-

marble on a

^ Pagan

Roman

will,'

further important illus-

still

which had once been engraved

^

sepulchre in Langres

rites.

by some

disciple of the school of

century

and now two pages of

in the binding of a

MS. of

Alcum

the eighth or nnith

copy have been discovered

his

the tenth century in the library at

This curious document begins by ordering the com-

Basle.

pletion of the cei/a menwrice which the testator

commenced.

It

was

to

be finished

two statues of himself of a certain

other in marble

and

in front of

it,

size

guests. t

Carrara

days

for those

opened, and even garments

for the

Orchards and other property were assigned

for the

was

it

to be

who

named, and certain

are

the testator's freedmen were to

" Modicam nnusquisque

velit, et si

modo

possit,

apponit

charge of two

imposed upon the

be neglected.

make

menstrua

stipeni

left in

fines

heirs if they should allow this duty to

modo

finest

shutting of this cella

maintenance of the sepulchre, which was

freedmen,

up

Provision was to

laid.

couches and benches also were to be provided

on which

set

in bronze, the

an altar of the

easy opening and

the

for

were to be

it

the one

marble, in which his bones should be

be made

in

had already

accordance with

in exact

him

the plan he should leave behind

all

in

was copied thence

Finally,

a yearly contribution,
vel

die,

.... Nam

quum

velit,

inde non epulis

et si

....

Tert. Apol. 39.

sed egenis alendis hnjuauduqne,'' &c.
+ This reminds us of the history of the man in the gospel

who "had

not on a wedding-garment. " In the legal inventory of the goods which were
in the house whei^e the Christians used
confiscated under Diocletian in Cista,
'

'

to meet," besides

two

seven candlesticks,

all

chalices of gold,

and

six

of

silver,

and

six cruets,

and

of the same metal, small brazen candlesticks and lamps

with their chains, there were found also eighty-two garments for women, sixActa
teen for men, thirteen pairs of men's shoes, forty-seven of women's, &c.

Purgat:

Coecil:

feature in

post Opiati Opera, ed. Dupin,

this description

whereby the reader

agapa, or Christian love-feasts,

168.

Nor

is

this the only

be reminded of the
which, before they had degenerated into the
will

scenes of excess and superstition so feelingly deplored and condemned by

fifth century, were held at the tombs of the martyrs and

the Fathers of the

others of the faithful.

Roman Laws

a7id Ciistcmis affecting Burial.

53

out of which a feast was to be provided on a certain day, and

duly consumed by them on the spot.

The

constitution of the collegium^ of which

said so

much, gives a long ordo canarum^ or

which convivial entertainments were

natali C(Eseniii pairis

.

Even

nmnicipi.

of the

celebrated

martyrdom

and

in

Idus

viii

^'->

Oi'clo coe-

Ruji patroni

CcEsemii

anniversary of the dedication,

the

monument

seems sometimes

itself,

Id.

v.

The

inscription.

have been

to

Maias was

first Anniversaries,

or

lately

found

eye-witnesses of St Ignatius'

to the Christian

testify

Ccesenni

xiii k. Sept. natali

xix Jan. natali

Natalis vionumejiti

on a pagan

7iatalitia

be celebrated

narum.

Silvani fratris

openmg

to

already

of days on

list

such entries as the following

this ordo there are

MarHas

we have

of the martyrs, for they

practice of observing the

make known

" the day

and

the time, that being assembled together at the season of his

martyrdom, we may communicate with the combatant and

;"'"'

noble martyr of Christ

an admirable cover

for

we have

described.

it

must be obvious

to all

what

and other pious practices of

this

Christianity was provided

as

and

by the existence of such

institutions

That they were actually so used by

Christians seems almost certain

when we compare

with the

foregoing inscriptions the following Christian monimient, dis-

covered recently

towns

in Africa

in

the ruins of Caesarea, one of the

Roman

AREAM AT [AD] SEPVLCHRA CVLTOR VERBI CONTVLIT

ET CELLAM STRVXIT SVIS CVNCTIS SVMPTIBVS
ECCLESI^ SANCT^ HANC RELIQVIT MEMORIAM
SALVETE FRATRES PVRO CORDE ET SIMPLTCI
EVELPIVS VOS SATOS SANCTO SPIRITV
ECCLESIA FRATRVM HVNC RESTITVIT TITVLVM. MA.

EX ING
" Euelpius, a worshipper
* Mart. S. Ignat.,

Ex

ijij^enio

this epitaph.

9,

of the

I.

SEVERIAXI. C.

\'

ASTERI.t

Word, has given

this area for sepulchres,

A.D. 107.

Asteri denotes that Asterius was the poet

Cf. Tertull. Apol.,

c.

39.

who composed

instance of
^^'^ ^

"'"^

^"

Roma

54
and has

built a cella entirely at his

Holy Church.

Hail, brethren

Holy

salutes you, born of the

The

Sotterranea.
own

cost.

He

left this

Spirit."

identity of the expressions cultor verbi, aj^eam^ cellam^

mejnoriafn, with the corresponding terms used

can hardly be the result of accident.

scription, as

we now have

added

expressly

cution, during

tituhis, at

which the

had been made

in the

cannot assign a date

collegia^

not the original stone

it

is

Ecdesia frati'tinv'

a period subsequent to the perse-

had been destroyed; but both

forbid us to suppose that

any change

language of the epitaph, to which we

later

may have been

It

is

original

and the words

the sense

it,

by the

It is true that this in-

at the foot of the tablet, that

has restored this

tury.

incmoria to the

Euelpius with a pure and simple heart

than the middle of the third cen-

destroyed either in the persecution

of A.D. 257 or of 304.

From

First express
edict against

Christian
cemeteries,
A.D. 257.

in

all

we have

that

said, then,

it

appears certain that

the earliest ages there was no special interference with

Christians in their burial of the dead, and therefore no special

necessity for secresy

and concealment.

In

fact,

the assemblies

of the Christians would be less liable to interruption at the

buildings erected over the burial-places than anywhere

And

it

seems that the

fact of these assemblies

else.

being frequently

held there was the cause of the invasion of the sanctity of

Christian graves by popular violence and express legal enact-

ments.

The

has come

We

historical notice of such

first

down

to us, belongs to Africa in the year a.d. 203.

by

are then told

Tertullian, that at Carthage there

piopular outcry raised de

demand

for

an invasion which

aj'eis

sepiilturariim 7iostrariim,

destruction.t

their

These,

was a
and a

however, were not

subterranean cemeteries, and probably differed externally in

little

or nothing from the burial-places of the heathen which

surrounded them

still

they were

known

Christians as their exclusive property.

* This very term,

unknown

sake of concealment and

\ " Areoe non sint !"

its

The

to

belong to the

first

general edict

to theology, savours of being

adopted for

similarity to collegium convictornm, &c.

Terfiill.

ad Scapjilam^

c. 3.

Roman

Lazus and

Citstonis affccfing

Roman Catacombs

by which the

BnriaL 55

were affected was pubUshed

by the Emperor Valerian, ad. 257, and was aimed rather

at

their use as places of worship, or at least of secret assembly,

than as mere places of burial.

into most,

not

if

After

this,

they enter expressly

of the imperial edicts concerning the

all,

Christians, so that the relations

between the

the Christian cemeteries will henceforward

Roman

laws and

be most conve-

niently considered in our direct chronological account of the

Catacombs themselves.

DEO 5ANC y< VNI

P,

LVCITE^
CVMPA %^,
CE

W
i

Fig.

8.

ScpiilcJiral

Stone found in a cemcicry on the rin Laiinn.

CHAPTER

IV.

BEGINNING OF THE CATACOMBS,

Roman

burial

TT

has been shown that there was nothmg, either in the

'

mural

social or religious position of the

freedom of action

to interfere with their

The law

posing of their dead.

there were not wanting to

them

to discharge this duty in the

but this attached to

was not peculiar

by the ancient

left

Christians in

mode

in the

them

either the

means

Roman

to the Christians.

It

of dis-

There

w^as

choice of

sepulchres alike,* and

was

strictly

forbidden

bury within the walls of the city

law^s to

and

or the will

liberty, viz., as to the

all

Rome

entire liberty,

most becoming way.

indeed one limit set to their

place

first

and,

excepting in one or two instances where the pressure of per-

them

forced

secution
Christians

for

seem never

The law was

to

a while to unusual

have disregarded

really restricted in

of Servius Tullius

John and Paul

this prohibition.

application to the old walls

but with the exception of the burial of Saints

in their

secretly buried

its

secrecy, the

own house on

the Caelian, and the bodies

by St Pudentiana, we do not

find

any trace

of a Christian cemetery within the circuit of the walls of

Aurelian and Honorius.

consult

to

matter

their

Beyond these

own convenience,

limits they

laws,

were free

or tastes,

in

this

and being a mixed company of Greeks, Romans, and

Jews, they had the examples of various nations from which

to choose.

or burnt;
*

Even

Among

the Greeks, the corpse was either buried

both practices appear to have been always used

the few privileged families

who had

the walls did not avail themselves of

it.

a legal right of burial within

Cic. de Leg.

ii.

2^

Beginning of the Catacombs.

57
In Rome,

a greater or less extent at different periods.

to

the

ordinary custom,

from the later times of the

least

at

Republic, was not to bury, but to burn, the bodies of the dead,

and

in a recess

The urn was then placed

an urn.

to enclose the ashes in

the family sepulchre, which, from

...

number

of these

little

called a columbariuin or dove-cot.

latterly

almost

in

was

universal,

Warriors, lying at

full

many

niches, like so

containing Pagan colum-

-11
its

baria^

pigeon-holes, was ^^^^^

and
^ox^^h^^

This, however general, and

custom.'^

primitive

the

not

length in their armour, have been found

Etruscan tombs, and outside the ancient Porta Capena

Rome) may

(though within the present walls of

sepulchre of the Scipios, with

the

full-sized

its

still

be seen

sarcophagi,

showing that that great family followed the ancient

practice.

Fabretti gives another example, which he saw four miles out of

Rome, on

the Via Flaminia,

on which road are

chres of the Nasones, described

others that might be

some

by

Bartoli.

also the sepul-

These

and

latter,

named, resemble the plan which was

adopted by the Christians more closely than do the tombs

of the Scipios, inasmuch as they have chambers cut in the
tufa^ with horizontal niches for bodies

the Scipios

whereas the tombs of

are both irregular in form, as though the place

had been a deserted quarry, and have no graves cut

it

were, in the living rock.t

The

the

which are half-buried,

wall, but only recesses for sarcophagi,

as

in

marks which

principal

these Pao-an sepulchres from the Christian ceme- contrasted

distinguish
^
Christian
teries are

with
their exclusiveness cemeteries.
.

their comparatively small size

in containing only the remains of a single family, as contrasted

with the all-embracing catholicity of the Christian cemetery

and

that the loaili of the

because
it

it

was

their

custom to close the chamber

had once received

loculi

Pagan sepulchre were often

left

open,

for ever

when

destined occupants, while the Christian

its

were always hermetically sealed, since the chambers

which they were situated were frequently

* Plin. Hist.

f Opere

di

Nat.

vii.

visited

by the

55.

Ennio Visconti,

i.

10,

Milano.

in

faithful.

Roma

58
These

and the examples referred

cient for the purpose for

show

cata-

abundantly

to are

unknown even

To

the

Jews

combs

numerous examples are

to

to the

had always been

it
-

viz.,

hewn out

that the practice of burying in sepulchres

of Rome.

suffi-

which they have been alleged,

of the rock was not altogether

Jewish

mode

particulars, however, are not of the essence of this

of burial

to

Sotterranea.

Pagans

familiar,

and

be found

every part of the world,

wherever they have settled themselves and the nature of the

soil
111

Vigna Ran-

permitted

it

One was

in Palestine, in

itself.

Southern

Italy,

'^

and

in

Rome

discovered not long since on the opposite

dan in i,
side of the

Via Appia from the Church of St Sebastian, and

somewhat nearer

to

Rome,

Vigna Randanini.

the

in

Here

the galleries resemble those of the Christian cemeteries very

The

closely, excejjt that they are not quite so regular.

are closed with stone

combs

and

terra-cotta, like those in the Cata-

but the lowest range are sunk beneath the

locidi

floor,

and

the stone closing these leans against the wall in a slanting,

There are no

instead of an upright position.

aibicula, properly

so called, but sometimes an opening leads to a small recess

where two or three graves are sunk behind the ordinary range
of

The

locidi.

inscriptions are in Greek, with unmistakeable

Jewish expressions and symbols, amongst which the seven-

branched candlestick holds the

first

place.

From

the variety

of names, and the absence of the usual exclusive occupation

of the tombs by one family which characterises most Jewish

sepulchres of a similar kind,

it

has been conjectured that here

the Jews rather imitated than set an example to the Christians.t

Bosio,J however, describes a Jewish

and

at

Monte

Catacomb which he saw

on Monte Verde, outside the Porta Portese, which was

more

far

Verde.

ancient,

and seems

certainly to have

been of an

earlier date

the Christian cemetery of San Ponziano on the same

ever,

it

is

How-

not worth while to discuss minutely the chronology

* See Murray's

Handbook

for

Southern

t Cimitero degli Anticlii Ebrei, &c., per

X Bosio,

hill.

than

Rom.

Sott. 142.

Italy, 361.
P. Garrucci,

Roma,

1862.

Beginning of the Catacombs.

59

of the specimens of Jewish Catacombs to be seen in

need only

Rome,

We

language of the prophets when speaking

refer to the

of places of burial in the

Old Testament,'" or quote the instance

of the Father of the Faithful himself, whose only possession in

the land of promise was "the field wherein was the double

Abraham bought

cave, which

place."t

new

the

It

is,

of course,

laid the

Body

more

still

hewn out

sepulchre

Arimathea

for a possession

in

of a burying-

purpose to name

to the

a rock in which Joseph of

of our Lord

an example which was

not likely to be without effect on His earliest disciples.

modern

indeed, has ventured to say of the

writer,

Christians in

Rome,

first

that as they continued to dwell in the

midst of their unconverted countrymen, so they continued also

their ordinary usages of daily social

Roman

they burnt their dead after the

ashes

mto

life

in particular, " that

fashion, gathered their Christians did

the sepulchres 01 their patrons,

them the customary dedication

to the

only authority given for this statement

-1

and mscnbed over

Divme

Spirits T %

The

" the frequent occur-

is

rence of the letters D. M. on the tombs of the early Christians,"

which

is

new and

certainly quite inadequate to support the weight of so

startling a theory.

We

do not

for a

that wherever these letters were used, they

moment doubt

were intended to

stand for Dis Manibus, and not (as Boldetti, Fabretti, and
others have tried to maintain) for

of the discoveries for which

diligence of

ment of

De

we

Deo Maxiino.

one

and

Rossi, in attempting a chronological arrange-

Rome,

to fix the date of the Christian epitaphs

to the

it is

are indebted to the skill

the Christian inscriptions of

have been found

But

that

we

are able

on which these

and they are extremely

rare,

letters

not frequent

end of the third century, by which time they may per-

haps have been almost accounted a characteristic of mortuary

inscriptions,
* Isaias

and so have been used thoughtlessly, without any

rarissinic,

adhibitam epitaphiis
iii.

55'-

+ Gen.

xxii. i6,

" Quam

xxiii.

J Merivale,

17-20.

partim oscitantia, partim

fuisse satis constat," says

aliis

de

De

Rossi.

vi.

444.

causis, Christianis

Spic. Solcsm.

"ot burn, biU

buried, tlieir

Roma

6o

Sotterranea.

advertence to their real meaning,"

instance, coupled with the sacred

Or

the

c.g.^

they are found,

monogram

itself,

in

D. M. -^

tombstone may have been bought with the

already inscribed

have been

the surviving relatives

ill-instructed in the faith

or

by

Mr

it

S.

letters

up may

many other explanations

might be given, any one of which seems

sible than that suggested

who put

one

to us

Merivale,

more
For

easily admis-

whilst,

on the

not pretended that amongthe innumerable cinerary

one hand, it

is

urns of the

Roman

columbaria,-^ a single

specimen has yet been

found with Christian emblems or inscriptions, we have very

distinct testimony,

demned
restoring

We

the destruction of dead bodies by

them

to the earth,

mode

Rome, although

felt in

lire,

and

insisted

on

whence they came. J

conclude, then, that there was nothing strange or un-

natural in the

of

on the other hand, that the Christians con-

of burial adopted by the early Christians

the spirit of Christianity soon

the characteristics which distinguish

its

made

itself

cemeteries from

the sepulchres both of Jews and of Pagans, just as the Christian

Church
*
first

itself

grew up, men knew not how,

They only came

into use

among

in

the midst of

the heathen themselves mider the

Csesars.

+ Mr Merivale,

indeed, in another place, refers to the inscriptions in the

columbaria of Claudius, recently discovered, as containing several of the

same names as occur in the salutations of St Paul to his fellow-countrymen

Rome, and he considers that one at least, Sentia Renata, bespeaks a
The whole of the inscription referred to stands thus
Christian baptism.

in

Sentice RenatiC
q.

V.

Anil.

iiii. in.

xi. d.

riiii.

Senthis Felicissiinns

Et

Ainabilis Filia
Duicisshnce.

We do not know of any Christian inscription in which the title ainabilis is

often given to the deceased.
it
is, of course,
assumed by the survivor
The instances of identity of name are only seven or eight out of 250, and
seem to prove nothing but that such names were not uncommon in Rome.
Di due Sepolcri Roinani del Secolo di Augusta, ^c, da Gio. Pidro Cainpana, ed. ida., Roma, 1 852.
X Execrantur rogos et damnant ignium sepulturas. Minuc FelixVeterum et meliorum consuetudinem humandi
Octav. c. ii. 451, ed. 1838.
;

frequentamus.

lb.,

c. x.

468.

Beginning of the Catacombs.

Judaism and Paganism, claimed as

and

around

in the religions

true

preserved intact

own

its

kingdom of God which

own

its

was good

that

all

and, at the same time,

it,

a " holy

identity as

stand

shall

6i

But

ever.

for

the

nation,^'

the

in

beginning of the Christian Catacombs, there was absolutely

nothmg extraordmary

or requirmg explanation

way

did but use their liberty in the

that

-K

them

suited

of

them had been long accustomed, and which enabled them

at

also their

to follow in death the

model

in

attain,

proportions

which

nor the manifold uses

sible that

of the

sides

and opportunity served, not

enormous

was

Accordingly, they began cemeteries

life.

here and there on different

required

Him who

example of

private.

best,

many

same time

combs, small

the faithful and

burying their dead according to a fashion to which

the

First cata-

work

their

would

it

at

as

city,

occasion

foreseeing the

all

would

ultimately

It

quite pos-

serve.

is

some of these cemeteries may always have remained

the burial-place of single families, as in point of fact Christian

subterranean sepulchres have really been found in the neigh-

bourhood of Rome, consisting each of a

single

Others again, begun with the same intent,

chamber

only.

may have been

afterwards indefinitely enlarged, and particular portions only

appropriated to private use by means of inscriptions, such as

Catacomb of

that recently discovered in the

in the

garden of the Villa

St

Patrizi, just outside the

MONVMENTVM

Nicomedes,
Porta Pia

VALERI
M
ERCVRI ET JVLITTES JVLIAN
I
ET QVINTILIES VERECVNDES
LIBERTIS-LIBERTABVSQUE-POSTE
RISQUE EORVM AT RELIGIONE
M PERTINENTES MEA M HOC -A
MPLIVS IN CIRCVITYM CIRCA
MONVMENTVM LATI
LONGI
PER PEDES BINOS -QUOD PERTIN
ET
AT IPSVM
MONVMENT
-

It

is

slated in his Acts that he

was buried "in the garden of Justus,

f:xamples.

Roma

62

may

or this other, which

the

Catacomb

of Sts

Sotterra^tea.

yet be seen in a most ancient part of

Nereus and Achilles,

from the sepulchre of those

at

no great distance

saints.

ANTONI
RESTVTV
FECIT YPO
S
GEV SIBI ET
-

VS

SVIS
FIDENTI
BVS-IN-DOMINO.
-

Both of these monuments are very ancient.

them seems

to

Neither of

have contemplated the existence of penal laws,

proscribing the free exercise of the Christian religion, or interfering with the privacy

and sacredness of

They

their graves.

merely announce with simplicity and candour, as an inscription

on a pagan monument might have done,

that place

of burial had been

include those only

who belong

Each

provided.
to his

attempted to secure the fulfilment of

whose

for

benefit

desires to

own

religion,

this

desire, in the

and

it is

one

case by limiting the use of the hypogeiim to those relatives

"

who

believe in the Lord," in the other,

monument

for the use only of those of

is

my

belong to

No

religion."

by declaring

my

that the

dependents " Avho

precedent can be found

for

such

a phrase as this amid the tens of thousands of pagan epitaphs

which are

still

extant.

conveyed any meaning

It is

doubtful whether

at all to a

pagan mind

would have

it

it

could have

been used by a Jew or a Christian, but by no one

eyen a Christian could not have used
his I'eligion
state.

It

it

in public

else,

and

when once

had been condemned and declared unlawful by the

might have been used, therefore, before persecution

was begun by Nero,

or,

again,

between

his death

and the

accession of Domitian, or under Nerva and in the earher part

of the reign of Trajan, and

it is

very possible that to one of

these periods this inscription really belongs.

near the

city walls.'"

places his

tomb

The author quoted by William

very near this gate of the city.

of

Malmesbury

also

BOOK

II

HIS TOR Y OF THE CA TA COMBS

CHAPTER
THE CATACOMBS

WE

now

enter

IN

I.

THE FIRST

AGES.

interesting portion of our Apostolic

upon a most

oris^in of some
subject; on which, however, Httle rehable information of the Cata-

could be obtained until the archaeological genius of

succeeded

in

reducing to

through

scattered

monuments found
means we have

and
in

so

Catacombs themselves.

at length the outlines at least

logical history of

Roma

Sotterra?iea,

future discoveries will correct

laboriously

and verifying these by the

others,

the

Rossi

order the fragments of tradition

the writings of antiquity,

collected by Bosio

De

By

these

of a chrono-

which we may hope that

and enlarge.

Our

readers will

not expect us to produce the testimony of cotemporaneous,

or

nearly

cotemporaneous authors,

Catacombs during the

and

last

ages.

So

terrible

Roman Church

history

of the

was the tenth

escaped destruction.

have already enumerated the principal documents from

which the early history of that Church

and

the

persecution under E)iocletian, that hardly any of the

ancient records of the

We

first

for

all

that can

now be done

is

is

to be reconstructed

briefly to collect the informa-

^"^

Roina

Sotterra^iea,

we derive from those

tion

Catacombs themselves

may be

for

and then

to

examine the

whatever confirmation of

it

they

able to give.

has been said or impHed that the history of the Cata-

It

combs probably

from the burial of the

dates

Are

Christian.

there, then, to

Catacombs

ing

sources,

of apostolical

traces

" Precisely

be found

Roman

first

any of the

in

antiquity?

De

exist-

Rossi

in those cemeteries

to

which history or

tradition assigns apostolic origin, I see,

in

the light of the

replies

most searching archaeological

and of Christian

art

persons

who appear

of Trajan

and

This

times/' '^

inscriptions

to

discover precise

upon which

Among

it is

dates of those

a bold statement, and we purpose in the

present chapter to bring together

Papal crypt on

there I find memorials of

belong to the times of the Flavii and

finally,

is

criticism, the cradle of Christian

some

at least of the proofs

based.

the cemeteries ascribed by tradition to apostolic

the Vatican.

would have the

times, the crypts of the Vatican

first

clami on

our attention, had they not been almost destroyed by the

foundations of the vast basilica which guards the tomb of
St

We

Peter.

especially as the

cannot, however, pass them

by

altogether,

most ancient notice of them that we have

confirms in some degree what has been said as to the perfect

liberty of the first Christians in the burial

The Liber
Clement
chral
he'

Pontificalis states

that Anacletus, the successor of

in the Apostolic See,

monument

even of their martyrs.

'^

Iniilt

and adorned the

{constrnxit meinoriaui) of blessed Peter, since

had been ordained

priest

by St

Peter,

places where the bishops might be laid."

himself was buried there

and
Pius

Cletus,
I.,

A.D. 203

and the same

It
is

and other
is

added

burial-

that

he

recorded of Linus

and of Evaristus, Sixtus L, Telesphorus, Hyginus,

Eleutherius, and Victor, the last of

;

sepul-

whom

and, after St Victor, no other Pontiff

*

R. S.

i.

185.

is

was buried
recorded to

The Catacombs
have been buried

at the

vicinoriani

is

The

of a

that

such a monument, even though

would not be

tian bishops,

during the
already

stated,

De

and we have seen that

covered the tombs of Chris-

it

likely to

impossible

is

it

notices with any existing

be disturbed

to

confront
It is

St Peter's

worth mentioning,

very place early in the seven-

this

name

of

LINUS.*

on the Vatican the mind passes naturally

to the restmg-place of the apo-^tle of the Gentiles

been cut away

mjifos

to

ancient

these

Rossi believes that the sepulchre of St

teenth century, bearing simply the

side of the river

any time

at

For the reason we have

monuments.

Linus was discovered in

From

monument above ground

or second century.

first

however, that

idea conveyed by the words

Roman custom

according to the usual

65

Vatican until St Leo the Great was

laid in St Peter's, a.d, 461.

constriixit

in the First Ages.

and of Rome.

make room

on the other

But here, too, the

has

hill

Paul extra

for the Basilica of St

and hence the greater part of the Catacomb of St

Lucina, or of St Commodilla, as
ancient records,

is

it

sometimes called

been destroyed, and what

lias

in

galleries yet

remain are so choked with earth and ruins of various kinds

as to be almost impassable.

gotten

that

read

Boldetti

Nevertheless,
within

this

must not be

it

Catacomb

It

was scratched on the mortar of one of the

and the consulate of Sin-a

107.

Seiiecio

et

second was also found

recording the names

The same

most

the

come down

ancient inscription with a consular date that has

to us.f

explorer

of Piso

in the

et

locidi^

marks the year

same

Bolano^

for-

a.d.

place, in marble,

consuls

a.d.

iio.

discovered here also yet a third insciip-

* Biillettino, 1864, p. 50,

\ There

is,

indeed, a

third year of Vespasian,

more ancient dated Christian

i.e.,

A.D. 72

but,

inscription of the

unfortunately,

it

no longer
It must

is

possible to ascertain to wliat cemetery this inscription l^elonged.

be remembered that a very small proportion of the inscriptions have the

date of the year upon them.
the

anniversary

The day

of the

month was

sufficient to

the particular year was regarded as of

less

ance.
J2

mark

import-

St Paul's on
^j^^j^

Roma

66
which

tion,

Rome

De

Sotterrmiea.

Rossi considers one of the most ancient

in

DORMITIONl
r FLA EVTY
CHio Qvi vr
.

XIT

ANN

XVIIIl

MES XI D Ill
HVNC LOCVM
DONABIT M
.

ORBIVS HELI
VS AMICVS
KARISSIMVS
KARE BALE
.

"

As a

gave

this spot.

The

who

resting-place for Titus Flavins Eiitychius,

eleven months,

years,

three

His dearest

days.

lived nineteen

Marcus Oibius,

friend,

Farewell, beloved."

place where

it

was found, and certain symbols rudely

carved at the bottom (apparently intended to represent loaves

and

fishes),

this inscription to

epitaphs,

and the praenomen, T.

age of the Flavian emperors,

It

be Christian

/>.,

the end of the

the

to

century.

first

can hardly be a mere accident that these rare and cotem-

place,

and precisely

in

the

cemetery where

years before had been deposited the

as certain proofs that a

begun here not long

after his

The cemetery
]-,^yg

less

than forty

martyrdom.

in the property of the family of

verted by the apostles

from the language of

its

Paul.

Catacomb was

of St Priscilla, on the Via Salaria Nova,

been dug

same

the

in

body of the apostle

They may be taken

|-q

while the

Flavins, x^oint

poraneous dates should have been discovered

St Priscilla on
le la. a ana.

the ancient nomenclature differing from the usual Chris-

style,

tian

show

and a particular

said

Pudens, con

cha])el in

it,

Cappdla

inscriptions, as the

is

known,

Gi^eca^ is

supposed to have been the burial-place of St Pudentiana, St

Praxedes, and other
style of the

members of

frescoes, the

differing widely

The

the family.

scenes depicted

in

classical

most of them

from the usual well-known subjects which

after-times repeat themselves so frequently,

when

in

Christian

.symbolism had assumed a more fixed and stereotyped charac-

The Catacombs
ter

the First Ages.

67

the beautiful ornaments in stucco, like those in the baths

of Titus

on the

a special family of inscriptions traced in vermilion

tiles,

and unlike

epigraphs in

Christian

later

their

language (being sometimes bare names, sometimes the apos-

PAX TECVM,

tohc salutation
anchor)

very often the symbol of the

the classic forms of the characters of the inscriptions

on marble

the

name TITO FLAVIO FELICISSIMO

construction of the principal crypt, Avhich

not excavated in

is

the iufa^ but regularly built, and, without any loculus in

was evidently intended

walls,

all

the

the

for the reception of sarcophagi

these variations from the uniformity of Christian subter-

ranean cemeteries, such as we find them

third century,

in the

point to a date anterior to any such systematic arrangement,

and confirm
to this

in

a remarkable manner the high antiquity assigned

cemetery by tradition.

In certain acts of Pope Liberius mention

cemetery 01 Ostrianus as
-

bemg

Lc

is

made

of the Cemetery of
OstliaiUlS Or

not far from the cemetery

of Novella, which was on the third mile of the Via Salaria."

When

Panvinius compiled his catalogue of the cemeteries,* he

down

set

in use

this as

when

having been the oldest of

Peter preached

St

Bosio, however, and

attempt to identify

whilst

the faith

" because

it

was

Romans."

to the

other antiquarians have failed in any

all
it

all,

De

Rossi's

more

mode

scientific

of procedure seems to have been more successful.

He

served that the Abbot John,

Monza,

in

which he gives a

brated shrines of

of

list

Rome

in

oils

the papyrus

MS.t

at

ob-

from the lamps before the cele-

which he

visited, after " the oil

of St

Agnes and many others" on the Via Nomentana and before

" the oil of St Vitalis, St Alexander,
Salaria,"

mentions "

was

enthroned {prius

first

oil

and others on the Via

from the chair where Peter the apostle

sedif)," as

somewhere between the roads

though

that have

manner, in the index of the cemeteries

page 32.

were situated

been named.

In like

in the Liber Mirabiliuni^

between that of St Agnes and that of St

* See

this

Priscilla, that

t See page

23.

is,

be-

Yow^, Petri,

Roma

68

same two roads,

tweeii the

St Peter {fontis S. Petri

Sotterranea.
placed the cemetery of the font of

is

Ad Nyinphas S. Petri),

in other copies

Now,

near the basiHca of St Elmerentiana.

upon which Father

actly corresponds with that of the cemetery

Marchi bestowed

come

so familiar to

Catacomb of

St

his labours,

all

Roman

all

Agnes

and which has therefore beunder the name of the

visitors

but the galleries and chambers which

do not bear marks of greater

are at present accessible there

antiquity than the third century.

Bosio, however,

he went down by a square hole (which

covered), and found a crypt, also

an

historical character,

tells

us that

at present undis-

is

unknown

to us, evidently of

from the frequency of the luminaria

Near one of these

and the beauty of the ornamentation.

light-holes,

this situation ex-

which he found

still

open, "without the light of a

candle," he writes, " one sees a large niche like a tribune, with
leaves in stucco-work,

and within the niche are seen some red

which, being almost

letters,

some few

obliterated, are illegible, but

all

remain are beautifully formed

whicli

niche must anciently have been the

sufficiently spacious."'^

De

under that

the place being

altar,

Rossi observes that

is

it

now

well

ascertained that the ancient custom was to place in the tribune,

not the

but the pontifical chair; and this passage from

altar,

Bosio seems to him to read like an

account of the crypt

where was formerly venerated on the i8th of January, "the

Peter was

chair in which

and which was

sedit

and Bede

hood

is

known

also

as the Coemeteriiim

The extreme
still

antiquity of

nomenclature,

all

iibi

some cemetery
by the

their classical

"

sedes

in

inscriptions which have

and laconic

stated to have been the

*

Roma

Sott. 438.

class

freedwoman

neighbour-

this

style,

betoken a most ancient date.

and others of the same

Ado

Petriis baptizabat.^

hundred instances the names are of Claudii,

Aurelii,

iibi p7'ius

in the martyrologies of

ad NympJias

further confirmed

been found here

enthroned

first

form,

and

In nearly a
Flavii,

Ulpii,

once the deceased

{libci^td)

f See Note C

in

is

of Lucius CloAppendix.

in the First Ages.

The Catacombs
dius Crescens

often nothing whatever

added

is

69
names,

to the

or only the relationship between the deceased and the person

up the

setting

with perhaps the epithet of affection,

tablet,

In

dulcissimo or dulcissimce.

these epitaphs vary so

fact,

little

from the old classical type, that had they not been seen by

Marini and other competent witnesses

tion,

in

their original posi-

and some of them been marked with the Christian sym-

bol of the anchor, w^e might have hesitated whether they ought

among pagan monuments.

not rather to be classed

The Cemetery

of St Domitilla, or of her chamberlains. Saints St Domitilla

at Tor MaiNereus and Achilles, on the Via Ardeatina, claims to be of the ancia.

same

age,

as

is

it

and

its

claim deserves a more detailed examination,

connected with what has been already mentioned as

one of the most remarkable

the annals of the early

facts in

Church, the profession of the Christian

For

Imperial family.

we have spoken

in

this

faith

by some of the

whom

Domitilla was the same of

a former chapter as having been banished*

to the island of Ponza.

St

Jerome f

tells

us that in his days

was frequented by pious Christian pilgrims, " who

this island

in

which Flavia

Domitilla had suffered a life-long martyrdom."

Whether she

delighted

really

to visit with

devotion

shed her blood at the

acts of Saints

They

ticity.

the cells

last for the faith is uncertain, the

Nereus and Achilles being of doubtful authenstate,

however, that she and two of her female

companions were buried

in

a sarcophagus at Terracina, but

that her chamberlains suffered death

by the sword, and were

buried in a cemetery about a mile and a half out of

Rome, on

the Via Ardeatina, in a farm belonging to their mistress.

farm,

now known by

just at this distance

inscriptions

name

of

Tor Marancia,

is

situated

from Rome, and on the road named

which have been found there show

once belonged

them

the

The

and

clearly that

to this very person, Flavia Domitilla.

One

it

of

gives the measurements of a sepulchral area of 35 feet

and 40

in front
*

See

into the field,

pas^re 39.

whether

for a

Kj).

pagan or a Chrisad Eustoch.

86.

Roma

yo
tian

Sottein^anea,

monument we cannot

had been granted ex

pasiaiii ; another

and the others

of the same,

hejiejicio

Moreover, within the cemetery

also are equally unequivocal.

which underlies

events the ground

all

indulgentia Flavice DoniitillcE^ neptis Vcs-

ex

is

say; but at

immediate neigh-

this farm, or at least in its

bourhood, two or three other inscriptions have been found

Gens

of a Bruttia Crispina and others of the

which we may

between

infer that there

two

the

was some

and that

famihes,

which induced Bruttius the historian

sort of

connexion

was the reason

this

make

to

from

Bruttia,

men-

special

tion of the exile of Domitilla in his narrative of the public

Although, therefore, no historical monu-

events of his day.*

ments have been found within the cemetery

cemetery of St Callixtus, declare

like those in the

beyond

tity

itself,

power

all

of

reclamation,

yet

which
iden-

its

nobody now

doubts but that at Tor Marancia we have certainly recovered

that cemetery which, in ancient times,

by the name of
and

of the chapels, in the second story, at the left-hand

you have descended a very handsome

after

steps from the

open

air,

now concern
of the

us

and

hill,

all

introduces

us as

special friend

days

to

monument

of the Flavian family,

of Domitian.

It

is

ancient and remarkable Christian

Its position,

close

to

work, with a cornice

for

an inscription

spaciousness of

its

on the outer surface

De

our attention.

cemetery, claims
it

discovery

no great distance from

at

of

however, does not

This,

saints.

a recent

flight

pointed out as the probable scene

is

two

of the burial of the

the

and sometimes of Saints Nereus

Achilles.

One
side

St Domitilla,

was sometimes called

of

who

its

and died

now,

alas

the
!

in

most

yet discovered.

front of fine

with

gallery,

lived

one of the

of terra-cotta,

has

some member or

monuments
;

part of the

Rossi unhesitatingly

certainly

the highway

(which

this

usual

perished)

brick-

space
;

the

with only four or five separate

* See page 39.

The Cataco7nbs

many

niches prepared for as

the wall

sarcophagi

make

it

perfectly clear that

ment of a Christian family of

and without the

cost,

7X.

the fine stucco on

the eminently classical character of

these things

all

in the First Ages.

its

it

decorations

was the monu-

distinction, excavated at great

slightest

On

attempt at concealment.

each side of the entrance there was a small chamber; the one

on the

right

was probably

{c)

place of meeting for those of

was

to assemble here

deceased

Fig.

g.

that

for the schola, as

the^''^;/i^

or

on the anniversaries,

on the

left

{b)

rc/igio,

to

we

called, or

whose duty

it

to the

bears evident tokens of having

been a place of residence, probably

just as

was

do honour

Kiitrnjtcc io a most nncieut Christian SepulcJirc at

monument,

it

for the

find attached to so

Tor MarnJiciii.

guardian of the

many pagan monu-

ments of the same period.

After descending two steps from the portico, the pathway
slopes gradually for a
said,

moved.
period,
;

leaving,

as

we have

only a few recesses, capable of receiving each a large

sarcophagus,

it

short distance,

all

One

of which however have long since been re-

of these recesses was enlarged at a subsequent

and a tomb

in

the form of an arcosoliiim

made

in

and the whole hypogcewn was ultimately united by addi-

tional

galleries

to the

adjacent catacomb.

Before

this

was

Roma

72

Sotterrartea.

done, however, the vestibule had been

of various

sizes,

seen lying about

filled

with sarcophagi

of which numerous fragments

;

we

underneath the ground

find
;

them

also

may

still

be

(of terra-cotta) buried

and the date even of the

last

of these

seems not to come below the middle of the second century.

Fig.

lo.

Painting on roof of most ancient part of Cemetery of St Domitilla.

In passing from the vestibule into the catacomb, we recognise

tlie

transition from the use of the sarcophagus to that of the

common
side,

locuhis ; for the first

though

really

two or three graves on either

mere shelves

in the wall, are so disguised

The Catacombs in
by painting on

tlie

the First Ages.

outside as to present to passers-by

complete outward appearance of a sarcophagus.

graves are marked with the

of these

written in black

have seen
Priscilla

in

on the

largest tiles

names of

just like those

the most ancient part of the

the

Some few
the

dead,

which we

Catacomb of

and the inscriptions on the other graves are

the simplest and oldest form.

Fig. II.

7,

all

St

of

Lastly, the whole of the vaulted

Fragineitt of Daniel in the Lionx^ Deri,

from most ancient ^art of

Cemetery of St Domitilla.

roof

is

covered with the most exquisitely graceful designs, of

branches of the vine (with birds and winged genii

trailing with all the

among them)

freedom of nature over the whole

walls,

not fearing any interruption by graves, nor confined by any of

those lines of geometrical symmetry which characterise similar

productions in the next century.

may be

Traces also of landscapes

seen here and there, which are of rare occurrence

Roma

74
anywhere
be seen

and

in

chamber assigned by De Rossi

in tlie

feast,

may

the Catacombs, though another specimen

to Sts Nereiis

The Good Shepherd, an Agape^

Achilles.

venly

Sottcn^anea.

man

fishing,

and Daniel

or the hea-

in the lions' den,"' are

the chief historical or allegorical representations of Christian

mysteries which were painted here.

Unfortunately they have

been almost destroyed by persons attempting to detach them

from the wall

them

for those

process which, while

who should come

can never have yielded

after,

anything but a handful of mortar and

plunderers themselves.

chamber or

vestibule

we should have

Would
in

whose

condition

Rossi conjectures, that

Clemens

were

this

Perhaps

De

was

it

himself, the martyred

afterwards

Clement within the

Basilica. of St

we could have seen

original

found, as

remains

broken tufa to the

its

the very vicmoria of Flavins

consul,

that

effectually ruined

it

translated

At any

walls.

rate

to

the

we

are

quite sure that %ve have been here brought face to face with

one of the
in

earliest

specimens of Christian subterranean burial

Rome.

We

have now visited

claim

made

is

Catacombs

principal

tlie

to apostolic antiquity

and

us to take a brief review of the results that

from our
General conclusions from
an examination of these

The

down
-y^

^-j^g

visits.

They may be

stated thus

stories that

embodied

in the

will

be well for

may be

gathered

local traditions of ancient Christian

to us, partly

it

which a

for

Rome

have come

Acts of the Martyrs; partly

were told to foreigners

visiting the city in

cemeteries.

the seventh and eighth centuries,

and by them committed

writing in itineraries; partly in the "

in the "

Book

of the

Books of Indulgences" and

Wonders of Rome," compiled both

more

use of strangers and of citizens

in the scattered notices of a

few mediaeval writers.

diligent
*

comparison of

all

The fragment which remains

the preceding page, small as

it is,

partly also, but

these

various

of

picture,

tliis

to

displays a

for the

sparingly,

From

authorities,

and which

much higher

it

a
is

is

given on

skill in

execution

than any other representation of the same subject that

throughout the Catacombs.

we have

seen

The Catacombs
gathered that some
of

Rome

in the First Ages.

five or six

were believed

to

75

of the subterranean cemeteries

have had their origin

in apostolic

times; and in every one of these instances, so far as

we have an

opportmiity of examining them, something peculiar has been

noted by our predecessors, or seen by ourselves, which

either

When

gives countenance to the tradition.

these peculiarities

are brought together, they are found to be in perfect harmony,

not only with one another, but also with what

been led
to

to expect

from a careful consideration of the period

which they are supposed

such

as

these

we should have

paintings

The

to belong.

most

the

in

peculiarities are

classical style,

and

scarcely inferior in execution to the best specimens of cotem-

porary pagan art

a system of ornamentation in fine stucco

such as has not yet been found

work

in

any Christian subterranean

than the second century

later

dimensions, not

hewn out

crypts of considerable

of the bare rock, but carefully, and

even elegantly, built with pilasters and cornices of bricks or

terra-cotta

no narrow

galleries with shelf-like graves thickly

pierced in their walls, but spacious ambiilaa-a^ with painted

and recesses provided only

walls,
l)hagi

for the reception of sarco-

whole families of inscriptions, with

without any distinctly Christian forms of speech

actual dates of the
that

first

names, and

classical

or second century.

It is

and

lastly,

impossible

such a marvellous uniformity of phenomena, collected

with most patient accuracy from different and distant cemeteries

on

many

different periods, should

all

sides of the city,

preconceived opinion.
ceived on the subject;

and from authors writing

be the

at so

result of accident or of

There never was any opinion preconor rather,

the opinion

was

that

in

general vogue a few years ago was diametrically opposed to

this.

But the opinion which has now been enunciated by I)e

Rossi,

and

is

have an opportunity of examining the

selves,

among
monuments

gaining universal acceptance

has been the result of careful observation

of the phenomena, not their cause.

those
for

it is

who

them-

the fruit

Whereas then former

Roma

76

writers have always taken

Roma

of

for

granted that the

Sotterranea must have been poor and

and

nificant,

it

Sotterranea.

that

and more peaceful

age,

now

is

it

decorations

discovered

of the

much more

are

All

to light.
fine

arts

many remarkable
ancient

to a

monuments and

any knowledge of the history of the

the

insig-

certain that this state-

the

modern discovery has brought

that

mean and

must necessarily belong

ment cannot be reconciled with

that

beginnings

any appearance of subterranean worlds on a

large scale, or richly decorated,

later

first

facts

who have
agreed

are

crypts

lately

than those which form

the great bulk of the paintings in the catacombs with which

we were

familiar before,

and which have been always

Nor can any

regarded as the work of the third century.

thoughtful and impartial judge

and

the laws
that

all

On

and usages of Roman

is

fully hereafter,

Roman

burial,

thus thrown back on the

the subject of Christian art

to recognise in the social

fail

political condition of the first

we

justly

first

Christians,

and

an adequate cause

in
for

and second centuries.

have to speak more

shall

and the architectural analysis which we propose

to give of a part of the cemetery of St Callixtus will furnish

a convenient occasion for distinguishing the various features

which characterise the work of successive periods

in

the

construction of subterranean Rom.e.

Our present chapter

account

another

of

authentic

record

was certainly

had been no

of the

that

is

concluded by some

fittingly

cemetery, which,

though we have no

precise date of

in use in the

second century

be

will

its

commencement,

middle or before the end of the

to say,

legal interference,

it

was made whilst yet there

and

(so far as

we know) no

outbreak of popular violence against the liberty of Christian

burials.
least,

We

have a

right,

therefore, to

of the same characteristics which

in the

first

look for some,

we have

at

already seen

and most ancient of the cemeteries, nor

wdll this

expectation be disappointed.

The Catacomb

to

which we

refer

is

that of St Praetextatus,

on

The Catacoinbs

in the First Ages.

the Via Appia, nearly opposite to the

-r

It

1111been

was effected

it

sepulchres,

recovered.

1848, and as a painting of St Sixtus

in

was conjectured that

it

this

must be the cemetery

In 1850 another crypt

of that martyr.

in

was brought to

it

ornamented with some of the oldest and most

paintings that had

a paper

read

by the legend SVSTVS) was found on one of the

(identified

light,

of St CaUixtus. St Pr?etextatus, on the Via

-1.1 openmg
An accuiental

has only lately

into

Catacomb

77

been seen; and

yet

in

the Fontijicia Academia

to

classical

De

1852,

Rossi

di Arckeoiogia,

which he argued, solely on topographical grounds

in

on

i.e.,

arguments derived from the position of the cemetery, as compared with other cemeteries, and with the descriptions given
in

the old itineraries

that

must certainly have been a

this

known by

of the cemetery anciently

part

Praetextatus,

name

the

and which was famous as the scene of St

of St

Sixtus's

martyrdoui, and as the place of burial of St Januarius, the

eldest of the seven sons of St Felicitas,
lives for Christ

on July

10, a.d,

and Agapitus, deacons of

same

time,

buildings,

remain
the

dedicated

In

Catacombs came here

for repairs
in the

also of St Felicissimus

and many

others.

the other rectangular, which

to

Saints

the

Valerian,

Tiburtius,

martyrdom of

St Cecilia,

to seek for stones,

tiles,

and

and

to

which were being executed

in St

course of their quest they opened a

As soon

or other mate-

way

but of this there was no sign.

was clear that the absence of

Catacombs

in

this

to the ruins

Rossi had

for the usual

Nevertheless,

it

ordinary feature of a chapel

no way detracted from

indicated that this was a

CaUixtus',

De

as

scrambled through the opening, he looked about

in the

still

1857 the labourers employed in the

of a very large and beautiful crypt.

arcosolium

At the

Later discoveries completely established the truth

of his reasoning.

and

their

above ground, as having once been

Maximus, companions of

rials

down

laid

he insisted upon identifying the ruins of two

in the vineyard

St Zeno.

St Sixtus,

the one round,

basilicce

162

who

chamber without a

its

value,

history.

On

nor
the

Appia.

Roma

78
Its architecT n rl fi f* r*

oration of
second cen-

and more

contrary, further

1 11 i*f

'^^^'^

though underground,

and

that

had been

it

three sarcophagi.

with solid masonry,

originally intended only for

had once been lined throughout with

It

Greek marble, and

living rock, but that,

all built

had been

three sides

its

careful examination revealed the fact

was not hewn out of the

<^rypt

^^^^^

Sotterraiiea.

internal face (towards the cemetery)

its

was a piece of excellent yellow brickwork, ornamented with

same material

pilasters of the

The workmanship

cotta.

fix

same neighbourhood

in the

the middle of the latter half of the second

century (a.d. 175) as a very probable date for

The Acts
bricks,
tian

and not hewn out of the rock

it

we understand
firmly built

'^

vault of the chapel

by no means
age.

it

It is

viz.,

antrum

{ingeiis

viz.,

it

its

was

erection.
built with

because the Christo

it

and now

be excavated

we

that

see

meaning of the words used by

the precise

describing

itineraries

Marmenia) had caused

(St

immediately below her own house

The

why

of the Saints explain to us

who made

terra-

points clearly to an early date, and

specimens of pagan architecture

enable us to

and cornices of

in red,

"a

d firmissiincE fabricce).

most elaborately painted,

is

the

square cavern, most

large

qiiadratuni^

it,

in a style

inferior to the best classical productions of the

divided into four bands of wreaths, one of roses,

another of corn-sheaves, a third of vine-leaves and grapes (and

in all these, birds are

and the

introduced visiting their young in nests),

last or highest,

of leaves of laurel or the bay-tree.

Of

course these represent severally the seasons of spring, summer,

autumn, and winter.

of death

The

last is

and probably the

intended to represent the

a well-known figure or symbol

laurel, as the

new and

token of victory, was

Christian idea of the ever-

lasting reward of a blessed immortality.

Below these bands

is

another border, more indistinct, in which reapers are gathering

in the corn

and

which the central

at the

back of the arch

figure

sheep upon his shoulders.

is

the

is

a rural scene, of

Good Shepherd

carrying a

This, however, has been destroyed

by graves pierced through the wall and the rock behind

it,

The Catacombs

in the First Aces.

79

from that eager desire, of which we shall have occasion to

speak elsewhere, to bury the dead of a

as possible to the

tombs of the martyrs.

Painting

12.

believe his eyes

these words

Agatopus

III/.

I'aiclt

o/an Arcosolinm

in

he could hardly

Cemetery o/ Si Prtetcxtatns.

the edge of one of

them

mi RefrigeriJaniiarius

inartyrcs
" Januarius, Agapetus,

and fragments of words

Felicis-

scratched upon the mortar whilst yet

ago, as the prayer of

pro- St Januaiius,

simus, martyrs, refresh the soui of

whom

detail,

in

when he read around

Fdicissiiii

As De Rossi

'

ceeded to examine these graves

Fig.

later generation as near

some bereaved

he was burying here, and

it

."

The words had been

was

fresh, fifteen centuries

relative for the soul of

now

him

they revealed to the

antiquarian of the nineteenth century the secret he was in

quest of
here

viz.,

invoked

the place of burial of the saints whose aid

for

the

numerous examples

to

l)e

seen

is

in

other cemeteries warrant us in concluding that the bodies of

'

'

Roma

8o

Sotterranea.

the saints, to whose intercession the soul of the deceased

is

here recommended, were at the time of his burial lying at no

great distance,

and the reader

will

whose

three of the very martyrs

the cemetery of St Prastextatus.

needed no further evidence

in

have observed that they are

relics

once rendered famous

De

Rossi, therefore, really

corroboration

of the topo-

graphical outline which he had sketched five years before to

the

Roman

for him,

when

archaeologists

though

it

did not

yet further evidence was in store

come

to light until six years later,

the commission of Sacred Archaeology were persuaded to

take this cemetery as the special scene of their labours.

amid the

soil

which encumbered the entrance to

Then,

this crypt,

three or four fragments were discovered of a large marble slab,

Damasine

in-

scnption.

St Quirinus,
A.D. 130.

marked by
unusual

size.

More fragments* have been discovered

that

we

tion

once stood thus

The

Damasine form, but of

a few letters of most certain

since, so

are able to say with certainty that the whole inscrip-

excavations of the commission revealed the existence

of another crypt on the opposite side of the gallery, which

still

older than that of St Januarius

martyrdom of

so

that,

Is

whereas the

St Januarius belongs to the year a.d. 162,

De

*"
Only those letters, or parts of letters, which are in darker tints, liave
been found but in inscriptions executed with such mathematical precision
as these, they are quite enough to enable us to restore the whole.
;

The Catacombs

in the First Ao-es.

8i

<?>

Rossi does not fear to designate

second crypt as the pro-

this

bable burial-place of St Quirinus, somewhere about a.d. 130.

We

have no detailed account as yet of

nor has

its

been

contents or even
possible, for

principal characteristics

funds, to continue the

work of excavation

Most

De

heartily

Rome

want of

in this cemetery.

do we repeat the wish, so modestly expressed by

some generous

Rossi,* that

would do

it

its

the

for

who

advancement of Christian archaeology

what so many

and

Duchess of Devonshire

Pagan

the interests of

souls could be found

some of our own country,

have done

in

as the

there at various times in

antiquity, viz., place funds at the dis-

posal of the proper authorities to enable them to resume their

suspended labours both here and elsewhere, and to begin them

many

de 710V0 in those

other places which our present improved

knowledge, both of books and of the

enable us to

locality,

point out as promising a plentiful harvest.

There

is

yet another

catacomb belonging

to

the second StAlexander's,

century which deserves to be mentioned, though the particular mentana

portion of it which was of that date has undergone so much
alteration since that time as to be
nition.

It is

no longer capable of recog-

recorded in the Liber Fontijicalis that St Alex-

ander, Bishop of

Rome, who

martyrdom

suffered

a.d. 132,

was

buried on the Via Nomentana, where he was beheaded, not

far

from the seventh milestone

and

ancient Christian cemetery was discovered

fourteen years

since

and amid

its

built

in

some twelve or
a portion of an

ruins

epitaph, or rather of an inscription set

Alexander, in very ancient times,

up

in

honour of

over his grave, and has lately been restored.

In the

many

have remamed undisturbed to the present day

these scarcely belong

Moreover,

this

to

the

St

a basilica which was then

small subterranean galleries round this basilica,

loculi

an

there, accordingly,

oldest

part of the

of the
;

but

cemetery.

whole cemetery lay beyond the limit we have

assigned to the

Roman Catacombs

proper

* Bullettino, 1865,
99.

and therefore we

Roma

82
do not
all

at present care to

Sotterranea.
examine

it.

as an additional instance of the

ancient documents whose guidance

We

have seen how,

We

it

at

trustworthiness of the

we have been

in six several instances,

the actual condition of a

only mention

Catacomb most

following.

an examination of
singularly confirms

what the language of these old authorities taught

us.

There

yet remain two or three others which are attributed by the

same

writers

to the apostolic, or immediately post-apostolic

times, but as these

have not yet been

identified, there is

no

occasion to enumerate them.

Fig.

12.

Tombstone frotn the very ancient Crypt of St Lucina, now united with the

Catacomb of St Callixtus.

CHAPTER

11.

HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE

THIRD CENTURY TO

CONSTANTINE'S

EDICT OF PEACE,

A.D. 312.

/"E have

now brought

to the period when,

come under

the

express

down

our history of the Catacombs

we

as

of the

notice

they

said before,

Roman

first

Public Chris^^.^[Q^^

The

law.

popular violence against the Christian burial-grounds in Africa,

at the

beginning of the third century,* reveals the fact of the

common

Christians there possessing a

burial-place

and

it

is

;;

Rome
some common

impossible to suppose that so great a Church as that of

should not also by this time have possessed

The memoria

cemetery.

be the

common

burial-place of his successors

Caius, a priest of this

Proclus, says, "
if

you go

the

of St Peter must have been

same

and, in fact,

can show the trophies of the Apostles.

of those

Church." t

It is a

Tertullian's

mention

to

period, disputing with a heretic,

Via Ostiensis, you

to the Vatican, or to the

trophies

known

who have

laid

For

will find

the foundation of this

remarkable coincidence that the date of

of

the

popular

outbreak against the

African Christian cemeteries, a.d. 202, should synchronise so

exactly with the death of St Victor, the last

buried in the public jfiemoria on the Vatican.

we

Pope who was

Victor's sue- Cemetery of

by the author of the ^ ^ 200

"
Philosophumena,
intrusted Callixtus with the government of
cesser, Zephyrinus, as

the clergy,

and

set

are informed

him over

naturally excite our curiosity,

*

See page

54.

+ Euseb.

the cemetery T %

These words

and require comment.

Hist. Eccl.

ii.

25.

+ Philosoph.

What
ix. 11.

^"^'

Roma

4
was

on

teries

sides

all

Rome

Rome ?

cemetery of

the

Sotterra7ica.

of

St Priscilla

had already many ceme-

on the Via

Salaria, of St

Lucina on the Via Ostiensis, of St Prsetextatus on the Via

Appia, of St Domitilla on the Via Ardeatina, and several

What was

others.

was there so

them

the distinction between

special

and singular about any

and what

that

should

it

have been put under the charge of one of the highest ecclePope, the same as was. entrusted

siastical authorities after the

also with " the

difficulty in solving these questions,

was
in

if

We

" ?

government of the clergy

we

to

call

have no

shall

mind what

said in a former chapter* about the burial-confraternities

Rome, and

the solemn renewal, or at least renewed publi-

cation of their rights and privileges, precisely at this time, by

Let us

Septimius Severus.

by

set side

side with this fact the

words of Tertullian, also written about the same time,

he describes the Christian society as

and

as he wished to

bours and

approved

who have

be any kind of treasury

attained that honour, not by pur-

{arcce)

others.

among

us,

religion

and if he

likes,

tions are, as

it

sum once a month,

and has the means.

were, pious deposits

us,

or
.

And

made

their

were bought and sold among

contributes a small

it is

by these presidents or others on

fees paid
if

might have appeared,

it

appear, to their heathen neigh-

good testimony of

chase, but by the

as

it

which

" There preside over us," he says, " certain

rulers.

elders,

make

in

if

there

up, not of

appointment,!

but each person

whenever he

likes,

All these contribu-

for they are spent, not

on

feasting, but

on feeding the hungry, on burying the poor, on

orphans, old

men

persons,

and

if

confined to their houses, and shipwrecked

any are condemned

in prison,

provided only that

these also

become the

* See

it

to the mines, or exiled, or

be on account of God's

sect,

foster-children of their confession,"

i.e.,

page 49.

\ This has

now been

clearly ascertained

from ancient inscriptions found

and elsewhere, to be the true meaning of Tertullian's words, de

honoraria summa, which have been the cause of so much perplexity to
earlier commentators. 75////^//., 1866, 11.

in Africa

;;

The Catacoinbs

the

i7i

Third Century.

85

provided they suffer these punishments for the profession of

from

It is clear

elsewhere, that

would have been easy

it

make

and even

been said

that has

Roman

for the

Chris-

collections for other charitable purposes,

meet together

to

all

under cover of a mere burial-con-

tians of the third century,

fraternity, to

and from

this passage,

by the Church.

Christianity, they are supported

worship

for purposes of religious

and we can hardly doubt

Moreover, we

that they did so.

know, from the history of St Laurence and many other sources,

and

that the care of the poor

one of the deacons.

special province of
office of

distribution of alms

was the

Indeed, the very

deacon had been originally instituted

for this purpose.

But not the poor only, the clergy also received what was
necessary for their sustenance out of this

common

By and

by, in obedience

to

life

linked together, that he

who

provides for the one

gain a powerful influence over the other, the

to say, he

first

became,

clergy,

not a

priest,

to

but the

promote

resented, because

first

this
it

Rome,

seemed

These considerations
justly

the

deacon grew

some

sense,

his authority

Hence

it

came

on the death of the Pope,

to the priesthood

to shut the

was sometimes

door against his attain-

in the hierarchy.
will

enable us

to

appreciate

more

import of the words we have quoted from the

author of the Fhilosophufnena,

viz.,

that St Zephyrinus " in-

trusted Callixtus with the

government of the

him over the cemetery."

The

was entering

upon a new phase of

it

sure to

is

deacon, succeeded to the vacant see

deacon

ment of the highest rank

that

in

and

inferior to none, save only the bishops.

to be almost a law in

and

is

and judge of the other

the guardian

was

that

whereby the

that law

of any society are so intimately

moral and the material

into an archdeacon

and

numbers and

the deacon kept the register (jnatricula) of their

offices.

chest,

at this time

Christian

clergy,

community
its

and

in

set

Rome

existence

availed itself of the protection which the laws afforded to

*

xVpol.,

c.

39.

Roma

86

Sotterranea.

certain corporate bodies, and, as those laws required,* one of

its

members was appointed

name

the

common

The cemetery,

business should be transacted.

body

and

it

was one common

^^^'

why henceforward
the Vatican

"

called,

is

even to the

This also explains to us

and no longer

at

out of the eighteen, from Zephyrinus to Sylvester,

been

same Liber

striking confirmation of

De

common

according

laid in this cemetery,

to the testimony of the

first

made, where many

the Popes were buried here,

thirteen having certainly

the

therefore, en-

to the Christians as a

and martyrs repose, and which

present day, the coe^neteriimi CallixUr

Popes buried

its

was " the cemetery on the Via Appia," which the

Liber Pontificalis states that Callixtus

priests

whom

property should be held, and by

trusted to Callixtus

whose

as the agent, or syndic, in

Pontificalis.

And

is

it

Rossi's conjecture that this

was

cemetery given to the Pope by some noble

family for the whole Christian community, when we find that

Other cemecom" divided the regions among the Deacons,
g p^bian, A.D. 2^58,
o
&
&

teries for

mon

use or the

Church.

.... and

>

ordered numerous buildings {fabricas) to be con-

structed in the cemeteries y\

It

seems

imply that other

to

wealthy Christians soon followed the example of those

had given the cemetery of CalHxtus

were probably

fabricce

little

to the

oratories

Church

who

and these

constructed above the

cemeteries, either for purposes of worship, or the celebration

of the agajx^, or of mere guardianship of the tombs, according

to the

common

Romans, of which we have

practice of the

probably seen an instance in the more ancitnt fabriccB attaclied

to the
*

''

Catacomb of

Quibus permissum

'alteriiis

eoriun no?nine,

communem,

et

actorem

est corpus

proprium
sive

fierique oporteat, agatur, fiat."

habere
est

collegii,

the

societatis sive cujjisque

habere res communes, arcam

syndicum, per quem, quod communiter agi

Digest, iii. 4, I, i. Compare with this the

words of the

letter of Licinius

Persec,

and Euseb.,

48,

The long peace from

St Domitilla. X

and Constantine, [apiid Lactant.,

Hist. Eccl.,

x. 5)

De

Mort.

" Quoniam Christiani non ea

loca tantum, ad quae convenire consueverunt, sed alia etiam habuisse noscuntur,

ad jtis corporis

pertinentia,'' &c.
*'

Tov

r?7S

eoritm, id

est,

Ecclcsiaruni,

non

honiiniini

siugn/orum
Samosata,

x'Mso the words, used in the case of Paul of

eKK\7]aLas oikov." Euscb.

t Lib. Pont., Fabianus.

flist.

Eccl.

vii.

30.

% ^ec

fig. 8,

at

page

71.

The Catacombs in

Third Century.

the

87

reign of Caracalla to that of Decius might well have encour-

aged the Christians to erect such buildings, and allowed them

make

to

frequent use of them, notwithstanding occasional dis-

turbances from popular violence,

persecution

short

the

of

Maximin, and other similar interruptions.

-_.,.,
Deems

In January a.d. 250,

tion of

but

St.

Fabian

a.d. 250.

.,... Persecution
not appear either from the edicts

does

it

a victim to the persecu-

fell

of

Decius.

of that Emperor, from ecclesiastical history, or from the Acts

made any

of the Martyrs, that Decius

the

Not

cemeteries.

however,

so,

special decree against

in

come down

has not

of

11,

Although the edict

Valerian, which broke out in a.d. 257.

^^
itseli

persecution

the

to us, yet, irom words

Edict ofValer-

spoken by

Emilianus, Prefect of Alexandria,* and by Aspasius Paternus,

Pro-consul of Africa,
blies,
fact.

(St

and

Pope

visits

all

we

learn that

it

forbade the sacred assem-

In

to the sepulchres in the cemeteries.

Sixtus II. was, with his deacons

and sacred

ministers,

Laurence was the chief of them, and we have seen the

tombs of two

others, t)

hunted out, surprised, and beheaded

in

the cemetery of Praetextatus,J " because he had set at nought

the

commands

of Valerian."

In A.D. 260, Gallienus revoked the edicts of persecution,

and sent throughout the empire a

rescript

by

virtue of

which

the possessors of loca religiosa belonging to the Christians

make

confiscated by Valerian, were to

of each church.

By

loca religiosa

churches or places of assembly

and

restitution to the bishops

seem

to

have been meant

all

for besides this general order,

he directed rescripts to particular bishops by which they might

recover the free use of " what they call their cemeteries.

And

'''''W

both the one and the other enter into the account which has
reached us of the acts of Dionysius, the successor of Sixtus
*
to

"Neither you nor any others

hold assemblies or to enter

toJiat

shall in

you

call

anywise be permitted

your

cemeteries."

pressions prove the exclusively Christian origin of the

+ See

jiagc 80.

Lib. Pont.

either

(These ex-

vii. c.

II.

% St Cypr. Ep. 82.

II

II.,

word "cemetery.")

Letter of St Dionysius of Alexandria in Euseh. Hist. Eccl.

Euscl). Hist. Eccl.,

vii.

c.

13.

a.d. 257.
ian forbidding
^^'^^}-^

ceme-

Roma

88
of

whom

is

it

that " he divided the churches

recorded,''

among

cemeteries

Sotterranea.
and

and constituted parishes and

the priests,

dioceses."

Hence came
concealment.

only too evident to the Christians that

was, however,

It

necessity of

henceforward they could not reckon upon the inviolability of

their graves

and

from

is

it

this

we must

period that

date

those studious efforts to conceal the entrance to the cemeteries

which are
arenarice,

visible

and

TertuUian

even

now

in the staircases leading

Even

in other ways.

testifies

much

at a

earlier period,

to the occasional interruption of Christian

worship by a sudden invasion of the heathen.

Christians
attacked in
cemeteries.

from the

besieged," he says, "

"

We

are daily

and betrayed and caught unawares

our

in

very assemblies and congregations ;"+ and again, in another

place,

still

addressing the heathen, J he says,

days of our meetings

often detained in our

"You know

the

hence we are besieged, entrapped, and

most secret congregations."

But

it

is

specially to the latter half of the

third

century that those

accounts belong which have come

down

to us of Christians

being pursued and overtaken and sometimes martyred in the

Martyrdom

in

cemetery, a.d.

areiiaricE.

Thus, in an account preserved by St Gregory of

'p^^j-g^ ^^^

^.XQ

told that,

under Numerianus, the martyrs Chry-

santhus and Daria were put to death in an arenaria, and that

a great

number

of the faithful having been seen entering the

subterranean crypt on the Via Salaria to

visit their

tombs, the

heathen Emperor ordered the entrance to be hastily built up,

and a vast mound of sand and stones to be heaped

so that they might be

it,

whom
the

they had

come

all

in front

of

buried alive, even as the martyrs

to venerate.

St Gregory adds, that

tombs of these martyrs were re-discovered,

when

after the ages of

persecution had ceased, there were found with them, not onlv
the relics of those worshippers
to death, skeletons of
floor,

taken

who had been

thus cruelly put

men, women, and children lying on the

but also the silver cruets {urcei argentei) which they had

down

with them for the celebration of the sacred mys-

* Lib. Pont., Dionysius.

+ Apol.,

vii.

Ad

Natione.>,

i.

7.

The Catacombs
Damasas was

St

teries.""

Third Century.

in the

89

unwilling to destroy so touching a

He

memorial of past ages.

abstained from making any of

changes by which he usually decorated the martyrs'

those

tombs, but contented himself with setting up one of his

window

valuable historical inscriptions, and opening a

adjacent wall or rock, that

this

monument

so unique in

time, in the sixth century

kind this
still

in the

without disturbing,
Christian Pompeii

be seen

in St Gregory's

and De Rossi holds out hopes

some fragments of the

window

see,

them may be restored even

traces of

tion,!

to our

own

that

genera-

inscription perhaps, or even the

through which our ancestors once saw so moving

itself

a spectacle, assisting, as

were, at a mass celebrated in the

it

Instances like these explain the

third century.

proach of the Pagans at

"a

its

These things might

in miniature.

some

might

all

in-

this time,

same

many

may be

of them

re-

that the Christians were

skulking, darkness-loving race;" J

ditions of the

common

and the numerous

Catacombs
ifingJ^^^'^^

tra-

even though the authenticity of

period,

doubtful, of Christians

and even Popes

taking refuge in the crypts, testify the importance attached by

the faithful to their cemeteries,

now regarded by

they were

The

edicts of Aurelian, a

Church which he had

and the jealousy with which

their enemies.
little

before his death, against the From Aurel-

legally recognised,

even to the length

of ordering the buildings occupied by Paul of Samosata at

Antioch "

be given up into the hands of those

to

in

communion

with Christian bishops of Italy and Rome,"|| show

how

pre-

carious a security for the cemeteries was even that legal re-

cognition

still

commencement

we

find the Christians taking courage, at the

of the reign of Diocletian, to pull

* St Greg., Turon.,

De

Gloria Mart.,

i,

c.

down

the

28.

t " Cette esperance est fondee j'oserais presque dire, elle sera remplie,"
are De Rossi's words in " Rome dans sa Grandeur," part 2me, p. 6, Charpen tier, Nantes.
X " Latebrosa et lucifugax natio." Minuc. Felix.
;

fngiens persecutionem Diocletiani in cryptis habitando,

% " Caius
martyrio coronatur." Lib. Pout.
.

II

I'^useb. Hist,

EccL,

vii.

c.

30.

^"
^^\^^.^^

Ro7na Sotterranea.

90

new

old churches and to build

and we

ones,

shall presently

same tmie constructing a

see the deacon Severus about the

large double sepulchral chamber, with

open

its

light-hole, in the

cemetery of St Callixtus.

The storm

Cemeteries
confiscated,

A.D. 303.

upon

of the tenth persecution, under Diocletian, burst

Church with

the

frightful

The

violence in a.d. 303.

churches erected during the peace were burned and demolished,

the farms or gardens under which the cemeteries lay were confiscated

and though the

them buried
reposed

in the fact that

his successor Marcellus,

were neither of

Papal crypt of St Callixtus, but the former

" a ciibicidum which he himself

in

cemetery of
a matron

in the

them

Priscilla

named

And

Salaria."

have

is left

perished, yet a significant trace of

Pope Marcellinus, and

Rome

acts of confiscation in

"

and the

latter

''

had prepared

in the

requested leave from

and made a ccemeterium on the Via

Priscilla,

a vast region

of the deepest

cemetery, of a lineal regularity hitherto unique in

of that

level

Roma

Sotter-

ranea, bears witness to the efforts of the Pope, while persecution

in

was raging,

some other place than

forfeited to the

Restored to
Church, A.D.

to provide for the necessities of the faithful

that which

had been discovered and-

Government, on the Via Appia.

At the close of

Maxentius put a stop

a.d. 306,

secution, but the property of the

to the

per-

Church was not restored

until

St Augustine tells
Testimony of ^^^^ Pontificate of Melchiades, a.d. 311.
Augustme.
St
^g ^\^^^ ^\^q Donatists " recited the Acts in which it was read

how Melchiades

Emperor

sent deacons with the letters of the

Maxentius and the

letters

the Praefect of the

city, that

of the Praefect of the praetorium to

they might receive the property

which the aforesaid Emperor had commanded to be restored

been taken from them

to the Christians, as having

...

persecution.
Strato,

whom

said

Melchiades had sent with the

/oca eccksiastica,

and

The Donatists

the

was declared
Donatists

account of Cassian, because

in the

also
tliis

that

calumniated
is

the deacon

rest to receive the

above acts

name

in time of

to

be a

t^-aditor

Melchiades on

found also

among

the

The Catacombs
whom

deacons

Melchiades sent

Pontiff having

this

whom

body of

Cassian, buried there the

died in exile in

largest crypts in the

tion

&.*

to the Prsefect,"

91
In

were named Strato and

his predecessor Eusebius,

and placed him

Sicily,

one of the

in

But even while the persecu-

Catacomb.

was raging, Marcellus had provided, as best he could,

the re-organisation of the parishes and their cemeteries

that " he constituted the twenty-five

we readt

Rome

of

fact,

recovered the cemetery of St CalHxtus

through his deacons, two of

who had

Third Century,

hi the

titiili

for
for

in the city

as parishes {dioeceses) for the reception by baptism

and penance of the multitudes who were converted from

among

and

Pagans,

the

the burial-places

for

mar-

of the

tyrs."
Titles were, of course,

Marcellus, though their

to

the increase in the

recorded in the Liber

St Peter, divided
priests,

of

much

older date than the time of

number might have varied according

number

of the faithful.

the

titles

by the same authority to have

later, is said

Rome among

now Marcellus

more probably

which

constitutes (or

the

is

number most

frequently

most ancient notices on the subject.^

contemplated

in this

istration of the
this is

the

St Fabian, nearly a

divided the fourteen regions of

five,

from

Rome among

the city of

in

is

it

Pontificalis, that Evaristus, the sixth

and appointed seven deacons.

century and a half

Thus,

7: //^j, or parish
^ ^"'^*^"^^'

The

the deacons

and

restores) twenty

met with

in all the

objects which are

arrangement are stated to be the admin-

sacraments and the burial of the dead

not the only occasion on which

we

and

learn from authentic

records that the care of the cemeteries entered into the details
of ecclesiastical management.
r

from the time

roT-i01 bt l^abian,

It

seems probable

i,-7-ieach
withm
/^//<?

that, at least ^^^ each its

<J^vn cemetery,
the city had its
1

corresponding cemetery or cemeteries, outside the walls, and

the

priest

cemetery
*

or

also.

priests

of the

title

had jurisdiction over the

In the time of St Damasus, each church had

St Aui;. Brev. Coll.

cum

Donat.,

X Blauehiiiii, Anast. Vit. font.,

ii.

iii.

,^7.

34-36.

Lil).

Punt.

Roma

92
two

and even

priests,*

the other.

If

same church, one

we might suppose

number of

the

some of them were

number of Roman
two

for

the

cella

each

title,

which he

priests,

one of

whom

other ministered in the

to understand, after

two

the

more,

for the

at forty-six,J

might well have ministered

or oratory (in later times basilica

tery, whilst the

(or, if

down

sets

in

titles

would account

vacant,) this

find

as a subordinate to

time of St Cornehus to have been twenty-three,

that

we

the days of St Cyprian t

in

priests attached to the

Sotterranea,

above the ceme-

It is

city.

how

not

difficult

Roman

what has been said upon the

respecting burials and burial-confraternities,

at

this

law

system of

administration might, under ordinary circumstances, have been

carried

on without any interference from the Government, even

during the ages of persecution.

inscription

on a grave-stone,

may be quoted
that

is

among

And

in the

in illustration

perhaps the following

cemetery of St Domitilla,

and confirmation of the theory

here suggested, jussu being the

official

expression in use

the heathen magistrates of that time for a

command

or

permission given by one having jurisdiction, and Archelaus

and Dulcitus being the two

priests of the

title

to

which that

cemetery belonged.

ALEXIVS ET CAPRIOLA FECERVNT SE VIVI

IVSSV ARCHELAI ET DVLCITI PRESBB

Moreover,
* "

if

we suppose,

Nunc autem septem

bini sint per Ecclesias."

as

we very reasonably may,

that the

diaconos esse oportet et aliquantos presbyteros,

Ambros.

[Hilar.], in

Tim.

iit

iii.

f Ep. xviii., " Felix qui presbyterium subministrabat sub Decimo."

X " There were forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven sub- deacons, fortytwo acolytes, exorcists, lectors, and ostiarii, in all fifty-two widows, with
the afflicted and needy, more than 1500, all of which the goodness and love
of God doth nourish." Cornelius to Fabius of Antioch, rt/iVo' Euseb., H.
qtiadraginta et quod excurrit basilicas,'''' menSee also the
E., vi. 43.
tioned by Optatus, c. Don. ii. 4.
This name seems to have been in occasional use from the days of
;

^''

Diocletian.

A".

S.

i.

205.

The Catacombs in

Third Centiuy.

the

Popes who succeeded Zephyrinos continued

93
the

retain

to

cemetery of St CalHxtus under their own immediate jurisdic- Cemetery

tion,

administered by their chief deacon (or archdeacon, as he

was afterwards

we have another

called),
'^

same

illustration of the

j^mtjer
'^/'"^ct

of

the
care of

the rope.

system in the following inscription, belonging to the time of

Marcellinus, which records that Severus, his deacon, made, by
the permission of his Pope, {jiissu papcE sui,) a double

chamber,

with arched tombs and light-hole, for himself and his relations

CVBICVLVM DVPLEX CVM ARCISOLIIS ET LVMINARE

IVSSV PP SVI MARCELLINI DIACONVS ISTE
SEVERVS FECIT MANSIONEM IN PACE QVIETAM
SIBI SVISQVE.

It

would be easy

belonging to the

cemetery was

only when

to show,

and

fifth

from a multitude of testimonies

sixth centuries, that each

But about

we seek

this there

can be no dispute.

to penetrate the thick darkness

envelopes the history of the earlier ages, that

find clear

and abundant proofs

an archseologist

own

it

we

and the precise province of

to supply these deficiencies, not out of his

careful examination of every fragment that remains.

set before a skilful professor of

struct the
it

whole form of the animal

comparative anatomy a

to

will recon-

which they belonged

often happens that these theoretical constructions are

singularly justified

archaeologist

is

by

much

later

The work

discoveries.

of the same kind.

An

faithfully transmitted

by

his predecessors.

from various sources

to gather his materials

of an

historian only

rearranges, transcribes, or interprets annals already

and

which

difficult to

is

few bones dug out of the bowels of the earth, he

and

It

imagination, but by acute and cautious induction, based

on a most
If

is

suburban

composed

He may

have

must be able

to

distinguish the true from the false,

and give form, consistency,

and

most part

little

life

to the

whole

to supply that

ologist,

Reflections on
^|,g

history of

time dependent on some particular parish theCatacombs.

at that

within the walls.

is

is

but, for the

new from

on the contrary,

if

his

own

at least,

he has

An

archae-

resources.

he be really a

man

of learnins: and

Roma

94
science,

and not a mere

Setterranea.

collector of old curiosities, aims at

discovering and restoring annals that are

and

careful

by means of a

lost,

intelligent use of every fragment, often of hetero-

geneous materials, that the most unwearied diligence has been

able to bring together.

This remark seems not uncalled

in

which we have professed

for, at

the end of a chapter

to set before our readers a con-

Rome

tinuous history of the subterranean cemeteries of

the ages of persecution,

and even

now

that even

system of their

Such a history has never been

ecclesiastical administration.

written before,

to unfold the

during

and some readers may be disposed

the materials for

De

are too scanty.

it

to think

Rossi

frankly acknowledges that each fact that he has been able to

collect, if

taken alone, throws but a faint and uncertain light

upon the obscurity of the subject

but he justly argues that

harmony which he has been able

the wonderful

between

facts

to establish

and documents, so unlike one another, and

separated so far asunder, both in point of time and place, are

The

a very strong presumption of truth.

" Lives of the Popes,"

compiled in the seventh or eighth century

vie?ia,

the Philosophu-

written in a spirit of bitter personal hatred against a

Pope

of the third century, and only brought to light in the nineteenth

sepulchral inscriptions also, of the third century, in like

manner unknown before our own time

and learned commentators of
each of these has been
quota to

this

ous work

ecclesiastical historians

different times

made by De Rossi

chapter of history as

and even

it

and countries

to contribute

stands in his

in this imperfect

readers will have been struck with the

not rather to say so

posed.

full

and

life-like

own volumin-

abridgment of

number and

fragments out of which so complete a skeleton,

its

if

it,

the

variety of

we ought

a body, has been com-

CHAPTER

III.

FROM THE EDICT OF MILAN, A.D. 3 1 2, TO THE SACK OF ROME

BY THE GOTHS, A.D. 4IO.

ITH

the conversion of Constantine

Milan a new era opens

combs.

Melchiades, the

was the

last

first

and the Edict of

history of the Cata-

in the

Pope who

Eateran,

sat in the

Gradual disuse
^^^^

cemeteries

^f^t^^P^'^'^f'^^'^'^'^

given to the

St CaUixtus

successor,

who was buried

/;/

had

coemeterio

in the

subterranean cemetery of Church.

Callixti in crypta.

Sylvester,

having always pre-

in a basilica, which,

served his name, had probably been built by him.

Pontiff,

Mark, was

in like

manner buried

The

terium consiitint ; that

cella

is

to say,

next

in coemeterio Balbinoe,

explained by the Liber Pontificalis to be a basilica qtiam

or

how-

his sepulchre in coemeterio Priscill(z, not,

ever, in crypta, but

his

he probably

coenie-

built a small basilica

memorice, near the entrance of a subterranean cemetery

now

already existing, to which he

assigned

its

own

priest

and

guardian, as the other principal cemeteries had already had.

Other instances might be given to show that the cemeteries

in

which succeeding Pontiffs are said to have been buried were

above ground

really basilicas

and though subterranean

continued to be practised, yet the example

was not long

in

set

by the

burial

Pontiffs

being followed, and graves within and around

the basilicas gradually superseded the loculi of the Catacombs.

The

inscriptions with consular dates probably furnish us with

a sufficiently accurate guide to the relative proportions of the

two modes of

burial.

From

a.d.

338

to a.d.

360 two out of

three burials appear to have taken place in the subterranean

portion of the cemeteries, while from a.d. 364 to a.d. 369 the

proportions are equal.

During the next two years hardly any

Roma

96

Sotterranea.

notices of burials above ground appear, but after that the sub-

terranean crypts

rapidly into disuse.

fall

This marked and

sudden change demands an explanation, and history

supplies

The

Basilicas

it.

first

care of the Christians,

tombrof^mar- ^^^^ secured to the Church

was

^y'"^>

to

once

at

honour those

when peace and

liberty

had

by the conversion of Constantine,

illustrious

martyrs whose bodies lay con-

cealed in the recesses of the various Catacombs.

Basilicas

more

or less sumptuous began to be erected over their sepulchres,

and as the
places,

it

faithful

shrank from disturbing their original resting-

became the ordinary custom

of the ground on the side of the

to cut

hill in

been excavated, and thus gain access

caused

much

damage

to

Catacombs.

The Vatican

hill

Paul's

outside

visible

in

the

behind St

the

the

walls,'

away

cut

hill

Agro Verano, are witnesses

in St

Agnese fuori

a great depth

second
steps

day.

Catacombs

j^^

one

St

hill

to that church

Damasus

still

of San Lorenzo in

Sometimes, as
to

go down

and hence the long

sacrificing

had

opposite to St

and chambers

site

at

to

in the

flight

of

present

the

of hundreds of graves

illustrious sepulchre

many; and

galleries

had perhaps been buried

Catacomb

Such a wholesale

the

was necessary

it

surface

to the martyr's tomb,

to this practice.

by which we descend

Devotionof St pl^^sing to
to

7nura,

which the

eralleries

for the

for the martyrs

floor of the

for the sake of

Damasus

le

Peter's,

away the

must have been

dis-

in particular, ardently as

laboured in the search for the bodies and the furthering:

^ of

the devotion to the remains of the martyrs, yet found

means

to

encourage that devotion without destroying the character of

When

the subterranean cemeteries.

tak6n from the Christians, and

Diocletian, there

is

made

the cemeteries had been

over to other hands by

evidence to show that the Church pro-

vided for the inviolability of the tombs of her more venerated

heroes by blocking up the galleries which led to them

was a labour of love

in after-years to re-discover* these

* "Quaeritur, inventus colitur"

tions.

is

the language of St

Damasus'

and

it

tombs,
inscrip-

The Catacombs

in the

Fourth Century.

the precise situation of which was only

St

Damasus then removed

as to

make them more

constructed

the earth,

known by

tradition.

widened the passages so

serviceable for the

crowd of

more

of stairs leading to the

flights

97

pilgrims,

and adorned the chambers with marbles, opening

shafts to

admit

the friable

iiifa

and

light

and

walls

wherever

galleries,

which he composed

by a very able

was necessary,

Almost

all

the cata-

fragments

of the

slabs, in

to

a peculiarly beautiful charac-

Furius Dionysius Filocalus.

artist,

is

inscriptions

honour of the martyrs, and caused

in

be engraved on marble
ter,

light

it

and modern discovery

traces of his labours,

bringing to

continually

tions.

where practicable, and supporting

with arches of brick and stone work.

combs bear

labours

illustrious

shrines,

air

liis

It is

Damasus

a singular fact that no original inscription of Pope

has ever yet been found executed by any other hand, nor

have any inscriptions been found, excepting those of Damasus,

in precisely the

known

to

same form of

letters.

Hence

the type

is

well

Damasine

students of Christian epigraphy as the

characters.*

Now,

the sudden return to the subterranean

mode

of burial Catacombs as

in the years a.d. 370, 371, exactly corresponds with the time

of the labours of St Damasus, and

that the faithful

away with a
Some, as the

who

visited the

it is

tombs of the martyrs, came

own bones

desire

to

lay

priest

St

Barbazianus, even

underground, and led the

neighbourhood, and

all

their

lives of

on such a

visit

beside

made

theirs.

little

cells

hermits in their immediate

were assiduous

in visiting them.

Jerome gives a vivid description of a devout

feelings

Roman

St st Jerome,

youth's

but his words seem more immediately

applicable to the ordinary condition of the

common

galleries,

than to any that had been specially decorated by the Pope.

"

When

used every Sunday,

age and
*

was a boy," he
in

Specimens may be seen

writes, "

being educated at Rome,

company with other boys

tastes, to visit the

of

my own

tombs of the apostles and martyrs,

in Plates

I.

p.j.i,-,^^,^p

obvious to conjecture,

and

III. at the

end of the vokune.

"

^54-

Roma

gS
and

to

Solterranea.

go into the crypts excavated there

The

earth.

walls on either side as

you enter are

bodies of the dead, and the whole place

seems almost
phet,

'

to see the fulfilment of those

words of the pro'

admitted from above,

the words

mind

'
:

The

darkness

of the poet

very silence

fills

Here and

there

momentary

suffices to give a

immersed

find yourself again

night,

of the

so dark, that one

relief to the horror of the

and

full

is

Let them go down alive into Hades.'

little light,

bowels of the

in the

but as you go forwards,

in

the utter blackness of

come spontaneously

the soul with dread.' "

...

to

your

On

'"

the

Prudentius on contrary, the words of the poet Prudentius, written about the
cemetery of
.
.
,
StHippolytus. same tune, clearly commemorate the results oi some such
,

we have been

labours as

He

have been.

writing of the

is

his description runs thus

"

Not

far

from the

orchards, there
its

lies

tomb of

and

St Hippolytus,

city

walls,

among

well-trimmed

the

steep path with winding

one, even though the turnings shut out the

comes

to

a crypt buried in darksome

secret recesses a

of day, indeed,

Damasus

describing those of St

in

Into

pits.

stairs

light.

through the doorway,

directs

The
as

light

far

as

the surface of the opening, and illuminates the threshold of

portico

the

and when, as you advance

ness as of night seems to get

further,

the dark-

more and more obscure through-

out the mazes of the cavern, there occur at intervals apertures

cut

in the

roof which convey the bright rays of the

sun upon the cave.

dom

this

some

galleries,

way and

way through

that,

form narrow chambers with dark-

the pierced vaulting

And

down

To

into the hollow bowels

and enjoy the

such secret places

polytus conveyed, near to the spot where

dedicated to God.

its

thus throughout the subterranean crypt

possible to perceive the brightness

the absent sun.

at ran-

yet a considerable quantity of light finds

of the mountain.
it is

Although the recesses^ twisting

That same

is

now

altar-slab

* St riieron. in Ezech.

the

c. Ix.

light of

body of Hip-

stands the altar

(niensa)

gives the

The Catacoinbs
sacrament, and

which

the

Fourth

Centiiry.

the faithful guardian of

its

99

martyr's bones,

keeps laid up there in expectation of the eternal

it

Judge, while

Wondrous
those

is

who

is

feeds the dwellers of the Tiber with holy food.

it

the sanctity of the place

and

pray,

assists the

it

granting what they need.

the altar

when

I,

at

men by

hopes of

Here have

is

hand

for

mercifully

sick with

ills

both of soul and body, oftentimes prostrated myself in prayer

and found
joy
I

Yes,

relief

glorious priest

I will tell

with what

return to enjoy the privilege of embracing thee,

know

owe

that I

all this

to Hippolytus, to

whom

and that

Christ, our

God, has granted power to obtain whatever any one asks of him.
That

little

chapel {cedicidd) which contains the cast-off garments

of his soul [his relics]

is

bright with solid silver.

Wealthy

hands have put up tablets glistening with a smooth surface

concave mirror

[of silver], bright as a

and, not content with

Shrine richly
'

jevoutlv
visited.

overlaying the entrance with Parian marble, they have lavished

sums of money on the ornamentation of the work."

large

He

goes on to describe the pilgrimages to the shrine, and with

somewhat of poetic

come

they

to salute

worship there

Love of

licence continues

they

[the saint]

come and go

all

the youth of the place

until the setting of the sun.

religion collects together into

Latins and foreigners

silver

" Early in the morning

one dense crowd both

they imprint their kisses on the shining

they pour out their sweet balsams

they bedew their

His description of the scene on

faces with tears."

\\\^festa of

the martyr, his dies natalis, reminds one forcibly of the

which the modern Romans stream out

San Paolo

when a

fuo7'i le

to

way

in

San Lorenzo, or to

umra, or to any other of the old churches,

festival or a station

is

held there.

"

The

imperial city Scene on the

.festa of the

vomits forth her stream of Romans, and the plebeian crowd,

animated by one and the same

desire, jostle

their patrician neighbours, faith hurrying

shrine.
in a

them forward

to the

Albano's gates, too, send forth their white-robed host

long-drawn

sides

on equal terms

waxes loud

line.
:

The' noise on the various roads on

all

the native of the Abruzzi and the Etruscan

saint.

Roma

loo

Sotterranea.

peasant come, the fierce

Capua and of Nola,

suffice to
is

there

on

to hasten

delights

is

Samnite, the countryman of lofty

;

each with his wife and children

The broad

road.

his

fields

scarcely

contain the joyful people, and even where the space

wide, the crowd

so great as to cause delay.

is

then, that that cavern, wide though

too narrow for such crowds

its

mouth be

but hard by

is

No

doubt,

stretched,

is

another church

{iemplwn)^ enriched, with royal magnificence, which this great

gathering

Damage done
to

Catacombs

by

indiscreet

visit

* and then follows the description of a

"

supposed by many

basilica,

in

may

to

be the

basilica of

San Lorenzo

Agro Verano.
This devotion to the cemeteries, which, as we have seen,

caused them

to

be used again as burial-places so frequently

in the time of St

Damasus, was not always regulated by prud-

In the anxiety of Christians to be buried as near as

ence.

possible to the saints, they excavated loculi at the back of the

arcosolia,

which

not sparing even the most beautiful paintings with

their forefathers

had adorned them.

They destroyed

the

symmetry of the chapels with new monuments and sarcophagi,

and often endangered the
Examples.

creet excavations.

One

safety of the constructions

by

indis-

ancient inscription speaks of ^'a

new

crypt behind the saints," in which two ladies bought a bisomiim

for themselves during their lifetime

IN CRYPTA

CTVS

from two fossores.

NOBA RETRO SAN

SE VIVAS BALER

EMERVM

RA ET SABINA MERVM LOG

V BISOM AB APRONE ET A
BIATORE

Here

is

another inscription which

chase " from Quintus the

fossor,''

testifies to

of a single grave near St

Cornelius.

SEREPENTIV
S EMIT LOG
M A QUINTO
FOSSORE AD

SANTVM G
RNELIVM
* rrudcnt. rcristcj)!!. xi.

a similar pur-

11.

153,

cS:c.

The Catacombs

third

in the Foitrth Century.

loi

records the purchase of a grave for a father and

mother and one daughter,

"

above the arcosolium^'

tomb of St Hippolytus, of which we have heard

at the

so

very

much from

Prudentius {at Ippolytv svper arcosoliv).

fourth inscription of the year 381 (during the Pontificate

of Damasus)

tells

burial " within

many

multi ciipiimt
It

appears

et

"

of

thmg which
quod

{intra liniina sajictorum,

""'

rari accipiunt).

.,.,,.

the privilege

the thresholds of the saints, a

and few obtain

desire

who obtained

us of one

that, at this time, the

work of excavation was no They are under

-

the manacre-

longer continued at the public expense under the special care nient of the
of the parish priests, but that

it

was

left

^^
as a matter of private -^/^^^^'''^.' "^

bargain between the deceased's friends and the fossores.

vestige of contracts of this kind with fossoj^s has
earlier

than the

first

are very
their

been found

of the fourth century, and no record

last years

men

of the existence of this body of

than the

quarter of the

numerous during

fifth

has

century.

this short

come

to light later

But the monuments

period which testify to

having had in their own hands the disposal of new graves

in the

Catacombs.

priests that such

It is

no longer

j7tssu of the

Pope or of the

and such a tomb has been made, but the

names of both buyers and

sellers are

recorded on the tomb-

and even

stone, together with the witnesses to the contract,

the price that was paid

It

is

generally supposed

clerics, the
it

No

and the
that

sellers are

the fossors

lowest order in the hierarchy.

should be considered that there

this opinion, yet, at least,

it is

always fossors.

were themselves

But even though

not sufficient ground for

is

obvious, that, in the earlier ages,

they must have been on very intimate relations with the clergy,
and, no doubt, were supported by the Church, whose most

devoted and laborious servants they were.

therefore, to

not

difficult,

understand how, under the altered circumstances

of the times, the whole matter

entirely

It is

under

their

had been allowed

management.
*

Nevertheless,

Inscr. Christ,

i.

142.

to

fall

more

we must be

Roma

I02

Sotterranea.

allowed to regret that they should not have used a more whole-

some

severity in withstanding the pious but indiscreet desires

of the

faithful.

How common

attested, not only

more by

still

those desires were

by these and other

the fact that

or short treatise,

it

is

sufficiently

similar inscriptions, but

forms the subject of a long

by the great

letter,

St Augustine, written at the

request of his friend, St Paulinus of Nola, in which he explains

and

them.*

justifies

Nevertheless

we may

easily

imagine the

displeasure with which so ardent a lover of the cemeteries as

Damasus would regard a system which tended

St

to their

His own example spoke more eloquently than

destruction.

No

any words could do.

one had a greater right

and yet he was content

there than he,

to

be buried

to build himself a

tomb

above the cemetery of St Callixtus, and to write upon a tablet

in the papal crypt the reason for his not being buried within
it:

HIC FATEOR DAMASVS VOLVI MEA CONDERE MEMBRA,

SED TIMVI SANCTOS CINERES VEXARE PIORVM.
'*

Here

I,

Damasus, wished

to

bury

my

limbs, but I

was

afraid of dis-

turbing the holy ashes of the saints." f

The archdeacon
Lorenzo,

tells

Sabinus, in his epitaph lately found at San

the faithful plainly, that the only

a place near the saints

is

to imitate their lives

way

to obtain

NIL JVVAT IMMO GRAVAT TVMYLIS H^^RERE PIORVM

SANCTORVM MERITIS OPTIMA VITA PROPE EST.
CORPORE NON OPVS EST, ANIMA TENDAMVS AD ILLOS
QUiE BENE SALVA POTEST CORPORIS ESSE SALVS.
"It nothing helps, but rather hinders, [merely] to stick close to the
a good life is the best approach to the saints'
tombs of the saints
Not with the body, but with the soul, we must make our way to
merits.
them when that is well saved, it may prove the salvation of the body
;

also." X

Rapid disuse

Whether

of Catacombs
for burial.

from

in
,

consequence of any direct prohibition, or merely

^

difficulties

produced the
* See

result, the

Note D.

m
.

being put

in

the way, whatever cause

may have

evidence of the dated inscriptions makes

+ Rom.

Appendix.
X LhUltitino,

864, 33.

Sott.

i.

214.

The Catacomds in
it

clear,

the Fo2trth Cenhcjy,

103

that after the hri^i furore for subterranean interment

during the years 370 and 371 there was a rapid disuse of that

mode

of burial.

Between

a.d.

373 and 400, the subterranean

epitaphs are only one out of three.

the decrease

is

still

more

a smgle certam example

is

the world was extinguished

more

truly, in

a.d.

400

to 409,

be found.*

to

the

one

"

The

Roman

city the

In that

fatal year,

brightest light of

empire

lost its

all

head

whole world perished." t

Rome

was taken by Alaric; the citizens were reduced, many

by slaughter, some by captivity, all by loss of wealth,
and
there was neither time nor

means to adorn the sepulchres or

even to pay the customary honours to the departed.
* Inscr. Christ,

i.

t Hieron. Proleg.

Fig.

1^. Fresco

in one

Rome

rapid, until, after a.d. 410, scarcely ^^

to use the language of St Jerome,

and, to speak

From

117, &c.
in lib.

i.

Ezech.

v.

16, ed. Mi<^ne.

of the oldest Cttbicula o/the Crypts of St Lncma.

take

^^'''''''''

CHAPTER
FROM THE YEAR

A.D. 410.

SERIOUS

Catacombs
abandoned as
burial-places.

as

IV.

4IO UNTIL THEIR FINAL ABANDONMENT.

A.D.

was the ruin and damage done to the Eternal

City by the Goths in a.d. 410, yet neither then nor at

second sack of Rome,

their

457, do

in a.d.

we

find

any record

of their having destroyed either the cemeteries or the basiUcag

of the martyrs.

Still

as places of burial
scriptions

the use of the subterranean cemeteries

was never

after this

and notices which seem

resumed, and the

to refer to

them

closer examination, be found to relate to basilicas

teries

above ground.

after a.d.
liturgical

426

their

will,

in-

on

and ceme-

The fossors' occupation was gone, and

name ceases to be mentioned.
The

books of the

fifth

century refer constantly, in the

prayers for the dead and benediction of graves, to burials in

and around the

Still fre-

quented as

basilicas,

never to the subterranean cemeteries.

The Catacombs, however, though

they ceased to be used

for burial, yet

continued to be frequented as shrines and places

of pilgrimage.

Occasionally, in times of popular tumult, they

shrines.

seem
face

to

I.

have been used also as places of refuge.

was concealed

for a time in the

which he afterwards ornamented."""

the end of the
Pofitificaiis, to

A.D. 537.

the martyrs.

fifth

century,

Thus Boni-

Cemetery of St

Felicitas,

Pope Symmachus, towards

is said,

in

one copy of the Liber

have restored and beautified the cemeteries of

The

irruption of the

Goths under Vitiges,

in a.d.

Profaned by
Goths under

537, carried havoc even into the peaceful sanctuaries of the

Vitiges.

saints.f

As soon, however,

as the storm passed over.

Pope

* Lib. Pont.

f "

Ecclesire et corpora

Marlyrum exterminatasunta Gothis."

LUk Pout.

The Catacombs Rifled and Abandoned.

him

damage which, we

repaired the

Vigiliiis

to see,

are told, saddened

and replaced some of the broken epitaphs of St

Damasus by

some of which

copies, often very imperfect,

About

remain.*

105

this time,

when

necessity

still

had compelled the

citizens to relax the strictness of the ancient laws against bury-

on the

ing within the walls, cemeteries began to be formed

Esquiline and on the

becoming dangerous

The

Pontiffs,

cemeteries.

site

of the old Praetorian camp.

It

was

to venture far outside the walls.

however, continued their care for the ancient Repaired by

John

III.,

about a.d. 568, "restored the cemeteries

of the holy martyrs, and ordered that oblations, cruets, and

holy sacrifice] should be supplied from the

candles

[for the

Lateran

Palace throughout

the

This was after the desolation of

cemeteries every Sunday, "f

Rome by

Totila.

But the

re-

turn to the old custom of the priests of the city-title serving the

extra-mural cemetery every Sunday did not last long.

It is re-

corded in the seventh century, to the special praise of Sergius

that,

I.,

"during the time of his priesthood, he used diligently

to celebrate the solemnities of

As

teries." t

titular of St

mass through

different

ceme-

Susanna, he would, according to the

ancient practice, have been confined to the cemetery belonging

to that

Sixty years later, about a.d. 735, Gregory III.,

title.

a zealous restorer and builder of churches, " instituted a body

of priests to celebrate masses every week, and arranged that in
*

e.g.,

The

honour of Eusebius in the cemetery of San

A copy of some verses of Pope Vigilius, refermay be seen in the third cohimn of the collection

inscription in

Callisto, presently to

be seen,

ring to this practice,

in the gallery at the Lateran.

"

It

runs thus

Dum

peritura Geta posuissent castra sub urbem,

Moverunt Sanctis bella nefanda prius,
Totaque sacrilego verterunt corde sepulcra,

Martyribus quondam

rite sacrata piis.

Quos monstrante Deo Damasus

sibi

Papa probatos

Affixo monuit carnuiie jure coh.

Sed periit tituhis confrado marmore sandtcs.

Nee tamen his iterum posse latere fuit.
Diruta Vigilius nam posthaec Papa gemiscens,
Hostibus expulsis omne

Lib. Pont,

ii07iavit opus."

+ lb.

the care of
popes.
^^^
,

lere.

^^^*"

Roma

io6

the cemeteries situated

all

Sotterrajtea.

round Rome, the

the vigils on the days of their natalitia,

and the oblation

for

down from

the

the celebration of the masses, should be carried

palace by the oblationariiis^ through

name
A.D. 756.

tion of bodies

of saints from

who should

the priest

There
saints

ground

is

had been

cities,t

Rome,

removed from

whom

the Pontiff would

on the occasion."*

supposing that some few bodies of

for

in

oftlciate

we know

as

they were in other

their original resting-places to churches

Catacombs,

prepared for their reception, even as early as the

One

fifth

mentions the bodies of some

above ground,

whom we know

to

in the subterranean cemeteries.

reluctance,

and not

saints being in basilicas

have been originally buried

It

was, however, with great

until after the devastations

and

committed by the Lombards under Astolphus,

I.

Paul

century. %

of the itineraries, which describes the martyrs' shrines,

distinctly

by Paul

keeping

lights for

elected in the following year, resolved

I.,

on a large scale the

sacrileges

a.d. 756, that

upon

translating

order to save them

relics of the saints, in

from profanation.
In a constitution, dated June

2,

761, he complains that,

Rome by

whereas, even before the siege of

some of

Astolphus,

these subterranean cemeteries had been neglected and ruined,

yet by the impious

more complete
carried off

Lombards

this ruin

had now been made

they had broken open the graves and

for

some bodies of the

saints.

"

From

that time for-

ward," he says, " people have been very slothful and negligent
in paying

due honour to the cemeteries

allowed to have access to them

animals have been

even folds have been pur-

posely set up in them, so that they have been defiled with

all

* Lib. Pont.

e.g.,

Milan

X Rom.

Sott.

in the
i.

219.

time of St Ambrose.
In

tlie

" Sacramentary of St Leo,"

in the Preface

John and Paul, it is said, "Of Thy merciful providence Thou

hast vouchsafed to crown not only the circuit of the city with the glorious

for Saints

passions of the martyrs, but also to hide in the very heart of the city itself

the victorious limbs of Saints John and Paul." This looks as if these martyrs
were then the only saints whose bodies rested within the walls and they
;

had never been anywhere

else.

The Catacombs Rifled and Abandoned.

sorts of corruption.

Seeing, then,

careless indifference

to

107

and deeply lamentmg

such holy places,

this

have thought

it

good, with God's help, to remove the bodies of the martyrs

and confessors and

songs

spiritual

and

virgins

and with hymns and

of Christ,

have brought them into

have placed them in the church which

honour of St Stephen and St

built, in

which

descended

to

me by

inheritance from

to us,^

whose rehcs were thus

my

set

have come down

translated,

and

II Lt

Nearly

his restorations

Notwithstanding

in fact, the

of

them bore

were continued by his

all

the efforts of these

I.

example of Paul, because the

to imitate the

inscription in Sta Prassede

Sergius

I.

all

and abandoned.

crypts of the martyrs were being destroyed

thither

all.

to revive the interest in these sacred crypts. Paschal

was constrained

The

in

every nerve to bring back the ancient honour

witness to his zeal

Leo

Adrian

III. or

and magnificence of the cemeteries.

successor,

of

by Paul was not followed by either of his

immediate successors, Stephen

latter strained

site

Lists of

father."

and there must have been more than a hundred

The example

Popes

on the

lately

was born and bred, which has now

in

the saints,

have

Sylvester,

house

the

Rome,

city of

this

still

attests

how he

translated

two thousand three hundred bodies on July

20, 817.

and Leo IV. continued the same work,

for the

11.

greater dignity of the churches which they had either built or

restored, viz., SS. Silvestro

Coronati

they also

and Martino, and Santi Quattro

re-translated

to

these

churches

reUcs

which had already been removed from the Catacombs and

deposited elsewhere in

To

Rome.

belongs the account of

many

being carried to the Pantheon

these times also doubtless

cart-loads of relics of martyrs

;

a record which has been con-

founded with that of the rdiquice placed there by Boniface IV.

long before the tombs in the subterranean cemeteries were
touched.
* Mai. Script. Vet.

v. 56.

t See the long enumeration of

their

works

in Lib.

Pont, xcvii.

xcviii.

Paschal

I.

and

Roma

io8
Final aban-

All the

Sottei^ra nea

documents which mention these translations assign

donment of
Catacombs.

them

the cause of
teries

to the

abandonment and

ruin of the ceme-

and, of course, the translations, in their turn,

hurried forward and completed the

The

ment.

regarded

work of

much

so

further

and abandon-

ruin

them

sacred treasures which had caused

with

still

be

to

and veneration having been

love

removed, there was no longer the same motive for protecting

them

or ornamenting

century

combs

may be

and thus the

said to have

had ended

fifth

Nicholas

I.,

restored in

a.d. 860,

some

of

is

ended the history of the Cata-

we

eo discesserit)

still

read of

and

to

have

in the eleventh

visits to

fell

them which were near

are the

which remain to us of any attempt

Catacombs of Rome.

some church

and

the cemeteries, and

But these insignificant exceptions

the vicinity of

and

said to have visited them,

oblivion into which they

glories of the

Pope

history as cemeteries.

their

of lamps kept burning in some of

monasteries.

beginnmg

them the celebration of mass {quod multos

temporwn cursus ab

twelfth centuries

in

half of the ninth

first

as shrines or places of pilgrimage, just as the

of the

pe7'

to

last

to

to the general

and only records

keep up the ancient

Henceforward only those

or monastery were visited out

of curiosity by occasional travellers, as

we

find the

cemetery

of St Valentine, on the Via Flaminia, noticed by a pilgrim of

the eleventh,

and again by a

writer of the twelfth century.

Like the cemetery of St Agnes,

ing to the Augustinian Order,
sight of

In a

statistical

clergy, written in

it

lay under property belong-

and hence was not

account of the

Roman

utterly lost

churches and

the fourteenth century, only three of the

suburban churches attached to the cemeteries are mentioned,

viz.,

those of St Hermes, St Valentine, and St Saturninus.

When we come

to the fifteeenth century

even these disappear,

and only one subterranean cemetery remained always open

and frequented by

pilgrims, the

same which may

still

be seen

beneath the Church of St Sebastian, and which was called

all

ancient documents, ca^nieterium

ad

catacjinibas.

in

The Catacombs Rifled and Abandoned.

This

is

an important fact to be noticed, because

both for the use of

Roman

this

The

earliest

cataciimbas

the

all

Roman

document now extant

But

was used before

it

this,

Roman

called the circus

ad

the other

Roman

remained

known,

retained

its

ad St Sebastianum
apparently, as the

and

names of
the

cataciimbas.

all

When,

(because

it

was

still

in different

and always

composed

at

the other cemeteries, occurring so frequently

and Lives of the Popes, appear

this

particular spot

became synonymous with a

to the cemeteries

visit

and the term Catacomb gradually came

name

regarded as the specific

in the

but also in Naples, Malta, Paris,

similar excavations have

to

to
;

ad
be

for all subterranean excavations

purposes of burial, not only

15.

open,

languages for the use of pilgrims,)

have been ignorantly confused with

Fi(j.

then, the locality of

cemeteries was forgotten, and this alone

Martyrologies

catacumbas,

is

known, was anciently

place in the Libri Indulgentianim,

various times

for

of

list

by Maxentius, and whose

circus built

ruins in this neighbourhood are so well

visit

in a

of that part of the campagna in which St Sebastian's

situated, for the

in

which the word

we read

cemeteries cimeieriwn cateciimbas

Via Appia.

the

in

used as descriptive of the locality of St Sebas-

is

Roman

which has per-

archaeologists until the present

belongs to the sixth century, where

name

accounts Origin

cemeteries, and also for the very grave topographical

plexed and misled

tian's

09

word, Catacomb^ as appHed to the comb."

error respecting the cemetery of St Callixtus,

day.

it

neighbourhood of Rome,

Sicily,

and wherever

been discovered.

Very nnciciii Sa}to/>ha}^iix,Joi(nd

171

Crypt of St Lucina.

else

of the

BOOK

III.

CATACOMB OF ST CALLIXTUS.

CHAPTER
ITS

Pre-eminence

"

of the Via

Appia, both
Pagan and
Christian

Rome.

TN
J-

in

DISCOVERY AND IDENTIFICATION.

Rome,"

the history of Pagan

" the

Roman

Via Appia bears the proud

roads

and

makes

it

Father Marchi/""

says

Queen

of

title

boast with good

this

both because of the grander scale on which

it

of

reason,

was constructed,

the greater magnificence of the buildings and sepulchres which

adorned
it,

and

it,

the'

The

it.

number and

history of Christian

martyrs."

its

it

connected with

gives to this
just,

as the

who used

same road

and indisputable.

Queen

of Christian

by reason of the greater number and extent of

cemeteries, and

the cemeteries

much
says

Rome

are forced to acknowledge

roads,

of

celebrity of the events

of glory incomparably more solid,

titles

We

the greater variety of conquered nations

it

in the
is

still

more

And
upon

same

for the greater

number and

another place t he speaks of one of

this

road as standing to other cemeteries

relation as St Peter's to other churches

Roma

Crist. Pi'lm. 73.

he

Sotterranea, all the

others are only small or middling provinces."

Art

celebrity

in

" the colossal region of

Monum.

its

Unfortunately
t

P. 172.

Discovery

and

the plan of his

Identification

own work was

of San

Callisto.

complete, and most of

already

it

executed, before he effected an entrance into the cemeteries

his imagination

which so strongly impressed

we have now

ders

Indeed

Rossi.

has been the especial

and the two volumes of

and the won-

have been the discovery of

to narrate

this

his great

field

De

of his labours,

work already published have

We

not exhausted his narration of them.

be doing

shall not

justice either to the subject or to our author, unless

we

enter

on the Via Appia

at

some

into the details of the cemeteries

length

and

first,

we

will

hear what our ancient guides of the

seventh and eighth centuries have to

for so

we

shall

investigations,

tell

us

upon the

be better able to follow the course of

and

to appreciate

subject,

De

Rossi's

both their ingenuity and im-

portance.

One
all,

of these guides, then, the most ancient and accurate of

some time

describing what he himself saw and visited at

between the years 625 and 638, writes as

follows:

" After- Testimonies of

wards, you arrive by the Via Appia at St Sebastian, martyr, authors

whose body

lies in

a very low spot

and there are the

sepul-

chres of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in which they rested

forty years

and you go down by steps on the western side

of the church, where St Cyrinus,

Pope and martyr,

on the north side of the same road you come

and Maximus.

martyrs, Tiburtius, Valerian,

enter into a great cave,

and you

bishop and confessor; and

in

And

rests.

to the holy

There you

will find there

will

St Urban,

another place, Felicissimus and

Agapitus, martyrs, and deacons of Sixtus

and

in a third place,

Cyrinus, martyr; and in a fourth, Januarius, martyr; and in

a third church again, St Zeno, martyr, rests.
road,

at

martyrs

St

there

Cecilia's,

first,

Sixtus,

is

On

the

same

an innumerable multitude of

Pope and martyr

Dionysius, Pope and

martyr; Julian, Pope and martyr; Flavianus, martyr; St Cecilia,

virgin

and martyr.

Eighty martyrs rest there below

subterranean cemetery]
[in

a church] above.

[in the

Zephyrinus, Pope and confessor, rests

Eusebius, Pope and martyr, rests in a

Roma

cave some way

other cave

side

Pope and martyr,

Cornelius,

off.

some way

and martyr,

virgin

Sotterranea.

After

off.

you come

this,

whose body

Soteris,

lies

He

has just described what was to be seen

on the Via Ardeatina, and then he continues:

Appia, on the eastern side of the
martyr, where she

same road

is

lies

Church of St

the

and St Zephyrinus
St Calocerus

and

St Callixtus, Cornelius

?.<?.,

of Januarius,

Felicitas

far

Church of St

rests

Soteris,

and near the

Pope, where he sleeps

and there St Tharsicius

and there St Eusebius,

lie,

each apart

and 800

from thence, in the cemetery of

and Cyprian sleeps

also near the

is

Sixtus,

St Parthenius

Not

martyrs rest there.

the

" Near the Via

other martyrs

one tomb

in

lie,

city, is

many

with

there also St Cecilia, virgin,

Tljere

arrive," &c.

route described by the next witness'^" proceeds in the

opposite direction.

and

to the holy

towards the north

and then you leave the Via Appia, and

The

in an-

lies

\_sic\

in a church.

same road a church of many martyrs,

who was

the eldest of the seven sons of

of Urban, of Agapitus, Felicissimus, Cyrinus, Zeno,

the brother of Valentine

martyrs rest there.

And

Tiburtius and Valerian, and

near the same road

St Sebastian, martyr, where he himself sleeps

is
;

the

many

Church of

where are also

the burial-places of the Apostles, in which they rested forty

years.

There

also the martyr Cyrinus

is

buried.

By

the

same

road also you go to the city of Albano," &c.

Without entering into the minute

Division of

discrepancies between these two

agreement

is

abundantly manifest.

details of

any apparent

accounts, their substantial

Nobody can read them

attentively without observing that they describe four distinct

groups,

or centres,

of martyrs' tombs on the Appian road.

One, the most distant from Rome, as you go towards Albano,

is
it.

the Church of St Sebastian, with the cemetery belonging to

Another, on the north side of the road, contained the

graves of St Cecilia's husband and brother-in-law. Valerian and

Tiburtius

of Felicissimus

* I'hese are the two

and

.\gapitus,

itineraries

mentioned

two of St Sixtus's
in pp. 22, 23.

Discoveiy
deacons

Felicitas

in

and Ideiitification of San

and of many other martyrs.

multitude of martyrs

The

third

whom

amongst

and cemetery of the holy

the church

you leave

Soteris, before

Ardeatina.

It is

described

are specified several

virgin

Lastly, there

is

and martyr,

St

road and cross over to the Via

this

we

only with the third of these groups that

more immediately concerned

nevertheless,

we should begin by saying

necessary that

is

terms, as containing an " innumerable

Popes, St Cecilia, St Tharsycius, and others.

are

13

of Januarius, the eldest of the seven sons of St

more glowing

still

Callisto.

be

will

it

a few words about

the first*

The

by Constantine over the

basilica of St Sebastian, built

tomb where

body of

the

to every visitor of

martyr

this

Rome.

It

rests, is well

still

St Sebastian's,

known

stands on the Appian road, be-

tween two and three miles out of the

city

and a

friar

from the

adjoining monastery being always ready to act as guide and

descend into the extensive subterranean cemetery,

been more

Roman

perhaps than any other portion of the

visited

He

Catacombs.

on the western

cannot, indeed, show you " the steps

side of the church,

whereby we descend

opinion that these also might

we can

now be found

to the

De

Rossi

is

without

much

diffi-

grave of St Cyrinus, Pope and martyr," though

culty; but

has

this

of

read the inscription with which Pope

still

Damasus adorned

his

back of the high

altar

tomb.

We

can also go round to the

and examine the semi-subterranean

building in which, according to a very ancient and authentic

tradition, the bodies

of St Peter and St Paul once found a Temporary

temporary resting-place.
irregular that

it

The form

of this

building

would never have been selected by any

is

so o?th?relics^of

archi- Saints Peter

^1"^*^

tect for its

some

own

sake, bat

seems manifestly designed to inclose

particular point or points of interest, without interfering

more than was absolutely necessary with what

*

lay

around

yhe second has been already spoken

it.

of, under the name of St Prsetexpage 77 ; and the fourth will be described, as far as our present
knowledge of it extends, in tlie next chapter, page 128.

latus, in

Paul,

Roma

114

We

Sottei^ranea.

cannot therefore assent to the theory which would recog-

nise in

some ancient heathen temple

it

probable that

was erected merely

it

memorating a spot endeared

for

was begun by Pope Liberius

it

provided a marble pavement for

same time

at the

it,

Marchi conjectures)

its floor,

which may

step, or seat of stone, runs

it is

up one of

setting

historical inscriptions,

still

round the

more

the sake of

com-

Church by associations

to the

connected with her days of persecution.

that

it

but think

seems probable

It

certain that

and otherwise adorned

his usual metrical

and

low

be seen

there.'''

interior, destined

for the use of those

who

about two
six

is

In the middle

a small square aperture, widening at the depth of

feet into

and seven

(Father

recited here in

choir the psalms and public offices of the Church.

of the area

Damasus

feet

a large

both

pit or

double grave, measuring between

in length, breadth,

and depth.

This

pit

divided into two equal compartments by a slab of marble

is

its

sides are also cased with marble to the height of three

and
His

its

vaulted roof

apostles.

is

feet,

covered with paintings of our Lord and

This, then,

is

the spot where, according to the

testimony of both our ancient witnesses,

" the

bodies of St

Peter and St Paul rested for a period of forty years."

Their

first

^ere.

There

is

some

difficulty in unravelling the true history of this

temporary translation of the bodies of the apostles.

We

have

seen that they were originally buried, each near the scene of
*

''

Hie habitasse prius Sanctos cognoscere debes,

Nomina

quisque Petri pariter Paulique requiris.

Discipulos Oriens misit, quod sponte fatemur,

Sanguinis ob meritum Christumque per astra sequuti,

Aetherios petiere sinus et regna piorum.

suos potius meru't defendere cives.

Roma

Hnec Damasus vestras

referat

nova sidera

laudes.''

must know, that saints once dwelt. If you ask their names,
they were Peter and Paul. The East sent disciples, as we willingly acknowThe saints themselves had, by the merit of their bloodshedding,
led<Te.
followed Christ to the stars, and sought the home of heaven and the kingdoms of the blest. Rome, hov/ever, obtained to defend her own citizens.
" Here, you

be allowed to record these things

[of the heavenly host]."

May Damasus
stars

U)x

your praise,

O new

and Identijicatioji of San

Discovery
his

own martyrdom,

them

as

had heard of

brmg them back

to the East,

These mes-

and countrymen.

fellow-citizens

their

where they claimed

sengers so far prospered in their mission as to gain a

ary possession of the sacred
the

Appian Way,

now

was probably

which they carried

as far as this spot

their

off

along

which we have been

homeward journey by way of Brundusium

coming

directly

from St

just

This

appointed place of rendezvous before

at this point a cross-road,

the

relics,

moment-

examining, adjoining the basilica of St Sebastian.

ing on their

they sent some of the brethren to remove the

death,

bodies and

the one on the Vatican Hill, the other on

sources, that as soon as the Oriental Christians

their

But we learn from other equally authentic

Way.

the Ostian

Callisto.

start-

for just

Paul's, joins

Appian and Ostian Ways, by which ways the bodies of St

Peter and

Paul

St

What happened
exactly

them

to

given above, while

it

of

Pope Damasus, which we have

hints at the claim of the Orientals

the successful opposition of the

we can

of reserve, and

we cannot

whilst they rested here

The language

tell.

must have been brought.

respectively

easily

and

Romans, bears evident tokens

understand his unwillingness to

perpetuate on a public monument, which would be seen by

pilgrims from
after

all

become a

parts of the world, a history that might here-

subject of angry and jealous

between the Eastern and Western Christians.

recrimination,

But St Gregory

the Great, writing two centuries later, and only in a private

letter,

been

had no such motive

built

dedicated

reticence.

chapel having

the Imperial Palace at Constantinople, to be

in

to

for

St

Paul,

enrich the altar with

Empress Constantina wished

the

some considerable

relic,

to

and begged from

the Sovereign Pontiff nothing less than the head of the great
apostle.

with

St Gregory, in justification of his refusal to

her request, relates

the

story

of the

comply

attempt of the

Oriental Christians to carry off his relics soon after his martyr-

dom, and

says,^

"

suffered, Christians

It is well

known

that at the time

from the East came to recover

when they

their bodies

Roma

1 1

Sotterj^anea.

as [the relics] of their fellow-citizens,

and having

as far as the second milestone from the city, laid

place which
of

ad catacumbas ; but when

called

is

them assembled together and attempted

carried

them

them

in the

the whole mass

them up

to take

from hence, a storm of thunder and lightning so greatly

terrified

not

them and dispersed them,

make any more

attempts.

that after that they durst

The Romans, however, then

went out and took up their bodies, having been counted

worthy to do

this

in the places

where they are now buried."

by the goodness of the Lord, and

These

'"'

of St Gregory do not seem to be quite accurate.

doubt that the Romans

first

them

laid
last

words

There

is

no

buried them where they recovered

them, in or near the cemetery ad catacumbas^ and there was an

old tradition,

embodied

on St Peter's Feast

one of the lessons formerly used

in

P>ench Church, which said that they

in the

were restored to their original places of sepulture

months

lapse of a year and seven

nor

after the

there any reason to

is

suppose that the body of St Paul was ever again removed.

Second

trans-

Peter's relics

Of

the relics of St Peter there are faint traces of a second

translation,

which

is

assigned by some writers to the

They

of the third century.

first

half

are too indistinct, however, to be

depended upon, and we must be content

to

ignorance as to the authority on which

was believed by the

it

writers of the itineraries in the seventh

that the bodies of the apostles

had

acknowledge our

and eighth centuries,

lain near the basilica of St

Sebastian's for a period of forty years.

Erroneous
^

fifr^'Th
tury.

^^ G

in-

have

now

seen

that the writers of those itineraries

all

thought worthy of being mentioned in connexion with the

basilica of St Sebastian,

would certainly press us

cemetery which

lies

to

guide, however, of the present day

descend also into the subterranean

around and underneath the church, and

if

we

shall see there

inscriptions professing to point out to us other

and yet higher

we

are persuaded to accept his invitation,

objects oi interest.
*

An

inscription

Opp. St

(ireg., torn,

set
ii.,

up by one William,

E[).

30.

Discovery and Identificatio7i of

Archbishop of Eourges,

tomb of

here the

same or a

later

in

Callisto.

1 1

the year 1409, bids us venerate

Ceciha

St

San

of the

other inscriptions also,

speak of the tombs of nearly half a

date,

Whence
documents which we have

hundred Popes, and of several thousands of martyrs.

is

this ?

quoted

glance at the ancient

our suspicions as to the truth-

sufficient to arouse

is

two authorities are mani-

fulness of these inscriptions, since the

and we can scarcely

hesitate

making our choice between them, when we remember

that the

one another

festly at variance with

in

one was written whilst yet the bodies of the martyrs lay each
in its

own

sepulchre, and that the other belongs precisely to

that very age during

which the Catacombs were buried

We

most profound darkness and oblivion.

how

plained

were

cemeteries

remained

came

it

religious feeling

and unknown,

inaccessible

partially

open

and we can

other ancient

one

this

still

easily understand

the

which prompted the good Archbishop to make

an appeal to the devotion of the

memory

have already ex-

that whilst the

to pass

in the

of those glorious martyrs

in places like this,

who had once been buried

and even somewhere

But whilst we admire

his piety,

not to lose the

faithful

in this

neighbourhood.

we cannot accept

his

testimony

upon a topographical question, which he had no means of

deciding, and in respect to which recent discoveries, as well
as a

more

proved
It

demonstration that he was certainly wrong.

to a

was

examination of ancient documents, have

critical

in

the year 1849 that

De

Rossi found

of a vineyard on the Via Appia, but

than St Sebastian's

having on

complete

it

much

a large fragment

is

in the cellar Reasons

nearer to

Rome

of a marble

NELIUS

MARTYR.

He

immediately Epitaph

divined that this fragment was part of the tombstone of St

Pope

in the

suaded Pope Pius IX.

vineyard

cemetery

^^^^^''^"'^

the upper part of the letter R, followed by the

letters

Cornelius,

^j^g

slab, ^

why

middle of the third century.

to

purchase both

this

He

per-

and the adjacent

and three years afterwards, during the excavations

of 1852, the other half of the

same marble

slab

came

to light

of St

^^"^^ ^"^*

Roma

ii8

Sotterranea.

in the depths of the subterranean

this vineyard.

It

was found

at the foot of the grave, for

had evidently been made

it

cemetery which underlay

the

at

other half of the letter R, preceded by

EP

on a lower

line, so that

De

Rossi's

contained the

It

first.

CO, with

the letters

happy conjecture was

KR^LI VS VmAUTT R'fc

Moreover,

thus crowned with the seal of absolute certainty.

he had

himself by a diligent study of

satisfied

documents within
was very

his

there

reach, that the

tomb of

was a

and that

St Callixtus,

single chapel

had once been

in

more famous than the

laid the bodies of

Excavations having been

on

it

St Cornelius

many Popes

made

in

of,

the

cemetery

this

rest, in

which

of the third and

fourth centuries, and in another chapel adjoining

tions, a

ancient

all

near, though not absolutely within the limits

famous cemetery of

which

it,

St Cecilia,

accordance with his sugges-

fragment of marble was at length discovered, bearing

three letters, or rather the

same

letter

(H) repeated three

times, one over the other, as the beginning of three successive

Damasme mscription in
th e Papal

crypt

His keen eye recognising the well-known beauty of the

lines.'""
,

Damasine

upon

this as " a cou-

that this

was the Papal

characters, immediately fastened

firmation strong as text of

vault in which

Damasus had

As

inscriptions.

Holy

the

set

Writ,^'

up one of

* See Plate

I.

at

most celebrated

work of excavation proceeded, a hundred

and twenty other fragments of the same

lines 4-6.

his

end of volume.

inscription

The fragment was

were

re-

the beginning of

Discovery and Identi/icalioji of

These

covered.

all

San

119

Callisto.

have been put together, and the few missing

portions having been suppUed in letters of a different colour, the

whole may now again be read, just where our forefathers

read

faith first

it

fifteen

occasion to examine
with

it

in its

appeal to
sible to

it

it

We

hundred years ago.

more

closely

by and

by,

in the

shall

have

when we meet

own place in the interior of the cemetery. We

now as a decisive proof, from which it is impos-

escape, that the cemetery of St Callixtus has been

re-discovered, and that the mediaeval inscriptions underneath

the church of St Sebastian were set

only help to perpetuate the

found the
guished

first

and

up

memory

in ignorance,

of an error.

They con-

third of the cemeteries so carefully distin-

in the itineraries,

and which we ourselves

also are

happily able to distinguish again.

Fig. 16.

and now

A fresco

representing the Baptism of our

of the cithicnla

iti

the crypt

Lord in one

of St Lncinn.

now

CHAPTER

11.

DISTINCTION OF ITS SEVERAL PARTS.

Distinct ar^^.
in each Cata-

comb.

II.
/^~\N

^-^

the

same

Appian

side of the

Way

as the church of

St Sebastian's, but about a quarter of a mile nearer to

Rome,

doorway, with the words Coemetermm

carved above

it,

S.

Callixti

leads us to the vineyard beneath which lies

We

this celebrated cemetery.

call

it

indeed by

this

name

for

convenience sake, and because the cemetery which Callixtus

made

really the centre

is

and most important part of the vast

subterranean city on which we are about to enter.

however,

it is

each having

made up
its

own

In truth,

of several distinct groups of excavations,

history,

and

still

capable of being distin-

guished, at least in outline, from one another, though now, and

for

many

centuries past, actually united.

They may be

dis-

tinguished not only by their contents, certain peculiarities of

form,

or

families

of inscriptions, or other similar

much more by

the disposition of the main gal-

different

tokens, but

which was determined by the

leries,

size

and shape of the

area the fossors were at liberty to occupy, and the situation

of the roads or buildings which

diate
Defects of for-

may have been

in its

imme-

neighbourhood above ground.

This

Roma

is

almost a new branch of study in the subject of

Sotterraiiea, for which, as for so

debted to

De

Rossi.

earlier writers to gain

these cemeteries

Indeed

it

much

else,

we

are in-

was scarcely possible

any clear notion of the manner

had been constructed,

since their

the plan of any one of them was very incomplete

in

for

which

knowledge of
;

and of most

San Catlis to.

Distinction of Ai^ecF in

they never had an opportunity of seeing any plan at

121

himself had not lived to prepare that part of his work

the half-dozen

Bosio

all.

and of

maps which Cardinal Barberini procured

much labour and expense

at so

book,

for the illustration of Bosio's

For the main object

not one was really complete.

their

in

construction had been rather to show the sites of particular

monuments than

to exhibit the interior

whole cemetery, either as designed by

The

subsequently modified in execution.

arrangement of the
originators or as

its

maps

four additional

supplied by Aringhi are mere fragments, and the only one

which

is

of any size

strangely inexact.

is

To

these,

D'Agin-

court added another, but this also was too small to be of

much

Finally, Father

service in a scientific point of view.

Marchi produced a very valuable map of what he believed

about the eighth part of the Catacomb of St Agnes

to

be

and the

only portion of his book which he completed was intended to

branch of the subject, the architecture

illustrate this particular

of the

Christians in

first

ever, to observe

He

Rome.

never pretended, how-

any chronological order, but pursued a simply

The whole of

eclectic principle in his choice of specimens.

Catacombs were

the

and

him a monument of primitive

for

his sphere of observation

was too limited

antiquity,

to allow of his

drawing any general conclusions from nice distinctions that

might be observed between one part and another of the excavations.

Since his time a complete revolution has been effected

by means of a most ingenious instrument,

in this respect,

vented by Michele

in-

De

Rossi, brother of the archaeologist. Important discoveiies from

which renders the process of surveymg and mappmg these Michele De
,

subterranean crypts
far easier, as well as more accurate, than
' ^
'

it

was before.

to see the

Under

maps

we may

his auspices,
r

ot the streets 01

pleie as those of any

modern

have entered into some

fruits

the light which they throw

can hardly be exaggerated.

^"^1^

^"^^^f
method
of
hope by and by mapping sub'

city

subterranean

Rome

com-

Already we

above ground.

of his labours, and

terranean gal-

as

tlie

value of

on the history of the Catacombs

With

his

map

of the

Catacomb

leries.

Roma

122

Sotter7^anea.

of St Callixtus, for example, lying open before us,

to trace with certainty several features in its

velopment which before

it

was impossible

we

are able

growth and de-

We

to detect.

dis-

tinguish the boundaries of certain arece^ originally quite inde-

pendent of one another, but united

of

more or

We

less irregularity.

see the

ing the form and respecting the

mathematical precision

at a later period

first galleries,

follow-

of these arete with

limits

we mark

by paths

others, after proceeding for

a considerable distance in one direction, turn abruptly into

another, or break off altogether; and a glance at the condition of the external soil at once explains the cause of the

There are

digression.
itself is

still

traces of

some

there, at that precise

building, or the building

which clearly must

spot,

have existed before the subterranean excavation, and which

the Christians dared not undermine

or there was

some cham-

ber or gallery in this or an adjoining Christian cemetery, or

some Pagan

/iypogceu?n,

In a future book we

which stayed

their further progress.

our readers as minute

will set before

an analysis as our space

will

allow of one at least of the more

remarkable groups of galleries in the cemetery of St Callixtus,

which

will

enable them to appreciate the importance of

Rossi's invention.

At present we

distinguish those groups, as far as

will

we

M. De

only enumerate and

can, not so

much by

reference to their construction, as by their inscriptions and

other contents.
Crypt of St

The most

ancient area included in the Catacomb

now examining
Lucina, ?icar

to

is

that

we

are

which was once called "the crypt of

the cemetery of Callixtus."

The

original limits

of this area can be determined with the greatest precision, in

consequence of
side of

it.

its

having a small Pagan sepulchre on either

Like the tombs of the Scipios, of Cecilia Metella,

and other renowned sepulchres on the Via Appia,

a frontage of loo
agro.

Of

Roman

these 230

feet,

feet,

the

and

first

it

fifty

it

occupied

extended 230

feet

/;/

appear to have been

originally left free, thus forming an area in front of 100 feet

of Ai^ecF in San

Distiiiction
by 50,

in the centre of

vast ruins

still

was beneath

We know

Laeciiia.

who had

families

{ai'ca

adjecta

,^.

and

ino/uu/ieufo),

Gens

the

from Cicero that

this

on

this

their burial-places

it

excavations were

members of

property belonged to some

,,,

...

,^

Behind

form a striking object from the road.

this that the earliest Christian

The

made.

v!)

which stood the monument''' whose

extended another

this area

12

Callisto.

was one
road

01

the

and about

the beginning of this century, columbaria and inscriptions be-

monuments

longing to other Pagan

no great distance from

at

of the Caecilii, were found

this precise spot.

It

be considered a fortuitous circumstance that

and

Catacomb

galleries of this part of the

light

and other memorials of

epitaphs

of the gois^ but real

marked by the

tinctly

chambers

come

there have

to

and

several Caecilii

and these not mere freedmen who had adopted the

Caeciliani,

name

cannot, then,

in the

members of

the family, as

is

darissimus, darissima fcemina or

piieila,

honesta femiiia, &c.

Moreover, we note among the "illustrious dead" who

this aristocratic

who were

dis-

adjuncts to their names, vir

official

lie in

cemetery certain descendants of the Antonines,

clearly

connected with Annia Faustina, the grand-

daughter of Marcus Aurelius, and the wife of Pomponius Bassus,

and afterwards of Heliogabalus,

Pomponii

Bassi,

the Quirinal
the house

towards the end of the

and

it

of the celebrated Atticus,

certainly lived

whom

his

first

and

number of

*
tian

more than one

e.g.^

De

Rossi considers

monument

(R.

S.

it
ii.

Camellia,

when he was

Hence

c.

first

(R. S.

i.

210).

it is

easy

Christian epitaphs which have

in

various

Caecilius Faustus, a Faustinus Atti-

probable that even this was originally a Chris367), and quotes Tertullian (De Resurrect.

27) as a witness that

Carnis.,

from the

corre-

on the Quirinal, and that he passed

been found here, exhibiting these names mixed

ways,

that these

century, lived on

the friend

maternal uncle, Q. Caecilius.

to account for the

known

every classical scholar knows

from the Gens Pomponia to the Gens

adopted by

it is

can be almost proved that they inherited

spondent of Cicero, of
that he

Now,

Christians had nionuiiieiita

Orif^inally l)e-

longed to the

et >}iausoL\i

Qgj'^g Ccecilia.

Roma

24

Sotterranea.

cus,

an Atticianus, a Pompeia Attica, an Attica C?eciliana, &c.

We

have the gravestones also of some heathen members of

the

same

some of

to close

sawn

family,

two or otherwise defaced, and used

in

Pomponius Bassus, who had

had

some

filled

One

the Christian graves.

of these was of a

lived in the third century,

and

of the highest offices of the state, been twice

Rome,

consul, prefect of

and another of

&c.,

L.

Pomponius,

proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis.

From

the union of

these

all

under these circumstances,

that the

Caecilii,

De

whom

to

names on

same

the

spot,

and

Rossi ventured to conjecture

this

property belonged and

who

were certainly Christian, must have been intimately connected

and Bassi

the Pomponii, Attici,

with

and

that possibly the

Lucina, in whose property the ecclesiastical records state this

catacomb

have been excavated, may have been the very

to

Pomponia Graecina
the year 58,
St Lucina

of whose conversion

we have already spoken.'^

frequently this

name

to

We

Christianity, in

need not say how

of Lucina occurs in ancient ecclesiastical

probably the

crops up in the history of every persecution, from

Pompon ia

history

GrKcina of

the apostolic age to the days of Constantine, and has been the

A.D. 58.

it

learned

among

discussions,

of

many

of hagiography.

De

confusion, and the

occasion of no slight

students

name was a

Rossi suggests that the

subject

Christian sobriquet (alluding

to the illumination of baptism, &c.) rather than

name, and that

matrons

it

a real family

may have been borne by many Roman

in succession

without any real connexion of relation-

ship between them, these ladies being of course

society

and among

family names.

Grsecina and the

the
" It

first

first

he threw out the idea of Pomponia

Lucina having been possibly one and

same person, he spoke with extreme caution and

is

mere guess," he

said

t "

any value as an argument; perhaps

name

of a conjecture.
Page

39.

in

heathen kinsfolk by their proper

their

When

known

reserve.

don't wish to claim for

it

hardly even deserves the

But attempts of

this

t R. S.

kind,
i.

319.

it

violent

Distinctio7i

of ArecB in San

of the mind, which arouses

efforts

itself at

Callisto.

125

the faintest

ghmmer

of Ught amid the thick darkness of antiquity, and seeks to rush

forward to the acquisition of

awaken

and

attention,

to

new

keep

it

may

truth,

at least serve to

keenly on the alert for every

scrap of additional information which future discoveries

bring to

light,

and out of which prudent study may extract the

knowledge of

full

offered in confuso'''

historical

De

now

facts,

only guessed at and

Rossi wrote thus in his

same

1867, he says, with reference to the

"although

his guess has

learned, yet

place

volume,

it

must not be taken

for

more than

volume, however, he

is

it

is

worth,

discoveries shall

At the end of the

on a more solid foundation."

it

subject, that

been very favourably received by the

new and more important monumental

until

first

In the middle of the second volume, written early

in 1864.
in

may

monu-

able to explain what was the

mental evidence he desired, and to announce that he had

found

He

it.

had no positive evidence either of the

relation-

Pomponii Bassi and the Pompon ii

Graecini,

ship between the

or that the profession of Christianity had prevailed in either

He now

family.

publishes inscriptions, or at least sufficient

fragments of inscriptions, found

in

cemetery, and belong-

this

ing to the end of the secoixl century, two of which testify to

the Christian burial here of

Pomponius Graecinus

Pomponii

it is

has a great deal of probability in

it

and one of a

and although even now the argument

has not the force of demonstration, yet

that

Bassi,

impossible to deny
its

favour,

and im-

possible not to admire the modesty, learning, and ingenuity

which

We

it

has been supported.

shall

ticulars

by

in

have occasion to return

to these genealogical par-

a future chapter, as illustrating the fact of Pope

Cornelius having been buried here, apart from the other Popes,
his

immediate predecessors and successors,

third century.

But before the making of

involved considerable alterations in

its

in the

middle of the

his sepulchre,

which

immediate neighbour-

hood, two floors of galleries had been already excavated and

Roma

126
The upper

filled.

of these floors

of the lower; indeed,

of the case.

twenty

feet

It

Sotterranca.

it is

is

not one sixth of the extent

unusually limited, from the necessity

had been dug

below the surface

at a

and

depth of not more than

as the hill slopes rapidly,

the galleries would have run out into the open

upon the same

....
prmiitive area
the

Characterisof this

continued

area,

01

tics

far

The

level.

had they

general characteristics
.

cemetery are a certam marked

oi

this

air,

uniformity of plan in the form and decoration of the roof, the

unusual height of the

galleries,

and the frequent recurrence of

square, narrow chambers, not opposite one another

sides of the gallery, but opening

on

different

one out of the other.

Most

of these chambers are adorned with paintings of a very early

style.

Only two instances of

and both of these

arcosolia occur,

are in portions of evidently late construction.

About

Cemetery of

the time of

Marcus Aurelius,

in the

second century, another plot of ground,

be<nin before
A.I). 200.

second half of the

no great distance

at

from the crypt of St Tvucina, was given (apparently by the same

same purpose.

family) for the

It

bordered on a road which

joined the Via Appia and Via Ardeatina, and

was 250

feet

by

100.

We

shall not enter

its

measurement

now upon any

de-

tailed description either of this or of the next area, as their con-

struction

and development

wnll

form the subject of the more

minute analysis already promised, and several of their chapels

are of sufficient importance to claim each one a chapter to
itself.

It will

be

sufficient to

mention here, that

area, as in the crypts of St Lucina, there are

to
,

one another, but

same

side of a

five

no

first

or six in a row, opening out of the

broad spacious a/nbidacnn/i,

richly

the

cubicula opposite

like so

rooms out of the passage of a private house

them very

in

many bed-

and most of

ornamented with symbolical paintings of

the highest antiquity

and importance.

This was the

first

area

of the cemetery of St Callixtus, properly so called, the crypts

of St lAicina having, as

by themselves.

It

we have

contains

seen, once

many tombs

formed a cemetery

of a very peculiar form,

such as are to be seen only in one other part of the whole

San Catlis to.

Distinction of Arece in
cemetery

graves

on the outer

127

having no more than the ordinary opening

yet so excavated interiorly, at the cost of

side,

many

be capable of containing

infinite labour, as to

In a second area, measuring 150 feet in froute by 125

and made not long

after the

posite sides of the pathway,

are

Inhere

not

is

them we

much

seems

last,

on op-

galleries.

some of

time traces of their having been

first

faced with slabs of marble.

sions as the

and

painting in the chambers, but in

the

find for

cigro^

Arcosolia

hnnijiarc.

the crypts

in

///

find large crypts

by the same

lit

both

here very abundant,

we

first,

bodies.

same dimen-

third area, of the

have belonged to the days of Dio-

to

perhaps a few years earlier.

If we may conjecture Enlarged
...
about A.D. ^00.
,,
irom the family names which occur in this third area 01 bt
cletian, or
-

.,.,.,

..

we should be disposed

Callixtus',

to suspect that

had been

it

given to the church by Anatolia, the wealthy daughter of the

Consul ^milianus.
neighbourhood,

It is certain

and we

find

Partenius, an ^milianus,

Petronia, which

names

be

had property

...

Tulinus, and a

also belonged to the consul.

whom

Moreover,

^^milianus had apppointed

daughters guardians, were buried here

his

in this

^milius

here epitaphs of an

an y^rnil

Calocerus and Parthenius,

to

that he

and a

paint-

ing here, which seems to represent two martyrs or confessors

standing before the tribunal of the heathen magistrate, pro-

bably has reference to their history.

of this area, which

described before,
cross,

all

more

is

we do not

One

combined

the
(the

Constantine)
to

is

we have

find in either of those

a great variety of representations of the

or less disguised, yet

still

initiated sufficiently significant; but that

adopted as

of the peculiarities

monogram

of Christ's

well-known Chi and

not amongst them.

to the eyes of the

which was afterwards

name and

Rho the

is

Labarum of

This also seems exactly

correspond with the age we have attributed

the question of chronology

the cross

clearly settled

to

it

indeed,

by the dates of

epitaphs found here,* belonging to the end of the third and

The

inscription of the

Deacon Severus,

]>.

93, belongs to this area.

Roma

128

Sotterra7tea.

Once

beginning of the fourth century.

three chambers united instead of two,

ventilation from

the

same himinare ;

assemblies, not of burials

or twice
all

we

find here

receiving light and

for the

clearly,

sake of

and although we do not see any

traces of the seats for the presbytery, or the episcopal chair,

hewn

out of the rock, as in the somewhat analogous chambers

in the so-called

cemetery of St Agnes,

made

they were

of

more

this is

costly materials,

probably because

and moveable from

place to place.
Cemeteries of

To

same date belongs

the

also the adjoining cemetery of

Sta. Soteris,

Sta.

which St Ambrose be-

Soteris, a virgin of the family to

longed in a later generation.

She had been buried

cemetery

304

{coemeterio sud) a.d.

in her

own

and we have already seen

that the itineraries spoke of a separate church erected to her

honour somewhere
from

distinct

another

it.

in

the neighbourhood of St Callixtus', yet

The two

cemeteries really adjoined

not perhaps in their

of time, as each attained

its

beginnings, but in course

first

full

one

development, a communi-

cation was established between them."^

and of

The same

is

to be said also of another

Sta. Balbina,

neighbourhood, that of

Sta. Balbina,

which

of the old itineraries on the Via Appia,

Ardeatina,

and

really

lies

Boldetti erroneously fixed

cemetery
is

by others on the
Bosio and

having been where

locality as

we have now found the Catacomb of

St Callixtus.

following his usual guides, determined

its

but was unable to recover

it.

but though he managed

found nothing to reward

*

The

to

his search.

Rossi,

his eye

on

some suspicious-looking

fissures in the soil, in the precise spot indicated

ologist

De

situation long since,t

His brother fixed

the ruins of an ancient building and

this

placed by some

between the two.

its

in

effect

At

by the archae-

an entrance,

last,

he

not long since,

several areas of the cemetery of Sta. Soteris have not yet

been

De Rossi has only

sufficiently explored to allow of their being described.
an
is
on
exceptional
everything
area
scale of
first
the
in
that
mentioned
oiandeur, with double, treble, and even quadruple cuhicnla.

t R.

S.

i.

265.

Disti7tction

some unusually heavy

of ArecB in San

wander about

and

The Commission

Catacomb.

much

investigation

De

in the newly-discovered

of Sacred Archaeology are too

means

crippled by want of

be able

to

pursue the

to

Enough, however, has been seen

far.

him

for

time he was able to

this

an hour and more

for

new opening

rains revealed a

into the bowels of the earth,

129

Callisto.

to enable

Rossi to say that the size of the necropolis between the

Appian and Ardeatine roads

covery

surpass

and

fill

founded on previous experience,

his imaginations

him with amazement.

extent, but

it is

large crypts,

and

nearly doubled by the dis-

proportions of this subterranean labyrinth

that the
all

is

It

is

not only of immense

excavated on several different

is

levels,

has

many

illuminated by shafts of grander proportions

and more highly-developed architectural forms than any he

has found before.

In particular, he specifies one Iwninarc,

not square, but hexagonal or nearly

so,

which opens on the

subterranean excavations with not less than eight rays of

Two

many

serve to illuminate as

each ending

in

a circular apse

which here cross one another

four descend

light.

large rectangular chambers,

two others, the adjacent

at right angles

galleries,

and the other

upon four long and narrow openings

at

the

corners, which are not yet explored, but which he believes

be found to end

will

his anticipation

be

in

an equal number of

realised,

this will

cubicida.

Should

be the largest and most

regular group of subterranean crypts that has ever yet been

seen.

We

must remember, however, that

considerably enlarged by St Mark,

and

built a basilica here, in

Constantine endowed

this

cemetery was

who was Pope

which he was himself

with a fundus

a.d.

336,

buried.'^

7'osarius, and an adjoining

was a rite observed at some
pagan tombs on the anniversaries of deaths, and funds were specially set
apart for celebrating this dies rosationis vel violationis, as it was called.
This particular fundus rosai'his must have been for some reason confiscated
to the imperial fiscus, after which Constantine again devoted it to sepulfield.

The

it

Rosatio, or strewing with roses,

chral purposes, but in a Christian way.

CHAPTER

III.

THE PAPAL CRYPT.

Entrance of

/^^ N

the papal

entering the vineyard, over whose doorway

^^

crypt.

the words Coeineterium S. Calhxti^

crypts of St Lucina.

It will

we come

we read
to the

first

be more convenient, however, to

pass them by for the present, and to go forward to the

modest building which stands before us

vineyard.

Even of

the history

we

will

this,

however,

in the interior of the

we do not intend

Damasus provided

sister,

to discuss

only remind our readers that whereas

was supposed by Marangoni to have been the

St

basilica

it

to

it

in

the

we have already had occasion

to

as the cella memorice^ sometimes called

of

Rossi, as

notice, identifies

and

be the Church of St Mark

and St Marcellinus (both of which are mentioned

De

it

which

for the burial of himself, his mother,

and Father Marchi took

Itineraries),

more

St Sixtus, sometimes of St Cecilia (because built immediately

over the tombs of those celebrated martyrs), by St Fabian in

the third century.'""
Graffiti

^^

on the

^'

As we descend
staircase restored,

and

still

more

It is

we

by means of an ancient

are struck, at the

bottom of the

at the entrance of the first chapel

by the number of
walls.

into the interior,

graffiti, as

comparatively a

stairs,

we come

to,

they are called, which cover the

new

thing to pay any attention to

these rude scribblings of ancient visitors on the walls of places

of public resort, and to take pains to decipher them.

late years

many

valuable discoveries have been

But of

made by means

of them, and they have proved to be a most interesting subject

* See page 86.

The Papal Crypt.

of study, whether found on the tombs of Egyptian

kmgs

Thebes, on the walls of the barracks and theatres

Pompeii,

and

in the prisons

Pagan Rome,

cellars of

Here

Christian Catacombs.

echo of history and

De

They

are either the

adjunct of their

may be

titles

or, lastly,

tombs they are

calls

guides through

Those with which we

divided into three classes. Of three

good wishes,

prayers, saluta-

on behalf of friends and

relatives, living

or they are

they are invocations of the martyrs on whose

Numerous specimens of

inscribed.

all

of these

may be easily read on the spot of which we are now speaking.

Of the names we find two classes one, the most ancient
;

and most numerous, scribbled

such

Rufina,

as

Felix,

manifestly to a

above the

first,

somewhat
and

in

names of

like

Names,

2.

Prayers, or

old classical

Leo,

Polyneices,

belonging

the other,

later period,

more

the

Eustathius,

Maximus, Probinianus, and the

i.

most convenient and

the

in

accessible parts of the wall, are

type,

kinds,

mere names of persons, with the occasional

tions, or acclamations,

or dead;

in the

Rossi justly

infallible

the labyrinth of subterranean galleries."

are at present concerned

lastly,

especially they have proved to

be of immense importance, being, as

them, " the faithful

or,

in

in

because written high

inaccessible places, are such as

Lupo, Ildebrand, Bonizo, Joannes Presb., &c. &c.

Prayers or acclamations for absent or departed friends are

mixed among the most ancient names, and generally run

the

same form

as the earliest

and most simple Christian epitaphs,

Deo Cristo, Vivas

EH, BIBAC IN EH, Te IN PACE, &c.
in God Christ, for ever, Thee in peace,"

e.g.^

Vivas, Vivas in

in eterno,
"
''"

ZHC en

Mayest thou

&c.

The

live

feeling

which prompted the pilgrims who visited these shrines thus

inscribe in sacred places the

would
of

it

fain benefit,

is

in

to

names of those they loved and

natural to the

may be found even among

human

the

heart

instances

heathen themselves.

These simple forms have never yet been found on any epitaphs which
On rings and
articles of domestic furniture they are sometimes found, even as late as the
end of the fourth century.
can be shown to be later than the days of Constantine.

Ro7na Sotterranea.

1^2

Thus, one Sarapion, son of Aristomachus, having visited the

island of Phyle in Egypt, writes there, that " having

the great

Isis,

Goddess of Phyle, he makes

of his parents, for their good."

Catacomb of

friend

remembrance there

all

St Callixtus, wrote the

some pious

or relative, with

to

Just so, the Christian pilgrims

of the third and fourth centuries visiting

this

come

the holy places in

names of some dear

"for their

ejaculation,

good."

One

Example.

of these

it

is

specially interesting to track, after

hundred

terval probably of fifteen

He had come

of his pilgrimage.

memory

affectionate

with his heart

whether

full

of the most

wife, or

itself,

Sofronia, vivas in

and almost

by, in larger characters,

mother,

Before entering on the vestibule

of the principal sanctuary, he wrote, Sofronia^ vibas

then, at the entrance

in-

years, along the precise path

of one Sofronia

or sister, does not appear.

an

in the

cum

tiiis ;

Domino ; by and

form of a regular

epitaph, he scratched on the principal altar-tomb of another

chapel, Sofronia dulcis, semper vives

Deo ; and

yet once

more

place, Sofronia^ vives^^

where we can

hardly doubt but that the change of

mood and

tense reflected,

almost unconsciously perhaps, a

corresponding change

he repeats

in the

inward feeling

same

of

the language of fervent love and hope, fed by

earnest prayer at the shrines of the saints, had been exchanged

at last for the bolder tones of firm, unhesitating confidence.
"x
Invocation
of martyrs.

^^^ besides mere names and short acclamations, there are

also in the

Same

age, prayers

place,

and manifestly belonging

and invocations of the martyrs who

these chapels.

Sometimes the holy souls of

all

to the

same

lay buried in

the martyrs are

addressed collectively, and petitioned to hold such or such an

one
to

in

remembrance, and sometimes

one individually

this

prayer

generally to St Sixtus

II.,

is

addressed

whose name

always enjoyed a special pre-eminence in this Catacomb,

* Soplironia,

thou

live

in

mayest

e.g.,

live with thine own,

Sophronia, mayest
Sweet Sophronia, thou shalt ever live in God.

thou

the Lord.

wSophronia, thou shalt live.

The Papal Crypt.

133

Marcianum Successum Severum Spirita Sancta* in mente

HAVETE, ET OMNES FRATRES NOSTROS. PeTITE SpIRITA SaNCTA
UT VeRECUNDUS cum SUIS bene NAVIGET. t OtIA petite ET
PRO PARENTE ET PRO FRATRIBUS EJUS VIBANT CUM BONO.
SaNTE SuSTE, in mente HABEAS IN HORATIONES AURELIU
Repentinu. AIONT2IN EI2 MNIAN EXETAI (for EXETE.)
;

''

Holy

Severus and

and

have

souls,
all

his friends

both for

Holy

in

remembrance

Holy

our brethren.

may have

souls,

his brethren

have

remembrance

Have ye

Repentinus.

There

in

in

ask that Verecundus

Ask

a prosperous voyage.

my parent and

Sixtus,

Marcianus Successus

may

they live with good.

your prayers Aurelius

in

remembrance Dionysius."

a simplicity and a warmth of affection

is

which savours of the

brief petitions,

for rest

earliest

about these Their

ages; they are

very different from the dry and verbose epitaphs of the fourth
or

centuries

fifth

about the

reminding

third,

is

us,

something almost

De

says

so frequently repeated in them,

is

the

to

indeed, there

same

antiquity.

It

is

classical

Rossi, of Horace's

Divos rogat in patenti prejisiis ^gceo

Otiiini

which

/;/

and the phrase,

mente hahere^ points

found on an inscription

in

Pompeii, on two Christian epitaphs of the third and fourth

centuries,

and

used by St Cyprian in one of his

is

" have in mind," he says, " our brothers

and

letters

your

sisters in

])rdiy&x?>-"

fratres nostras ac sorores in mente hab eatis in oratioiiibus

vestris.

These nameless pilgrims made the same

the saints in heaven that St Cyprian

earth,

For

and perhaps about the same

it is

to

be observed that

many

made

petition to

to the saints

time, or not

much

on

later.

of these graffiti have been

the middle, or rendered otherwise illegible,

spoilt, cut off in

by the enlargement of the doorway, the renewal of the stucco,

and other changes which were made

in

chapel by St

this

Fabian, perhaps about the year 245, or St

Damasus

in

* In epitaphs of the third century spiritinn, instead of spiritus,

used for the soul or

t Optat sibi
by

tit

spirit

of a man.

bene navigct

P. Garrucci, S.J.

is

Insc. Christ.,

one of the

is

370.
often

I. cxii.

graffiti at

% Od.

Pompeii, published
ii.

i6.

an-

^^^^^^'

Roma

134
One

Sotterranea.

of those that has been thus mutilated

most ancient of

was wet, and

for

all,

was written whilst yet the plaster

it

an apostrophe

it is

undoubtedly the

is

to

one Pontianus,

whom De

Rossi believes to have been the Pope of this name, brought

back from Sardinia, where he had died

this

and buried

in

very chapel by St Fabian.

There

yet one other inscription on the entrance of the

is

somewhat

chapel, of a

first

but what he did write

show the

cient to

remarkable

different kind, but too

Unhappily the writer never finished

be passed over.

to

in exile,

and abundantly

easily legible,

is

it

suffi-

enthusiastic devotion with which his heart

was warmed towards the sanctuary on whose threshold he

It

Domini^

cujiis

evidently the

some

Gertisale civitas et oniamentiim

runs thus,

stood.

The
same as we
.

Martyrum

idea present to the writer's

Holy

find both in

mind was

Scripture

who

of the earliest uninspired Christian writers,

and

in

not un-

frequently speak of the glory of the Church triumphant under

the

title

Holy

of the

City, the

upon the chapel he was about

the future Jerusalem.
the remains of

day

many

arise to receive

It

New

He

Jerusalem.""

looked

to enter as a type or figure of

was adorned and made venerable by

martyrs of the Lord, which should one

new

life

and rejoice

in

His presence

for

ever.

Examination
o papa ciypt.

The

inspection of these

^^^^ ^^^ ^^^

graffiti^

then,

^^ ^^^ threshold of a very

is

enough

warn us

to

special sanctuary of the

ancient Church, and to excite our deepest interest in

we may
will

find

it

to contain.

Our

first

we were about

that

impression on entering

We

probably be one of disappointment.

pect that

all

were led to ex-

to visit a Christian burial-place

and

place of worship of the third or fourth century, but the greater

part of the

recent

masonry we see around us

construction.

The

truth

is,

is

that

manifestly of quite

when

this

chamber

* See Psalm cxxi., Apoc. xxi. 2., Tertullian dc Speclac. c. xxx.

This
same writer speaks also of the world as expressiis in oniaiiientnin niajestatis
,

Dei.

Apolog.,

c.

xvii.

The Papal Crypt.

was rediscovered

in

1854,

access was gained to

usual,

had served

into

all

it

for

it

it

complete state of ruin;

in a

only through the luminare, which, as

many

the adjacent

was

135

centuries as a channel for pouring

fragments of grave-stones, decaying

soil,

When

brickwork, and every kind of rubbish.

moved, the vault of the chamber, deprived of

soon gave way; so

and put

that, if

any portion of

it

be visited with

in a condition to

lutely necessary to build fresh walls,

its

was

was

this

usual support,

to

safety,

be preserved

was abso-

it

and otherwise strengthen

This has been done with the utmost care, and so as

preserve, wherever

it

and of

the chapel

Thus we

...

its

decoration in

-,._

by means of three

ferent coatings of plaster, each retaining

We

to

are able to trace very clearly three Successive

Stages or conditions of ornamentation

original painting.

still

it.

was possible, abundant tokens of the

more ancient condition of

succeeding ages.

re-

some remnant of

its

can trace also the remains of the marble

slabs with which, at a later period, the

whole chapel was faced;

and even

this later

the

century, when, as the Liber Pontificalis tells us, St

fifth

periods of

dif- decoration.

period takes us back to the earlier half of

Sixtus \\\. platoniam fecit

ill

The

Ccemeterio Sti Callixti.

frag-

ments of marble columns and other ornamental work, which

lie

scattered about

work of

made

St

Leo

on the pavement, belong probably

III., the last pontiff

whom we

of

to the

read that he

restorations here before the translation of the relics

Pope Paschal

I.

by

Again, the raised step or dais of marble, Ancient

which we see directly opposite to us

at the further

chapel, having four holes or sockets in

it,

end of the

suggests at once the

presence here of an altar in former times, supported on four

pillars

but in the wall behind this platform we can

the existence of an older

sepulchre

hewn out

still

and more simple kind of

of the rock, the

flat

detect

altar

covering of which was

once the meiisa whereon the holy mysteries were celebrated.

It

was not a

a table-tomb

real arcosolium^
;

however, but what we have called

moreover, the front of the sepulchre

not a mere wall of the rock, so

left in

itself

was

the original process of

altar,

Roma

36
excavation, but

Sotterranea.

an excellent piece of brickwork, precisely

is

such as we find in the crypt of St Januarius in the cemetery of

St Prsetextatus,

and

which we cannot assign a

to

the earliest part of the third century

indeed,

it

probably have belonged to the end of the second.

of these two altars seems to

tell

which

tale,

is

later date

than

might not im-

The

presence

corroborated by

other indications also, too minute to be appreciated without a

personal inspection of the locality

adjoining chapel

this or the

made

of

viz.,

some

alteration in

at a very early period,

which

necessitated the translation of the martyr originally buried in

this principal
is

certainly

tomb of

and De Rossi's conjecture

the cuhicidum ;

most ingenious, that

martyr was no other than

this

St Zephyrinus himself, the original designer of the whole cemetery,

for

whom,

therefore, the chief place in the

might very naturally have been reserved

pope was translated

this

had become common,

one of the old

in

is

at

some

and

that the

vault

body of

early date, before the practice

proved by what we have already read

Itineraries, that his

we

above ground^ and (as

first

learn

body

from

lay

another

a church

source)

St

Tharsycius in the same tomb with him.

Thus, spite of the ruin and the neglect of ages, and spite of

Original epi^

f^tV d cen-^^

t^^i"y-

work of restoration which has been thereby made necessary

"^^^

in

our

own

time,

original condition

many

clear traces

chamber.

The cause

continued veneration
,

remain both of

its

and of the reverent care with which succes-

sive generations of the ancient

this

still

is

Church did

of this

their best to

adorn

extraordinary and

long-

revealed to us by a few grave-stones

which have been recovered from amid the rubbish, and which
are

now

restored,

if

not to the precise spots they originally

occupied (which we cannot

tell),

yet certainly to the walls in

'''

which they were

first

on the opposite page.

placed.

An

exact copy of them

is

given

Roma

138

We

Sotterranea.

have every reason to believe that these are the original

tombstones of St Anteros and St Fabian, who

sat in the chair

of Peter from a.d. 235 to 250; of St Lucius,

who

252

De

and of St Eutychianus, who died nearly

reigned in

thirty years later.

Rossi says so most unhesitatingly, and his special familiarity

with ancient Christian epigraphy renders his verdict almost

The

conclusive.

objection that has been urged against them,

from their extreme brevity and simplicity,

proof of their great antiquity

ment of any weight whatever

De

the claim which

whether originals or
Bishops of
Rarity of
bishops!

It is

lately

Rome

nor do we

that has

is

a strong

itself

know

a single argu-

been adduced against

Rossi makes for them.

At any

rate,

later copies, they are the epitaphs of four

in the third century.

a remarkable

fact,

the

full

significance of

which has only

been appreciated, that neither Bosio, Fabretti, Boldetti,

nor any other of the ancient explorers of subterranean Rome,

ever found an inscription bearing the
indeed, that in the

first

age this

more general
it

was used

games, and

signification.

among

it

this

that de-

the Pagans in a wider

Among

may have been

It is true,

subsequently received.

and

the Greeks, for example,

and public

for the president of the athletic sports

for omitting the title

By

in use

of Bishop.

had not acquired

title

terminate ecclesiastical sense which

The word had been

title

a sufficient reason, perhaps,

on the grave-stones of the

the middle of the third century, however,

sense was well defined, and accordingly

first

ecclesiastical

its

we

bishops.*

find

three out of these four grave-stones of the Popes.

it

here on

The tomb-

stones of St Cornelius, also, and of St Eusebius, popes and

martyrs, which M^e shall presently see in
similarly

marked

covered

fifteen or

and

in the

cemetery, are

cemetery of St Alexander,

dis-

twenty years ago on the Via Nomentana, at

least three epitaphs display the

The

this

fact that so

same

title.

many have been found

in the

same

place,

whereas they have not been found elsewhere, might suggest to

* See page 65 on the toml^stone of Linus.

The Papal Crypt.

an intelligent student of archaeology that perhaps

Church

practice in the ancient

who had

burial for those

And

some

to reserve

39

was the

it

special place of

the highest rank in her hierarchy.

filled

confirmation from the

this conjecture receives strong

which we learn from various sources, that the

fact,

earliest successors

of St Peter (with a very few exceptions, which can generally be

accounted

for)

each in his own sepulchre, " near Care

lay buried

the

body of blessed Peter

Vatican,

in the

'^'

just as the bishops

More-

of Alexandria were buried near the body of St Mark.

over,

it

was an object of great jealousy to the several Churches

should be buried in the midst of them

that their bishops

their

in their

burial,

tombs were appealed

to as a testimony to the apostolic

and doctrine having come

tradition

Thus

mate succession of bishops.

sus, writing to St Victor, carefully

in different cities of

of the Church

"

them through

to

a legiti-

Polycrates, Bishop of Ephe-

enumerates the burial-places

Asia of the several bishops, " great

as he calls them,

whom

pillars

he alleges as witnesses

Caius, in like manner, disputing against the

in his behalf, f

Cataphrygians at the end of the second century, appeals to the

tombs of Saints Peter and Paul

own

die at a distance from his

body of
Vecchia

and of

a bishop

see, his

happened

body was

considerable inconvenience

to

ordinarily Their bodies

e.g.^

the \q^^ fronf a

of

Pontianus from the island of Sardinia.

St

all

these Popes were brought back to

though two of them

at least

had died

in exile

and

in the

Emperor's leave had been

Rome,
law

dis-

home

for

first

ob-

for the

allowed the bodies of exiles to be brought

interment, provided the

tained,

if

St Eusebius from Sicily; of St Cornelius from Civita

The bodies

tinctly

at

so also Optatus in his con-

Hence,

troversy with the Donatists. J

brought home, even

instances here alleged, the translation was

* See the Lihcr Pontificalis at the end of each pope's life

also the
testimony of the Itinerary, which, after mentioning St Peter's tomb, immediately adds, " YA Pontificalis ordo, excepto numero pauco, /// eodcni loco in
;

tumbis propriis requiescit."

+ Euseb. H. E.
i Eusei).

II.

E.

R.

S.

i.

141.

v. 24.
ii.

25

Opt.

lib.

ii.

c.

5.

<^^^'^^^"^^-

Roma

140
made until
Church made it

a change in the imperial policy towards the

not

translation

Roman

Sotterranea.

Nor was

possible to obtain such leave.

this

an honour peculiar to the bodies of deceased

On

Pontiffs.

were restored

to

the contrary, the relics of St Ignatius

Antioch

body of Dionysius, Bishop of

the

Milan, was recovered by St Ambrose, and that of St Felix,

Bishop of Tiburtium, martyred at Venosa, was returned to Africa.

Perhaps,

this

also,

practice

the best explanation

furnishes

which can be given of the attempt made by the Christians of

the East to recover the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul.

Many

There would be always, of course, some exceptions

foreign
"^^^*^

in^Rome

practical observance of such a

likely to

custom as

this,

and

to the

Rome was

be the most frequent witness of these exceptions,

for

bishops were constantly flowing thither from the earliest times,

propter potiorem principalitatein^ as St Irenaeus says, and proofs
are not wanting that this was far

ages of persecution, than

Thus we

expect.

in the

we should have been prepared

to

learn from St Cyprian that sixteen bishops

from other sees were present

Cornelius in the year 251, of
Africa,

more common, even

Rome at the election

whom two at least were

in

of St

from

and two others arrived from the same country not long

afterwards; and St Cornelius was able to call together no fewer

than sixty to take counsel about the system of discipline to be

That some foreign bishops,

observed in reconciUng apostates.

then, should have been overtaken
in

Rome

was nothing improbable

unwilling or unable

to

sure that the

Roman

provision

their

for

prised at finding

not bishops of
* It
visiting

and

Rome

interment. *
traces of

Rome, even

their dioceses

were

we may be

Hence we
bishops, who

in this very

are

not sur-

certainly were

chamber, which we be-

a.d. 314, that foreign bishops

should have a church assigned them for the celebration of

Cone. Arel.,

See also Euseb. H. E.

Rome bv

if

their sojourn

would have made honourable

was a decree of the Council of Aries,

the holy sacrifice.

in

recover their remains,

Pontiffs

some

by death during

v. 24,

St Anicetus,

can. xix., ^///c/ Collect.

in Jin., on the respect

Reg. Max., i. 266.

to St Polycarp

shown

The Papal Crypt.

have been specially prepared as a place of burial for

lieve to

date of

the popes from the

some

at

the

indeed, and

some

editions of the Liber Pontijicalis

would

Bosio,

beginning of the third century.

others, following

commencement

first

its

place the burials of St Anicetus and St Soter, popes of the

middle of the second century, in

an

certainly

error.

In

all

this

But

Catacomb.

The

book

the older recensions of that

they are placed in the Vatican, where at that time

popes were buried.

this is

the

all

mistake, with reference to St Soter,

originated very probably from

some confusion of the name

with that of St Soteris, virgin

and martyr, whose cemetery

has been already mentioned as being in this neighbourhood.

The

first

pope of

whom

distinctly recorded that

it is

he was Popes

buried in the cemetery of St Callixtus was St Zephyrinus,

chief author.

His successor, St

sided over

was not buried here, but

it,

Callixtus,

He

peculiar circumstances of his death.

tyrdom

after a judicial sentence

this

who

so long

was owing

did not

its

buried

'

pre- Zephyrinus.

to the

suff'er

mar-

and under the penal laws of the

government, but privately, and as the result of a popular tumult.

He

was thrown out of the window of

and
to

his

body

cast into a well,

house

his

whence

it

was

in Trastevere,

secretly

removed

the nearest cemetery, that of St Calepodius, on the Via

Aurelia, which has

therefore

cemetery of St Callixtus.

been sometimes called another

Callixtus

was succeeded by St Urban

Urban, and a broken tombstone was found

ber,

which had never belonged

to a

in this very

cham-

mere ordinary grave

the wall, but had served as the mensa of an altar-tomb,

bore the

monly

letters

OVPBANOC E

stated that St

St Praetextatus,
lieves, as

.;

and although

Urban was buried

in the

it is

in

and
com-

cemetery of

De Rossi bemen of learning,

on the other side of the road,

Tillemont, SoUier, and

many

other

have believed before him, that there has been a confusion

in the old martyrologies,

bishops of the

name

of

from a very early date, between two

Urban

the

one a martyr, who was

buried in St Praetextatus, the other pope and confessor, buried

I.

Roma

142
Pontianus.

The

in St Callixtus,

next in order of succession was St Pon-

who, having been banished

tianus,

his pontifical dignity,'''

to Sardinia, there resigned

and was succeeded by

monument we

Anteros, whose

Anteros.

Sofferranea.

just

chair of Peter only for a few weeks,

now

St

ofticial

its

it

in

position, afie?^ that of St Anteros, caused

to introduce

his

The

name and

observed that
earlier

this

part

this

chapel,

some

of the

two popes,

inscription on St Fabian's tomb,

title,

exhibits

monogram,

intended to denote the fact of his martyrdom.

the

his

an element of endless confusion into the

history of those times.

besides

diligently

records of the

early chroniclers to invert the true order of these

and so

the

filled

martyrdom before the death of

Pontianus back to Rome, and buried

where

He

saw.

His successor, St Fabian, brought the body of

predecessor.

Fabian.

Antherus or

and because he

sought out the acts of the martyrs in the

Praetor Urbanus, he suffered

St

monogram

of the

is

had been added

it

place.

This suppression of the

will

be

not cut nearly so deep as

inscription,

though

It

clearly

and

it

would seem as

the stone was fixed in

after

title

its

of martyr could hardly

have been necessary as an act of prudence, since neither the

tombstone
,

of

St Cornelius in this cemetery, nor that of St

Hyacinth

in the

reticence.

De

cemetery of St Hermes, observed the same

Rossi conjectures that perhaps already

not lawful to publish

ful

this

it

was

claim on the veneration of the faith-

without the sanction of the highest authority, which, in the

present instance, was delayed for eighteen months, in conse-

quence of the Holy See remaining vacant during that period

in other words,
* Discincti.s

though actually a martyr, St Fabian was not

is

the

word used used

in the

Liber Poutiftcalis.

The Papal Crypt.

once a martyr

at

143

Between

7'indiaiiiis*

Fabian and St

St

Lucius.

Lucius intervened St Cornelius, of whose burial we shall have

Of

to speak in another chapter.

however,

where,

grave-stone,

omitting the O.

versal in the

Roman

rather to private than public

found on a few Pagan monuments of about

it is

Another example of

Catacombs.

on a monument,

Jewish cemetery, and

in the

lying in

still

the

AOVKIC,

written

is

This elHptic form of termination of a

on many graves

date,

name

his

name was one which belonged

use; yet

we have seen

St Lucius

it

is

this

quite uni-

may be

seen

place in the pavement of this

its

AHMETPIC stands for Demetrius.

of whom the tombstone has been discovered

very chapel, where

The next pope

diVao'agXhQ debris of this chapel

recorded of the four

it is

who

is

St Eutychianus; nevertheless

intervened between St Lucius and

himself that they also were buried here, and there

Sixtus,

we have seen numerous and

graffiti

already examined.

He

is

no reason

Indeed, of one of them, St

to question the truth of the record.

Sixtus

IL

authentic memorials in the

was,

par

excellence,

Catacombs generally;

of this Catacomb, and of the

Eutychianus.

the martyr
for

we have

the cotemporary evidence of St Cyprian f that he received the

crown of martyrdom

in

one of them on the 6th of August

Valerian and Gallienus had issued a decree

258.

ceding year forbidding the

In

cemeteries.

defiance

celebrating mass in the

because

it

was

less

Christians

Papal Chapel (so to

Catacomb of

call

it)

the pre-

assemble in

St Praetextatus

probably His martyr-

narrowly watched than the Caiacombs

in St Callixtus'
when he was disless

covered and seized by the heathen soldiery, led into the

and

after

the

prohibition, St Sixtus was

of this

known and

to

in

a.d.

city,

judgment, brought back again for execution to the

scene of his offence, where he was beheaded in his episcopal

chair,

or at least so near

blood.

Many memorials

Optat. de Sch, Don.

f " Xistum
die et

in

cum eo

Leipsic, 1858.

ciinite7'io

i.

it

that

it

was besprinkled with

of his martyrdom

may be

his

recognised

i6.

animadversum

diaconos quatuor."

S.

sciatis

octavo

Cyp. Ep. Ixxx.,

Iduum Augustarum
ad Succcssuni., ed.


Roma

144
monuments

in the

of the

instance, the figure of

Sotteri^anea.

Catacomb of

one

St Praetextatus

sitting in a chair, with a

as, for

deacon

standing by his side, holding a book in his hand, or elsewhere

of the chair only; paintings also of St Sixtus, with his

name

Moreover, a small basilica was

mark

appended.

the spot of his execution.

Two

built there to

who

of the deacons

suffered

with him, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were buried in this cemetery

but St Sixtus himself and others of his companions were

Damasus

buried in St Callixtus', where St

memory by

his

the following inscription

afterwards celebrated

" Tempore quo gladius secuit pia viscera Matris

Hie positus rector coelestia jussa docebam
Adveniunt subito, rapiunt qui forte sedentem
;

Militibus missis, populi tunc colla dedere.

Mox

sibi

Palmam

cognovit senior quis tollere vellet

seque suumque caput prior obtulit ipse,

Impatiens

ne

feritas posset

quemquam.

Xcsdex:^.

Ostendit Christus reddit quz'/r^emia vitre

Pastoris meritum,

numerum

gregis ipse tuetur."

At the time when the sword [of persecution] pierced the tender heart
I, the Pope buried here, was teaching the laws of
On a sudden came [the enemy], seized me seated as I happened
heaven.
the soldiers were sent in then did the peoyile give their
to be in my chair
necks [to the slaughter]. Presently the old man saw who wished to bear
away the palm from him, and he was the first to offer himself and his own
head, that the hasty cruelty [of the Pagans] might injure no one else.
*'

of Mother [Church],

Christ,

who

renders [to the jusl] the rewards of

merit of the pastor

He

life [eternal],

Himself defends the mass of the

manifests the

flock."

This inscription alludes to circumstances of the incident it

Probably confounded with j-gcords, which were doubtless familiar to those for whom he
'

that of St

wrote, but the

Stephen.
,

It

memory

of which has

does not even mention the

dom

it

ferred

celebrates,
in

name

now unhappily

of the

trans-

some of the spurious Acts of the Martyrs

predecessor, St Stephen.
is

Pope whose martyr-

and hence, the whole history has been

what reason we cannot now determine

Rossi

perished.

right in

We

reclaiming

from St Sixtus to his

cannot doubt, however, that

it

for

for St Sixtus,

partly

De

on the

strength of the cotemporary testimony of St Cyprian already

quoted, partly on that of the graffiti at the doorway and else-

The Papal Crypt.

where

in

145

the neighbourhood of this subterranean sanctuary,

showing the marked pre-eminence in which the memory of St

Sixtus was held in reverence here from the very earHest times,

and

still

more, perhaps, after following him through a

examination of

down

all

the notices on the subject which have

Church

minute to be handled in
really

needed

Nor

this place-.

what has been already

the fact that this inscription of

however,

These,

history.

so

7i'as

coupled with

alleged,

Pope Damasus was

tell

us.

It is

in

and that

it

true that they scarcely contain ten

perfect letters out of the three or four

the whole inscription

in italics

up

hundred which formed

they are the few which we have printed

nevertheless, being of the

Damasine

peculiar

Next

to St Eutychianus

came

St Caius in the

of Popes

list

and though we have no monument to produce of

cemetery, the

this

ancient

That St Marcellinus had

tery,

especial charge over this

and directed excavations

that were
'^

made

in the

cemetery of St

cause of this change

the cemeteries that were

notorious of

all

the

at

Priscilla,

same cemeit,

we have

in

it

they were

on the Via

Salara.

once explained by reference to

Diocletian had

the history of the times.

possession of them

is

it.

nevertheless, neither he

nor his successor, St Marcellus, was buried

both buried

in

his burial

have recorded

authorities

already seen very interesting proof;

The

type,

impossible to question their identity.

it is

in

set

up, two small fragments of the stone itself have

set

survived to

too

are

their testimony

is

very chapel, scarcely leaves room for doubt

this

come

and other ancient

to us in the martyrologies, itineraries,

monumenta of

critical

now

known, and the

confiscated

jisais

access, therefore, to the

all

had taken

most public and

Catacombs was no longer

possible.

Not

only would the Christians cease to assemble and to bury there,

but

it is

probable also that precautions would be taken to pro-

tect so precious a sanctuary as the sepulchre of the

falling

into

the hands of the heathen.

*

See page

It

Popes from

would have been

93.

St Caius.

Traces of the
Diocletian
persecution.

easy to do
c

either

tliis

by blocking up the approaches by means

way; and

galleries, or

curious coincidence,

least a

at

is

it

^^

taken irom the adjacent

eartli

^^

Sotter7^a7tea.

Ro7na

146

some other
if

be not

it

rather an almost convincing proof of the accuracy of this con-

Michele

jecture, that

De

Rossi has been persuaded

merely

by an examination of the monuments of the place, from an

architectural point of view
diate

neighbourhood of

blocked up

that

this

He can

whose lower steps were

imme-

some time or other

in the ages

even point to the staircase

in the tufa,

all

inaccessible.

Moreover,

accounted

why

for

the galleries in the

sanctum sanctorum were actually

in this way, during

of persecution.

all

cut

if

off,

thereby rendering the whole

we accept

this theory,

once

at

it is

and St

the next two Popes, St Eusebius

Melchiades, though buried in the cemetery of St Callixtus

after its restoration to the Christians, yet did not

Papal vault, but lay each in his own cubictihun apart.

in the

Maxentius did not indeed restore the

after the
Sicily,

occupy graves

loca ecclesiastlca until

death of Eusebius; but that Pontiff died an exile in

and

body was only brought back

his

to

Rome some

years afterwards by his successor, just as Pontian's

by Fabian.
prepared for
Melchiades
the

last

Pope

Catacomb.

was then buried in a very

It

it,

of which

we

shall

had been

fine crypt, especially

have to speak presently.

Melchiades, too, we are told by some of the ancient authori^^^g^ ^^^^

buried in another separate crypt; and although

now

cannot

with any certainty identify

probable that

is

it

it,

the one pointed out by

it

seems extremely

De

Rossi,

and that

the top or cover of the sarcophagus in which he lay

which may
far

still

be seen on the

from the Papal

With

floor of

is

that

one of the crypts not

vault.

St Melchiades, the long succession of martyred

and a new era opens

comes

to a close

tianity

from St Sylvester.

we

New

Popes

in the history of Chris-

customs are now of necessity

introduced, or old ones are at least considerably modified.

Christian sepulchres are
basilicas or

mausoleums

made

freely

above ground

are erected for the purpose;

small

and we

The Papal Crypt.

147

have already seen that St Sylvester himself, St Mark, St

and even St Damasus, were

Julius,

buried in oratories of this kind,

all

placed near the entrance of the Catacombs, but not within

Our

them.

of burial,

history, therefore, of the

now

is

out any history of the changes

or

its

decorations, to

De

fit it

XV.)

(Plate

underwent, either in

details

its

is

On

all authority.

it

to

have been

in

at

the contrary,

some

it

is

bases of the pillars and the

it

were

for these

Rossi's

after

form

same

time, that

own

his

even required
its

monuments

this

fancy, void of
in

nearly

by what may

former splendour,
at the sides

e.

g.,

still

the

remain

in

columns and of the marble

found lying upon

the

ground,

and many other particulars we must

own work, which

completion

its

has been suggested

their original places, portions of the

lattice-work

the

no mere product of

be recognised amid the wreck of

But

its

for its use as a sanctuary.

reminding them,

restoration "

all

it

not attempt to draw

shall

Rossi has given his readers a beautiful sketch of the

chapel, as he believes

*'

we

complete, and

Papal Crypt, as a place

&:c.

refer to

&c.

De

here, as often elsewhere, refuses to

be abridged.

We

must

most

not, however, take our leave of this

interest- Inscription of

ing chapel without making a few remarks on one part of the

restoration

Damasine

at

least,

which

We

inscription.

able to appreciate

its

is

unquestionably correct

shall find ourselves

meaning now than when

on our entrance into the

much

first

Hie congesta jacet qua^ris si turba Piorum,

Corpora Sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra,
Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Coeli
Hie comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropaea
Hie numerus procerum servat qui altaria Christi
Hie positus longa vixit qui in pace Saeerdos
Hie Confessores sancti quos Grseeia misit
Hie juvenes, puerique, senes eastique nepotes,
Quis mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.
Hie fateor Damasus volui mea condere membra,
Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare Piorum.
;

better

we saw

aibiculuin.

the
it

{^^f-^i^

ci^Dt"^

Roma

148
" Here,

if

you would know,

Sotterranea.

lie

heaped together a whole crowd of holy

ones.

These honoured sepulchres inclose the bodies of the

saints,

Their noble souls the palace of Heaven has taken to

itself.

Here

who

the companions of Xystus,

lie

bear away the trophies

from the enemy

Here a number of elders, who guard the altars of Christ;
Here is buried the Priest, who long lived in peace
Here the holy Confessors whom Greece sent us
Here lie youths and boys, old men, and their chaste offspring,
"Who chose, as the better part, to keep their virgin chastity.
Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my bones,
;

But

Vast number
o ^^[^Jj^s "^^^

feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints."

the poet seems to allude to a

number of

martyrs laid together in one Lirge tomb, such as

we know,

In the

lines,

first

from Prudentius,'^ were

Catacombs

and

is

it

old itineraries which

to

be seen

a singular fact

we quoted

some

in

tliat

in the

parts of the

Roman

whereas both of the

beginning of

this

book

of 80, the other of 800, martyrs in imme-

speak, the one

diate connection with this part of the cemetery, a pit of extra-

ordinary depth
chapel, before

is

we

still

to

be seen

pass

on

to St Cecilia's.

make

concurrent testimonies
sider the subject

it

in the corner of this very

Such a number of

worth while to pause and con-

somewhat more

attentively.

common,

It is

indeed, with a certain class of writers, to set these statements

on one side as manifest and absurd exaggerations

language of Prudentius

is

precise,

it

and yet the

and an accurate knowledge

of the laws and customs of Pagan

accept

Rome

as a literal statement of the truth.

predisposes us to

Prudentius sup-

poses his friend to have asked him the names of those

had shed
(iituli)

very

their

are innumerable

do
;

this, for that

He

Rome, and
replies that

the epitaphs
it

would be

the relics of the saints in

Rome

that so long as the city continued to worship

Pagan gods,

the just.

name

for the faith in

inscribed on their tombs.

difficult to

their

blood

who

On many

their

wicked rage slew vast multitudes of

tombs, indeed, he says, you

of the martyr, and

*

some

may

read the

short inscription, but there are

Peristeph.

xi.

1-17.

The Papal Crypt,

also

many

others which are silent as to the name, and only-

You can

"

express the number.

lie

heaped up together"

more

and he

149

ascertain the

number which
but nothing-

{congestis corpora acervis),

one grave,

particular

specifies in

learnt that the relics of sixty

men had been

which he

in

whose names

laid,

were known only to Christ as being His special

friends.

Let

us put side by side with this a narrative from the Annals of

and

Tacitus,'''

of those
able.

all

whom

It

be

the law

appears that

Rome

law of

w-e shall

that, if

satisfied that

condemned was by no means improbit

had been provided by the ancient

a master was ever murdered by his slave,

were

his fellow-slaves

to

Pedanius Secundus, who had

city,

death together with the

suffer

Such a murder happened

culprit.

such wholesale butchery

in the year a.d. 62, of

lately

one

been the Prefect of the

and who was the master of four hundred

The

slaves.

innocence of the great majority of these slaves was notorious,

and

this,

coupled with the unusual number of the victims,

created a considerable excitement

among

The

the people.

matter was discussed in the Senate, and some of

its

members

ventured to express compassion, and to deprecate the rigorous

execution of the law.

It w^as

decided, however, apparently by

a very large majority, that the law should take

{nihil

its

course

mutandum), and when the people threatened violence,

the troops were called out, the whole line of road was guarded

by them, and the unhappy four hundred were put

once.

to

death at

Tacitus has recorded the speech of one of those

who

took the chief part in the debate, and his language and argu-

ments are precisely those which we can imagine

to

have been

used again and again in the second and third centuries by

orators
"

Now

persuading a general persecution of the Christians.

that

we have nations amongst

have different

rites

haps no religion at

us," said Cassius, "

and ceremonies, a foreign

all, it

is

who

religion, or per-

impossible to keep such a rabble

{conluviem isfam) under restraint in any other

* Tac. An., xiv. 43-45.

way than by

Roma

150

True, indeed, some innocent persons will perish with

fear.

the

But,

guilty.

wherever

be always incidental

necessary to

is

it

example of severity

striking

make some

for the public good,

injustice

to

We

point.

author of

upon

Mortibus Pe7'secutorum^ who was

when

great, they

on

the

number of

many

to

how

it

was possible

have been buried

in

one grave.

we conclude

fore,

that there seems to

calling in question the truth of

ally

but surrounded by

singly,

and thus burnt together {gregatim

This explains to us

have told us on

this

tells

us

condemned was very

Christians

were not executed

all sides,

this

a co-

at least

temporary witness of what he describes, and who

that

Nor

only add, however, that of Lactantius, or the

will

De

there will

certain individuals."

the only testimony that could be alleged

this

is

Sotterranea.

fire

ambiirebajitur).'^

for the relics of so

On

the whole, there-

be no

solid reason for

what ancient authorities gener-

subject,

however

difficult

be, in this or that particular instance, to verify the

it

may

number

recorded.

Of

the companions of St Sixtus, and of the

had been buried

in this chapel,

and

whom

Damasus next commemorates, we have

many Popes who

the inscription of

already given a

full

account, nor will our readers have any difficulty in recognising

St Melchiades in the priest,

enjoyed a long
"

The

life

or bishop {Sacei'dos\ "

of peace," after the persecutions had ceased.

confessors sent from Greece," are to be found in the

various martyrologies, and the

by De Rossi
,

who had

names of some

as Hippolytus, Adrias, Maria,

Of

the remainder, their

no

distinct

names

are " in the

memorial of them remains on

* C. XV.

are enumerated

Neo, and Pauhna.

Book

earth.

of Life," but

CHAPTER

IV.

CRYPT OF ST CECILIA.

NARROW

doorway, cut somewhat irregularly through Chapel

Cecilia,

the rock in the corner of the Papal Crypt, introduces

As we

us at once into another chamber.

doorway we observe

The

that the sides were once covered with

and the arch over our heads adorned with

slabs of marble,

mosaics.

pass through this

first

impression we receive from this chamber

one of strong contrast with what we have just

The room

much

is

other had been

larger

only

it

is

by 11);

14

and has a wide lumina7'e over

light

yet

we

see

nearly

it,

it

20

left

feet

behind

us.

square (the
shape,

irregular in

is

is

completely flooding

it

with

no altar-tomb, no cotemporary epitaphs of

popes or martyrs, nor indeed anything

else

which

at

once

engages our attention and promises to give us any valuable

information.

Perhaps a more careful examination may detect

objects of interest

still

remaining on the walls; but

understand and enjoy them when they are found,

that our

minds should

first

if

we would

it is

necessary

be stored with some knowledge of

the history of St Cecilia, before

whose tomb we

may perhaps provoke

who know that the sceptical

are.

This

confident statement

a smile in some of

our readers,

criticism of the last

century endeavoured to throw a doubt upon the existence of

such a martyr

or would insist, at least, on transferring the

scene of her history from

just

now

Rome

to Sicily.

Moreover, we have

seen the announcement of a French archbishop in the

fifteenth century,

bidding us venerate the grave of St Cecilia in

the cemetery at St Sebastian's,

more than a quarter of a mile

of St

Roma

152
oft'.

What

fresh

Sotterranea.

knowledge, then, has been gained since that

time, which enables us not only to detect his error, but also to
insist

with confidence upon the correctness of our

in

stead

its

And

to set aside our

judgment as peremptorily

We

first

some sketch of

The Acts

History of St
Cecilia.

we

as

we must

set before

leave this

them, as we have

said,

the legend of St Cecilia.

of her Martyrdom, as they have

though

yet,

are setting

we

come down

cannot lay claim to any higher antiquity than the

and

up

hope thoroughly to

our readers on these questions before

chapel; but

assertion

there no danger of later critics rising

is

aside those of our predecessors?

satisfy

own

their corruption

fifth

to us,

century;

and interpolation be

freely

admitted, recent discoveries have proved that they are unquestionably true in

all

their chief features,

We

their minutest details.

of the legend as

is

shall,

and

therefore,

many even of
first give as much
in

necessary for our purpose, in

popular

its

form, and then point out the few but important particulars in

which sound criticism obliges us

St Ceciha,

then,

was a maiden of noble blood, born of

parents of senatorial rank

precise

upon

to correct them.

this point,

distinguished her rank

the language of the Acts

Iii^enua, nobilis^ darissima.

probably a Christian mother.

named
by

Valerian.

secret

having

in

marriage to a young

husband

to visit

Appian Way, by
was

his

martyred for

Maximus, the

moved by

vow

St Cecilia

had already consecrated

to the service of her

Lord

in the state of

and on the day of her marriage she persuaded her

virginity

also

earliest infancy,

of very amiable and excellent dispositions, but a

patrician

herself

She had

Her father, however, must have

been a pagan, for the saint was given

most

using the exact technical words which

been brought up a Christian from her

pagan,

is

Pope Urban,

whom

lying hid in a cemetery

he was instructed and baptized.

brother, Tiburtius.

refusing
oflftcer

on the

to

who

offer

So

These two were presently

sacrifice

to

the

gods,

and

presided at their execution, was so

their constancy, that

he too was brought to the

faith.

Crypt of St

Cecilia.

and received the crown of martyrdom with them.

were buried

Catacomb of

in the

53

These

all

we

St Praetextatus, where, as

have seen, the ancient pilgrims thought them worthy of special

mention.
that her

Cecilia

still

lived,

warm bath

in her

the walls on

all

own

up

best

and that the pipes with which

be heated to such

sides w^ere perforated, should

Instances of this kind of

degree as to cause suffocation.

was thought

common

in

Roman

any reason,

desirable, for

history,

heated "seven times more than

it

whenever

to avoid publicity.

room appointed her;

entered the

Cecilia

it

Caldarium, or room of the

in the

palace,

secret execution are very

it

Almachius thought

as

punishment should be as secret as possible, he ordered

that she should be shut

and

the

furnace was

to

be heated;"

was wont

she remained there for a whole day and night, yet at the end
of the time

it

was found

fiery furnace, so

now

that, as

with the Three Children in the

with this virgin, " the

fire

had no power

'over her body, nor was a hair of her head singed, neither w^ere

her garments changed, nor the smell of

No

her."

fire

had passed on

sweat stood upon her brow, no lassitude oppressed

her limbs, but she was sound and w^hole as at the beginning.

When
fect,

this

unlooked-for intelligence was conveyed to the pre-

he sent one of the

He

head.

found her

in

lictors

the very

proceeded at once to accomplish

the axe

fall

wath orders to strike off her

his errand.

upon her tender neck,

wounds, but, w^hether

it

room of her

inflicting

was that the

and

victory,

Three times did

deep and mortal

sight of so

noble a victim unnerved the heart of the

young and

executioner,

or

whether his hand was supernaturally stayed by the hand of

God, certain

it

is

that

the law did not allow

his

more than three strokes

went away, leaving her yet

blood.

The manner

work was not complete, and

alive,

to

be given, he

though bathed

in

her

own

of death having been thus changed,

was no longer necessary that the door of the chamber

which she lay should be kept closed
fore,

as

and

as

as

it

in

soon, there-

the executioner had withdrawn, the faithful of her

Roma

154

Sotterranea.

house and neighbourhood flocked

in to receive the last

They found her

of the dying martyr.

stretched

upon the

marble pavement, calmly awaiting the moment of her

and

crowded round

as they

that they might reverently collect

to

find in her sacred blood,

as blood that

it all

and was

the love of Jesus,

she spoke

sight,

For two days and nights she continued

as

were, between

it

life

and death

Pope Urban

the venerable

in this state, hovering,

our readers that we are only repeating what

Acts

came

to bid farewell to his

prayed," she said, " that

days, until I

had

first

your Blessedness"

whom

" the poor,

this house, to

ever."

remmd
" I have

might not die during these three

had an opportunity of recommending

the
I

morning

written in the

is

beloved daughter.

title

to

by which the popes were then ad-

we now address them

dressed, just as

third

necessary again to

is

it

needs.

several

their

and on the

had been

therefore precious in His

according to

all

release,

her, dipping their handkerchiefs or

any other piece of linen they could

spilt for

breath

as

"your Holiness"

have always nourished, and of giving you

the intent that

it

may be made

The bishop had no sooner

a church for

signified his assent to her

dying requests, and given her his blessing, than, turning her
face towards the ground,

gently together

pure

upon her

and passed

spirit,

and

letting her

and

his

deacons bore

Callixtus,

it

Body

of St

lated by Paschal I., A.D.

Such

is

*
least

is still

narrative.

and Urban

out of the city into the cemetery of St

in a

chamber

" near his

own

and martyrs."

The

history

more remarkable and equally important

Pope Paschal

I.

to

succeeded to the see of Peter

The use of a coffin was very unusual among the

among those who were buried in the Catacombs

are arguments which oblige us to believe that one

sion.

coffin of cypress-

the legend of St Cecilia's martyrdom.

of her relics
Q^^j.

rough

which she had died

where he buried her

colleagues, the bishops

in a

That

God.

into the presence of her

in the attitude in

fall

she breathed forth her

right side,

same evening her body was placed

wood,* just

arms and hands

early Christians, at
;

nevertheless, there

was used on

this occa-

Crypt of St
in

January A.D. 817, and

Cecilia.

55

the following July he translated

in

2300 martyrs,

into different churches in the city the relics of

collected from the various suburban cemeteries, which at that

Amongst

time were lying in a deplorable state of ruin.

removed were those of the popes from the Papal

relics thus

He

Crypt we have just described.

same time the

the

cover her tomb

the

Lombard

body had been

whom Rome

by

king,

plundered.'^

Some

however, St Cecilia appeared to him

is

Paschal himself

at

so at length he reluctantly acquiesced in

report that her

cemeteries

had wished to remove

of St Cecilia, but he could not dis-

relics

the

these

the

who

tells

by Astulfus,

carried off

had been besieged and

four
in a

years

afterwards,

dream or

vision

it

us the story,! as well as his co-

temporary biographer, the continuator of the Liber

and told him that when he was

Poiitificalis

translating the bodies of the

popes, she was so close to him that they might have conversed

In consequence of this vision he returned to the

together.

and found the body where he had been

search,
fresh

and

perfect as

when

was

first

laid in the

It

was

tomb, and clad

garments mixed with gold, with linen cloths stained with

in rich

blood rolled up at her

Paschal himself
silk,

it

told.

tells

feet, lying in

a cypress

us that he lined the coffin with fringed

spread over the body a covering of

placing

it

coffin.

silk

gauze, and then,

within a sarcophagus of white marble, deposited

under the high

altar of the

Church of Sta. Cecilia

it

in Trastevere.

Nearly eight hundred years afterwards. Cardinal Sfondrati, Found

of the

title

of St Cecilia,

made

'

considerable alterations in the

church, and in course of his excavations in the sanctuary, he

came upon a wide

vault beneath the altar.

cophagi met his eyes.

summoned, and
opened.

It

Two

marble

sar-

Trustworthy witnesses had been already

in their presence

was found

one of these sarcophagi was

to contain a coffin of cypress-wood.

The

* See page io6.

t This vision forms the subject of an old fresco, some fragments of which
still be seen at the end of the Church of Sta. Cecilia in Trastevere.

may

incor"

Roma

156

Sotte7^ranea.

cardinal himself drew back the coffin-lid.

precious lining and

the

body nearly

silk

still

entire,

Its

and through

could be seen the shining gold of the robes

herself

was clothed.

appeared the

gauze with which Paschal had covered

eight centuries before.

but the fabric was

First

colour had faded,

its

transparent folds

in

which the martyr

After pausing a few moments, the cardinal

gently removed this silken covering, and the virgin form of St

Cecilia appeared in the very

breathed her

last

same

which she had

attitude in

on the pavement of the house

in

Urban nor

spectators were then standing, and which neither

Paschal had ventured to disturb.

of golden tissue, on which were

She lay clothed

still

which the

in her robes

visible the glorious stains

of her blood, and at her feet were the linen cloths mentioned by

Pope Paschal and

Lying on her

his biographer.

right side,

with her arms extended in front of her body, she looked like

one

in

a deep sleep.

Her head,

a singularly touching

in

manner, was turned round towards the bottom of the

her knees were slightly bent, and drawn together.

was perfectly incorrupt, and by a special miracle

more than

thirteen

hundred

and recalled with the most

forth her soul

more

years, all

its

coffin

The body

retained, after

grace and modesty,

truthful exactness Cecilia breathing

on the pavement of her bath. *

signal vindication of the Church's traditions; a

more

consoling spectacle for a devout Catholic, mourning over the

schisms and heresies of those miserable times

commentary on the Divine promise,

the bones of His servants;

would be

difficult to

He

will

conceive.

''

a more striking

The Lord keepeth

all

not lose one of them I"t

One

is

it

not surprised at the

profound sensation which the intelligence of

this discovery

created in the Eternal City.

Pope Clement

VHL,

Cardinal Baronius to

at that time sick at Frascati,

make a

deputed

careful examination of the pre-

* De Rossi has himself assisted at the translation of a body from the

Catacombs to a church two miles distant, lying on the marble slab on
which it was found, without the least displacement of a single bone.
R. S. ii. 127.
t Psalm xxxiii. 21.

Crypt of St

Cecilia,

157

cious remains, and both he and Bosio have

what they witnessed.

and devotion

All

Rome came

to satisfy

the virgin martyr lay exposed for veneration

altar

closed, on St Cecilia's day, the

sang the Mass.

accounts of
its

curiosity

space of four or hve weeks, during which

for the

tomb was again

left

and when the

Pope himself

Cardinal Sfondrati erected the beautiful high-

which now stands over the

saint's

tomb, and beneath

it

he placed a statue by Maderna, who had frequently seen the

body, as the inscription intimates.

EN TIBI SANCTISSIM^ VIRGINIS C^CILI^ IMAGINEM QUAM

INTEGRAM IN SEPULCHRO JACENTEM VIDI, EAMDEM TIBI
PRORSUS EODEM CORPORIS SITU HOC MARMORE EXPRESSI."
"

IPSE

" Behold

whom I myself saw

marble expressed for thee the
the very same posture of body."

the image of the most holy Virgin Cecilia,

lying incorrupt in her tomb.

same Saint

in

Fig.

An

17.

have

in this

Madejfia's Statue of St Cecilia.

engraving also was published at the same time

a few

may yet be found in foreign libraries, {e.g.^ at

among the MSS. of Peiresc, a cotemporary) with

copies of which
Carpentras,

the inscription,
It

Hoc

habitu inveiita

est.

has no special bearing upon our subject, yet

we cannot

help adding that in the other sarcophagus which

as having
tradition,

we mentioned
been found by Sfondrati, and which, according to the
ought to have contained the bodies of Saints Tiburand Maximus

tius,

Valerian,

the

remains of three

parently

of the

(translated from St Pr^textatus'),

bodies were

same age

and

seen,

size,

two of which, ap-

had manifestly been

Ro7na Sotterranea.

158

beheaded, whilst the skull of the third was broken, and the

abundant hair upon

was thickly matted with blood, as

it

though the martyr had been beaten to death hy thosQ phimbaicB

or leaded scourges of which Prudentius and others

and

tell us,

of which a specimen has been found in the Catacombs even

our own times, '^ and which the Acts of St Cecilia's martyr-

in

Critical exami-

dom

distinctly state to

of St

Maximus.

have been the instrument of the death

And now we must

nation of the

confront the whole of this marvellous

narrative with the actual

crypt.

they

We

and can be made

exist,

still

monuments of the cemetery,

to

throw any

light

so lar as

upon

it.

have seen that the Acts assert that Pope Urban had

own

buried the Virgin Martyr near to his

we quoted

the itineraries which

at the

Both

colleagues.

beginning t mention her

grave, immediately before, or immediately after, those of the

Pope Paschal

Popes.

to the place

body

quite close

whence he had withdrawn the bodies of his

Are

predecessors.

This

false ?

says that he found her

all

topographical

these

notices

saintly

true

or

the question which must have agitated the

is

mind of De Rossi when he discovered

chamber immediately contiguous

that there

to that in

was a second

which the Popes

Its discovery
had been buried, and we may easily imagine the eagerness
and excavation
-But this could not be
by De Rossi. With which he longed to penetrate it.

.,..,,.

done

at once.

The chapel was

top of the buninare^ and

through the luminare

the figure of a
this

him

light, first,

woman

to

lower
the

must

soil

first

be removed
pro-

on the wall of the luminare^

in the usual attitude

of prayer, but of

both the outlines and colour were too indistinct to enable

identify

Below

it.

between two sheep.

Paintings in
the In II mi are,

this

of earth, even to the very

As the work of excavation

itself.

ceeded, there came to

,

all

full

down

chamber

the wall
itself

These

the

he

this there

appeared a Latin cross

also were

wall, that

is,

came upon the

much

faded.

of the luminare^ not of

figures of three saints,

executed apparently in the fourth, or perhaps even the

* R. S.

ii.

164.

Still

t See pages

iir, 113.

fifth

Crypt of St
century

but they were

at the side

showed no

all

Cecilia.

and

of men,

trace of

159

their

names inscribed

any connection with the history

They were Policamus, whose martyrdom was

of St Cecilia.

proclaimed by a palm-branch springing up by his

and Curinus,

tianus,

this

last

side,

Sabas-

having his head tonsured with

the corona usually found on episcopal portraits of that period.

De

Rossi had never had any reason to expect a representation

tomb

of either of these saints near the

of St Cecilia.
if

we postpone

for the present,

and proceed

save us from some embarrassment, therefore,

what we have

to say

about them

It will

with our work of clearance of the whole chamber.

As we come

nearer to the floor,

we

find

wall, dose ^^"d on the

wall of the

upon the

to the entrance from the burial-place of the popes, a painting crypt.

which may be attributed, perhaps,

woman,

richly attired,

and ornamented with bracelets and

might be looked

necklaces, such as

wealthy

Roman

bride,

sent St

Cecilia.

Still

come

Catacombs

receive

to

for in a high-born

and might well be intended

further

a niche such as

to

to the seventh century, of a

is

the

and

to repre-

down, upon the same

wall,

we

found in some other parts of the

large

shallow vessel

of

oil,

or

precious unguents, which, in ancient times, were used to feed

the lamps burning before special shrines.

niche

is

At the back of

this

a large head of our Lord, represented according to

the Byzantine type, and with rays of glory behind

form of a Greek

cross.

surface of the wall,

dress, with his

name

is

Side by side with

this,

a figure of St Urban, in

it

in the

but on the
full

flat

pontifical

inscribed.

Examination of these paintings shows that they were not the

1
origmal

i.r.1-1
ornaments of this place. The
rr^i

paintmg

may

Lord's head

still
is

be easily detected.

The

niche in which our

painted bears evident traces of having once

been encased with marble, and both

^Signs of

^^^.. ancient
of St Cecflia

was executed on the surface of ruined mosaic work, portions

of which

it and the figure of St

Urban can hardly have been executed before the tenth or
eleventh century.
The continued renewal of ornamentation

ations.

more

decor-

i6o
in

Ro7na SotUrranea.

any part of the Catacombs, especially

and ninth

the eighth

and

historical

a sure

is

prolonged beyond

mark of high

religious

interest attaching to that particular spot

when we add
is

centuries,

if

by the

that immediately

a deep recess

and

side of these paintings

the wall, capable of receiving a large sarco-

phagus, and that between the back of this recess, and the back
of one of the papal graves in the adjoining chamber, there
scarcely an inch of rock,
will confess that

we think

we have here

may

of tradition, and

is

the most sceptical of critics

certainly recovered a lost thread

claim to have discovered the original

one of the most ancient and famous of Rome's

resting-place of
virgin saints.

Here was the

tomb

original

of St Cecilia,

It will

be asked, however,

^t Cecilia

was buried, and

ing chapel,

how

is it

culty in finding her

Paschal really visited the adjoin-

if

possible

tomb

where

this is really the place

if

tliat

To

he could have had any

we may

this

reply

diffi-

by remind-

ing our readers of the condition in which the Catacombs were

at that

These

time.

translations of relics were being made,

because the cemeteries in which they lay were utterly ruined.

Moreover,
both,

possible that the doorway, or the recess, or

is

it

may have been

walled up or otherwise concealed, for

the express purpose of baffling the search of the sacrilegious

Lombards.

Nor

of this spot

De

is

this

mere conjecture.

the debris

Rossi has found several fragments of a wall,

too thin ever to have been used as a

manifestly

Among

serviceable

means of

a curtain of

as

support, but

concealment

and,

although, with that perfect candour and truthfulness which

so enhances

seem

to

him

that there

all his

other merits, he adds that these fragments

to bear tokens of a later date, this

does not show

had not been another wall of the same kind

earlier period,

and he

is

also able to quote from his

at

own

an
ex-

perience the instance of an arcosolhim in the Catacomb of St

by the erection of a

Praetextatus thus carefully concealed

Evidence of
this from inscriptions.

HowTver, be the true explanation of

.

it

may, our ignorance on

this

difficulty

this
^

i.

wall.

what
j

i.

subject cannot be allowed to

Crypt of St

Cecilia.

outweigh the explicit testimony of Paschal, and the abundant

corroborations which

Not the

sources.

it

and modern

receives both from ancient

least

important

among

these

number

the

is

of epitaphs that have been found here belonging to the C^cilii

and other noble famihes connected with them by

These are so numerous

marriage.
this

that

of blood or

we cannot doubt

cemetery was originally the private property of that

and that the Saint herself belonged

stone even

seems

to

memory

now

lying in the

worthy [of

lived

and exclaims

served Thee,

shall

There

is

ge7is,

a grave-

chamber, which

this

the subject.

It is to the

Itineraries

tell

the end

at

this

it,

monument

of them, " If I have

and

Thy

bless

I will

are very suggestive.

us that the husband and brother-in-law

of St Ceciha were buried in the

Catacomb of

St Praetextatus

w^e find a Praetextatus Caecilianus privileged to

have

of the Virgin Martyr herself.

his place of burial close to that

Does not

and

his vocation] for three

not repent of

The names on

and here

it.

that

of one Septimus Pretextatus Csecilianus, a " servant of

thirty years,"

name."

to

pavement of

some testimony on

ofter

God, who had

The

ties

denote some connection between the families?

this

so that, whereas St Cecilia was privy to the

Urban, lying hid

in

the cemetery under her

movements of

own property on

one side of the road, she could also obtain burial

band and others

in the

her hus-

for

cemetery of St Praetextatus on the other

side.

Again,

De

had almost

Rossi

said

is

of opinion that

we have

and documentary

authentic

the translation on the walls of the chapel

amine closely the picture of St

with

number of

classes

graffili,

Cecilia,

w^e

evidence

of

we

ex-

itself.

shall find

If
it

covered

the one class quite irregular both as to place and

visited the shrine,

and several of

names of

confess themselves to be strangers.

express

title,

named

Ildebrandus, another

is

who
by name or

pilgrims

these, either

From

the
'

wdiich are easily divided into tw^o

style of writing, consisting only of the

had

we

distinct

Thus, one

is

Bishop Ethelred, and two

Roma

62

The

other class of

quite regular, arranged in four lines,

and containing

others write themselves

graffiti is

Sotterranea.

down

Spaniards.

almost exclusively the names of priests

woman

to this rule being that one

added

it is

fore her,

that she

and

is

appears amongst them, but

the mother of the priest

There

is

names which suggests

who

was of a

that the last signature of all

or secretary.

it

the only exceptions

something about

this

signed bescj'iniarms,

arrangement of

the idea of an official act

neither can

be attributed to chance that several of the same names

appear on the painting of St Cornelius, presently to be

same Catacomb, whence

in this

the

same time

body was

his

Some

as St Cecilia's.

visited,

translated about

of them appear also on a

painting lately discovered in the subterranean San Clemente

and others again

man

in the subscriptions to the decrees

Council, held a.d.

are very

common, such

Of

826.
as

of identity

Leo, Benedictus, or Joannes, and

peculiarity of writing,

in

a sus-

some

both instances with the

letters

square, others written in a running hand,

as

suffice to raise

but when such names as George and

Mercury appear, and are signed

same

of a Ro-

course some of the names

the mere repetition of these would not

]3icion

made

having been

it

cannot be rejected

an improbable conjecture that these men were among the

leading parochial clergy of

some

official

Rome, who attended

the

Pope

capacity, attesting the translation of relics in

instance, or signing the decrees of a Council in another.

graffiti

as

in

one

No

of this kind appear on the picture of St Urbanus, which,

we have already

St Cecilia,

sepulchre,

and was,

seen,

is

in fact, only

Decori Sepvlcri

half obliterated scroll or tablet

her body had been removed

much

of a

added

S,
still

later date

as an

than that of

ornament

to her

C^cili^ Martvris,

says a

remaining by

for the crosses

its side,

after

which appear on

the shoulders of the pallium were not in use before the tenth
or eleventh century.
Verification
j^ yg^
and correction
of the Acts of Cecilia's

St Cecilia.

remains to say a few words about the history of St

martyrdom, with which we began.

We

have already

Crypi of St

Cecilia.

acknowledged that the Acts are not genuine, and yet we have
seen that in substance their accuracy has been marvellously

confirmed by

all

that has since

monuments discovered

that the

been discovered.
in the

The

truth

is,

Catacombs almost enable

us to restore the Acts to their primitive form, by recalling the

probable occasion of some of their present errors.

chief difficulty that has always been urged against

cerns chronology.

The Acts

that a furious persecution

death,

For the

them con-

imply, or indeed directly assert,

was raging

at the time of St Cecilia's

and they speak of the edicts of the reigning /;7>/(r^j- as

though there were more than one

Urban

yet the mention of

Pope

time when Alexander Severus ruled

fixes the date to a

The
name of

the empire alone, and the Christians enjoyed tranquillity.

martyrology of Ado, however, whilst

still

retaining the

Urban, adds, with apparently unconscious inconsistency, that

the saint suffered in the times of Aurelius

and Commodus,

?>., First, in

change of

nearly
this

did

particular item of his information, that the

what we cannot now

derived

we

tell,

may be

but we

obtain

date.

martyrdom of
This

is

very certain that he

from some ancient authority which he trusted, and

it

trust

it

The language
known

Ado

belonged to the year 177 or thereabouts?

St Cecilia

if

Whence

years before that pope.

fifty

also,

the difficulties

will solve are manifold.

now becomes

of the Acts

facts of history.

it

consistent with the

Not only were two princes

who hated and persecuted

reigning,

the Church, but the words of the

judge as he pronounces sentence upon the martyrs are precisely equivalent to, are in fact a

words

which Eusebius

in

Emperors,

viz.,

that as

"'

many

mere

translation

of,

the very

has reported the edict of those

as should refuse to

were Christians, should be punished, but that

deny
if

that they

they denied

the charge they should be at once dismissed.

The

chronological difficulty

is

now

shifted

from the emperors

Secondly, in
chnn<Te ol

to the pope.

ask

how

If St Cecilia suffered a.d. 177, our readers will Bishop.

she could have had anything to do with St Urban.

*

H. E.

V.

I.

Roma

164

But they can also answer

Sotter7^anea.
this

question at once, by calling to

mind what has been already alluded

bishops of the same

Rome,
and

name

to,

the existence of two

at various times

the other, bishop of

the one, Bishop of

some unknown

see

the one,

pope

confessor, buried in St Callixtus', the other, a martyr, buried

in St Prsetextatus'.

We

need only suppose

Rome

these two bishops was resident in

that the earlier of

during the episco-

pacy of St Eleutherius, and occasionally acted

know

for him, as

and Ercolanus acted

that the Bishops Caldonius

at

we
one

time in Carthage for St Cyprian.

And

other
exaggerations.

"YXi^

corruptions of ancient Acts are ordinarily in the

exaggeration.

As every

trate or prefect, so

way

of

magistrate becomes the chief magis-

was only natural that Urbanus, a bishop,

it

should become Urbanus, the Pope; and since the interpolations were

made

whilst yet the bodies, both of the

pope and

the virgin martyr, lay each in their original tomb, and could

be seen

in

immediate proximity

one another, the connection

to

between them must have seemed obvious and

copyist

who

the license,

common

to all historians, of assigning the motives

Urban were buried

of the

and the

transcribed or compiled the acts, had only to use

or causes of effects which he

St

certain,

name

of

had

to record.

in adjoining

Urban had been a

therefore they were one

St Cecilia

and

chambers, and a bishop

friend of hers during life;

and the same Urban, and the Pope had

given this honourable place of burial to the saint, because of

his affection for her,

and admiration of her distinguished

So argued the scribe of the

fifth

merit.

or sixth century, consci-

entiously doing his best to chronicle the glories of the Church,

and

to repair the

wholesale

injuries

destruction

which she had suffered from the

of her ancient

records

whereas we

of the nineteenth century, though removed to a greater

tance from the time of action, yet having a larger
servation,

and exercising

sound

criticism

of contradictory notices that have

to

propose another

mode

field

dis-

of ob-

upon the multitude

come down

to us, venture

of reconstructing the history.

Crypt of St

We

more disposed

feel

165

Cecilia.

to believe that St Cecilia

here, because the cemetery was her

own property

family, or at least several important branches

was buried

that her

of

it,

whole

embraced

the Christian faith before the close of the second century (so

numerous are the Christian epitaphs of

that period belonging

and that they then transferred

to them),

cemetery, and a

this

considerable portion of the adjacent ground, for the general

Pope Zephyrinus, who

use of the Church, to

forthwith ap-

pointed his deacon, Callixtus, to take charge of

became

time the most extensive and important of

in

subterranean cemeteries
ally a

that St Cecilia's vault

into

it

was

and
all

it

the

origin-

Damasus opened

very small and dark chamber,"' but that

new entrance

exist,

it,

by the staircase and vestibule which now

and enlarged the chamber

considerable labour and

at

expense, as the large brick arches and walls abundantly prove;

and

was done

that this

many

who

pilgrims

for the better

flocked to

a somewhat later period

at

Sixtus III.

visit

accommodation of the
Finally,

it.

probably

and those

it,

of Polycamus, Sabastianus, and Optatus, painted

We know

believe that

the pontificate of

in

the btmijiare was opened over

we

upon

figures

its sides.

of no other Sebastian that can be meant here but The

the famous martyr,

whose

saints

on

Cyrinus or accoimtecrfor
Quirinus was a martyr and Bishop of Siscia in lUyria, who, in
basilica

is

the days of Prudentius,t lay in his

was invaded by the barbarians,

and buried

his

not far

own

city,

the history

is

but when

body was brought

in the basilica of St Sebastian

Of Polycamus

off.

life.

Only

witnesses, that
*

De

this

altogether lost; neither the mar-

we know, on

among

any record of

the authority of two ancient

the rel'cs translated to the churches of

Rossi suggests, as a solution of the difficulties which his brother's

architectural analysis throws in the

history, that her

Crypt had been

for the coffin

tom.

Rome

about the year 420.

tyrologies nor ecclesiastical historians have left us

his

to

Illyria

way

of this modification of St Cecilia's

body was probably placed

set

in this

chamber

apart for the burial of the Popes.

having been used

See page 154,

note.

in

this instance,

after the Papal

This would account

contrary to the usual cus-

t Peristeph.

vii.

Roma

66

Sta.

Setter ranea.

Prassede and of San Silvestro in Capite,

in

Rome,

in the

ninth century, were those of Polycamus and Optatus, and that

the

tomb of Polycamus had been very near

Whether

Rome

had been the scene of

this

Catacomb the

We

til

ink

it

that

were brought from abroad,

it

like

was

their

names were

Perhaps

tell.

his relics

may have been

the interior of this linninare merely

and because

we cannot

those of St Quirinus, and

about the same time, and their figures

in

not.

Cecilia's.

martyrdom, and

his

original place of his burial,

more probable

St

just

painted

by way of ornament,

then in men's mouths.

This seems also to be the only account that can be given of

the appearance on this wall of the third figure, Optatus.

We

can only conjecture that he was the Bishop of Vesceter, in

Numidia, of

whom we

read that he was put to death by the

Vandals, and that his body was brought

to

Rome

A.D. 430.

VLPIO FLORENTIO

BENEMERENTI QVI
VIXIT ANNOS LXXVII
DIES XI QVIESCIT IN
PACE III KAL IVNIAS

Fig. 18.

On

the me-nsix 0/ an ArcosoUuJii in Cemetery of St Soteris

about

CHAPTER
THE EPITAPH OF

HE

Itineraries, after

and

" the

V.

ST EUSEBIUS.

mentioning St Cecilia and the popes, Crypt

innumerable multitude of martyrs

of St

" that rest

near them, go on to say that Eusebius, pope and martyr, rests

in a
in

cave some way off; and St Cornelius, pope and martyr,

another cave

still

farther

review of the historical

Callixtus,

it

caves or subterranean

Eusebius

first,

monuments of

necessary that

is

That we may complete our

off.

chambers

we should
;

and we

as being the nearest.

and the other popes

paces from the

It

with letters

not

both of these

will take that of St

viz.,

where

between St Cor-

much more than

a hundred

latter.

was whilst searching

1852, that

visit

It lies, in fact, just

our guides would have led us to expect,

nelius

cemetery of St

the

for the popes' chapel, in the year Fragments

De

Rossi came upon half a dozen bits of marble, Damasine

in a character somewhat like the Damasine in inscription.

form, yet very inferior in execution.

The only

perfect

words

were scinditur and seditio, and the fragments were eus,

EXEMPL, and integ.

Immediately he remembered the

tion about a certain Eusebius, which, having

inscrip-

been found

old MSS., without any indication of the place whence

it

had

been copied, had furnished a subject of much discussion

Baronius, Tillemont, and others, as to

Some,

ship.

taken

it

like

its

sense and author-

Eusebius spoken of had been the

pope of that name, and had attributed the

;

to

Tillemont and the Bollandists, had almost

for granted that the

Pope Damasus

in

whilst others thought

it

verses, therefore, to

incredible that history

Roma

68

Sotterranea.

should have been so absolutely silent about incidents of such

magnitude to the Church of Rome, and chose rather

them

We
De

some

to

to refer

priest or bishop holding a less exalted position.

need not say towards which side leaned the opinion of

Rossi,

had

finding these fragments just where he

after

reason to believe Pope Eusebius had been buried

and he took

the earliest opportunity of publishing the discovery in a lecture

before one of the learned societies in

to penetrate

and

place,

the

fitlly

had yet

to

work of excavation enabled

wait nearly five years before the

him

He

Rome.

into the interior of the cemetery at this

The

to set the question finally at rest.

labours of

Commission of Sacred Archaeology had been employed

during the interval in disinterring those chapels of the popes

and St Cecilia which have been

they returned to

which here, as elsewhere throughout

had been poured

interest,

De

luminare^

same

in

all

the crypts of historical

open

centuries tlirough an

for

soil

Rossi discovered forty other fragments of the

inscription.

When

Importance of
cryp^

1856

in

and as they removed the

spot,

this

But

just described.

the excavation was completed,

it

was easy

to see the

this

importance which had

were now recovered.

ing to

once attached

Not only was

them from the upper

the subterranean

itself,

air,

to

the

chapels that

there a staircase descend-

but walls had been built in

who

to prevent those

entered

from

it

going astray, and losing themselves in the labyrinth of sur-

rounding

galleries.

They were guided

of necessity to two

chapels, opposite to one another, on different sides of the

path.
larger,

One was about 9 feet by 12, the other considerably

16 by 13.
The smaller one had once been highly

decorated with paintings, mosaics, and slabs of marble.

is

now

sadly ruined, but

the mosaic

it is

still

possible to distinguish

ently)

among

work one of the most common Christian symbols,

a double-handed vessel, with a bird on either side of

among

All

it

and

the paintings, the representations of the seasons (appar-

and other accessories of ornament

but the main figures

The Epitaph of St

Eiisebius.

The

and general design have perished.

69

walls of the opposite

that the pilgrims

chamber were never cased with marble, so

were able to leave here the same tokens of their presence as

they

left

are mostly in Latin,

and among the few

symptoms of Byzantine

are

may

later date

the old forms of

&c,, have disappeared

?ne?ite kabete,

same general

graffiti are of the

somewhat

character, only of a
prayer,

The

at St Sixtus'.

the inscriptions

that are Greek, there

On

peculiarities.

we

the whole,

say with confidence, that they belong to the

fifth

century

rather than to the third.

The

Of

room.

chambers, however,

interest of these

1-1
mscnption, which

-1
occupies the

now

was not

course, this
'

its

On

in

been published
its

We

honour of Eusebius.

and

^;

but

it

an imperial

is

in-

on the other, a Damasine,

Damasine, because

it

also because

But everybody can see

title itself.

it

it

had

even before

lays claim to

at a glance'"" that

it

was never executed

by the same hand to which we are

many

other beautiful productions of that pope.

indebted for so

De

Whilst

Rossi had only recovered three or four fragments,

he was disposed to think that

earliest efforts of the artist

perfection

might have been one of the

who

subsequently attained such

number of specimens

but as the

it

became more and more convinced

in

later

age

partaking of
tions,

tlie

restoration^

as

characteristics of

which are not improvements.

antiquaries in the

summer

that

it

increased, he

was a copy made

we should now

many

say,

and

modern

restora-

In his lecture to the

Roman

other

of 1856, he proclaimed his firm

persuasion that the stone, which he was then partially recovering,

was not the original on which the epitaph of St Damasus

had been

first

engraved
*

but that

See Plate

TT., at

it

had been

end of volume.

set

Inscription to
Eusebius, a
restoration of
''^'^

11

see both sides of the

in the later editions of his works,

discovery in this place

that

call

centred in the

oriinal
position
o
r

the one side

pagan times

scription belonging to

is

-11

middle of the smaller

we may

has been so placed, in order that

stone without difiiculty.

up by Pope

^^

^''^

^\V censeventh
t"i-y.

Roma

70

Symmachus, or

whom we know

Vigilius, or

We

Vigilius, in

some of

John

498-574), of

III. (a.d.

that they did their best to repair the

which had been done

others.

Soltei^ranea.

in the

have already quoted * an

and De Rossi thought

Damasine

He

inscriptions

same who had

the

dar, of

had

it

also,

on another occasion,

tlie artist

who had engraved

was Furius Dionysius Filocalus,

illustrated the civil

and

ecclesiastical calen-

which we have spoken elsewhere as being one of our

time, both of these conjectures of

De

In course of

Rossi have been estab-

When

by most incontrovertible evidence.

fragments that

appeared
title

had been

very probable that this

most valuable ancient Christian documents. t

lished

Pope

inscription of

the titu/i of Damasus, which had perished, or at least

publicly hazarded a conjecture that

the

damage

which he expressly mentions that he had restored

might be one of them.

all

of

Catacombs by the Lombards and

the marble tablets on which they were engraved

broken

all

at

could be found

were

put

all

together,

the

there

the top and bottom of the tablet the following

DAMASUS EPISCOPUS FECIT EUSEBIO EPISCOPO ET MARTYRI.

"Damasus, Bishop,

and on

set

up

this to Eusebius,

either side of the verses, a single

Bishop and Martyr."

file

of letters reveals

to us

FURIUS DIONYSIUS FILOCALUS SCRIBSIT DAMASIS PAPP^

CULTOR ATQUE AMATOT.
"Furius Dionysius Filocakis, a worshipper i" and lover of Pope Damasus,
wrote this."

The

inscription itself ran thus

" Heradius forbad the lapsed

to grieve for their sins.

Eusebius taught

The people were rent into

those unhappy ones to weep for their crimes.
parties, and with increasing fury began sedition, slaughter, fighting, disStraightway both [the pope and the heretic] were
and strife.
banished by the cruelty of the tyrant, although the pope was preserving
cord,

t See page 19.

See page 105.
sense
of
worship,
i.e.. honour.
the
old
De Rossi
X Used, of course, in
by
other inscriptions.
reads Dainasi sui PapiP^ which is confirmed
"

The Epitaph of St

Eitsebius.

the bonds of peace inviolate.

He

Lord

shoi"e of Sicily

as his Judge,
*
life."

and on the

bore his exile with joy, looking to the

gave up the world and his

Moreover, a diligent search among the minute fragments of Fragments of

the original
-11
11111-1
r
Stone and marble lymg amid the rubbish 01 the chamber g^jj
^e seen.
1

j.^^

brought to hght several

executed with the same faultlessness as

tion,

specimens of

its

class

and amongst these

copy the whole

instance, the

word

were one or

bits

attempted

or seventh century

as,

for

which the copyist entirely omitted from

in,

He

the third line.

the sixth

in

inscrip-

the other

all

man who

two which had escaped the search of the

to

Damasine

bits of the original

seems

have been an ignorant man, only

to

able to transcribe the letters which were before him, and even
leaving, occasionally, a vacant space
that a letter

where he was conscious

was wanting, which, however, he could not supply.

Our readers have an opportunity of comparing

...
-1^1
XT
inscription with its restoration in Plates 11. and
.

end of the volume

errors

much more

and although the task of correcting the

to

any

scholar,

difficult for

where there

is

those

we must remember

who saw

it

no separation of the

from those of another.

the

the original Former

editions of this
^1
TTT
111., at the Hiscription.

and supplying the omissions of the copyist may now

seem very easy

itself,

It

is

that

it

was

only on the stone

letters of

one word

curious, therefore, to observe in

MSS. which have come down

to us (the writers of

which

never saw the original stone) the fresh blunders introduced

by the ineffectual attempts

The

substitution of sua for

insertion of

in the third,

made

at correction

sum

in the

in earlier ages.

second

line,

and the

were too obvious to be overlooked

but seditiocaede of the fourth line was dissolved into sed

ede in the

MS.

first

adopted by Gruter

in the penultimate, is

into
It

omnino
is

whilst the

et loca

word omino,

changed, in one MS., into homine^ and

in another.

not without reason that

recovery of this stone

*

The

as

De

Rossi rejoices in the importance

one of the happiest

original can be seen in Plate III.

fruits

of his

m^cnp[-^^^

of

Roma

172

labours in this cemetery.

Sotterranea.
It

in

is,

The

chapter in the history of the Church.

days,

who had

transcribed

it,

the recovery of a lost

fact,

omitted

scholars of Alcuin's
or dedication

title

its

nor did they give any information as to where they had seen
Baronius, therefore, as

it.

memory

Roman

said, refused to

He

Pope Eusebius.

as belonging to

the

we have

accept

it

could not believe that

of so important an incident in the history of the

Church, and the

of one of

life

its

chief pastors, could

have so entirely perished, as never to have come to the knowledge of Eusebius the historian, for example, nor have
trace behind

in

it

beyond question, we are able

to see

the circumstances of the times

be interested

it

in studying this

how admirably

belongs to

Now,

any other cotemporary records.

however, that the identity of the person spoken of

will

left

is

put

it fits

into

and our readers

page of ancient history just

rescued from the devouring jaws of time.

Its interpretc-

Every student

is

familiar with

one phase,

at least, of the

tion.

disputes of the second and third centuries, as to the proper

'

discipline to

be observed towards those unhappy Christians

who had denied

the faith

fession of paganism,

and relapsed

into the outward pro-

The

under the pressure of persecution.

schism of Novatian has impressed upon us the existence in

those days of a hard, proud, self-satisfied

members of

temper

many

in

the Christian flock, like that of the elder brother

in the parable of the prodigal son,

which would

fain close the

door of reconciliation against these miserable apostates.

has brought out in bold

relief

to

It

hateful

severity the

tme mother

the Church,

this

Mercy of the

tender and merciful conduct of our

wards apos-

^^er ready to follow the teaching and example of her Divine

tates,

pour

and wine

wounds of bleeding

Head,

to

and

welcome the penitent returning

to

oil

into the

to his

had not been so conscious perhaps of another

the Church had to encounter, about this

other side.

We

home.

But we

difficulty

same

souls,

which

time, on the

had not watched so keenly her prudent

ness in imposing conditions

upon her grant of

firm-

forgiveness.

The Epitaph of St Eusebius.

penance from those who

and exacting wholesome

obtain

Nevertheless, there

it.

73

would

not wanting in cotemporary tempered by

is

severity,

records very distmct testimony to her exercise of a divmely-

wisdom

inspired

in this particular

and the

pontificates,

both

of Eusebius and of his predecessor Marcellus, illustrate in a

most

Roman

the

way

striking

The

of her character.

this part

clergy to St Cyprian, written at a time

was vacant, speak quite

see of Peter

when

the

clearly as to the tradition

They show

and practice of the Church.

of

letters

us the lapsi^

armed

with letters of recommendation, which they had obtained from

martyrs or confessors
reconciliation

of the

and the

pressing

faith,

priests

and deacons

immediate

for

upon a

insisting

middle course, between too great severity and sternness, and

demand

too easy an acquiescence with their

facilitatem et nosti'am quasi

remedy must not be

that the

remedy be applied too

the

be created

will

"

diirain

ful

say

hastily, a

new and more

fatal

if

wound

Let the groans of the penitents be heard,

them shed abundant

let

those eyes, which have wickedly looked upon

tears, that so

may

They

crudelitatem).

than the wound, and that

less

not once only, but again and again

idols,

{pronaifi nostrain

blot out before

God, by

deeds they have committed

"

sufficient tears, the

unlaw-

and they repeat maxims of

kind again and again. St Cyprian, too, in his own letters, Consequent
disturbances
P
T
speaks of riots and disturbances having been caused in some

this

towns of Africa by

the'

extort

fain

Church an immediate restoration

munion.

After this date,

turbances arising from

term of peace, during

from

therefore,

would

fell

fain

to

from the rulers of the

her peace

we do not read

this

cause, until

of any

the

and com-

more

dis-

persecution of

That persecution had been preceded by a long

Diocletian.

relaxed

overweening presumption and violence

who would

of apostates,

1-1

primitive

their

away

return.

Church's discipline.

which men's minds had somewhat

strength

and

fervour.

Many,

but when the persecution ceased, they

Marcellus

He

was firm

in

upholding the under Mar-

was resisted with violence, especially

Roma

74

by one who,

least of

all,

Sottei^raiiea.

had any

right to plead for a mitigation

of it, as he had denied the faith even in time of peace.

Angry

passions were roused, and the public tranquiUity was disturbed

by the violence of the contending

who had no

that Maxentius,

edict of toleration

love for Christianity,

was dictated by the merest

determined on sending the Pope into

contained

in

an extent

factions, to such

exile.

the epitaph with which St

and whose

political motives,

This history

Damasus adorned

is

his

tomb
VERIDICUS RECTOR, LAPSOS QUIA CRIMINA FLERE
PR^DIXIT, MISERIS FUIT OMNIBUS HOSTIS AMARUS.
HINC FUROR, HINC ODIUM SEQUITUR, DISCORDIA, LITES,
SEDITIO, C^DES, SOLVUNTUR FCEDERA PACIS.
CRIMEN OB ALTERIUS CHRISTUM QUI IN PACE NEGAVIT,
FINIBUS EXPULSUS PATRIAE EST FERITATE TYRANNI.
H.EC BREVITER DAMASUS VOLUIT COMPERTA REFERRE,

MARCELLI UT POPULUS MERITUM COGNOSCERE POSSET.

" The truth-speaking Pope, because he preached that the lapsed should
weep for their crimes, was bitterly hated by all those unhappy ones. Hence
followed fury, hatred, discord, contentions, sedition, and slaughter, and the
bonds of peace were ruptured. For the crime of another, who in [a time
of] peace had denied Christ, [the Pontiff] was expelled the shores of his
country by the cruelty of the tyrant. These things Damasus having learnt,
was desirous to relate briefly, that people might recognise the merit of
Marcellus."

-^^

and Eusebius.

^'^

compare

this

epitaph on Marcellus with the recently-

discovered one on Eusebius,

same

tion of the

history.

it is

easy to recognise a continua-

Perhaps the Heraclius, named

in

the later inscription as the leader of the heretical faction, was

'the very

man whose

memorated
in

apostacy during a time of peace

Anyhow, the nature of

in the former.

which Eusebius was engaged

much

surprise

that

attracting the attention

punishments

of the

strife

is

clear

is

com-

the strife

and we learn with

of this nature was capable of

and drawing down one of the heaviest

civil

power, not out of any professed

hatred of the Christian name, but merely in the interests of

public peace.

CHAPTER VL
THE SEPULCHRE OF

ST CORNELIUS.

how

S we leave the ciibiculum of St Eusebius we observe

the ruined walls around us must once have shut off

every gallery from the visiting of pilgrims, save only that to

the

left,

where we soon come upon another double chamber,

half being

of these

on

is

either side of the gallery.

At the entrance of one

a graffito of insignificant appearance, yet really of

considerable historical importance.

The words

Idus Fefrua Parteiii Martiri Caloceri Martiri.

remembers the testimony of our ancient

to

be told that he has here a probable,

tion

are these, tertio

The

reader

pilgrims, will not

if

who

need

not a certain, indica-

of the burial-place of the two martyrs, Parthenius and

who

Calocerus,*

are coupled

by them with St Eusebius.

If

he knows anything, however, of the old Church calendars, he

may wonder

at the

date assigned, since the Passio of these

martyrs was always celebrated on the 19th of May.

scription
Silvestro

date as

which records the translation of

Capite, in the

in
is

their relics to

eighth century,

martyrdom,

tion

Churches, for

was made.

Can

nth

of Feb-

This date, then, did not mark the

for the calendars

yet of the translation of their relics from the

Roman

San

So does the martyrology of Bede, and

others also yet earlier.

their

in-

names the same

here written in the Catacombs, the

ruary, for their iiatale.

day of

The

it

gave another, nor

Catacombs

belonged to them before that

to the

transla-

the Bollandists be right in conjecturing

* See

page 102.

Inscription to
Jj^gj^j^^g g^j^^l

^-''^lo^^erus.

Ro7na

176
that

refers to

it

some

Sotter7'anea.

earlier translation of their relics

from one

Catacombs themselves,

place to another, within the

poses of greater security under some special

for pur-

danger

comparison of the statements by various ancient authors seems

require

to

Recent discoveries

it.

considerable countenance, and

adopt

He

it.

made

in

places their martyrdomi in the middle of the

details are too

in search of the

We

Labyrinth con-

Callixtus.

translation to have

first

support of this theory

in

must be content

necting the
crypts of St
Lucina with
those of St

it

when

all

been

the loca

were confiscated by the persecution of Diocletian.

The evidence
its

Catacombs give

Rossi does not hesitate to

the earliest years of the fourth,

Ecclesiastica

but

De

century, and believes this

third

in the

to

certainly very strong,

We

for insertion in this place.

have noticed

tomb

need not

minute

is

it,

and then pass on rapidly

of St Cornelius.

by the way,

tarry

We

to attract our attention.

indeed there

for

is

nothing

are traversing that vast network

of galleries which intervenes between the cemetery of St Callixtus

and

They

than either cemetery.

ing one another in

all

They

galleries are of later date

are generally very narrow, cross-

directions,

any regular plan.

to

These

that of St Lucina.

and impossible

to

be reduced

observe, for the most part, the

horizontal level in each of the two stories in which they have

been made

but as they

come

in

contact with portions of

very variable.

Each ^^/ of

different arecE^ their height

is

labyrinth has

and the higher system of

its

staircase,

this

galleries

spreads over the whole Catacomb without any regard to the

ancient hmits of the different

remarkable

No

for the entire

arecB.

The lower

flat is

chiefly

absence of every kind of ornament.

painting nor slabs of marble, no aibicuhcm, nor even an

arcosolium, relieves the

which we may therefore

monotony of
safely

its

long straight passages,

conclude belong to an age pos-

terior to the regular construction of

both the hypogcea.

The

union of the different groups of independent cemeteries into

* This conjecture
Sollier gives

Martyrology.

it

is not found in the Acta of the Boliandists

but
on the authority of Papebroch in his notes on Usuard's
;

77/6' Sep7tlcJire

of St

Corneliits.

one vast necropolis was not eftected without

177

difficulty,

owing

the very different levels at which their principal galleries

to

The

had been excavated.

of the labyrinth which

lies

Crypt and the tomb of St Cornelius,

will

portion

this

the point of junction,

and

He

whence

not

to recognise

fail

opportunities of

fossors accomplished

not improbably, also be set on thinking

will,

came

it

\\\q

traverses

between the Papal

many

have

will

appreciating the ingenuity w^ith which

their task.

who

attentive observer

to pass that St

Cornelius should have been Family

of St
'

buried at so great a distance from the other occupants of the

Holy See

and

if

men have

he happens to know that learned

long since fancied that they could discover grounds for suspecting

some

relationship between Cornelius

and the Gois

Cornelia^ he will note this separate place of burial as a circum-

stance seeming to corroborate that suspicion.

At

first,

this is the

the

name

markable

perhaps,

it

only Pope,

may have been

down to

of any noble

suggested by the fact that

the days of St Sylvester,

Roman

family,

and

it is

supposing

fact that this relationship,

certainly a re-

to

it

who bore

have existed,

would have connected him with the owaiers of the very cemetery in which,

by a singular exception, he was buried, many

very ancient epitaphs having been found here of the dwieiii,

as well as of the
as altogether

Maxiini

Nor can

Ccecilii.

it

an unimportant circumstance that the epitaph of

St Cornelius should have been in Latin, whilst

epitaphs,
^

be considered

so to call them, of those

who were

papal vault, were in Greek.

It is

all

the

official

buried in the

now^ an acknowledged fact

h.\s

epitaph in
^^^^^^^

]f^^^\'

Gi-eek
<T^uaje

that the earliest language of the

Roman

citizen, writes in

Church was Greek.

Greek

So does St James " to the twelve

abroad."

The Apostolic

ians of the early Church,

were carried on

Christendom lay

it

and

histor-

and her greatest theologians, wrote

in the

aside,

Rome.

which are scattered

Fathers, the apologists

The proceedings

and spoke Greek.

cils

tribes

of the

same language.
even

in

first

Nor

ot the

St Paul, a Church.

the Christians of

to

was the

official Ian-

seven Coundid Western

her ritual and liturgy, as

Roma

178
soon as

Sotterranea.

ceased to be a generally-spoken tongue.

it

Roman

sacramentaries, even of the seventh century, will be found in

which the responses are made

in a Latin translation

Greek language has

terms,

ecclesiastical

and

first

Greek, and then repeated

in

day

to this

this

ancient use of the

a deep impress on our own, in

left

such

as

hymn, psalm,

all

liturgy, homily,

catechism, baptism, eucharist, priest, bishop, and pope.'"'

The

Sepulchre of
St Cornelius.

Latin inscription, therefore, on the grave of St Cor.

nenus was certamly a departure from the ordmary practice

of that age

quite as

much

so as the fact of his burial in a

And when we come

place apart from the rest of his order.

examine the grave

kind, nor was

we

itself,

the grave of a martyr pope.

mon

loculi

we should have expected

was neither one of the com-

It

and which,

as

we have

of most of the other popes, nor

or altar-tomb of a chapel.
all,

for

with which the galleries or the walls of the cidncula

are pierced,

here at

was not of the usual

find this, too,

position such as

its

to

seen, served for the

is it

tombs

precisely an arcosolium

Indeed, there

is

no regular chapel

but only a gallery of unusual width, in a corner of

which a large grave has been excavated, of dimensions

and

cient to receive three or four bodies,

suffi-

shape not unlike

in

the grave of an aj'cosolium, but with the difference that has

been pointed out before

above the grave

that the space

There
lie

is

flat

as a token of greater antiquity, viz.,

is

rectangular, not circular.

no trace of any slab having been

We may

on the surface of the grave.

that the

body of

once occupied

the

this

pope was buried

empty

space,

altar.

and the

inscriptions in the

surrounding

it

in a

that

the wall to

conclude, then,

sarcophagus which

its

top served as the

close examination, both of the architecture

mensa or

satisfy us that

and

let into

neighbourhood of

was made on a lower

galleries,

and

at a

this

tomb,

level than that

somewhat

later period.

will

of the

Some

of the older tombs are partially blocked up by the pilasters

which flank the tomb of the pope, yet these

* History of Classical Education, p. 3.

pilasters are of

The Sepitlchre of St Cornelius.

tomb

very great antiquity, probably of the same date as the

They

itself.

once covered the inner sides also of the excavation

and much

upon

same

are covered with the finest stucco, the

we suppose the sarcophagus

been placed

to have

older, therefore, than that

the arches

made by Damasus

79

as

which

in

much

finer,

which appears above,

to support the huninare.

Both above and below the opening of the tomb are

frag- Fragments of
inscriptions in

ments of large slabs of marble,

still

adhermg

containing a few letters of what were once

tions.
sus.

and

to the wall,

important inscrip-

crypt of Sc

^'"^

^"'^'

The upper one was unquestionably the work of DamaThe letters of the lower, though strongly resembling the

Damasine

type, yet present a {q\\ points of difference, suffi-

cient to warrant the conjecture of

De

Rossi that they were

executed by the same hand, designedly introducing slight variations, to

mark

monuments

that

it

did not belong to the numerous class of

up by the devotion of

set

Of

that pontiff.

the

upper inscription, eight or ten fragments remain, enabling us

to read with certainty the
lines.

the lower one, which was written in

two fragments only remain, containing the

type,

the

Of

halves of seven hexameter

latter

line,

first

and the

first

two

letters

much

letter of

first

of the last two lines,

together with the bottoms of the six last letters of

the second line

At

first

sight

we have recovered
it

made by De

itself

Rossi,

certainly of the

De

and laborious
fruitless,

away
ing

all

and the

with very great force to

sideration to the subject.

repeating

Rossi's
efforts,

We

all

result

his difficulties,

is

such as to com-

who have

resist

given due con-

must not detain our readers by

for so long a time

his

in

many

proved utterly

at length cleared

and furnished him with a clue

him from the labyrinth

^^^

yet the attempt

most interesting account of

which

latter

and of the happy inspiration which

we cannot

Of

might seem madness to attempt the complete Attempt

on the strength of such slender data as these

mend

all.

nothing.

restoration of these two inscriptions

has been

larger

deliver-

which he was entangled.

But

the occasion of transcribing the epitaphs as

to

Roma

80

Sotterranca.

The

he supposes them to have been originally written.

ence of type

will distinguish the

differ-

conjectured restorations from

the parts that are certain, and, in estimating their degree of pro-

must remember two things

bability, the reader

fii'st^

that in-

kind were engraved with such exquisite

of this

scriptions

mathematical precision that no emendations can be admitted

which would materially increase or diminish the number of

each line

letters in

and, secondly^ that

Damasus was

in the

habit of repeating himself very frequently in his epitaphs, and

De

that several of

Rossi's restorations reproduce

favourite expressions

and forms of speech.

Had

the following

we

are confident

epitaph been found in some ancient MS.,

that

no

critic

some of his

would have seen any reason

to

question

its

genuineness
"

ASPICE, DESCENSU EXSTRUCrC' TENEBRISQUE FUGATIS

CORNELI MONUMENTA VIDES TUMULUMQUE SACRATUM
HOC OPUS .^GROTI DAMASI PR.ESTANTIA FECIT,
ESSET UT ACCESSUS MELIOR, POPULISQUE PARATUM
AUXILIUM SANCTI, ET J'ALEAS SI FUNDERE PURO

CORDE PRECES, DAMASUS RIELIOR CONSURGERE POSSET,

QUEM NON LUCIS AMOR, TENUFT MAGE CURA LABORIS."
way down has been constructed, and the darkness dismonuments of Cornelius, and his sacred tomb. This
work the zeal of Damasus has accomplished, sick as he is, in order that
the approach mii,drt be better, and the aid of the saint might be made con"Behold!

pelled; you see the

venient for the people

a pure heart, Damasus

love of

life,

his usual

modious
a time
life

may

up

will

it

him

[here below^]."

would follow that Damasus

additions of a Iin;n?iare,

staircase perhaps

was considered

De

pour forth your prayers from

though it has not been

in better health,

be correct,

when he was

with what

you

that, if
rise

but care for work, that has kept

If this reading

made

and

to

suffering

in

this

and a more com-

tomb of

from severe

St Cornelius,

illness, so that his

danger, and this harmonises exactly

Rossi would suggest as a probable restoration

of the second epitaph,

viz.

sf?

".SIRICIUS PERFECIT

OPUS
CONCLUSIT ET ARCAM
J/.-J/v'MORE CORNELI QUONIAM
J' I A MEMI5RA KY.TEJVTA'JV

at

The Sepulchre of St Cornelius.

"
it

completed the work, and enclosed the shrine with marble,

Siricius

8
for

contains the sacred remains of Cornelius."

Of

course, this restoration

than the preceding one

Rossi best,

purely conjectural

who know De

nevertheless, those

least inclined to pass over slightingly

be the

will

much more

is

He

even his very lightest conjecture.

so modest in

is

making

them, and so careful not to over-estimate tliem when made,

whilst yet subsequent discoveries have, in so

many

confirmed them to the utmost, that we

almost the same

feel

we do

confidence in his hints and guesses at truth, as

most

positive

instances,

assurances of some other writers

in tlie

on similar

subjects.

This same tomb of St Cornelius

example of
certainty

his

po\ver of

by subsequent

will

supply us with an Frescoes

happy conjecture, confirmed with

He had

discoveries.

often publicly

expressed his confident expectation of finding at the tomb of

St

CorneUus some memorial of

These

spondent, St Cyprian.

same day, though

in

cotemporary and corre-

his

tw^o saints

different

years

were martyred on the

and

their feasts were,

therefore, always celebrated together, just as they are no\v,

the

6th of September,

this spot in the

the liturgical prayers for the day

all

belonging equally to both

and the celebration was held

so

Africce

the

we read

often quoted,

RoJuce cdebratur in

Roman

liturgy,

on

Cypriani^ via Appia in

in

one of

his

at

cemetery of St Callixtus, as the most ancient

calendars and missals assure us

dar,

on

tlie

e.g.^

in

Kal

xinii.

Ca/lisfi,

same

Callisti.'^'

the Bucherian calen-

and

Oct:

CypriciJii,

an old codex of

in

day, Natale SS. Cornelii et

Now De

Rossi had found

old guides, to which he had

indebted, an extraordinary misstatement,

viz.,

been so much
that the bodies

both of St Cyprian and St Cornelius rested in the same cemetery (of St Callixtus),

though even

this

as almost to betray the truth that the

"

Sec also

S.

was

told in such a

name

Leo. M. (^]x cd. IxiUerini

way

of St Cyprian had

II.

]>.

96.

<^^

of St

Cyprian.

Roma

82

been added by a

Sotterranea.

He

later copyist."^

was

satisfied that this

blunder had not been made without a cause, but that the
pilgrim or copyist had been led into error by something he

had seen

tomb

the

at

of St

And

Cornelius.

on the

here,

re-discovery of the tomb, the cause stands at once revealed.

Immediately on the

hand

right

figures of bishops,t painted

side of the grave are two large

on the wall

Byzantine

in the

style,

with a legend by the side of each, declaring them to be St

Of

Cornelius and St Cyprian.

first

ornamentation which

it,

this wall received.

more ancient

to detect traces of

upon

course this had not been the

painting,

it is

the later

work was

Each of the

hard to determine with certainty.

bishops carries the book of the Gospels

possible

and even oi graffiti

When

underlying this later work.

executed,

It is still

his hands,

in

and

is

habited in pontifical vestments, even including the pallium^

which had not yet been confined as a mark of distinction to

metropolitans.

we compare

If

it,

specimen of a pallium which we saw

on the
is

Urban, we

figure of St

however, with the other

at the

shall observe a difference,

Here

of value as a note of chronology.

cross

marked upon the

mity in

On

front.

shoulders, wdiich are

palliiini^

Urban

St

and

may

and dignity expressed

lead us to assign to
indications

seem

it

be noted

Nor

tomb of
in the

much

to point with

in the

112.

extre-

the only note of

this

is

mani-

Indeed, the

St Cecilia.

head of St Cyprian would

date,

some degree of

did not other

certainty to the

These indications are

chiefly

painting on the other side of the tomb, on

Here, too, are the figures

of two other bishops, executed in the

Seepage

is

earlier

the wall at the end of the gallery.

on the lower

the whole style of art

beginning of the ninth century.

to

but one

be recognised on these paintings

St Cornelius

festly superior to that at the

force

is

nowhere found on paintings or mosaics

higher antiquity whicli

tomb of

that

there

which

there are crosses also on the

earlier than the tenth century.

at the

grave of St Cecilia

" Cornelius

same

style,

et ('y]irianus r/c;';////."

each having
f Plate V.

The Sepulchre of St Cornelms.

been originally designated by

his

own proper name and

title,

now be deciphered. That one stands

xvstvs pp rom the name of the other began with

though only one can

plainly scs

O.

extremely probable that this was St Optatus, a saint

It is

whom we

have had occasion to mention before;

know from

whom we

other sources to have been buried in the same

who was venerated in the Western

Church, on the 27th November, down to the ninth century or
later
whose name may still be seen on the tablet recording
cemetery with St Sixtus

the translation of relics in the basilica of Sta Prassede, but of

whose

real history nearly all traces

scs XVSTVS

pp

title

down

cemetery has been already explained

this

rom

to the

is

the

we

that

find given to other

later,

and

popes

name

the

yet confined to the bishops of Rome.'^'

found, for example, in one of the pictures lately dis-

is

covered

Leo

same

middle of the ninth century or

Fapa not having been

It

The

lost.

of course, the second pontitf of that name, whose

is,

connexion with
the

have now been

in the

IV., A.D.

subterranean of San Clemente, as the

847

and

in

of

the presbytery of Sta Sabina, of

Eugenius

II., a.d.

we would

attribute the paintings

824.

title

It is to

Leo

we

III., a.d,

are

795-815, that

now examining.

It is

expressly recorded of him in the Liber Pontificalis that " he

renewed the cemetery of

Appian
traits

"

and the legend which runs round these

pontiff".

There

some

is

part of the legend

if

we consider

difficulty in

tlie

quia factus

strength,

support

and

"

es et sitsceptor

will extol

as the

Thy

por-

work

deciphering the
is

clearly

58th Psalm, and runs thus

Ego autem cantabo virtutem t Tuam

Tuam

it

but the earlier portion

taken from the 17th verse of

"

Xystus and Cornelius on the

has a singular significance,

of this
latter

Way

Sts

meusT

et
.

mercy, for

exaltabo inisericordiam

..." I
Thou

will sing

art

Thy

become my

and these words of thanksgiving would have been

^ See

Ducange, Gloss, in Verb.

t The Vulgate has \\zx& forliiudiiiein, but the versiou used
Church in older times liad virtulcm. See Tomasi 0pp. t. ii.

in the

p. io8.

Roman

Roma

184

specially appropriate in

Sotterrarieq^.

mouth of one who had

the

suftered

such extraordinary contradictions, calumnies, and misfortunes

as

Leo had, and had then been almost miraculously delivered

out of the hands of his enemies, through the instrumentality of

We

the Em})eror Charlemagne.

we have

can hardly doubt, then, that

here some of that work of "renovation of the ceme-

Xystus and St Cornelius," which

tery of St

attributes to him.
111 crypt
of St Corue-

lius.

biographer

The low round block

Pillar

his
'

or pillar which stands by the side of

'

Cornelius' tomb, and immediately before his picture, was

older than the time of

certainty that
Itself,

as

but

they are,

of similar pillars in some other parts of the

For

Catacombs.

is

this is

not

made

out of the natural rock, as

a construction of masonry,

somewhat coarse cement.

at

say with

was made cotemporaneously with the tomb

it

we can

Leo IIL, though we cannot

much

covered with a

l)e Rossi conjectures that

one time have supported the

iiiaisa,

it

may

or altar, necessary for

the celebration of the holy mysteries, Avhich (we gather from

Prudentius)

'^

was not always

directly over the

body of the

martyr, but only somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood.

Ordinarily, however,

where
full

no doubt, there was placed

at the martyrs' shrines,

of

one of those large shallow vases,

and precious unguents, with which the

oil

here, as else-

floating wicks

of papyrus were always fed in these holy places, and from

which the

faithful

were wont to carry

Among

precious relic of the saint.

John the Deacon,

for the

many fragments

Graffiti.

^^^

as a

the relics collected by

come from

this

very place

of a vase, saturated with

substance, have been collected from

mulated

some few drops

IvOmbard Queen Theodelinda, one

ex oleo S. ConicJil must have

in fact,

off

among

and,

some unctuous

the rubbish accu-

at this spot.

the graffiti

upon the painting of

nothing special to commemorate.

affectionate
*

111

the

prayers,

l)ut

Hil)polyl.

171- 175.

St Cornelius

They

are

mere record of
Sec Note

not

we have
old

and

ecclesiastical

in Ap})ciiclix.

The Sepulchre of St Cornelius.

names and

titles,

of

men who

who

holy sacrifice, or to assist those

for

to

all,

They

came here

either

did

or,

185
to offer the

perhaps, once

take part in the translation of the sacred

relics.

are such as these, " Leo prb.^ Fefn/s prb., T/ieodorus prb.,

Kiprianus Diaconns^''
graffito

&:c.

&c.

Another and

under the neighbouring archway runs

Cerealis et Salliistia

cum

xxi. /"

more ancient

in this wise,

''

Scfus

and although we know abso-

nothing of their history, yet

lutely

far

it

interesting to

is

have

recovered even this scanty notice of the existence of these

martyrs,

thereby corroborating the statement of one of the

ancient guide-books, which placed their subterranean shrines

somewhere near

to St Cornelius.

great antiquity, though

were

it

it is

This

graffito is certainly of

impossible to

fix

not for the contracted prefix of Sctus,

have been almost tempted to look upon

it

as

its

De

precise date

Rossi would

an original and

cotemporary memorial of the martyrdom.

Fi(j.

i(j.

Fresco

0)1

ivall of ancient crypt in

Cemetery of St Lncina.

BOOK

IV.

CHRISTIAN ART.

CHAPTER

I.

THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGINAL TYPES OF CHRISTIAN ART.

The

antiquity
of Christian

THE

subject of early Christian art has been unhappily the

battle-field of

paintings.

such violent religious disputes, that

hard to gain an impartial hearing for any history that

this difficulty

last

few years

Opinions of
D'Agincourt,
Raoul Rochette,

De

Rossi,
others.

and

in the

because the paintings that have been lately

still

more

than before the voice of antiquity as bearing un-

equivocal testimony to their

this

may be

has increased rather than diiTiinished

discovered have obliged Catholic writers to claim

strongly

is

Roman Catacombs.

given of the ancient decorations of the

And

it

own

teaching and practice upon

important point.

Up

to the

end of the

supposed that Christianity

last

century,

had been generally

it

in the first ages

painting with a very jealous eye, because of

pagan hands

to purposes of idolatry

when D'Agincourt,

and

had looked upon

its

prostitution in

licentiousness.

And

writing about the year 1825, ventured to

assign a few of the paintings he

had seen

in the

Catacombs

to

a very early date, they were considered rather as exceptions

than examples of the general

rule.

Rochette spoke more confidently.

Twenty years

He

later,

Raoul

averred that the Ian-

Types of Christian Art.

187

guage of TertuUian, always a violent and somewhat exaggerated writer, had been misunderstood

that,

whereas he was

only censuring a particular abuse of the art which deserved

he was generally (juoted as having altogether pro-

censure,

scribed

it

whether

it

tive

and he concluded by saying,

tliat

" the question

entered into the views and principles of the primi-

Church

to authorise the execution of such paintings has

been long since decided,

for the Christian

by the authority

of the Church, and for the antiquarian by the study of

ments."

Within the

"

last

few years, however, the standard

of knowledge respecting art and

changed, and
apostolic

may now

w^e

history has been

its

with

claim

some of the

antiquity for

monu-

much

confidence almost

existing

specimens of

Christian painting.
It

was said by Niebuhr that ancient

Christianity began
writers

upon the

Catacombs
invention

as

is

'*

and

had ceased before

has been the fashion with most

it

subject,

art

to cry

poor productions,

down
in

the paintings of the

which the meagreness of

only equalled by the feebleness of execution." t

But Niebuhr s dictum was certainly an exaggeration, and these

writers have generally

shown

that they are not very intimately

acquainted with what they so confidently condemn.

Lord Lindsay

himself,

in

the very passage from

have quoted, speaks of the Catacombs as "

Thus

which we

for the

most part

closed up and inaccessible," and " the frescoes, obliterated by

time and destroyed."

Catacombs

as they

now

But
are

this is
;

by no means

true of the

and since the recent discoveries

them, later writers have taken a higher and truer estimate

in

both of the antiquity and of the value of the specimens of

they contain.

Kugler, in the later editions of his

of Painting," complains that

Catacomb

engravings

pictures in former days give

tion of their style.

*

the

He

art

"Handbook

taken

of the

no adequate concep-

says that " as regards the distribution

Tableau des Catacombes Romaines, 162, 176, &c., ed. Bruxelles, 1837.
f Lord Lindsay's Sketches of the History of Christian Art, i. 39.

Roma

88

of the spaces and

mode

Sotterranea.

of decoration, they approach very near

to the wall-paintings of the best period of the empire

that the

arabesques remind us of the paintings at Pompeii, and

light

in the Baths of Titus," &c.

De

'""

Rossi, fully conscious of the

of the subject he

delicate nature

hesitate to claim the

first

is

handling, yet does not

century, or the earliest part of the

second, as the true date of some paintings in the crypts of St

Lucina, in the cemetery of St Domitilla, and elsewhere

again, he

attributes to

others

the middle and end of the second

or beginning of the third

century,

and he

aside the

sets

objections of Protestants or others, as being sufficiently dis-

posed of by the

"whether

says,

facts

of the case.

asked," he

credible that the faithful, in the age of the

it is

when

apostles or of their disciples,

bosom

may be

" It

the Church, fresh from the

of the image-hating synagogue, was in deadly conflict

with idolatry, should have so promptly and so generally adopted

and

(so to speak) baptized the fine arts

? "

And

he answers,

that so grave a question deserves to be discussed in a special

treatise

but that, for the present, he " will only say that the

and

universality of the pictures in the subterranean cemeteries,

the richness, the variety,

types,

the freedom of the

when contrasted with

clearly see

becoming more

tion towards the

the cycle

stiff in

end of the

of pictures which

manner and poor

third century,

affirm the use of pictures to have

on the

sly,

as

it

in

concep-

these things prove

the impossibility of accepting the hypothesis

little,

more ancient

of those

been introduced,

who

little

by

were, and in opposition to the practice

of the primitive Church." f

And

again, "

The

flourishing con-

dition of the fine arts in the days of the Flavii, of Trajan, of

Hadrian, and of the Antonines, and the great number of their

professors in the metropolis of the empire, the conversion to

the

faith

imperial

of powerful personages, and even of

families,

certainly very
*

Page

such as

members

of

Domitilla and Flavins Clemens,

much favoured

the introduction

14, cd. Sir C. Eastlakc, 1S51.

Roma

and develop-

Sott.,

i.

196, 197.

Types of Christian Art.

ment of Christian

turies

And, on the contrary, the

pictorial art.

decHne of those same

fine

189

in

arts

the third

and fourth cen-

die increasing cost of the handiwork of the painter and

the sculptor, as their numbers diminished every day; the gradual

but continuous impoverishment of public and private fortunes,

which induced even the senate and the emperors

new monuments at
this could not much
had gained

quite as

much,

so that, even

in proselytes, in power,
if

may

say so,

and

their

ancient, all

the multiplication of

facilitate

of Christian art during that period

ful

more

the expense of others

make

to

new works

if

the faith-

in liberty, they lost

the conditions required for

the flourishing of Christian art."

Le Normant, Welcker, De

German

confirm

critics,

Witte,

this

and other French and

judgment

the

strongest same

manner;"'^ and even the most bitter anti-Catholic writers of

our own country have been obliged to yield to the weight of

now be adduced in its support,

have their own way of accounting for

evidence which can

though, of

course, they

it.

ornamented

early Christians

their

mind of

The

was congenial

it

to the

Christianity so to illustrate the faith, but because

was the heathen custom so

say, the

"

subterranean cemeteries,'^

writes one of these, t " not because

to

Pagans had been wont

vaults or sepulchral chambers,

seeing no reason

why

honour the dead

to

"

that

ornament with painting

is

it

to

their

and the Christians did the same,

The

they should not.

fact that these

sepulchral chambers were used also for purposes of religious

worship presented no

even used

many

of the

the Pagans had used,

immoral or idolatrous

minds.

difficulty to their

same devices
always

for

At

first,

excepting anything

introducing, however, here

more

that

and

was

there,

significant of

Le Normant considered some of tlie paintings in St Domitilla's cemesame style with those in the well-known pyramidical tomb
Caius Sextius. B.C. 32.
Welcker attributed the paintings in the crypts

tery to be of the

of

they

mural decoration as

as the ideas occurred to them, something

of St Lucina to the

Letters from

first

century.

R.

S.

i.

321

Rome, by Rev. W. Burgon,

p.

Bullctt. 1863, p. 3.

250,

Protestant tes-

timony to the
effect.

Ro7na Sotterranea.

iQO
own

their

creed, until

Hence

Christian.

the

it

same Protestant

by and by the whole was excKisively

is

hardly an exaggeration to say, with

"you

chapels of the Catacombs

moments whether you

There

work."
the

is

some of

writer, that in

the

the most ancient

are not certain for a few

on a Pagan or a Christian

are looking

same geometrical

same general arrangement of the

of the roof,

division

" the

subjects,

same

fabulous animals, the same graceful curves, the same foliage,

and

fruit,

flowers,

a figure of the

and birds

Good Shepherd occupying

ment of the composition, or

The

birth

and

woman

in prayer,

well-known Christian symbol, and you are at once

satisfied as

you are studying.

remark of Raoul Rochette, that " wi art ne sHmprovise

,,,!
/^^, and that

was no more

tians to invent a

was

produce

to

doubt

this

is

at

new

art,

quite true

but just as

and

in

new

so

Christianity has

they require

on increasing day by day

new forms

until at length a

and more widely from those which were

'

perhaps,

finally,

excluding

in

and these would

whole

cycle of Christian subjects would be created, departing

and

new

language of every country

or at least modifications of old forms

heathen,

it

No

ideas require

w^ay

this

in the

has gained a footing,

naturally go

once a new idiom of Greek or Latin.

made most important changes

it

^1
r
the power of the early Chris-

imitative language in painting than

words to express them,

where

m
'

it

natural,

the figure of a

some other

It is a

Christian art

the centre compart-

or of Daniel in the lions' den, (see Plate VI.) or

to the religion of the art

growth of

both;^' presently you detect

in

familiar

them

to

more
the

altogether.

This seems to be the natural and necessary order of things

and

it

once

at

strange, that

the

first

antiquity,

we do not
efforts

of indistinct

excellence

notions,

in

it

were

something

recognise in the history of Christian

of imitation

beginning

and explains an observation which

sometimes made, as though

has been

art

illustrates

common

to

the nations of

rude and formless essays, the result

and advancing step by step towards

but rather, on the contrary, find the earliest speci-

Types of Chinstian
mens of

the art to be the best,

certainly in execution.

and

191

r/.

not always in conception, yet

if

For the Christians were not a new

distinct nation, either geographically or politically; they

"a

indeed

v/ere

holy nation,

purchased

people,"'^

knit

together by the closest bonds of a supernatural charity, but

made up

they were

and

of persons gathered out " of

nations

all

and peoples and tongues ;"+ and they nowhere

tribes

refused to avail themselves of anything that was good, useful,

or beautiful,

whom

among

Whereas, then, "the creatures of

they lived.

heretofore"

the gifts or occupations of those amongst

(by painting

as well as

by other means)

God had

" been

turned to an abomination to the souls of men, and a snare to

the feet of the unwise," J He, "
expressly that through
things invisible,"

Him we

who had now become

visible

might be led to the love of

did not forbid His Church to avail herself

of the pictorial art as a means of rendering spiritual things

and thereby moving and instructing the minds of

sensible,

men.
not necessary that we should suppose the action of

It is

the Church in this matter to have been at

deliberate.

cumstances
;

and

cir-

it

was only after the lapse of two or three centuries,

Church

to interfere

by

natural progress and development of the

by pagan perse-

legislation with the

art.

Then

it

II
"

"pictures to be ^
placed in a church, or that
^
'

worshipped and adored to be painted on the walls."

Wisdom

ii,

9.

t Apoc.

xiv. il.

Praef. Miss?e in Nativ.

" Placuit picturas

vii. 9.

Dom.

non debere, nee quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur."

Count de Broglie
Cone. Illib. can. 36.
interprets this canon as forbidding any but symbolical paintings.
II

^
persecutions

was

This disciplinary enactment was, as Raoul Rochette happily

Pet.

its progress

famous canon of the Council of Elvira was passed, Canon

which forbad
is

of the

which the Christians of those days found them-

cutors, obliged the

which

fruit

in

that the violent invasion of her sanctuaries,

that the

conscious and

Rather, the birth and earliest growth of Chris-

was wholly spontaneous, the natural

tian art

selves

first

in ecclesia esse

of

^^!"^^^ ^
Elvira, A.D.

303, explained.

Roma

192
expresses

it,

"

Sotterranea.

to?ite accidentelle^

Not only

tontc de circonstancer

had the churches above ground been often

violently entered,

and some of them destroyed by order of the emperors before

the time

when

this

decree was made, but the heathen soldiery

had penetrated even the most hidden sanctuaries of the

in the

ful

depths of the earth

faith-

and there was only too much

reason to fear that the sacred subjects painted on the walls,

under almost unintelligible symbols, would be turned

often

into ridicule, after the fashion of the

blasphemous caricature of

the crucifixion, lately found on the walls of Caesar's palace.

This explanation of the decree

circumstances of the time when

is

it

was passed.

ported in the most striking way by

by the

naturally suggested

all

sup-

It is also

the facts which recent

excavations in the Catacombs have brought to our knowledge.

Even
just

quoted could say with

raisonnement

;^''

whom we

same author from

thirty years ago, the

truth, "

Le fait

but he had not at his

vient id a Pappiii

command

by which

the evidence of this statement

it

du

a tenth part of

can be

With our present increased knowledge

firmed.

have

now

as

to

conthe

chronological succession of the several parts of the Catacombs,

we

are able to say with confidence, that whereas those Chris-

tian paintings,

which

critics in art

have agreed

in

considering

the most ancient, have always hitherto been found in the most

ancient parts of the excavations, those chambers (on the contrary)

which belong

to the latest period of their history exhibit

but few and poor specimens of decoration, or often have no

vestiges of painting about

Means

of dis-

th(?dates"of
paintings.

them

at

all.

In the course of the following pages,

we

occasion to speak of the date of this or that painting

^-j-^jg

\^

consideration of the

mining the value of

its

cannot

often

Nevertheless,

utmost importance

is

some paintings
faces,

and

deterIt is

a chronological question which

be brought within very

nology on their

in

testimony in matters of doctrine.

manifest, however, that this

have

shall often

precise

carry evidence

boundaries.

of their chro-

or at least testify to their not having

Types of Christia7i Art.

been executed previously
stance,

all

193

such or such a date

to

as, for in-

which exhibit the nimbus^ or circular aureole

tliose

of glory, round the heads of Christ or of His saints.

This ornament had been used by Pagan

artists for the

.

ration of their false deities

clearly appear.

the Egyptians

who,

in the

It is
;

but with what meaning

said to have been

thence

it

first

their emperors, in that spirit of fulsome adulation

may be

and

it

it

or other pre-eminence.
fifth

medal of Antoninus

Pius.

After

common,

so that,

ceased to be looked upon as a token of divinity, and

was considered simply as an

the

Thus

literature of the period.

use became yet more frequent and

its

finally,

which char-

seen round the head of Trajan in the triumphal arch

of Constantine, and on a

wards

among p^\"j

invented

even on the heads of

it

century,

it

ornament, proper to royalty

artistic

Hence,

Christian mosaics of

the

in

was placed not only on the heads of Our

Lord, His Holy Mother, and the angels, but

(at

Ravenna) on

Mary

those of Justinian and his wife Theodora, and at St

Major's in

Rome

(a.d.

433) even on that of Herod.

It is

scarcely possible to define with accuracy the period at which

Christians

found
it

is

first

in the

began to use

In the glass cups or plates

it.

Catacombs, of which we

very rarely to be seen

and

shall

have to speak

most of these glasses range from the middle of the

middle of the fourth century.

be seen by the side of the

birds, or held in their

heads

in

some

also

In

many

saints,

third to the

of them, crowns

own hands, but not placed upon their

Our Lord is represented in the act of
;

but the nimbus

be found on a dozen of them, altogether.

ever

it

itself

In the

mosaics, on the other hand, which belong to the later age,

far otherwise.

may

being offered to them by

crowning Saints Peter and Paul, or others

will scarcely

later,

generally allowed that

is

it

it is

In those of the church (or mausoleum, which-

should be rightly called) of

the age of Constantine,

Sta.

Our Lord has

the

nimbus introdoes not duced and

passed to the Greeks and Romans,

days of the empire, placed

acterised both the art

deco- The use of

Costanza, belonging to

the nimbi/s, the apostles

"^

^'^'

Roma

194
have

not.

Sotten^anea.

similar distinction

is

be noted

to

of St Agatha in Ravenna, of the year 400; but here

has

more modern form, enclosing a

in its

it

mosaics

in the

cross,

Our Lord

and on the

The same decorated

head of the angels

it

is

form of the Jiindms

is

used on the head of Christ in the mosaics

Sabma

of Sta.

Rome

424) and of St Paul's (a.d. 441), both in

(a.d.

where the apostles, evangelists, and others either have

none

plain, or

it

unornamented.

at

It

all.

used to distinguish

would seem, then, that

indifferently,

it

which represented them), and

Padre Garrucci,

the saints in general.

fifth

first

and evangelists

next, the apostles

(as also the symbolical animals

that in the

was

head of our Lord, then His Holy

the

Mother and the angels,*

lastly,

it

century Christian

artists either

but after that time

its

concludes

S.J.,

used or omitted

use became universal.

Martigny,t a more recent and cautious authority, distinguishes

when he

with greater accuracy

says that

was used

it

Our

for

Blessed Lord occasionally before the days of Constantine, and

constantly afterwards
the

fifth

but that

became

century,
it

the angels, from the beginning of

and universally before the end of the

was not

till

the rule for

Whenever,

for

towards the end of the seventh that

all

we meet with any

therefore,

his head,

we know

paintings

with certainty that they belong to a

perhaps to a period considerably later

Church delighted
struggle,
their

it

many

them.

in venerating the heroes of her past

long, at least, as their bodies

still

age of

to

adorn

reposed

De

Rossi says

Peter and Paul

is

in

After their translation, such ornamentation would pro-

bably not, under ordinary circumstances, be renewed.

*

in-

for as the

was only natural that she should continue

tombs as

the

in

or martyr with a nimbus

period later than the ages of persecution, and, in

stances,

it

saints indifferently.

Catacombs which represent a bishop

round

sixth

ii

began

to

We

be given to the Blessed Virgin and Saints

in the fourth century.

In the cemetery of St Domrtilla,

only found on the heads of Christ and St Peter.

BiiUett. 1867, p.

Marangani, Acta St Victorini, pp. 39, 40.

t Dictionnaire des Antiquites Chretiennes,

p. 436, in verb.

Nimbus.

44

it
;

Types of Christian

have already seen some examples of these

tombs of

St Cornelius

specimens of their

for

and St Cecilia

rt.

later paintings at the

and these may

95

suffice

class.

Another chronological note of easy application, and of some

use

determmmg

pamtmgs

the age of the

some form of

/^-i

Letters on
ijarments, the

the Catacombs, nionotnam

some other

the appearance of the letter K, or of

is

letter, or

'^'^

the cross, on the border of the garments of the

In older paintings, the vestments are either

principal figures.

quite plain, or with a few light purple stripes

upon them

and

seem

the practice of ornamenting with these letters does not

have become general until the beginning of the fourth cen-

to

end of the third."

tury, or at least the

In other instances, the presence of the monogram

or other of

its

manifold

varieties,

may

in

one

us of

suffice to assure

For although we

the comparatively recent date of a painting.

do not believe

-P,

that the invention of this tessera took

its

origin

from the famous vision of Constantine, yet no certain example

of

use in paintings has yet been discovered before that time.

its

It is

not often, however, that there

,

need of such palpable Iniemal

is

tokens as these to deternnne the period to which any particular

specimen of ancient Christian

cases,
is

its

own

art

internal evidence,

is

be referred.

to

In most

whether of subject or of

almost or quite sufficient to enable us to distinguish

style,
if

not

a work of the age of Trajan, for example, from one of the days

of Hadrian, yet certainly

a work of the

from one of the third or fourth.

which characterise the works of

art

first

or second century

For the same differences

produced by Pagan hands

during those periods are reflected also, in their degree, in the

Catacombs

paintings of the

temporary examples which

The

skill

and there are not wanting

may be compared

co-

with one another.

of the Christian artist always bears a certain propor-

tion to the general skill of his cotemporaries

only the dark-

ness of the place and other unfavourable circumstances would

naturally lead us to expect
*

that

GaiTucci, Vetri,

the

tscc, p.

execution of his work

II2, 113.

cvi-

dence from
choice
" subject, cVc.

^jyig^

Rojna Sotterranea.

196

would be generally somewhat

that of his fellow-

inferior to

craftsmen, decorating under imperial patronage the palaces or

temples of the city

and

this

expectation

though

usually,

is

not always, justified by a careful examination of the two classes

of paintings.

We

cannot,

therefore,

always trust to

mere

the

internal

evidence of style and the degree of merit in the execution.

We

must also take into account the place where the paintings

are found,

and the epitaphs or other indications of time

And

neighbourhood.
of

De

Christian

much new

its first

light

on the history of ancient

Following his guidance, we are able to trace a

art.

and gradual development of Christian painting.

certain order

In

in this respect that the researches

Rossi on the history and topography of the Catacombs

have thrown so

Sketch of the

is

it

in the

beginnings,

it

was intent only on creating or select-

certain necessary types or figures that might stand for the

or Qirisdai/

^^'S

^'^^'

religious truths
itself to

make

ornaments of

desired to represent.

it

It did

a complete provision of appropriate accessory

its

own, but borrov/ed these without scruple from

the works of the

Pagan

springing forth.

The

school, from the midst of which

Christian character

to

The

the whole.

imitated from the types of classical

garlands, vases of fruits or

of the

personifications

ejitourage

leading characteristic of the

Roman

first

some

art,

was then

figures, freely

such as birds,

winged

flowers, fantastic heads,

seasons,

was

gave the religious and

completed by an abundance of merely decorative

By and by

it

principal figure in the composition,

biblical or, at least, symbolical subject^

genii,

not concern

&c.,

and

this

is

the

age of Christian painting.

the cycle of symbolical types grew

more

rich

and

complicated by the addition of the mystical interpretation of

biblical

stories,

and was used with great

under the direction,

guides.

By

it

and freedom

would appear, of learned theological

end of the

the

skill

third

century,

this

cycle

had

received a fixed traditional form, and was constantly reiterated.

It

had become,

as

it

were, consecrated, and Christian art was

Types of Christian
almost hieratic in

its

rt.

character, as in ancient

Greece, so fixed and immovable were

types,

its

97

Egypt or modern

one another, and always unlike nature."

histories

"always

But the

like

biblical

had now almost superseded the use of symbols.

These had already begun

when

third century,

the middle of the

to decline from

Christian epigraphy

the formularies of

were gradually developing

and

in

next

the

one

century,

Towards

might almost say that they disappeared altogether.

the end of the fourth or beginning of the

fifth

radical revolution which the conversion of

Constantinehad

and

effected in the social

set

an equally

distinct

political position of Christians

mark upon

symbolism has passed away.

Even the

introduced.

Christian

art.

Scenes from real

details

of bloody

and publicity of Christian worship

had

The age of
life are now

martyrdoms are

on the tombs or the walls of churches

painted
liberty

century, the

and the

in the basilicas finds

a pleasure in the contrast, suggested by these harrowing representations.

Our sketch

of the history of Christian art will not embrace In apostolic

development

this

at

all

we confine

mysterious and interesting form of

belongs to

Roma

Sotte?-ra7iea,

ourselves to that

more

which more especially

it

and which the progress of

dis-

covery enables us day by day more clearly to trace back to

the highest antiquity

De

almost,

if

not quite, to apostolic times.

Rossi speaks of the painting of

prophet Isaias

in the

Our Blessed Lady with

Catacomb of Sta

Priscilla (Plate X.),

the

and

again of the vine on the roof of the entrance to St Domitilla,*

as being probably
lines

works of the

first

century

the

more regular

which mark the roof of St Januarius' t chapel

Praetextatus, he

attributes

symbolical paintings of the

or sheep

to

fish

carrying a

basket,:|:

and lambs

placed on an

which appear on the walls of a cubiculum

X See Plate XIV.

St

the second, as well as certain

on either side of a milk-pail

^ Fig.
9 in p. 72.

in

in

t Fig. ii

altar,

the crypt of St
in p.

79.

Fig. 13 in p. 103.

Roma

tqS

Sotterranea.

Liicina, while the great bulk of the bibHcal paintings through-

out the Catacombs are

generally allowed to belong to the

third.

Refutation of
the Pafran^
models of

Before examining these

first efforts

of Christian art in detail,

^ '^^^ words must be said as to the models

were formed.

We

words, that no

school of art

have already quoted

upon which they

Raoul Rochette's

early C'hristian
art.'

can

be created of a sudden,

springing into existence fully formed, Hke Minerva from the

brain

This writer, however, carried his theory

of Jupiter.

too far

when he

insisted that there

positive imitation
this

had

l^een always a direct

by the Christians of pagan models, and

could be clearly seen, not only in the general

imitation

distribution of the whole, but also in all the

He

composition.

details of

each

even imagined that they had been guided

their selection of subjects for painting

Pagan models

there were

that

there wxre none.

The

by the

fact that, of

in

one

that might be copied, of the other

peculiarities of costume,

minor accessories of the painting were, according

termined by the same cause.

Nay, further

still,

and

all

the

to him, de-

he maintained

that the Christian artists were so servile in their imitation of

these Pagan models, that

it

even led them astray from the

teaching of their Divine Master, and caused them to introduce

false

and unseemly

most solemn

subjects.

receiving the caresses

animal had no place

.trary,

was

in

their representations of the

details into

Thus,
of the

they

dared to paint a goat

Good Shepherd

and as

in the sacred parable, but,

this

on the con-

another parable identified with the wicked,

its

presence here could only be accounted for on the supposition

that

the

artist

was

imitating,

some Pagan composition.

hands of the same
this,

too,

upon

Again, they often

figure the

put

into

the

shepherd's reed or pipe, and

could only be the effect of some reminiscence, at

least, either

The

consciously or unconsciously,

of the statue of Pan, or of

ability

some pagan shepherd.

and pertinacity with which

his theory,

had gained

for

it

this

author insisted

a (-crtain measiu'e of accept-

Types of Christian Art.

199

Nevertheless, the principal arguments by which

ance.

supposed

confirmed being

to be

now

destroyed,

it

was That

it

has of late

Raoul Rochette had been

years fallen rapidly into disrepute.

theory

^^^^^^^^^ i
<^no.stic

ceme-

misled in part by certain paintings of a semi-Pagan character,

published by Bottari, and by him attributed to a Christian

Catacomb.

It

now

is

ascertained that this cemetery was the

work of one of the Gnostic

and we

sects,

e.g.^

surit

Pluto and Proserpine, under the names of Dis-

pater and Abracura

the Divine Fates,

messenger of the gods, carrying

in a chariot

drawn by four

some abyss

in the

ings of the

no longer

and Christianity which

prised at the mixture of Paganism

exhibits;

are

off the soul of the

earth.

Christian Catacombs,

The

kind has ever been found.

appears there in paintings

is

as the

deceased

and descending with

horses,

middle of the

and Mercury

into

it

In the genuine paint-

nothing whatever of

this

only mythical personage

who

the Thracian Orpheus,"* charming Christ

as Or-

the wild beasts by his lyre, a figure which was very popular in the [he ^shepherd's
first

Christian era, being often repeated on P^P^ ^

centuries of the

medals of Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, which were

Moreover, we are told that Alexander

struck at Alexandria.

Severus placed in his Lararium statues or pictures of Apol-

and of

lonius of Thyane,

There was nothing

some of

Abraham, and

Christ, of

far-fetched, then, in the

of Orpheus.

resemblance which

the Fathers delighted to trace between Christ

Thracian bard.

and the

His taming of the wild beasts was taken as

a faint shadow of our Lord's softening the hard hearts of

men

by the persuasive sweetness of His preaching.

It

was precisely

same reason

for the

that the syrinx, or pipe,

was placed in the hands of Christ as the Good Shepherd.

was no thoughtless or profane adaptation of one of the

of Pan.

In

paintings,

when such

fact,

it

It

insigjiia

very rarely appears in the most ancient

imitation, according to the theory

we

are

combating, was most to have been expected, but, being an

ordinary adjunct of

all

shepherds,
*

it

See Plate

had a special

I.

significance,

reeds,

Roma

200

Sottcrranea.

a certain dogmatic value, when applied to the chief " Shepherd

and Bishop of

named by

The

souls." *

pastoral staff itself

St Gregory Nazianzen

early Christian writer has

7\

know

" I

said,

abptyt,

loiijjiv'iTi

sheep by the pipe." +

and another

that shepherds

are skilled in their art seldom use their crook or

their

was even

staff,

but lead

was, in fact, only another

It

said that " the sheep follow their shepherd because they

So

far,

to

or model, and so requiring explanation,

hardly have failed to introduce

had never been painted

tion that

it

it

artist

denoted an essen-

it

At present

would not be

in process of time,

We

before.

any further now, though

again hereafter.

it

some Pagan

pastoral character, so that Christians could

feature of the

ject

know

then, from the presence of the pipe in the

hands of Christ being an anomaly, due

tial

way

when He

of setting forth the same truth as our Lord expressed

his voice." j

who

even

need not pursue

may be

if it

this sub-

necessary to recur to

it

only express our convic-

w^e will

difficult to find similarly simple, yet

complete, explanations of every particular by which M. Raoul

Rochette seeks

to confirm his theory.

quite certain that,

however

which their

closely Christianity

any

rate,

may have

education had been received, their

first

to those traditions

at

it

is

imi-

and examples of the Greco-Roman school

tated the traditions

in

And,

fidelity

was united with a most scrupulous and en-

lightened wisdom, for they never failed to eliminate from their

imitations everything which

was

really inconsistent either with

the doctrines or the convejiances of the Christian religion.

All

figures or scenes of a really polytheistic signification remained,

throughout the whole

proscribed from
Division of
Christian
painting into
six classes.

The

their

all

of the

monuments.

Christian paintings of that period have been divided

into six classes

and although these

extent and importance, and

to

keep them quite

Voter

ii.

25.

it

will

distinct in

worth remembering, and

*

three centuries, carefully

first

may

classes are of very unequal

be found practically impossible

treatment, yet the division

ser^e to

f Sec Oarrucci, Vetri.

is

impress upon our minds

ivc, p. 63.

% St John

x. 4.

Types of Christian Art.

the

main

may be

class of paintings, then,

The second we

more

The

will

or less accurately,
third

first

and

is

called symbolical, as merely

call

allegorical

some of

they represent,

the parables of the Gospel.

of biblical histories, either from the Old or New-

Testaments.

Fourthly,

we

speak of sacred pictures of Our

will

Divine Lord, of His Holy Mother and the saints

scenes

from

Church

Such

the

and
is

De

the

is

all

of scenes from the Liturgy.

Rossi's division of this part of our subject, in

it

must be remembered that we

we have

hitherto had.

the

The main

shall

not

it

object of his

and chronological

monuments of each Catacomb.

on Christian epigraphy, nor

incidentally,

gives

these subjects, and

art,

It is

not a

nor symbolism,

abundant valuable information on

we

any other authority than

terranea

then of

or the history of the

to give a topographical, historical,

edition of
treatise

saints,

advantage of his direct and immediate guidance

so entirely as

work

of the

lives

lastly,

which, however,

have

largest

under pictorial emblems, religious thoughts or

expressing,
ideas.

The

characteristics of the subject.

201

shall

all

seldom have occasion to quote

his as to the teaching of

Roma

upon any of them.

Fk;. 20.

yet,

The Good Shepherd in the centre of the ccilino- of one of the most
ancient cnbicula in the Crypts of St Lucin.a.

Sot-

CHAPTER

11.

SYMBOLICAL PAINTINGS.
Symbolism
explained.

T) ^

Symbolical paintings

J^

set before the

beyond

The

convention.
ings

yet

itself,

the

to

connected with

own

its

mind some
it

sake, but

further

either naturally or

idea

by

and

it

both learning,

It requires

has been so often abused and

a field for the unlimited indulgence of the imagination,

many

persons, not unreasonably, are inclined to listen

with profound mistrust to any specimen of

before them.
in

which the object

in

interpretation, therefore, of symbolical paint-

prudence, and integrity

that

those

not depicted for

a work of care and delicacy.

is

made

is

convey

order to

in

eye

we mean

It

it

that

may come

has even been wittily described as a system

which " anything or nothing may be made to mean every-

thing."

Nevertheless,

it

is

quite certain that symbolism has always

held a very prominent place in the history of

least at the very period with

Kugler, in speaking of
" instead

forms

of

directly

of art had

abstract idea

in

hensive character.

art,

and not

which we are most concerned.

Roman

art

denoting the

now become

at

time,

this

object

the mere

says,

represented,

that

the

exponents of an

other words, symbols of a more

compre-

Instead of influencing the feelings, they

now engaged

the thought

any authority

for his

"

and although we do not see

statement

idolatry which introduced

that

"

it

and consecrated

was the dread of

in

Christian art a

system of merely typical representation," yet he

is

certainly

Symbolical Paintings.
right in assigning this typical

20 J

and symboHcal character

leading feature of the earliest productions of that

question then arises,

guided

What

are the laws

as the

The

art.

by which we must be

our interpretation of ancient Christian symbols

in

Obviously the truest key to their meaning

anything that

and ideas of

they lived, and for

to

be found

whom

themselves, or of those amongst

whom

in Rules for

icnowledge of the thoughts

will give us certain

tlie artists

is

they worked.

single text

from a

Father of the Church, writing about the same time that the

symbols were being painted, or not long afterwards,

more valuable and trustworthy

as a guide than a

is

infinitely

whole volume

of hypothetical suggestions, however ingeniously invented, and

speciously supported by the arguments of

And

mentator.

proportion to the

in

some modern com-

number and

clearness of

the texts that can be quoted, or the position and weight of

their author, will

For instance, an apparent agreement between

tliey support.

some passage
century,

in

an obscure ecclesiastical author of the ninth

and some Christian painting of the second or

would not

suffice to assure us of

between them
But

be the certainty of the interpretation which

the

any

real identity of

agreement might be merely

third,

meaning

fortuitous.

on the contrary, a witness or witnesses can be pro-

if,

duced, cotemporary with the

perhaps,

who had helped

of thought in

shown

that certain ideas

in

speak) of the

faithful,

artists lived

if

it

can be

and modes of thought and expression

world at such a time, and

the Christian

formed a part of the

or with their predecessors

form that school and atmo-

to

which the

sphere

were dominant

artists,

common

intellectual

we cannot hope

in the interpretation of the

works of

property (so

to

to find a surer guide

art

of the same period.

Thus, when an Anglican controversialist appeals to the picture

Instance of

of a dove or doves drinking out of a vase, as an argument

interiM-etation

from primitive antiquity against " withholding the cup from the
laity" in the administration of the

and

careful readers

must

feel at

Holy

Fucharist, intelligent

once that he

is

doing violence

Roma

204

monuments he

to the

Sotterranea,

professing to interpret

is

a flagrant anachronism, carrying back

he

early ages a

the

to

guilty of

is

controversy which had not then been dreamt of

wise,

a writer, interpreting the numerous paintings of the

if

Good Shepherd, should

execution, such

of a

stead
infinite

ance,

Contrari-

certain

in

details

its

introduction of a goat in-

frequent

as the

having been intended to denote the

sheep, as

mercy of Christ
explanation

his

upon

insist

in receiving

receives

even sinners to repent-

immense support from

the

well-known language of Tertullian and others of the Fathers,

and from the general testimony of

the earliest

history as to

subjects of dispute in the Christian Church.

The

sense, then, of the various symbols used in the deco-

ration of the graves

and chambers of the

Roman Catacombs

must be determined, not by the shrewd conjectures of the

by the distorted reasonings of the

learned, nor

controversialist,

but by the strictest rules of argument and testimony

comparison of the various ornaments,

first

and then with inscriptions written only

also to

Holy

Where

these

and

Scripture,
fail us,

or

suspense, and to

by a

with one another,

words

by appeals

to the writings of the early Fathers.

seem

to

be inconsistent and therefore

we must be content

inconclusive,

in

to

hold our judgment in

monuments

await the discovery of further

which may throw fresh

light

while, there are at least

some symbols on which we may speak

on our

In the mean-

obscurity.

without fear of contradiction.

Thus, St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews,* and the instruction

Anchor,

hnnf^"
hope ;

<^f

St

Clement of Alexandria,! are

sufficient to

show us

anchor, a symbol almost more frequently used

of hope,

expressive

confirms us
with

this

in

as

old

as

Christianity

the

in

ancient parts of the Catacombs than any other,

that the

a token

is

itself

most

and

our belief that the early Christians used

intention,

when we observe how commonly

it

it
it

is

found on the gravestones of persons bearing the name of

*

Heb.

vi.

19.

t Ted agog.

iii.

106.

Symbolical Paintings.
Hope,

either in

205

Greek or Latin form, such

its

Elpidius, Elpisusa, &c.,

as Spes, Elpis,

Sometimes the anchor

(Isic.

is

so

formed, evidently by design, as to suggest to the Christian

eye

the

idea

of

hope

Christian

the

and

where the trident

is

suggestion

this

foundation

very

the

cross,""

substituted, as

is

it

of

all

more apparent,

still

sometimes

for the

is,

anchor.

cannot be necessary to appeal to any authority beyond

It

Lord

the discourses of our blessed

that a

ini^

lamb or sheep represented one of

dove also was often used

bird seems

more

earthly tabernacle

its

finding pasture " in this

Of

life.

still

militate against

On

it.

its

it

and out

''goes in

course, the dove was primarily

Our Lord's Baptism. t

in a painting of

assigned to

which

But

it

use in the secondary sense

the contrary,

we

so used

not in any

this did

we have

find not only the

same

symbols, but even the same words, used in these two senses.

The Holy Ghost

is

Spiritus Sauctus,

and the same

title

as the designation of the departed souls of the just

in

Ghost
biis

is

sine

of the

fdie ;

and again and again we

Catacombs

the deceased
to

felle.

itself is

the

gall, Faliini-

on the gravestones

same words applied

the very

souls of

young

to the souls of

it,

Anima

simple soul,"

(Sec.

names of

* See, for example,

fig.

Sometimes the dove

children.

engraved side by side with

hisoniuni, the

find

man, and

especially, in a diminutive {oxiw, paluinbulus si?ie

which resemble
soul,

by the Fathers a dove without

also called

appears

The Holy

the plural number, of the saints generally.J

iti?ioee?is,

and

in

this

title,

or with others

aninia simplex, " Innocent

one epitaph belonging

to a

the two deceased are written over the

12 in

X Inscr. Christ, ex.

St Cyprian de Unit. Eccl.

p. 82.

ix.

f See

Tertull.

fig.

15 in p.

De Baptismo,

h^^ep

ami

clove,

of living

but the and deceased

and had entered

Holy Ghost, and we have already seen

a type of the

way

to denote a Christian soul

rest; the sheep, a soul

its

Christ's fold.

especially to have denoted the soul after

had been released from

into

himseh", to justify us in say-

119.

viii.

Roma

2o6

Sotterranea.

We

heads of two doves, Beneria and Sabbatia.*

however, conchide too

hastily, that

must not

every bird, either painted

on the walls or carved on the gravestones of these cemeteries,

was meant

Some

to represent a dove.

been introduced merely as ornaments

seem

birds

in the

have

to

corners of the

vaulted roofs of the chapels, just as they were used by cotem-

porary Pagan

artists

palm-branch

in their

been intended

emblem
The dove

mouths, seem not improbably to have

phoenix or " palm-bird," t the well-known

for the

The

of immortality.

common

such

others again, especially those bearing a

use in Christian

third centuries, as the dove.

other symbols. ^^^^ ^^

soul's

'^

phoenix, however, was never in

especially of the second

art,

Sometimes the dove

vase. or pecking at grapes, as

enjoyment of the

eternal happiness

branch in

though to denote the

more frequently

still

says,

symbol of peace, even older than Christianity

herald of the peace of

times also the word

sense beyond

God from

itself

Pax

is

God and

of

it

is

" the

Some-

added, thereby marking the

;

to assert of the soul of the deceased, that

peace of

olive-

itself,

the very beginning."

possibility of dispute

all

an

bears

it

mouth, and then, as TertuUian

its

drinking

is

and refreshing draughts

fruits

and

viz.,
it

that

it

is

meant

has departed in the

of His Church.

Sometimes two or more symbols are found united on one

monument,

as

for instance

in

fig.

i2,||

where the union of

the cross-shaped anchor, the sheep and the dove on the tomb-

stone of Faustinianus, seem to proclaim a Christian redeemed

by the cross of Christ, and placmg

all

hope

his

in

it,

now

released from the chains of this earthly coil, and in possession

Inscr. Christ,

i.

421

t The Greek name

+ See St Aug. Conf.
says,

"Jam

potest," &c.

Bitlldt., 1864, p. 11.

for this bird

ponit spirituale os ad fontem

HIE EN GEO, Brink

and on drinking-glasses.
Adv. Valent. ii., in fin.
See page 52.
il

and the pahii-tree

Speaking of

ix. 3.

and

De

i?i

his

is

the same.

deceased friend Nebridius, he

Tuum Domine,
God,

is

Baptismo,

found

c.

viii.

et bibit

in

some

quantum
epitaplis,

207

Symbolical Paintings.

Sometimes the symbol was engraved

the tombstone was m its place, as in the annexed

of the hoped-for peace.

even

after

figure

Epitaplifroni very

Fig. 21.

a?icieiit

part of Catacotiib of St Priscilla.

where perhaps the dove was added by way of correcting,

some

respect, the

stone with

The

its

blunder of the fossor,

written

name

rr^

fixed the

upside down.

use of the dove as a symbol

.

who had

in

remained

still

the

in

'I'lii^

liever

syml^ol

dropped.

mosaics of the lourth, nlth, and sixth centuries, with the same
mystical meaning, as

we

learn both from the letters of Paulinus,"'

and from some of the monuments themselves which

and

in

which we see twelve doves

sitting

or around the

At a much

cross, to represent the twelve Apostles.

in a

in

Spanish MS. of the twelfth century,

survive,

later period,

in the British

Museum,

birds flying under the blue vault of lieaven have the legend,

Anijnce interfectontfn,i " the souls of them that were

Indeed,

we may venture

to

say that

this

slain."

fragment of the

alphabet of Christian symbolism has never been wholly

for-

gotten or fallen into disuse.

This cannot be said of the

symbol we would mention

the

fish,

which

is

the next sacred The fish:

most important perhaps of

^^
all,

and certainly as ancient as any, but whose use grew gradually

less frequent,

century,

even as early as

in

and may almost be said

as soon as the ages of persecution

pUna

arcani was relaxed.

the
to

first

half of the

third

have ceased altogether

had ended, and the

disci-

This question of the period during

which the symbol was used being of some importance, we

* S. Paul in.

f Apoc.

Ep.

vi. 9.

xii.

ad Severum,

p. 152^ ed. 1622.

will

|J^p

7t'^7/

^^"^'
'

Roma

2o8

Sottein^anea.

more words about

say a few

inquire into the mystical meaning of the

that there

is

no instance of a

monument

may be found

Fishes, indeed,

It

tish.

to

appears, then,

any

single fish being used with

theological sense on a Christian

century.

we go on

in this place before

it

later than the fifth

carved at the bottom

of fonts, or on the aniboncs of Ravenna, in the sixth century.

I'hey also form a part of the mosaic pavement of a Baptistery
of the age of Justinian, where both the artistic

Pesaro,

at

representation and the legend accompanying

'"'

clearly attest

it

an allusion to the sacrament of Baptism.

But

in these

any similar instances that might be adduced, they seem

used chiefly

for

Christian em^blems which are quite clear,

at

But

all.

be

other

and not symbolical

in the older Christian epitaphs

and paintings, the

stands alone as a manifest token of the Christian faith

fish

and we
and

find

it

much more

so used

and

third than in the fourth

frequently in the second

fifth

centuries.

epitaphs from the Catacombs having dates,

it is

Of

400 and

But

A.D. 234.

it is

first

Rossi considers

I)e

how

three centuries

it

it

had almost,

ning of the

fifth

we can

it^t a.d.

refer with

so that, on the whole,

quite proved that, whereas

early the mystical use of this

sure that

the

found on nearly a hundred other

epitaphs which, from various indications,

confidence to the

all

found on one

only after the date of Constantine, and on one before

say

to

among

ornament's sake, and are placed

and

we cannot

emblem began, we

are

not altogether, ceased by the begin-

if

century.

It

had become extremely

rare

by

the latter end of the fourth, so that, whereas nearly two thou-

sand inscriptions subsequent to Constantine are ornamented

with palms, crowns, birds, sheep, crosses,

not one

is

to

and monograms,

be found amongst them bearing the symbol of a

fish.

* " Est
-t*

homo non

totus,

medius sed

In estimating this statement,

more

than thirty dated

thirteen

hundred

anchor are found

after

piscis

ab imo."

we must remember

that

we have

not

epitaphs prior to Constantine, and more than

him.

togetlier.

In the inscription of 234, the fish and the

Symbolical Painthigs.
It follows

next to inquire in what sense the symbol was used.

The thoughts
heaven

to a net

compares the kingdom of

our Lord

Simon and Andrew

ye after me, and

to the apostolate,

make you

I will

^^^^'-^^"

He

'kinds of fishes; or again, to the words with which

called

symbol

and gathering together of

cast into the sea,

*

all

of most of our readers would naturally recur to ^nd of a

parable in which

the

209

to

be

saying "

Come

men."

The

fishers of

however, suggested by these passages, though not un-

idea,

known

art,'"'

was

certainly not the leading idea

which directed the use of

this

symbol

The

either to the Christian liturgies or to Christian

Church.

in the early

fish

entered into the cycle

of Christian thought and art in primitive times chiefly for two

reasons

because Christians owed their new and

first,

birth to the element of water

spiritual

and secondly, because Christ

Himself was commonly spoken of and represented as a

The

precise origin of this latter representation

,

....
universality 01
.

some doubt, but the

its

use

is

fish.

may admit

of Origin of its
use as symbol

...
unquestionable,

can be established by a catena of Fathers, beginning from

It

Clement of Ale.xandria, Origen, and Tertullian,

St

second century, down to St Peter Damian,

It is

even believed that

it

was

in

in

the

the eleventh.

use in apostolic times, and

in

suggested that famous acrostic quoted by Eusebius t and St

Augustine % from the so-called Sibylline verses, which gives

us,

by taking the

the

Greek words IH20TC XPRI2T0C

letters

initial

of so

"Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour

*

Nearly

feasts of the

hymns provided in
apostles make some allusion
all

the

;"

the

many

successive lines,

EOT TIOC
and then the

Greek Liturgy

SIITHP,
initials

of

for the various

to their vocation as fishers of

men

they speak of the rod of the cross, the hook of preaching, the bait of charity,
of nations caught like fish, &c.,

c\:c.

and some mediaeval

represented a hook and line proceeding from the very

He hung upon

+ Oratio Constant, ad
+

De

Cahier, Melanges cTArcheol.

the cross.

Coet. Sanct.

Civ. Dei, xviii. 23.

We

artists

have even

Body of our Lord

iv. p.

as

Ii8.

8.

know from

the testimony of Cicero (De

54) that acrostics were a characteristic of the Sibylline verses.

In the original, the initials of the next lines give the word 2TATP0C,
viz., " Cross."
In olden times it was customary in the Church of France to

Divin.

ii.

c.

of Christ.

Roma

2IO

Sotterranea.

these several words taken together

We

or " fish."

make up

word 1X0 T

the

the earliest witness to the use of this symbol

is

no means improbable

The Church

it.

was more familiar

that nothing

names

to the

of

initial letters

for instance,

Jews than the habit

men, by means

some other names,

or

The name

of

motto which Judas Macchabeus

letters of the

have ever had upon

Thee among
Instances of
use by the

its

on

his lips or

the strong,

Lord

his banners, "

initial

supposed to

is

Who

like to

is

" *

Whether, however, the Sibylline verses received

their inspira-

from Alexandrine Christians, or whether these verses

^^^^^

leathers in this

sense

be made up of the

said to

is

by

and we know

legend, or motto, closely connected with them.

Macchabees,

it is

of that city was

for their leaders or other great

of a combination of the

and

of Alexandria were

of converts from Judaism

largely

of coining

schools

that the

really the first to originate

composed

have already said that St Clement of Alexandria

themselves

wonder

first

that

originated the idea, at any rate

when once

gested for the word

Church.

It

ful brevity

Creed

natures,

a mystical meaning had been sug-

fish, it

gained general acceptance in the

became a sacred

and

tessera,

of faith,

as

and unity of Person, and

were, both in

it

" It contains in one name,

Our Blessed Lord.

its

single letters," says Optatus,t ''a

Hence

St

two

by means of

whole multitude

Clement names the

.several figures that miglit very properly

{tiirbant)

fish as

one of

be used on Christian

Origen speaks simply and without explanation of our

seals.

Lord

the

the redemptorial office

in

of

of holy names."

embodying, with wonder-

a complete abridgment of the

distinctness,

profession

we cannot

as " figuratively called the fish

"

and

in every story of

sing these Sibylline verses in church at Christmas with all the solemnity

they could,
*

Exodus

Marteiie,
XV. II.

De

Ant. Eccl. RiL,

See Grotius,

lib. iv. c. xii. 13.

Critic. Sac.

t. iii. c.

2695.

The

interpre-

Barnabas of the number 318, the servants

house (Genesis xiv. 14), is only another example of

tation given in the epistle of

born to Abraham in his

See a very interesting paper by
the same kind.
d' Archeol.

i.

192.

P.

Cahier

in his

f Adv. Parmen.

Melanges

lib.

iii.

Symbolical Pamtmgs.
sacred writ connected with a

some

the early

fish,

"

or aUusion.

Christian figure

Church recognised

We

Httle

fishes,"

says

TertulHan,* " are born in water after the example of Jesus

Christ our Jis/i"

answer

tism, in

He

"

to our prayers, into the baptismal font, so that

what before was water

" in whose

money
Adam,

The

"

{a pisce)''

fish

mouth was

now

which

is

called from the

first

all

taken," says St Jerome,

it,

was

whose

gall

and

the second

Christ,

whose blood both the

first

Adam and
"

other sinners, were redeemed."

whereof we read, which was caught

fish

fish piscina

the coin which was paid as the tribute-

at the cost of
is,

is

who demanded

to those

Peter, that

descends," says Optatus,t " in bap-

liver

Tobias took

for the

By

that

in the river Tigris,

protection of his wife

Sarah and the enlightenment of the blind Tobias, we under-

"By

stand Christ."

the interior remedies of that fish," says

St Prosper of Aquitania,J

words which contain

"we

are daily enlightened and fed;"

a manifest allusion to the two Sacra-

ments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

would be easy

It

the Fathers, showing

still

further to multiply quotations from

how

familiar to

tion of the fish, wherever

The important
that

thing to observe

is

unnecessary.

already sufliciently clear,

is

these hidden meanings of

all

this identifica-

might be found, with Our Blessed

But such an accumulation of proof

Lord.

viz.,

it

them was

Holy

Scripture were

derived from the simple fact tacitly assumed by them

that the fish

was the recognised conventional sign

all, viz.,

for Christ.

find a multitude of little fishes, in crystal, ivory, ^"^1 "^ monumeats of art.
of pearl, enamel, and precious stones, in the graves of

Hence we
mother
the

Catacombs

some of them with holes

head, to be worn round the neck

one with the word SIICAIG

Mayest Thou save us") engraved upon

("

we

find a

De

Bapiismo.

Or

the author of the

name,

its

back

once, also,

tombstone with a Pagan inscription on either

his

through the

drilled

ii.

39.

+
book Dc

Lib.

iii.

but

Adv. Parmen.
which goes by

Proniiss. et Prcedic. Dei,

Bidlett.

side,

1863, p. 38.

Roma

now used

The

Sottei'ranea.

dose a Christian tomb, and, besides chipping

to

was roughly cut upon

and cancelHng the Pagan epitaph, a

fish

the stone, as sufficient to claim for

a Christian sense.

Hence,

fish sel-

we can

also,

it

number

interpret with certainty a

of

various complications of artistic symbols into which the fish

j^JQj^g

And

enters.

this

interpretation.

an important

is

For

of the truth of our

test

comparatively easy to assign a mean-

it is

ing to a single symbol standing alone, since any isolated fact

But

will often lend itself to several different interpretations.

this

if

symbol be found united with others of a similar character,

springing from the same source, but taking a different form,

and

if

this

same meaning

and communicates a

them

suffices to explain

and force quite

light

all, it

wresting

irresistible,

The

conviction even from the most unwilling mind.

receives

differences

of the symbols thus brought together mutually illustrate and

and prove as

perfect one another,

Together they

resemblances.

their

certainty,

questions have been

profane

antiquities,

successful

it

establish with,

test

way

only

that innumer-

as legitimate

is

and

as

to Christian antiquities.

the

is

more easy of application

fish

word or the symbol)

rarely found

is

in

quite alone

monuments

the

here,

of

the

In more than two-thirds of the numer-

cemeteries.

,ous instances in

this

left

decided in the interpretation of

happens that the

(either the

Roman

this

It is in

and the process

when applied

Moreover,
because

and

fix

what each, taken separately, may have

undetermined and probable.

able

of instruction as

fruitful

which

it is

repeated,

found

it is

in

union with

other symbols, and so intimately united with them as manifestly to

is

have been intended as a part of one whole.

sometimes found

in

connexion with a

ship.

Thus,

it

In three or four

Used together instances the fish is bearing a ship on its back ; and this comWith a ship, a
^^
^i

xt^i
bmation naturally suggests to us Christ upholdmg His Church.
dove or an
,

anchor.

Much more

frequently,

in

more than twenty

epitaphs, for

example, to say nothing of gems, in which these two symbols

are almost inseparable,

it

is

found

in

conjunction with the

Symbolical Pamli?igs.

21

anchor; and we understand at once, as plainly as

been written in ordinary

often was), Spes

Christo, "

symbol of the

it

Deo

Another combination of the

in Christ," &c.

fish is

had

alphabet (as indeed

letters of the

Christo, Spes in Deo, Spes in

in

Hope

if it

This we meet with in nearly

with the dove.

Gravestone fy-om most ancient part of St Friscilla.

Fig. 22.

twenty instances; and as we have already seen that this bird

with

its

oHve branch, when found on a Christian gravestone,

mode

only another

ancient epitaphs, Spiritus [tuus] in pace, "

is]

in peace," so,

inscription in
it

its

when

the fish

Thy

of

all

spirit [be,

or

added, we recognise the same

is

longer and fuller form, as

we sometimes

On some

written also, In pace et in Christo.

or seals, a

common

of expressing the most

is

find

ancient rings

lamb or a dove may be seen standing on a

fish,

repre-

senting a Christian soul supported by Christ through the waves

and storms of

this world.

figure or in word, with the

The
name

monogram, or with the Good

for themselves

There
which

is

is

found

also, either in

of Jesus, or Christ, or the

Shepherd.""*

These

all

speak

and require no comment.

another combination, however, of the

fish

the most interesting and important of

symbols, and
will at

fish is

it

all

deserves the most careful study.

once occur to the reader

to

artist

intended to allude to those incidents.

ever,

he nearly always violated the

*

<^-g-^ I^^ig-

7 in

Probably

it

literal

page

55.

and

fishes,

evidence that the

certain

is

Christian

connect these representa-

tions with the miracles of multiplying the loaves

and sometimes, indeed, there

with bread. Fish and

Even

then,

truth of the

how-

Gospel

Roma

14

story, for the express

Sotterranea.

purpose

go beyond the

his Intention to

hidden meaning of the text

were, and raise

would seem) of showing

it

and

letter,

to

to penetrate to the

Idealise the

Were

right to speak of

speak of the

But what

which

paintings

can

biblical history

a
a

as these

of bread

represent

other-

we come

till

biblical

to

histories.

such paintings

suffice to explain

swimming and carrying on

fish

It

It

In this place,

It

but ought rather to reserve the whole subject

as

history,

to the height of a symbol.

It

we should have no

wise,

(as

back a basket

its

three-legged table with a large fish and two or

upon

three loaves lying

It ?

or

same

the

again, with a

man

standing before the table, apparently In the act of blessing

what

upon

is

whilst a

it,

woman

hands expanded in prayer?"^

of the

artist, It Is

stands opposite, with her

mere caprices

If these are not

clear that they

must have been intended

to

render sensible some doctrine rather than to represent any

fact, since

there

no history

is

to

which they correspond

were signs of religious Ideas and

imitations of facts

Raoul Rochette
rical

division of our subject.

Is

pariicular
instance of
these symbols
united (St

John

Its

most
it

elucidation, that

fitting

will

place In this

be necessary,

we should

first

for

speak

of frequent recurrence in the Catacombs,

and which may be said

symbolical.

find their

Nevertheless,

and complete

of a painting which

than faithful

truths^ rather

them, Ideographical paintings, not histo-

and therefore they

their full

they

a word, they were symbolical, or as

in

calls

to

be partly

interpretation

Is

and partly

historical

provided by the Fathers

themselves.

On
.

panitmg
^'i-]-^

of several

the walls

m
.

which seven men are represented seated

bread and

fish

XXI.)

last

subterranean chapels there

before them ';t and there

is

Himself
rection,

to

His

literal

representation.

at a table,

In the
a history
'

chapter of the Gospel according to St John, of which

be taken as a

Is

it

might

Jesus was manifesting

disciples for the third time after

His

resur-

and the evangelist has recorded the circumstances of

* See riate

XIV.

i, 2,

3.

t See Plate XIII.

Symbolical Painlmgs.

215
Of

minuteness.

the manifestation with great

ourselves

we

might not perhaps have noted anything very special in these

circumstances, of such a character as to lay a singular claim

upon the

Christian artist above

we

theless

find,

all

other manifestations

as a matter of fact

that

did claim their

it

attention

and occupy

and even

to the exclusion of every other history of the

The

class.

their

never-

pencil in a pre-eminent degree?

which

details of the incident,

important for

is

it

same

Seven of the disciples had spent

us to observe, are these.

But when the

the night in fishing, but had caught nothing.

morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore, and bade them
cast the net

on the

right side of the ship.

They

cast there-

fore,

and were rewarded by a miraculous draught of

And

as soon

and a

lying,

them bring

they

as

of the

also

come and

dine,

they

land,

to

thereon, and bread.

fish laid

And when

caught.

came

fishes

hot

saw^

And

fishes.

coals

Jesus bade

which they had themselves

they had done

He

so.

invited

them

to

and " Jesus cometh and taketh bread and

giveth them, and fish in like manner.'""

All thoughtful students of

Holy

Scripture can hardly

fail

to Explained of

recognise in this miraculous draught of fishes a prophetic type Eucharist

of the success which should attend the labours of the Apostles,

when engaged

as fishers of

men.

Most of them

also will pro-

bably suspect some connexion between the giving of bread by

Christ

to

His apostles (not on

occasion only, but on

this

others also, of His manifestation after His resurrection) with

the taking of bread

Holy Eucharist

and giving

more

it

them

es[)ecially, since

expressly mentioned that "

sions

it is

them

in the

breaking of bread." f

then, of St Augustine

in the institution of the

on one of these occa-

He

The

was made known

following commentary,

on the narrative of St John, ought not

appear strange or fanciful to any one, even though,

its details, it

He

may chance

to

be new

to

says that " in the dinner which the

* St

John

xxi.

13.

f St

to

many

in

some of

of our readers.

Lord made
Luke

to by St Angus-

xxiv

35.

for those

'

Roma

2i6

seven disciples, of the

coals,

caught,

bread,

which they had seen

'

Church

laid

was

suffered

{Piscis assiis, Christns passus)

really the fish

He

also the

is

bread which came down from heaven.'

the

the fish caught by the Apostles, which

is

upon the

of the fish they themselves had

and of bread, Christ who

was broiled

that

fish

He added

which

to

Sollerranea.

The

must be

incorporated into Christ, for the participation of everlasting

happiness

we

and

ourselves,

by those seven

time, are represented

end of

true believers to the

all

disciples " (the

number

seven being often used in Holy Scripture for completeness or

universality), " that so

we may understand

we too have a

that

share in so great a sacrament, and are associated in the same

And

happiness."

Lord

His

Avith

he concludes

disciples, with

" This

which St John

though he had many other things

uf existwio

he would

et

say,

reriwi

magnarum

it

it

sets forth

the union of

about Christ, 7?tagna

contemplatione

;^''*

as though

" exhibits a kind of link or transi-

tion from Christ's earthly to

as

to say

finishes his Gospel,

This history forms a suitable conclusion to the

whole Gospel, because

much

the dinner of our

is

all

"

His heavenly kingdom

under a

veil,

t inas-

or in a mystical manner,

Christian souls with Christ their

Head,

first,

by means of the bread from heaven, the Holy Eucharist,

this world,

Him
rest of

the Fathers.

in that yet

in the next world,

once a pledge and a

at

and the

and then

We

more intimate enjoyment of

whereof the sacrament of the

altar is

foretaste. J

have said that no thoughtful student of Scripture can

words by the

justly object to this interpretation of St John's

great Doctor of the West, as though

his

in

own

imagination, since

it

rests

even now universally acknowledged

what might have been

said.

it

were the mere

upon
;

principles

but this

For the truth

is,

is

fruit

of

which are

far short

of

that in the early

ages of the Church no other interpretation of the narrative was

* In Joann. Ev. Tract. 123, sec. 2, torn.

iii.

p.

2460, ed.

t Keble on Eucharistical Adoration, c. ii.

" In captura piscium commendavit Ecclesia;

:*:

fiUura est ultima resnrrectione

mortuoium." .S'/ Aug.

Gaume.

Sacramentum, qualis
ubi supra.

Sym bolica I Pain tings.

ever dreamt

of.

So unanimous

is

the consensus of the Fathers

in seeing here a mystical representation of the

Holy

Eucharist,

that Cardinal Pitra can only find a single ancient writer (the

who does

pseudo-Athanasius)

not so interpret

We

it.

Prosper

content ourselves with quoting but one testimony.

Africanus,

commenting upon

this

shall

same part of the Gospels,

as " that great Fish wlio satisfied

speaks of our blessed Lord

from Himself (ex Se Ipso) the disciples on the shore, and

Himself as a

offered

fish

(IX0TN)

And we must remember

Holy Writ
ment of

in

whole world." ^

to the

that this

is

not the only passage of

which the Fathers recognised the Blessed Sacra-

the altar under the

We

same symbol.

quoted one who speaks of Christ as " that

interior remedies

we

are both enlightened

have already

fish

from whose

and fed

;" referring,

of course, to the history of Tobias on the one hand, and to the

two sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist on the

St Augustine t also, speaking of the authority given to

other.

man

at the creation over the fishes of the sea, is

immediately

reminded of these same sacraments, which he describes as

" that solemnity of sacraments whereby

mercy seeks out amid many waters are

other solemnity wherein that fish
it

is

those

first

whom

God's

initiated, or that

manifested, which,

when

has been drawn forth from the deep, pious mortals eat."

These words would be absolutely

unintelligible, unless

we

sup-

pose that to the writer himself, as well as to his readers, the

idea of the fish as a symbol of the

Holy Eucharist were

per-

fectly familiar.

This familiarity

still

is

most ancient epitaphs

polis, in Phrygia,,

Other, of

further remarkably attested

by two

one, of St Abercius, Bishop of Hiera-

towards the end of the second century

one Pectorms

(as

it

the

would appear), who was buried

cemetery of St Pierre d'Estrier, near Autun, probably

in the

during some part of the third century.

The

first

of these

epitaphs has been long known, but was only imperfectly under*

De

Promiss.

ii.

39.

t Confess,

xiii.

23.

This interprethe
^^
Abercius,

^^l^\^^

^^P^^

^^,

eT-

Roma

Sotterranea.

monuments had

stood, until recent discoveries of Christian

thrown fresh hght upon

of

towards

lines

many and

is

only part

contained in a few

Abercius has been describing

conclusion.

its

The

mystical language.*

which concerns our present subject

it

his

its

distant travels through Syria

and

Rome, and

to

he says
IlicrTiS 5e irpocrriye,

Kat

/ultjs cltto Trrjyrjs

Kadaphv, 6v edpd^aro irapdevos ayvq'

Trajn/meyedy},
/cat

Ix^iV re

TrapedrjKe Tpo<p7]v

TOVTov irapedojKe (piXois ^(xdeiv 5td iravrbs,

olvov XPV'^'^^^ ^XOi'crO'; Kepaa/iia didovaa

ravd^ 6 PoQiu eiJ^aLTO virep fiov ttSs 6

" Faith led

fish

me on

cryj/(^56s.

the road, and set before

me

from the one fountain, the great and spotless

embraced

the pure Virgin

to

dprov

fjLT

The

this fish she

fish

gave to friends

he who understands these things

allusion contained in the words, " the

fountain," will be better explained at a future time,t

come
rock,

Moses

to speak of the representations of

and the fountain flowing

forth

but

a symbol of Christ and of the Holy Eucharist

fish

invisible parts of

The second

and another
af^A '^t^ n"^^^

come

fish

striking the
easily

then bread and

naturally together as the visible

and

one great mystery,

epitaph

chronology has been

in

is

was used as

we have spoken of was only discovered

about thirty years ago in the place already mentioned

cussion,

one

when we

the rest

all

understood when once we recognise that the

wine and the

which

good wine, giving wine mixed

May

with water, and bread.

pray for me."

and

having

everywhere,

eat

food

for

some placing

made

the subject of

much

and

its

critical dis-

as early as the time of the Antonines

it

the second century, others as late as the middle of the

fourth.
* Spicil.

Cardinal
Solesm.

iii.

Pitra,

533

P.

Secchi,

P.

Garrucci, and

other

Acta SS. Bolland. Oct. torn. ix. p. 491.

Book. The bread and the fountain are also

t Chapter VII. of this

brought together in a line of the Sibylline verses, vi. 15. e/c 8e fxirjs Trrjyijs
And bread and the blessed Virgin in i. 359.
apTov Kopos ^acrerai dvdpQv.
Pitra quotes an ancient title of our blessed Lady, /^//j Bdhlemiais ; and
Bethlehem means the House of Bread.

Pa iii tings.

Syi7i bo liea I
learned

assign

authorities,

earher part of the

about
think

it
it

may have been

the

to

a flavour of antiquity

is

put together in

present form in the

its

do not hesitate to say that the particular part

which has reference

it

There

third.'''

more probability

which cannot be mistaken, so that even those who

fourth century,

of

with

it

to the fish,

In

the days of St Iren^us.

it

may have been

as old as

are called " the

Christians

divine children of the Heavenly Fish," and after an allusion to

new and immortal

their

received in the sacred waters

life,

which enrich the soul with wisdom,

it

goes on to bid them

"receive the sweet food of the Saviour of the saints;" " Eat

and drink,"

says, " receiving

it

and holding the

your

in

fish

hands."
\-xQvo% ovpaviov deiov yevos,

jSpQaiV

'ZcoTTJpos 5' ayicju fxeXirjdea Xafi^aj/e

"Eadie,

No

irlve,

dvoLV Ix^'^^ '^X'^^ iraXafxais.

one can doubt what

is

here alluded

and no one, we and by

to,

think, can call in question our right to attribute to the early

Christian artists the

same thoughts on

this

manifestly familiar to Christian writers.

may

satisfy the

selves, which,

abundantly

even

if

These

that in

all,

will

we

add yet other

art

them-

they stood alone, would in our opinion

interpretation

ancient and popular symbol of the

fact

Nevertheless, that

from the monuments of Christian

justify the

with bread.

subject as were so

most sceptical of readers, we

particulars, taken

^^.^^

we have put upon

fish,

when found

particulars are twofold

or nearly

all,

first,

this

together

there

is

the

the paintings of this dinner of Miracles of

our Lord to seven of His disciples, there

is

added some

repre-

sentation, either of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves

^^^

[io^n^f the
loaves and
fishes,

and

fishes, or

Cana

the changing of water into wine at

events which had absolutely no connexion with

other, historically,

united.
*

It

though mystically they are

all

can hardly be necessary to make

See Cahier, Mel. d'Aich.

iii.

156,

iv.

118;

S[)ic.

it,

and of

in Galilee, the changing

or with each

most intimately

many
Solesni.

citations
i.

560.

^J,^^

Rcmia

20

from the Fathers, to

Eucharist

ments of

transparent

too

is

something akin

St

blood,

to

be

He

are

all

into wine,

which

is

in-

should also have turned wine into

Ambrose, commenting on the other miracle as

" In the ministry of the

distinctly,

this occasion, the future

and Blood of the Lord

is

distribution of the

foreshadowed

"

place he brings the two miracles together, and

as having

We

denied.

ought not to be counted an

it

recorded by St Luke,* says

application of

monu-

in the

argument urged by St Cyril of Alexandria,

credible thing that

Apostles on

to

Lord once turned water

that since our

and

Holy

great mystery of the

the allusion to the two species in the Blessed

art,

familiar with the

of the

both these

in

and when they are brought together

Sacrament

blood

saw

prove that they

foreshadowings

miracles

Sotterra^iea.

them both

done so

in a

and

in

Body

another

makes the same

Pope Liberius

or rather, he quotes

homily delivered on Christmas Day

in

St Peter's, t

The

Christian artists could not have been ignorant of this

spiritual

interpretation

of our

Lord's

miracles,

and

for

this

reason they united in one scene events that were really very
distinct in

Thus, a number of baskets of

time and place.

bread always forms the foreground of the picture we have

described of the feast of the seven disciples.

cause they desired

that the

Moreover, be-

minds of those who saw

their

paintings should not rest in the outward semblance of the

scene, but be carried forward to
ing, they

its

always departed, more or

.g.^

we never

nor

six water-pots of wine,

hidden and mystical meanless,

from

its

literal truth

find seven or twelve baskets of bread, but eight;

but seven.

of a religious idea they aimed

at,

It

was the symbolism

and not the representation

of a real history.
Similar paintings in a Cata-

comb

at Alex-

andria.

The second item

^^

of artistic evidence

is still

more conclusive.

ancient Christian cemetery has lately been discovered in

Alexandria, subterranean, and in other respects also bearing

*

Comment,

in S.

Luc.

c. ix. lib.

vi.

84.

t L)e Virginibus,

iii.

I.

221

Symbolical Paintings.
a certain resemblance

man Catacombs.
chapels,

the

to

one

In

Ro-

of

and precisely over the

the
altar

where the sacred mysteries would

have been celebrated, there are the
remains of a pamting, belonging (De
Rossi believes) to the fourth century,
viil.lO

in

which

these various scenes are

all

brought together, and their interpre-

That

tation given in writing.

say

In

the middle

is

to

our blessed

is

Lord, with Peter on His right hand

and Andrew
plate with

o;i

His

two

fish,

baskets of loaves
before
is

Him.

left,

holding a
several

whilst

on the ground

lie

^^^

Further to the right

the miracle at Cana, our blessed

Lady and

the servants having legends

H AFIA MAPIA
"Holy Mary''

over their heads,-

TA

HAIAIA
and " The Servants

"

and

N\^
^

the

in

^ff^i.i

iiis^^;^

corresponding compartment on the

number of

other side are a certain

persons seated at a

feast,

with a

le-

TA2 ETAOriA2 TOT XT E50IONTE2, "Eat-

gend over

ing

the

Now,

their heads,

Christ."

same word, which we

this

have here translated

the

of

benedictions

benedictions,

is

word used by St Paul* when

speaking of the communion of the

Body and Blood

of Christ.

verb belonging to

it

Evangelists

is

used by the

indifferently
*

Cor.

X.

The

6.

with

the

iii'.m

Roma

222

Sotterranea.

corresponding verb of the P^ucharist, both in their account of

the miracles of multipHcation, and also of the institution of
the Blessed Sacrament."'

Lastly,

used by St Cyril of Alexandria

is

it

(in

word always

the very

whose

city this painting

found) to denote the consecrated bread and wine

of the faithful waxed

the devotion

munions became more

rare,

now

bread which was

received, instead of

have the evidence of the Christian

miracles

we have

^^

of

evidence, and

importance of

^^'^^

7x17

^^^ tedious, perhaps,

the conclusion, out of place, yet

show

that

we

are building

Testament/'

some of our

to

was not possible

it

as " a

and used

may have appeared somewhat

discussion

^^^^^

on

two

use the words of St

" (to

New

chalice of the

we

Here, then,

It,

artist himself, that the

kind of sacramental anticipation

Summary

to denote the blest

referred to were understood

Maximus) " of the

and com-

same word was naturally

the

and has ever since remained,

retained,

and when

fervent,

less

is

any
rate
j

readers, or at
7

to avoid

long

we desired

it if

to

For we have

solid foundations.

been accused of wishing to force upon the paintings of the

Catacombs a meaning they

will

meaning

sincerely desire to ascertain

what

we have thought

means of doing

them with the

come down
of those

We

the best

literary

their

and biographical

really

this is to

or for

whom

done

is

to prove

and

compare

and

feelings

they were executed.

have been accused of " attempting to connect the

the doctrine of Transubstantiation."

is

which have

details

to us with reference to the thoughts

who executed them,

we most

not bear, whereas

fish

What we have

by abundant testimonies that when

with

really

fish

and

bread were represented together on ancient Christian monuments, there was meant a secret reference to the
ist,

Holy Euchar-

of which the bread denotes the outward and visible form,

the fish the inward

and hidden

reality, viz., Christ

Jesus

Our

Lord.
Before the recent discoveries, this was only a conjecture of
* St Matt. xiv.
St

Luke

ix.

16;

19; XV. 36; xxvi. 26,

xxii. 19.

St John

vi.

11.

27.

St Mark,

vi.

41

xiv. 22,

Symbolical Paintings.

22o

acute and learned antiquarians, but the pictures discovered in

the cemetery of St CalHxtus set before us most plain and un-

questionable representations of the Eucharistic table, side by

Gospel

side with pictures recording the

on bread and

histories of the repasts

and the baskets of multiplied loaves, and

fish,

thus they put in the strongest light the symbolical link which

united those repasts and miracles with the

The

secret of this connecting link

confirmed

was no

Eucharist.

less illustrated

and

by the celebrated epitaph of Autun, where the

hieroglyphic of the fish

From

Holy Table.

is

the

openly applied to the bread of the

first

moment

venerable monument. Cardinal Pitra

neighbouring seminary
to the light
tian

Holy

which

symbolism

it

invited

threw on

of the discovery of that

then

a professor in a

the attention of the learned

this instance

of ancient Chris-

and the monuments of various kinds which

have since been brought to

light,

together with

many

which had been known indeed long before, but not

others

fully

un-

derstood, provide so complete a demonstration of that secret

symbol, and of
tian

gradual development in the hands of Chris-

its

that

artists,

it

is

no longer possible

for

any reasonable

man to refuse his assent to the interpretation, or to make

a demand for more abundant evidence.
It is quite certain
that these figures,
to

strangers,

however unmeaning they might have been

were as

perfectly

intelligible

to

cotemporary

Christians as the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt to those

used them, or the

When,

then,

letters of the

we

who

English alphabet to ourselves.

see on a Christian tombstone, as on a very Examples.

^YNTRoTHloTv
<s)@
Fig.

1^.

Tombstone from a?i ancient Christian

Cemetery at Modenn,

ancient one found at Modena, and represented in this figure,

a couple of

fish,

each holding a loaf of bread

in its

mouth, and

Roma

24

five

Sotlerranea.
we

other loaves between them,

vivors of Serapion,

whose tombstone

cal representation of the

ment which had,

Holy

feel certain that the surit is,

intended a symboH-

Eucharist, that blessed sacra-

doubtless, been his strength in

gave the sure hope of his resurrection to everlasting

Fish carrying
a basket of

like

bread.

^^''S

manner we have no
,

in

^^ ^'^^^

strange-lookmg ornament which

one of the most ancient

and of which the reader

XIV.

twice repeated

Lucina,

ciibicula in the crypts of St

will fi.nd

mean-

is

In

life.*

difficulty in giving a Christian

and now

life,

an accurate copy in Plate

apparently alive and swimming, bears upon

fish,

back a basket of bread.

This bread

kind, but of a gray ashen colour,

is

its

not of the ordinary

such as was used by the

people of the East, and especially by the Jews, as a sacred

offering of the

Romans by
lies

first fruits

to the priests,

the barbarous

name

of mamphala.

on the top of the basket, but

pictures,

may be

and was known

in the

middle of

to the

The bread
in

it,

both

something red, a some-

clearly distinguished a

thing that seems best to represent a glass containing red wine;

and De Rossi produces a

says he
ing.

was

St

who had

irresistibly

Jerome
spent

is

text

from St Jerome, of which he

reminded as soon as he saw

this paint-

speaking of Exuperius, Bishop of Toulouse,

all his

substance for the relief of the poor, and

he goes on to remark that " nothing, however, can be richer

than one

who

carries the

Body

of Christ in a basket

and the Blood of Christ

in

painting before us the basket

is

twigs,

made

of

a chalice of glass." t

In the

precisely of this kind,

and

it

was already known from other sources that baskets of wicker-

work were used

Gentiles,

and

in

the sacrificial rites both of the Jews and

had continued the use

that the Christians also

of vessels of the

same material

for carrying the Blessed Sacra-

ment, where gold or silver could not be had.|

doubt, therefore, that this singular painting
* St John,

vi.

at

We

once the most

55.

t Ep. 125, alias \, ad. Rusticuni. torn.

% See Marini, Fratr. Arvali, 396. 423.

i.

cannot

1085, ed. Migne.

Symbolical Pamtings.
ancient and the most simple that

with bread

was

we know,

225

of the fish miited

intended to refer to the mystery of the Holy

Eucharist.

Probably the painting also on the opposite wall of the same

aibiadiim
is

less

is

another symbol of the Holy Eucharist, though this

between two

altar

obvious and certain.

milk-pail rests

on a kind ofLaml^canyi

and the same instrument may be

sheep,'^"

seen in the next chamber, on the right-hand side of the

Shepherd.
latter

Elsewhere

instances,

it

it

appears also in his hands.

In these

might not unreasonably be taken as merely

one of the ornamental accessories of pastoral

without any religious signification, but

its

find

it,

as in

life,

inserted

position in the pre-

sent example seems to indicate something

So also when we

Good

more important.

some most ancient

pictures in the

cemetery of St Domitilla, suspended from the pastoral

and by the side of the lamb

or, as in

staff

a later painting in the

Lmnb carrying tJie milk'

pail fro}n Catacomb of SS. Peter

Fig. 25.

and Marcelliitus.
Fig.

26.

Milk-pail and shepherd^s

by side of lamb frojii

Catacomb of St Domitilla.

crook

cemetery of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, resting on the back of

the

lamb

itself,

we

are reminded of the

*

See

fig.

14,

page

103.

undoubted

fact that

milk-pail;

Roma

26

Sotterranea.

milk was often used as a symbol of the Holy Eucharist.*

deed, the lamb carrying the milk-pail on

own back seems

its

we have

exactly analogous to the picture

In-

just

been studying

of the fish carrying the bread,

The Acts

interpreted
^

St Perpet'iia

of St Perpetua

generally

acknowledged as a

genuine document of the beginning of the third century

by which

describe, as a part of the vision

soled and strengthened in prison, the

that saint

Good Shepherd

He

"

had drawn.

She received them

upon one another, and

with hands crossed

just

answered, Amen,"-

the

appear-

some of the

ing to her, milking His flock, and giving her to eat

curds of the milk which

was con-

the

all

people

word and the action then used

partaking of the Holy Eucharist, of which

it

was here

in

evi-

dently intended to be a symbol.

Something of the same kind

also occurs in other ancient Acts

and some of the old com-

mentators point out that the good things of the Gospel are

sometimes prophesied and foretold under the

sometimes of mixed wine, sometimes of milk.

out of place

mind

to call to

also

figure of flesh,

may

It

not be

the primitive practice of

giving milk and honey to infants after baptism,

a practice

borne witness to by Tertullian and St Jerome as one of those

things which were

handed on by

which was continued,

at least

tradition to the Church,

on Holy Saturday, as

and

late as the

ninth or tenth century.t

and by the
lanfuage of
St Augustine

It

is

more

Still

to our purpose to quote the language of St

Augustine in his commentary on one of the Psalms; J and the

whole sermon
so directly

in

which

occurs

it

is

so remarkable,

upon the question of symbolism with which

engaged, that we are sure our readers

we quote from
on the

title

it

at

some

Tertullian,

De

X Enarr.

will

need no apology

The Doctor

length.

w^e are

is

if

commenting

of the 33d Psalm, which refers to an incident in

* Buonarroti, Vetri, 32

Martene,

and bears

De

Garrucci, Vetri. 62, 63, ed. 2da.

Cor. Militis,

Ant. Eccl. Rit.

lib.

i.

Hieron. Dial. adv. Lucif.

c.

c.

i.

xv. 16.

i"'^ in Ps. xxxiii. torn. iv. p.

301, ed.

Gaume.

See

Symbolica I Paint iiigs,

the

life

books

of David, not exactly as

that

told of

one person, and

the

in

of the Psalm

title

And

be attributed to another.

recorded in the historical

Book of Kings the incident

to say, in the

is

it is

227

seems to

it

the Saint argues that this

He

change of name has not been made without a reason.

incident,

we can

which he maintains

discover

meaning of the whole

into the mystical

inquires, therefore,

or not

it

it

is

certainly

must have, whether

because every other part of the

history of the Jewish people

lias

such a meaning

and he

appeals to his hearers as knowing this fact as well as he does.

He

specifies

amongst other

which

details of Jewish story,

fore-

shadowed mysteries of the Christian Church, the manna, the

Red

passage through the

He

and the

Sea,

striking of the rock.

then speaks of David slaying the giant Goliath, as a type

of Christ killing Satan

" But what

When

humility slaying pride.

It is

brethren, of Christ,

He made

For

to you.

is

it

made humble,

who

Christ

is

then

is

way

humility.

by

my

speak to you,

humility that
to us

slew Satan?

specially
.

commended
.

God was

human race might not

God." And he continues

that so the pride of the

disdain to follow the footsteps of

immediately as follows

"

But there was, as you know,

in

former times a sacrifice of the Jews according to the order of

Aaron, with victims of cattle

and

was

in

a mystery,

because, as yet, ihere was not the sacrifice of the

Body and

Blood of the Lord, which the

have read the Gospels; which

sacrifices; the

will

not repent

to the order of

Then,

after

For

Thou

Melchisedec'

art a priest for ever

Of our Lord

sacrifice

former one according to Aaron, and

according to Melchisedec.

and

know and those who

is now spread {diffiisum)

faithful

Put then before your eyes those

throughout the whole world.

two

this, too,

Jesus

giving

it is

art a

written,
priest

Of whom

one

'The Lord swore,

for
is

this

ever according'

this

said,

'

Thou

according to the order of Melchisedec?'

Christ.

But who was

Melchisedec?"

the history of Melchisedec, and

particular attention to his priesthood, to the blessing

calling

which

Roma

28

Sotterranea.

he gave to Abraham, and to

who

speaks
of the sacrifice
of the Body
"^

and wine, he continues,

''

The

wihed our salvation to be

From His

humility

Our Lord Jesus

is

he were humble,

Consider His greatness

Word was

Angels eat of

for Angels.

heavenly

spirits

which

Behold

God.'

and

has

But
%

He

would

'

In the

Word was

with God, and

this everlasting

food; but food

beginning was the Word, and the

the

Clirist

Body and Blood

us His

to

for except

not be eaten and drunk.

it,

and the powers above, and

and

eating, they are filled

and gladdens them

satisfied

yet,

still

remains whole.

But what mortal could approach that food^

Whence could

that

satisfies

he have a heart suitable

come

for

such food

was necessary

It

that

made milk {inensa ilia lactesceret), and so

But how does meat become milk'? How

that food sliould be

^Evicnirist

then,

His Body and Blood.

in

He commended

whence has

and the Holy

of Aaron,

sacrifice

taken away, and the sacrifice according to the order of Mel-

chisedec has begun to be.

ChHS^'^

having brought forth bread

his

to little ones.

viri"

der the symbol is

of milk.

meat changed

flesli

And

this is

eats, the

same

infant

not

is

into milk, unless

fit

be passed through

What

done by the mother.

by the

also eaten

is

first

it

panem

but because the

mother changes the bread

to eat bread, the

into her flesh {jpsnm

infant

the mother

iiiater incaiiiaf)^

and so feeds the

infant on that very bread, through the lowliness of the breast

How

and

Wisdom of God fed us

on bread
Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in
us' (/;/ iwbls).
Behold then His humility; for man has eaten
the juice of milk.
*?

'

the bread of Angels, as

it

'

He

the bread of Angels,

the

'

He

gave them the bread

for,

'

being in the form of God,

not robbery to be equal with God.'

feed on him, but

in

written,

equal to the Father

thought

it is

man ate the bread of Angels;''' that is, man has

that Word whereon the Angels feed, and which is

of heaven

eaten of

then has the

likeness

of

'

He

The Angels

man might eat

servant, being made

debased Himself,' that

taking the form of a

men and

in

habit found as a man,

* Ps. Ixxvh. 24.

He

Symbolical Painting's.

229

humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the

death of the cross,'" in order that from the Cross might be

commended

to us the

new

sacrifice,

and blood of

the flesh

Christ."

Manifestly, then,
pails to

it is

which we have called attention

ments may have had

Ave

by no means improbable

in early Christian

to put

with the symbol of the bread and the

is

on the same level

it

The examples

fish.

the one symbol are comparatively rare,

borrowed from the language of a few

and

its

Some

of our readers

of

interpretation

the other was inces-

santly repeated in every variety of combination,

by a great multitude of

monu-

meaning, though

a religious symbolical

do not by any means pretend

that the milk-

and

attested

is

authorities.

may be

surprised that nothing should Different

have been yet said about the cross or the monogram, which

by some

writers are stated to

common

of

ever,

all

have been the

Christian symbols.

borne out by archaeological

of the anchor being, in

some

This statement

facts.

and most

earliest

We have already spoken

instances, so

formed

in Christian

epitaphs as naturally to suggest the thought of the cross

we need not quote

others,

the well-known passages of TertuUian

which show the love of the early Christians

sign of salvation,

and

criicis religiosi\\

the cross was the sigmim

their frequent use of

Nevertheless,

<r>j,ajtO!/.J

how-

not,

is

it.

and
and

for this

Christians were

CJij'isti^

t'o

there were obvious reasons

-/.v^taTioy

why

this

sign should not be freely exposed to public gaze

jthe famous

caricature of the Crucifixion, found on the Palatine,

is

proof of

this.

a sufficient

In the most ancient part of the lowest piiuio

of the crypt of St Lucina,

we meet with a

loculiis

with the

inscription

POTOINA
EIPHNH
with a

simple Greek
* Philip,

ii.

cross

beneath the

6-8.

% St Clem. Alex. Strom,

f
vi.

ir.

latter

name.

Tertull. Apol. i6.

But

^^.^^^

Ro7na Sotterranea.

2 30

most of the

more

forms of

earliest

or less disguised.

monogram

(Fig.

26,

It is

/),

we can

discover are

contained, for instance, in the

which occurs on an inscription of the

that

it

Different Jbj->its of the Cross atid Mofiogrntn.

Fig. 27.

year 268 or 279, as well as upon others not bearing certain

dates.
letters

It

seems

have been intended to combine the

to

IHCOTC XPICTOC, and may be

of

first

considered rather

a compendious form of writing than a symbol properly so

TertuUian

called.

and says

&c.,

frojites,

own T

quotes Ezech.
"

Now

Tmi super

Signa

4.

Greek

the

the very form of the

is

ix.

Tau and our

letter

Cross, which he predicted

would be the sign on our foreheads

in

Catholic

the true

The number 300 being expressed in Greek

letter Tau, came itself, even in apostolic times,

Jerusalem."'"

by
to

this

be regarded as equivalent to the

We

cross. t

see examples

of this in the inscription ireTne, lately discovered in a part

of the

Catacomb of San

tury

and also

in

;J

in

the

both of which the

symbolical meaning.
alone,

or

in

Callisto,

monogram

belonging to the third cenof

Tyranio

(Fig. 27, p. 232),

T is made prominent, evidently with a

We even find the letter itself inscribed

combination

with

the

letter

P,

on a tomb-

stone.

and of the
monoirram.

is

The Constantinian monogram,

formed of the

the

first

with the P.

certainty, but

it

two
It

as

it

letters of the

is

not easy to

was known

is

called

(Fig.

Greek word
fix

its

26,

c),

for Christ,

date with any

to the Christians long before the

triumph of Constantine, although the few dated inscriptions

\

* Contr. Marc.

iii.

22.

f See Barnab. Ep. Cath.,

c.

9, ed. Ilcfele., p. 22.

X Bidlcf.. 1863, 35.

Rom.

Sott., torn. 2, xxxix. 28.

Symbolical

231

Pai7iti7igs.

before that event do not supply us with any specimen of

It

it.

has been found scratched on the plaster, side by side with the

earlier

forms

and

{a

both

b),

in

San

Callisto

and the Catacomb

of St Agnes, in galleries which bear every sign of being prior to

This monogram, and also the simple

the time of Constantine.

Greek

cross,

appear on the coins of that emperor, and shortly

after his

time we meet with the modifications of

The

of the

tail

cases the

same

sometimes prolonged, as

is

/.

/;

in

whole

letter is reversed as in ^, or the

obliquely as in h and

{d and

it

form of the Cross,

k^ is

6').

in other
is

placed

sometimes

found on the garments of some of the figures painted in the

Catacombs during the fourth century, which

a fourfold repetition of the Greek V

thus formed was in use

an

Christian religion.

De

writers have attempted to

It w^as
fruit

introduction

into

it

the

was

tradition

Christians from

but

some other

rather

source,

called,

was of

Christian Churcli.

no spontaneous invention of the early

of early

the

has been demonstrated, however, by

It

late

them and

between

Rossi, that this crux ganunata^ as

comparatively

for

the Buddhists and in other

connexion

historical

of

and because the symbol

some French

Oriental superstitions,
establish

among

composed

is

Cliristians,

no

was borrowed by the

and adopted

for a while

concealment's sake.

may be remarked
modification of a mode
It

line across

scriptions,

Great,

it,

and

This

studiously

that the form

-p- is

not un frequently met with in ancient Greek

to

in-

be seen on some of the coins of Herod the

ganiinata,

was afterwards

adopted by the Christians and

supplanted the

also,

like

the

c?'iix

monogram which

Constantinian

manded

his soldiers to inscribe

on

* " Fecit et jussus

est,

rucci, Vetri Or/iafi, &c.,

much

ut transversa x littera,

in scutis notat."

that

emperor com-

The

their shields.'^

Latin cross seems to have been used

Constantine.

slight

of writing the Greek P, with a transverse

original

Christum

an extremely

Lactant de mort.

earlier in Africa

summo

persec.

plain

c.

capite circumflexo,
44.

where he describes and discusses

all

See P. Garthe coins of

Roma

232
than in

Italy;'"'

indeed,

it

Sotterranea.
was used more frequently

country than any form of the monogram.

about the beginning of the

fifth

the sixth century was very

common

twice also

we

find

on tombs

formed from the union of

-p-

in

century,

the

and the

and

belonging,

it

that

began

and by the end of

Once

everywhere.

or

Catacombs a monogram
letter

apparently, for the initials of the words

conqiiers,

In Italy

in

of course,

N, being intended,

XPICTOO NIK A,
to

Christ

post-Constantinian

times.
*

Fig.

28.

De

Rossi dc Titul. Carlhag. apud Spic. Solesm.

S aixopha^Hs found

i7i

iv.

Crypt of St Lticina, represejiting Ulysses and the Siren.

CHAPTER

III.

ALLEGORICAL PAINTINGS.

THEwe

Catacombs of which
1-1
.7
of those which were suggested

second class of paintings

at

least

by some

application

been already described under the name

we have

thereby designed to teach.

We

do

first

composed these scenes

as a careful statement of

and painted them on the

walls of their cemeteries or

Christians

with

teaching.

being

He

be understood as saying that the

not, however, wish to

chapels

whole scenes, inspired or suggested,

by our Lord's parables, and themselves sug-

said,

gesting the truths which

doctrine,

hieroglyphic writing to

Instead of a single symbol, or combina-

composition.

full

distinct

Rather,

we

dogmatic purpose, for the sake of

believe,

that

their

minds and souls

of certain ideas, they naturally gave expression to

those ideas in corresponding artistic forms, which forms again,

when seen by

others, necessarily revived

impression of the truths they typified.

and strengthened the

The teaching was

real,

but unconscious.

Among
that

the parables or parabolical instructions of our Lord, The

of the vine

disciples

and grapes was certainly adopted by His

during the

first

century

"
;

* rilra, Spicil. Solesm.

ii.

and the
449 458.

illustration

we

in

^^'"'cient art.

and a further development of the same

tion of symbols, they are

as

pioduced

In truth, they are but a parti-

They proceed from

of symbolism.

they can

Parables not
accurately re-

reproduce them, and therefore we

to

allegorical.

principle which has

artistic

of our Lord's parables, though

said really

have called them

is

the

in

promised to speak,

hardly be

cular

vine.

Roma

34

have given

page

in

Catacomb of

Sotterranea.

from the most ancient part of the

72,

St Domitilla,

is

little

militate

any way against

its

Christian sense, though

cannot agree with those who consider that those

men

were intended to represent either

more probable

that they were used as

but

accessories,

senseless

classical school of art,

The wise and

The

mere ornaments, pretty

custom of the

its first

inspirations.

parable of the wise and foolish virgins appears occa-

....
sionally m

some

7-7

01 the cuuiciUa
;

'''

,1

at

virgms are

least the wise

and even these have not lamps

in their hands, but burning torches, according to the

Roman

On

a grave-

fashion with which the artists were

stone, a
is

man

is

more

familiar.

represented in the act of sowing seed

but

it

impossible to say with certainty that any allusion was here

The scene may have had

intended to the parable.

to the occupation of the deceased, or to

we cannot now

essentially^"
Christian sub-

seems

It

from which the Christian school had

to be seen, not the foolish

The Good

we

figures

little

or angels.

according to the

sprung and necessarily drawn some of

foolish virgins.

The

it.

winged piitti amongst the branches does not

presence of
in

probably an example of

The

something

reference

else

which

discover.

parable, however, of the

cannot be mistaken.

Good Shepherd

one which

is

Raoul Rochette, indeed, has made such

^ display of the old heathen representations of Mercury carrying a ram, of the Fauns, of shepherds and other

young men

carrying a lamb, a sheep, or a goat on their backs, that

would almost seem as

he doubted whether the Good Shep-

if

herd were a certain sign of Christianity,

he supposed the

first

or, at

art

Yet, in truth, these naked young

of the Nasones and elsewhere have very

with what we see on Christian monuments.
*

(he

any

rate, that

Christians had taken the idea of their

Shepherd from the traditions of Pagan

Gospel.

it

rather than

men
little

in the

the

tomb

common

in

Sometimes, but

The foolish viri^ins have been lately found painted in a ciihicnlnni in

Catacomb of vSt Cyriaca but the painting is of a later date it belongs

to the time of the

first

C/iris/iaii

emperors.

Biillcff.,

1S63,

]i.

77.

A llegorica I Pa in tings.
very rarely,

we

Pagan tombs a shepherd dancing with

find in

The only one we know which

a lamb or goat on his neck.

could at

all

235

be compared

with those in the Catacombs,

"""

among

represented quite naked,

a lot of other figures, mani-

and

festly alluding to the seasons,

is

essentially different from

is

Good Shepherd, which occupies the

roof or on the walls of so many Christian

the grave picture of the

principal place in the

Once,

chapels.

Shepherd and the dancer are to be found

but no one could pretend

th?.t

same chapel

in the

no

there was

not unlikely

that,

amid so frequent a

scenes both by Pagan and Christian

difference between

them, or that one could be mistaken for the other.

it is

Good

both the

St Domitilla's cemetery,

in

Of

course

repetition of pastoral

there should be

artists,

an occasional resemblance, possibly even a direct imitation,

of

some ancient and

have

at

classical type

but

Christian artists

if so.

departed from the Pagan type

least

in

a thousand

different ways.

seems to have been quite

It

their favourite subject.

We

cannot go through any part of the Catacombs, or turn over

the pages of any collection of ancient Christian

without coming across

Tertullian that
it

it

it

ourselves painted in fresco

;

upon the

roofs

carefully sculptured

glass,

moulded on lamps, engraved on

on sarcophagi

us.

examples, there

is

walls of the

Of

course,

traced in gold

rings

represented on every species of Christian

to

and

rudely scratched upon grave-stones, or

more

come down

We know from
chalices.
We find

again and again.

was often designed upon

sepulchral chambers

monuments,

and, in a word,

monument

amid such

upon

that has

multitude of

We

considerable variety of treatment.

cannot, however, appreciate the suggestion of Kiigler, that this

frequent repetition of the subject
to

the capabilities which

view.

Rather,

it

Rellovi, p. 58;

probably to be attributed

possessed

was selected because

sum and substance of

*

it

is

the Christian

PicUuiTe Ant. Crypt.

in
it

an

artistic

expressed the wliole

dispensation.

Rom.,

point of

In the

ed. Bottaii, p. 58.

of very He
'

Roma

236

Sotterraiiea.

language even of the Old Testament, the action of Divine

Providence upon the world

and

borrowed from pastoral

allegories

men

herd, and

are His sheep.

our Divine Redeemer

Good Shepherd.

into

But

He came down

human

life

God

way

to our regards as

the

more

still

from His eternal throne

world to seek the

this

the Shep-

is

special

in a

Himself

offers

heaven into the wilderness of

of the whole

frequently expressed by images

is

in

sheep

lost

and having brought them together

race,

one fold upon earth, thence

Moreover,

ever-verdant pastures of paradise.

own

vouchsafes to receive some of His

His gospel was committed

them

to transport

in this

into the

work

He

creatures as coadjutors.

to the ministration, not of angels,

but of men, and the commission was given to the Prince of

the Apostles, and in
and variously

Hence He

sheep."

is

him

to all

to " feed Plis

His ministers,

sometimes represented alone with His

represented.

flock

other

at

accompanied by His

times

attended by one or more

He

Sometimes

sheep.

each

apostles,

stands

many sheep sometimes He caresses one only but

most commonly so commonly as almost to form a rule to
amidst

which other scenes might be considered the exceptions

He

bears a lost sheep, or even a goat, upon His shoulders

we cannot doubt

that

He was

painted in these various

and
atti-

tudes, not for artistic effect, but for their spiritual sense.

Of course,

Reasonablyso.

name and

since Jesus

title

of a Shepherd,

all

this

it

was natural and lawful

for

Him

Christian artists to represent

with

assume

Himself had vouchsafed

in

all

the attitudes,

and

the instruments, of the pastoral profession, such as

the crook, the pipe of reeds, the milk-pail, &c.

as

to

we have

but even these,

seen, are each capable of receiving a very apposite

Christian interpretation.

And

writers to turn into ridicule

although

any attempt

sense to every detail of an ancient fresco,

what principle such objectors

rely,

it

may

please

some

to affix a Christian
it is

hard to see upon

which would not absolutely

debar us from attempting to interpret the " motive

"

of any

painting whatever, of which the artist did not happen to have

A llegorica I Pain tings.

left

own explanation

his

a sense

upon a

known

to

likely
is

If

in writing.

painting, which

it

it

237

be attempted to put

cannot be proved was ever

the age in which the artist lived, the attempt

is

but where

it

both to provoke and to deserve contempt

on the contrary, that the sense suggested must

certain,

have been quite familiar to the

artist,

either from

being

its

contained in the broadest outlines and leading features of his

from

religion, or

its

having been pressed upon his notice by

the controversies of his age,

that such sense

seems reasonable to conclude

it

was intended

as, for instance, that

Good

the

Shepherd leading or caressing a goat was intended to be a

protest against the hateful severity of the Novatians

and other

heretics refusing reconciliation to penitent sinners.

So again,

when we

find

on either side of the Good Shepherd, other men

busying themselves about other sheep, and those sheep

disposed in various attitudes,
conclude,

first,

that those

men

natural and legitimate to

is

it

and ministers

are the apostles

of God's word and sacraments, whose duty

the work of the

Good Shepherd

all

on

to carry

is

it

and, secondly, that the various

attitudes of the sheep denote the various dispositions of those

to

whom

Catacomb of

the

And

this

is

what we see

precisely

XVI., which represents a painting over an a?rosolmm

in Plate

in

they are sent.

through

in

St

Callixtus^

that

was afterwards cut

very ancient times for the sake of making a grave

a sure sign of the high antiquity of the painting thus damaged.

On

either side of the

we

see two

Good Shepherd, who

occupies the centre. Explanation of

men, probably SS. Peter and Paul, "representing

the whole Apostolate from the beginning to the end, hasten-

ing away from Christ, as sent by

side, before

Him

each of the two, there

to the world.

rises a rock,

which

himself, the true Rock"' of the desert, pouring

of living waters.f

These waters include

graces of Christianity.

hands

The

all

Cor.

X, 4,

down

is

either

Christ

streams

the sacraments

apostles are

t St John

and

seen joining their

to catch this water, in order to turn

*

On

it

iv.

afterwards on
lo,

13,

&c.

Plate

XVI

Roma

238
our heads,

i.e.,

Sotterranea.
communicate

order to

in

world to which they are sent

'J'he

is

listening

attentively,

one

it is

do with
in all

grass

it.

On

he hears with simplicity and affection

;

one of the sheep

the other turns

he has something else to do

and riches of

he

is

his

have nothing to

will

the other side, one of the two sheep

is

the other

drinking
is

eating

occupied with the

this world."'"'

Moreover, the

has so distributed the streams of water as they flow forth

from the rock, that they

spiritual condition

fall

in

exact accordance with the

we have supposed

by the various positions

for,

an unwelcome subject, and he

cares and pleasures

artist

side,

not quite understanding as yet, but

meditating and seeking to understand

tail

world.

the

represented by two sheep

is

On

standing before each of them.

to

it

into

the artist to have intended

which he has placed

whereas a perfect torrent

is

falling

his

wards the apostle, the other, which has turned

Fit;. 29.

its

lifted

back,

all.

* Palmer's Early Christian

Iiisc7-iptio>ifroin the

on the head of the

animal that stands with outstretched neck and head

without any water at

sheep

Symbolism,

Crypts 0/ St Lncinn.

p. 3.

See p.

206.

to-

is left

CHAPTER

IV.

BIBLICAL PAINTINGS.

found

have

to Even the

keep inviolate that

classification itself

is

Catacombs with which we

just,

but there

between the several members of

relation

frequently intermixed, even in the

treating of some,
tion of others,

if

tary incomplete

are forcibly

became necessary

it

we did not wish

reminded of

this,

such an intimate

it,

and they are so

now

that in

to anticipate our explana-

to leave our

and unsupported by

symbolical.

set out.

is

same composition,

bibli-

cal paintings

classes of paintings in the

The

as we anticipated,
.....
distinction between the several

impossible,

it

its

whole commen-

we come

that

We

legitimate proofs.

to treat of the

paintings which represent histories from the Bible.

This class
parables

far

is

yet,

more

rich

and varied than that of the

when compared with

the

abundance of the

source from which they are taken, even these seem poor and

we had been
,,,.-.
If

limited.

told that the early Christians

the

habit

oi

decorating

their

were

in Their limited
,

burial-places

and places

ot

assembly with paintings of subjects taken from the Bible, and

had been invited

choice,

to speculate

we should

on the probable subjects of

certainly not have confined the range

Christian art within those narrow limits which

examination of

Nor

is

it

which led
fact,

its

their

existing

monuments

that

it

we

find

of

from an

really observed.

easy, at this distance of time, to discover the causes

to so great a restriction of the artists' liberty.

however,

is

plain

variety of histories

in

and undeniable.
the Old

and

New

Out of

The

the infinite

Testaments, which

number,

Roma

240
seemed

both

to offer

Sotteri^artea.

and useful

fitting subjects for the pencil

lessons of instruction or consolation to the faithful, only a few

were taken

nor did either painter or sculptor often venture

"

transgress the boundaries assigned to them.

to

The

inci-

dents that exemplified the leading dogmas of faith were chosen

preference to others," says Kiigler, " and thus

in

become

the arts

the index of the tenets that were prominent at differ-

ent periods."
and fixed

char-

Not only were the

subjects

even in their mode of treating these, they were not

They

wholly to themselves.

left

within a narrow cycle of

artists limited

did not treat them either

accurately as facts of history, nor freely as subjects of the

imagination, but strictly with a view to their spiritual meaning

and since

this

something of

is

its

own

fixedness of character to the art which

vouchsafed to employ.

We may

apply almost

many

language that was used so

the Iconoclast controversy

The

Non

it

the

literally to

Catacombs, the same

state of Christian art as exhibited in the

tomm

dogma imparted

always the same, religious

centuries afterwards during

est

imagimim

strtictiira pic-

inventio^ sed ecdesicE Catholicce probata legislatio eiti'aditio*

belonged to the

details only of the execution

artist

the

choice of subjects, the general design and plan of the whole

was more or

less

was

that story

selected, not at

own

all for its

sake of what was associated w4th

it

in the

this or

sake, but for the

mind of the Church

in other words, even the historical paintings

And

under the control of authority.

were essentially

symbolical.

"The
Rossi, "

symbolical system of this hieratic cycle," says

is

established

beyond

all

dispute, not only

choice and arrangement of subjects, but also by the

De

by the

mode

of

representing them, and, in a few instances, even by inscriptions

Noe

accompanying them." Take the

in the

baptism*^^

history of

what an endless variety of compositions

able,

and how variously has

it

is

Noe,

for

example

of

not this subject cap-

not been treated in

* Cone. Nic. III. Actio vi. Collect. Labbe, torn.

vii.

all

the schools

fol.

831, 832,

1;

Biblical Paifitiiigs.
of modern art

Yet throughout the whole range of the

Catacombs we

find but

far as possible

from historical

one type of

it,

and

Roman

removed

that

as

Instead of a huge ark

truth.

upon the waves, and containing

riding

24

eight persons, together

with a vast multitude of living animals,

we have

a single indi-

vidual almost filling the small box in which he stands, whilst a

an olive-branch,

dove, bearing

Some

towards him.'^

flies

persons have supposed that this scene was a direct but imperimitation of the famous coins of

fect

Apamea, belonging

man and

the reign of Septimius Severus, on which a

to not copied

his wife

stand in a similar box, with a raven perched behind them, and

a dove flying towards them

and however

Nn

or

the beginning of the

NHE, which appear on

no choice

as to referring

Nevertheless,

De

century, the

third

in

letters

the front of the box, leave us

to the liistory of the

it

may be

it

on a heathen coin struck

to account for this representation

Phrygia in

difficult

patriarch.

Rossi claims for some paintings of the same

subject in the Catacombs, particularly for those in the entrance

to

Catacomb of

the

St Domitilla, referred

to

chapter,t an undoubted priority in point of time.

as he justly remarks, there

is

a former

in

Moreover,

no proof of any community of

idea between the Christian and the Pagan

the form of the ark, and this was in a

artist,

except as to

manner forced upon

them both, by the conditions of space within which they

worked

in all other parts of the

differences.

In the

appears, nor

is

On

Noe.

the contrary,

whose grave

it

is

it

is

added.

often not a

the

name

was painted, Juliana.

an explanation of

Epistles, J

raven

the

paintings,

this painting.

man

but a

of the deceased on

We

have not

St Peter, in

had spoken of a certain

See Plate VIII.

I

Peter

iii.

never

woman

figurative

far to

2.

t See page 73

and

seek

one of

his

resemblance

between those eight souls who were " saved by water

*

many

there any legend identifying the person as

and once her name

for

Christian

composition there are

in the

Bullctt. 1865, p. 43.

20, 21.

Apamea

Roma

242

Sotterraiiea.

days of Noe, when the ark was a-building," and those Chris-

who

tians

are

now

" saved

by baptism, being of the hke form

and some of the most ancient commentators on Holy

ture

draw out the resemblance

in all

of the deluge cleansed the earth from

waters of baptism cleanse the soul

who took
the

to

refuge in the ark, so

Church such

among

taken from

tongues," even
creature of

confine

all flesh,

Scrip-

the waters

all its iniquities,

so the

as those only were saved

Lord

also the

" adds daily

should be saved;"* and these are

" all nations,

as

ourselves

as

now

As

its details.

;"

tribes,

and peoples, and

the ark also contained

" of every living

and

wherein was the breath of

a

to

single

We must

life."

who

witness, Tertullian,

has

expressed this doctrine with his usual terseness in the following words

:t " As

after the waters of the deluge, in

which the

old iniquity was purged away, as after that baptism (so to call
it)

of the old world, a dove sent out of the ark and returning

with an olive-branch, was the herald to announce to the earth

peace and the cessation of the wrath of heaven, so by a similar

disposition with reference to matters spiritual, the dove of the

Holy
our

Spirit, sent forth

flesh, as

it

from heaven,

by the

clearly prefigured

this

scene of a

to the earth,

comes out of the bath of regeneration

old sins, and brings to us the peace of

is

flies

man

ark."

God

i.e.,

to

after its

where the Church

When,

therefore,

we

find

inclosed in an ark, and receiving the olive-

branch from the mouth of a dove, painted upon the walls of a

chapel in the Catacombs,
to

we cannot doubt

express the same general doctrine,

that

viz.,

it

was intended

that the faithful,

having obtained the remission of their sins through baptism,

have received from the Holy

and are saved

in

Spirit the gift of

the mystical ark

of the Church from the

destruction which awaits the world.

And

be rudely scratched on a single tomb,

it

and hope of the survivors

* Acts

ii.

47.

Divine peace,

if

the

same

picture

denotes the sure faith

that the deceased, being a faithful

f Lib. dc Bapti.smo,

vii.

Biblical Painti7igs.

member of the Church, had

now entered into his rest.
This picture of

...

died in the peace of God, and had

Noe and
.

the ark

dove which belongs to Noe

is

not unfrequently placed Jonas and the

is
-

very near to the history of Jonas

vessel which

mdeed,

.,,

^,

one mstance," the

represented on the poop of the

The

carrying off the prophet

is

243

tish

a type of

,^}-,g

resun-ec-

^^'^"

history of Jonas

having been put forward so emphatically by our Lord Hima type both of His

self,t as

not to be wondered at that

it is

among

Catacombs.

cemeteries

with

and medals, and

ordinary grave-stones.

that

to

Christian

bas-reliefs of

glasses,

and even

artists,

however,

Christian

by no means confined themselves

life

place

every

in

ancient

the

on the walls, on the

in the frescoes

first

Old Testament represented

was continually repeated

It

the sarcophagi, on lamps

the

of the general resurrection,

should have held the

monument connected

kind of

on

it

the subjects from the

all

the

in

own and

one scene

in

the

of the prophet in which he foreshadowed the resurrection,

three days' burial in the belly of the

viz., his

liverance from

it,

as

other incident of his

his lying

''

it

and

his de-

The

were from the jaws of the grave.

life

was painted quite as commonly,

viz.,

under the shadow of the booth covered with ivy on

the east side of the city " for refreshment

his misery

fish,

and discontent, as he

the sun was beating

upon

his

and

lay in the

rest

same

or again,

place,

when

head and the ivy had withered

away.

We

speak of the

ivy^

because

is

it

so called in the Vul-

^'l'^^

'vy or the

""ourd.

gate
St

but

all

scholars are familiar with the dispute between

Jerome and

St Austin as

Hebrew word used

to the

in this place

right

Saint

had appealed

of his

would seem

to

new trans-

for his

imply that the learned

Catacombs

in defence

of the word, their authority certainly

* Bottari, Tav. cxxxi.

X Op.

Jerome

to the pictures in the

own rendering

of the

and although the language

of Ruffinus in his invectives against St

lation of the Scriptures \

translation

S. Hieion., vol.

+ St Matt.
ii.,

xii.

p. 663, ed. Vallas, 1735.

39.

"^

Roma

244

appears to us to be

Sotterra7iea.
favour of St Austin and the gourd.

all in

However,

this

is

unimportant

interest to

us,

in

this

the

matter,

real

the paintings

that

is

cemeteries should have been appealed to at

of a

controversy before

religious

century, and

of present

point

the

the

of

fourth

appealed to as already an ancient witness

vcterum sepidchris\ by one

whom we know"

No

direct

hand, showing the particular intent

at

is

{in

have been a

to

frequent visitor to them in the days of his youth.

Patristic testimony

the

the course

all in

close

in

with which this part of the history of Jonas was so frequently

set before the eyes of the faithful

not

it is

difficult,

however,

how salutary a lesson of patience and encouragement it

could be made to preach to the poor persecuted Christians,

to see

whose

as witnesses to God's truth,

lot,

was cast

more populous and more wicked than

phet had been

The

sent.

in a city

which the pro-

that to

four scenes

both

we have described

sometimes occupy the four highest spaces on the walls of a

sometimes only two are given, opposite

cubiaduin ;

another

and occasionally even the whole history

is

to

one

crowded

together into one compendious scene, the prophet being cast

out by the great

fish

so as to

covered with the gourd. t

inhabitant of the deep

it

fall

The

immediately under the booth

fish is quite

unlike any real

resembles only some of those marine

monsters, sea-horses or cows, with which the Pagans delighted

to

ornament the walls both of

their

drawing-rooms and of their

mere freaks of the imagination, or

sepulchres, either as

conventional representation of the beast

Andromeda.
as a

Even

in

was confined

it

fabulous tale of

the Christians, too, used the

mere ornament

finally

in the

their

as the

same

figure

most ancient decorations, but

to the history of

Jonas

a monstrous

dragon, with a very long and narrow neck, and a large head

and

ears,

sometimes also with horns.

Perhaps

it

was repre-

sented in this Avay as a type of death, by way of distinguishing

it

from the real IXQTC, or Saviour.

* vSee

p3.i;c 97.

+ Sec Tlate VII.

Bib liea I Pa in tings.

Daniel
paintings

two

the

in

with

fiery

of the resurrection, J
the

Christian

dangers

as

under the extraordinary sufferings and

flock

persecutions,

makes

Cyprian,

St

rulers.

either as a figure

source of encouragement to

which they were exposed

to

idolatrous

or

this

the history of the Three

use

the

at

writing

of the

fiery

command

of

midst

of

the

in

and

history,

we

Children (as

them) who were cast into the

wont

are

also of
to

call

furnace for refusing to

He

worship the golden image set up by Nabuchodonosor.

them

quotes

signal instances

as

greatness of God's

of the

mercies and the power of His protection

these

men having

acquired the merit of martyrdom through the boldness of

all

their confession, yet being delivered

hands of

by His might out of the

and preserved

their enemies,

for

His greater

glory.

By otliers of the Fathers,|| these same histories find their place

among the numerous symbols of the resurrection from the
dead, " whence

and of course

they w^ere received as in a figure

also

either interpretation

is

" If

equally legitimate.

Indeed, these various interpretations, taken from the writings

men who

of

themselves lived during the ages of persecution,

are a sufiftcient proof of the kind of use which

of the

Old Testament

histories,

circumstances of the day

*

Le Elant

it is

was then made

their application to the

only natural to suppose

(Inscriptions, Chretiennes de la Gaule, torn.

to quote five

al)le

and of

and since

examples of ancient Christian

clothed, and all of these are of

much

later date

art in

i.

493)

is

only

which Daniel

is

than the paintings of the

Catacombs. See, however, our Fig. 11 in page 73. If historical truth had
been the artist's aim, the prophet should have been painted sittinrr^ and
with seven lions (Dan. xiv. 39).
t See centre of roof in Plate VI., also centre of sarcophagus in Plate

XIX.
+ S. Hieron. in Zach.,

11

Ep.

Ixi.

or

Iviii.,

St Irenseus,

^ Heb.

xi. 19.

lib.

ii.

c. ix.

864.

ed. Baluz.

lib. v. c. 5, 2

in the

as

may have been intended

History

cross. t

the Daniel

in

standing naked * between the Three Chil""^ ^^^^

outstretched in the form of a ^^^'^'^

arms

his

represented

usually

is

Catacombs

of the

lions,

den

lions'

245

Tertull.

De

Resurrect.

mrnace.

'

Rojna Sotterranea.

246
very

the

that

same purpose animated

the

represented to the eye, and the preacher

when

artist

lie

when he addressed

himself to the ear, we are not arbitrarily imposing a sense of

own upon

our

by sure

these paintings, but only seeking to discover,

what meaning was

rules of interpretation,

to the

m^d

to the

minds of those who saw them.

really present

of their authors, and what lessons they conveyed

In the writings of later

Fathers, such as St Augustine, St Chrysostom,

history of the

Three Children

the Church

at first forbidden

will

others, the

used as a type of the history of

is

by the

worship the true God, and suffering

because she

and

world to

rulers of this

kinds of persecution

all

not heed the prohibition, then triumphing

over her enemies, and persuading even her very persecutors to

become her

Adoration of
'""^

'

'

children and protectors.

And

it

would almost

seem

as

trial,

had enjoyed some prophetic anticipation of

if

change,

the early Christians, even in their darkest hours of

this blessed

and looked upon the adoration which the

Saviour had received from the Wise

of foretaste and

first-fruits,

as

Men

of the East as a kind

were, of the

it

infant

homage which

whole world should one day give Him, since we

the

them

find

repeatedly bringing together, in the most marked way, these

two

histories, the

Three Children refusing

to adore the

image of

Nabuchodonosor from the Old Testament, and the three Wise

Men

adoring the infant Jesus from the New.

tion of these

look upon

it

two subjects

far

is

as fortuitous.'^

and

them

always " wuth their coats,

and

literal

too frequent to allow us to

is

usually represented with

accuracy than most others

truth

juxtaposi-

should be mentioned that this

It

history of the Three Cliildren

The

and

at least,

their caps,

and

more

we

find

their shoes,

their garments," t just as the sacred text describes

them

and these garments are always of an Oriental character, the

Phrygian

tiara,

tunics,

and the

sarabal/i, or trousers, just as

* Tliey are found together, not only in the Catacombs, but also in a

sarcophagus
Biill.

at Nisnies,

Arch. 1866,

p. 64.

and other Christian monuments

at

i^ee Plate

Milan, &c.,

IX.

2.

Bib Ilea I Pa in ting s.

247

the worshippers of Mithras or other Easterns are represented

on Pagan marbles.
Another pair of subjects which seem

brought together from the two

stucliously

Moses

rock and

striking
the

Sometimes they are found

ing

Hke manner

in

estaments,

resurrection

the

to

be Moses

sti iking
the rock, and
are ^he resurrec-

of Lazarus.*

rus.

in the

same compartment of

a paint-

sometimes roughly sketched side by side on a grave-

stone

Some
them

more frequently they

still

be the display of Divine power

out of a dry rock, and a dead

grave

are together on a sarcophagus.

antiquarians consider the point of connexion between

to

but

this

man

to

bringing living water

in

out of his rocky

life

analogy hardly seems to be sufficiently close

any other of the miracles of Our Blessed Lord might have been
selected with almost equal propriety.
to look

Others, therefore, prefer

upon these two subjects as intended

beginning and end of the Christian course

water springing up unto
the

gift

life

everlasting

and

over death and the second

life

tinctly identifies the water

waters of Baptism, which

as a resurrection

life

Jews would

us Christians,

they should
will lead

/.r.,

is

it

was

He

will

fulfilled in

Epist.

iv.

that if the

should drink with

"If

the gospels

Ixiii. 8, torn.

artic.

ii.

my
"

21), "

He

people shall drink."

(he continues) "

Lazare,

14.

(xlviii.

bring forth water out of the rock

Martigny, Diet, des Antiq.,

t St John

was foretold

says Isaias

life,

St Cyprian also

should obtain the grace of Baptism.

is

since Tertullian J dis-

after Christ, they

them, and cleave the rock, and

this

and

the beginning of the Christian

thirst in the desert,"

them out

in itself

which flowed from the rock with the

and seek

thirst

unquestionably the end.

is

And

vouchsafed to Lazarus.

agrees with LertuUian, saying that

And

God's grace and

" t

everlasting by the victory

more confirmed by ancient authority

"

" the fountain of

seems both more probable

this interpretation

for

to represent the

of faith being typified by the water flowing from the

rock, " which was Christ,"

^'"

151, ed. Fell.

p.

361.

De Baptismo,

ix.

when

"^^^^"

Roma

248
Christ,

who

His Passion
.

the rock,

is

Sotterranea.

is cleft

with

Who, reminding them

by the prophet, cried aloud and

him come and drink

of what had been foretold

said,

'

he that believeth

If

any

it

might be made

And

more

still

clear that the

'

for the

'

Lord spoke

Now

He

this

which they should receive who believed

said of the Spirit,

Moses taking

thirst, let

me, as the Scripture

in

here about Baptism, the Evangelist has added,

Him

man

out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.''*

saith,

that

stroke of the lance in

tlie

Holy

Spirit

Moses may sometimes

in

received by Baptism."

is

be seen

also

in the act of taking off

off his slioes.

approaching the burning bush

his shoes before

treated

and

this is

by some of the Fathers as emblematical of those

renunciations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, which

made

the faithful have

reverence which

is

in

Baptism

required of

all

f or

all

might typify that

it

who approach

the Christian

mysteries.

In one instance, in a fresco of the cemetery of St Callixtus,

Ave find

these two scenes in

the

life

close together, almost as parts of the

figure of

Moses

in the

two scenes

where he takes

is

of

same picture

his shoes,

the

hand of God coming out of a cloud

is

% but the

to

go up into Mount

young and without a beard

the second, where he strikes the rock, and the thirsty

drinking, he

is

In

having been called by

first,

Sinai to receive the law, he

manifestly difterent.

the

oft'

Moses represented

older and bearded

Jew

in
is

and both the general look

of his hair and beard, and the outline of his features, seem

to.

present a certain marked resemblance to the traditional figure

of St Peter.

These are the principal scenes from the Old Testament

tory of which

it is

necessary that

which are taken from the

rally

New

we should speak

Testament

under other branches of our

will fall

division.

We

his-

and the few

more natushall

have

occasion also to return to one or two of those which we have

* St John

vii. 37-39.
IV.
Plate
See
t

t St Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 42.

Biblical Paintings.
mentioned from the Old Testament,

not

exhibition,

paintings

in

as,

for instance,

to

its

on the

walls, but

mtimating

sufficiently

Moses," he

drinking the waters,"

paintings, but only

"

general sense.

its

" striking

says,

have been

these

the
are

Where we

is

with joy

the

the

as

find

kneeling figures

rock, with

not generally found in the

on the sarcophagi,

" we

understand the

miraculous birth of Christ, who, according to

Esaias,

gilt

may be quoted

given by Kiigler, though not very exact,

We

on the

For the present, the interpretation

Catacombs.

in the

Moses

more* complete

of the third and fourth centuries which

glasses

found

when we come

rock,

the

striking

249

prophet

the

Well of Salvation from which we draw waters

Spiritual

Rock from which we

drink/'

conclude our present chapter by observing, that we

should gather even from the writings of the Apostles them-

was

that nothing

selves,

minds of the
l)hetical

to

fikely

be more familiar to the

early Christians than the symbolical

meaning of the

Old Testament

facts of the

and pro;

so that

the sight of these paintings on the walls of their subterranean

chapels was probably as a continual homily set before the

practised minds of the faithful of the

and by them perfectly understood.

repetition of the
that there

in their

three

centuries,

Moreover, the constant

same subjects makes

was no unity

first

choice

it

impossible to suppose

and a careful study of

the order and mutual dependence in which they are usually

disposed, seems to reveal a certain theological knowledge in

those

who

presided over their arrangement.

scarcely too

much

positions might be

to say, that

made

dogmatic discourse.

some of

Indeed,

these artistic

is

com-

to take the place of a well-ordered

This has been noticed long since even

by men who had no

really extensive or intimate

with the subject,

by

e.g.,

it

Kiigler,

who imagined

the order of histories chosen for the

acquaintance

that he

saw

in

adornment of one of these

chapels, an intention to set forth under typical forms the Birth,

the Sufferings, and

the Resurrection of

Our Blessed Lord

Roma

2^0
in

proper succession.

effect,

the

wh^i he

first,

Sottcrranea.

Lord Lindsay

says that "

Rome

and steadily adhered

to,

also writes to the

seems

to

same

have adopted from

a system of typical parallelism,

of veiling the great incidents of redemption and the sufferings,

and hope of the Church, under the

and

typical

events of the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations." *

This,

faith,

however,

parallel

a branch of the subject to w^hich

is

we

shall

have

occasion to return w^hen we speak of the liturgical paintings,

where

this principle is singularly

*

prominent.

Sketches of the History of Christian Art, 47.

Fia. T,o.Scnlpt?it\' in the Lntcrnii Miiscutii, r^'hi^esentiiig the ascent

Klins into Jicaven.

nf

CHAPTER

V.

PAINTINGS OF CHRIST, HIS HOLY MOTHER, AND THE SAINTS.

THE
and
in

we have hitherto described

1-1
n
T
11
those which we have called symbolical, allegorical,

three classes of paintings

biblical

were

They were

all

animated by the same

all

only various

fact,

-,

spirit,

and were,

manifestations of the same

principle.

cotemporaneous, therefore, and often mixed

together in the decoration of the same chambers.

then the genius

symbolical,

the

of Christian

we cannot be

remained thus essentially

art

surprised at the utter absence from

Catacombs of anything

what was then going on

Whereas

in the

like

real

historical paintings

Church.

of

Neither the sufferings

nor the triumphs of the martyrs employed the pencil of the

Christian artist during the three

very rarely.

Nevertheless,

De

first

centuries, or at least but

Rossi enumerates scenes from

the lives of the Saints and the history of the Church, as a distinct class of paintings,

in the

Catacomb of

such event.

because there

is

at least

one picture

St Callixtus which seems to record

Two men

are depicted standing before a

some

Roman

magistrate on his seat of justice, or rather being led away from

before

it

after their

condemnation; and as there

to believe that the

cerus,

occurs,

which

it

has been conjectured that

represents.

guardians, during
lieve)

gave

good reason

two martyrs. Saints Parthenius and Calo-

were buried in the chamber

it

is

life,

in

it is

which

this

painting

a part of their history

Moreover, as these martyrs had been the

of the young lady whose family (we be-

this portion of

ground

for the use of the

Church as

Historical
paintings extremelv rare in
^ '^t''^*^^^'"'^'^.

Roma

252

Sotter7'anca.

a cemetery,'' there was nothing improbable in supposing that

the

memory

of their noble confession of the faith

been thus recorded

One

future ages.

for

may have

or two other ex-

amples, scattered here and there throughout the Catacombs,

seem
ceive

to invite a similar interpretation.

it

with

much

hesitation

they seem so alien to the

multitudes of paintings

during the three

thing else

but

it

beginning of the

spirit

was not

Of

fifth

and

executed

course, after the conver-

was a revolution
till

the

re-

and temper of the countless

of a different description

sion of Constantine there

we

the instances are so rare,

centuries.

first

Nevertheless,

end of the

in this as in every-

fourth, or

even the

century, that paintings were executed

such as those which Prudentius describes, for example, representing the various sufferings of the martyr St Hippolytus.

No

real por-

of Christ,
or of Blessed

It is certainly

more remarkable

that

there should not have

trait

'

^'>'

*-'^-

been found here any genuine

portraits, either of

Our Blessed

Lord, His Holy Mother, or His Apostles, which

De

Rossi

enumerates together as forming another class of paintings.

Raoul Rochette

f has

said very positively that

consecrated model in the

first

there was

ages of the Church for the

figures of these sacred objects of Christian devotion

ship

slight

and although

modification with

Apostles, Saints

remains to be seen

regard to

in the

is

require

two Princes of the

it

is

cer-

the testimony of what

excepting either under the typical character of the

Good

the act of performing one of His miracles, or

sitting in the

midst of His Apostles

generally painted as a

* See page 127.

some

scarcely ever represented there

in

is

and wor-

Catacombs.

Shepherd, or

He

the

may judge from

Indeed, Our Blessed Lord

at all,

may perhaps

Peter and Paul, yet in the main

tainly true, so far as w^e

still

statement

this

no

and

in all these cases

young and beardless man, with

+ Tableau des Catacombes, 164.

other
very
ancient picture in the Catacombs of our
no
X We know of
we have given a copy at p. 119. That
of
which
except
that
Lord's Baptism,
is
much later, of the yih or Sth century.
Ponziano
very
of
San
in the cemetery
He
is usually bearded.
contrary,
on
the
In
mosaics,
the

Paiiitings of Christ, &c.

253

Him

nothing very marked in His appearance to distinguish

Once, indeed, His head

from others of the children of men.

and bust form a medaUion, occupying the centre of the roof

cemetery of Saints Nereus and Achilles,

in a cubiculuDi of the
,

the

same

which

11^
Orpheus and his

is

a representation 01

Kiigler's

description
^f ^ i^l^^j. ^f
^'y^""^

This painting, in consequence of the description of

lyre.

J^''^'"'^'^

it

given by Kiigler,

often eagerly sought after by strangers

Catacombs.'''

the

visiting

is

It

only

is

however, to add

just,

Kiigler supposed

that they are generally disappointed.

be the oldest portrait of Our Blessed Saviour

we doubt

He

there

if

describes

is

in

it

sufficient authority for

words

these

The

''

head, the expression serious and mild

forehead, flows in long curls

in existence, but

such a statement.

face

oval, with a

is

smooth and rather high

straight nose, arched eyebrows, a

down

not thick, but short and divided

fore-

the hair, parted on the

the shoulders

the beard

is

and

the age between thirty

to

it

forty."

This description may, perhaps, remind some of our readers

of the well-known letter of Lentulus to the
in

which

"

His hair

down upon His

the

appearance

personal

the

described

manner of

shoulders,

and

thus

is

middle, after

in the

The forehead

the Nazarenes.

Lord

Senate,

dark and glossy, flows

parted

is

our

of

curling, rather

Roman

is

smooth and

very serene; the countenance without line or spot, of a plea-

The nose and mouth

sant complexion, moderately ruddy.

faultless; the

beard thick and reddish

but divided

the

need not stop

like the hair,

We

to inquire into the genuineness of this letter,

its

author had of knowing the truth

with respect to the description given by Kiigler,

once acknowledged that

it

is

too minute

artistic, for

the original, as

it

is

imagination

may perhaps

misnames

the

now

supply

our author, but the eye certainly

Kiigler

not long,

eyes bright, and of varying colour."

nor the means which

are

the

foils to

Catacomb,

it

and

details

it

at

precise, too

lively

described

distinguish them.

calling

for,

must be

be seen.

to

of St Callixtus.

by

Roma

254

Sotte7'ranea.

Eusebius has mentioned painted likenesses of our Lord and

down from

of His Apostles, handed

ancient times, and similar

allusions occur in St Augustine, St Basil,

we repeat

theless,

that the

and others.*

monuments of

the

Never-

Catacombs pre-

sent no authentic incontestable example of any real, or even

Only two members of the

conventional, portraiture of either.

Apostolic College are generally distinguished from the

same

these keep with tolerable uniformity the

The

saints

generally represented as
praying.

ordinarily, all

the

of prayer; that

in the act

of a cross

numerous

were represented

saints

is.

and showing,

first,

this attitude

speaking

inscriptions,

same way,

with arms outstretched in the form

and the reason of

But,

type.

the

in

and

rest,

explained by

is

the most distinct terms,

in

that the saints were believed to be living in

God, and secondly, that survivors desired the help of

their

prayers.

Our Blessed
Lady as an
oante in the
Catacombs

Among

the innumerable oranti, as they are called (persons

on the walls of the Catacombs, there

praying), which appear

one of a woman, which

the

is

Good Shepherd, and which

life

The two

in heaven.

On

one another.
to the

Our Blessed

Church, the Bride of Christ, whose

of prayer, even as His

mind of

to

a multitude of considerations

lead us to believe was intended for

for the

companion

frequently found as a

is

Holy Mother

interpretations

upon earth

life

is

I.ady, or else

similarly

is

employed

do not necessarily exclude

the contrary, both

may have been

present

the artist together, as there are several indica-

tions in ancient writers of a certain recognised resemblance

between the Blessed Virgin and the Church.

speaks of

it

distinctly

inscription in

Mosaic

St

Ambrose

t Pope Sixtus III. (a.d. 435) set up an

Lateran Basilica, in

in the apse of the

which he commemorates the virginal maternity of the Church,

the Spouse

of Christ

Euseb. H. E.

ii.

25

and long before

vii.

18.

St Aug".

De

De

t
c.

"

xiv.

Multain

figura ecclesiae de

Consens. Ev.

Pudic.

St Basil, Ep. ccclx. ad Julian.

Joann. iv. See also Macarius, Hagioglypta, II.
Tertull.

either of these,

c.

10

Maria prophetata sunt."

lib.

i.

the
c.

lo,

and St Jerome

Dc

Instit.

in

Virg.,

Pamthigs of
famous

same

martyrs, expresses the

" the Virgin Mother,"

once understood by

255

by the Church of Lyons about her

written

letter,

&c.

Christ,

when

idea,

Church

the

calls

it

quite as though the phrase would be at

'"

all.

has sometimes been supposed that this female orante

It

denoted some martyr or person of distinction buried

principal

And

tomb

of the

possibly this conjecture

in the majority of instances,

sible

companion
instances,

instance,

for

as,

may be sometimes
we

where

it

Good Shepherd
arms between two sheep. And

filled

it is

we

Virgin

is

in

many more

some of

instances

compartment

Bible,

and where,

we more

For these

to remain.

willingly believe that either the

and of these

be found represented

first,

Church

interpreta-

because the Blessed

in this

same

on

attitude

the gilded glasses in the Catacombs, either alone or

between the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and can be

fied in

it

hard to believe that any memorial of a private

incline rather to the latter,

to

some few

stands with outstretched

or the Blessed Virgin was intended

tions,

in

it

individual would have been allowed

reasons, then,

inadmis-

upon the tombstones

by some person or story from the

therefore,

it is

and indeed,

occupies a part of a ceiling in which every other

is

But

manifestly intended as a

is

find this figure engraved

instead of the

found.

is

correct.

feel certain that

Good Shepherd

to the

we

where the painting

cuhiciiliiui

in the

identi-

both cases by her name written over her head

secondly, because she

upon a sepulchral
San Giovannino,

represented in the same

is

malrble of the earliest ages, in the

Maximin,

way

and
also

Church of

The inscription
monument runs thus, Maria Virgo minester de
TEMPULO Gerosale, which seems to refer to some legend
on

at St

in

Provence.

this

about her ministrations

in the temple,

apocryphal Gospels. f

Moreover,

* Eus. Hist. Eccles.

v.

i.

ii.

277.

in

one of the

should not be forgotten

40.

t Macarii, Hagioglypta, 36
Gaule, vol.

it

recorded

Ee Blant,

Inscription,-,

Chretiennes de

la

in glasses,

"^^""^^^1^^,^'

Roma

256

that on Byzantine coins,

down

Sottervanea.

and

works of Greek

in

Our Blessed Lady

to tins very day,

and mcst expressive

in this ancient

is

art generally,

often represented

Even

attitude of prayer.

if

the figure were intended principally to represent the Church,

it

would be quite

in

keeping with the practice of early Christian

writers to represent the

Church under the symbol of the Virgin

Mother of God.^Whatever may be thought of the cogency of these arguments,

frequently also

Adoration of
the Magi.

^^^^^

believe that they cannot easily be

^^'^

question of
Christian

Our Lady's

refuted,

most ancient

position in the

by no means depends upon them.

art

the

field

of

If these

paintings do not represent her, yet she certainly appears in

more than a score of other

be questioned.

scenes, where her identity cannot

modern Protestant

writer,

indeed, laying

claim, too, to a perfection of candour, boldly says that he only

saw a single certain specimen of a painting of the Blessed

the Catacombs, and that was of a comparatively

Virgin in

all

late date,

and

Madonna
to

it

is

He

in the (so-called)

be seen

much importance

idle to attach

an exception.

singular

is

that

evidently

is

Catacomb of
an

in the Iiniette of

referring

St Agnes,

to so

to

the

where she

arcosolium., with her

hands

outstretched in prayer, the Divine Infant in front of her, and

the Christian

monogram on

The presence

of this

either side, turned towards her.f

monogram

naturally directs our thoughts

to the fourth century as the probable date of the

as there

is

no niuibus round the head

Lord or His Holy Mother,

it is

of that century rather than the

either of

necessary to
later.

De

fix

work

but

Our Blessed

the earlier half

Rossi considers that

* See S. Clem. Alex. Prcdag. i. 6.

Dr Newman says on Apoe. xii. i
" The Holy Apostle would not liave spoken of the Church under this particular image luiless there had existed a Blessed Virgin Mary, \\\\o was
Letter to
exalted on high, and the object of veneration to all the faithful."
62.
his
Eirenicon,
on
Dr Piisey
p.
t This picture, in which the Divine Infant is placed in front of his
virgin mother, unsupported, and simply to show who she is, forms the
f)riginal of a favourite Russian type of the Madonna which they call Znd:

mcnskata.

Sec Palmer,

1.

c.

p. 66.

Paintings of Christ, &c.

.257

the style of execution indicates as nearly as possible the time

This, however, so far from being the

of Constantine himself.
oldest or

most interesting painting of the Blessed Virgin

seen in the Catacombs,

we have

the author

probably one of the

referred to

Fresco of the Blessed Virgin

but very

numerous

Catacombs

of the

little

class of paintings,

and

if

at

in the (so-called) Cei7ietery of

There

all.

quite a

is

De Rossi speaks of upwards of

representations of the Magi making

the Infant Jesus, in which she

is

their offerings to

always the central, or at least

Generally she

the principal figure.

latest

be

saw no other, he can have seen

and Child
St Agnes.

Fig. 31.

twenty,

is

to

sits at

the end of the scene,

with the Holy Child on her lap, and the three Magi are before The Magi
her; but in three or four instances she

is

in the

middle

and

here, in order to

keep a proper balance between the two sides

of the

the

picture,

diminished

number of

the

Magi

is

increased

there are either four, as in the cemetery of St

Domitilla, or only two, as in that of Saints Peter

linus.

or

It is clear,

the traditional

and Marcel-

however, that three was already

number

have quoted we can

still

'"''

for

even

in

known

as

one of the instances we

trace the original sketch of the artist,

designing another arrangement of the scene with three figures

* It is

are the

generally said that St

first

Leo

the Great, or St

witnesses to this tradition.

had the same

idea.

Patrizi dc Evangel,

Maximus

of Turin,

Origan, however, seems to have

iii.,

diss, xxvii. pars. 2r1a.

^ ^^^^^

are

Roma

258
only

and

Sotterranea.

then, mistrusting the result, he

abandoned the attempt,

sacrificed historic truth to the exigencies of his art.

ings of this subject belong to different ages, but

assigns the two that have been specially

and second half of the

first

claims a

Our Blessed
Lady with
Isaias.

much

X.

in Plate

tery of St Priscilla,

He

i.

in

He

unhesitatingly says that

It is

the

ceme-

and represents the Blessed Virgin

seated,

locidiis in

her head partially covered by a short light

in

mentioned to the

belong almost to the apostolic age.

this to

Holy Child

Rossi

third century respectively.

be seen on the vaulted roof of a

to

De

higher antiquity for the painting of Our Blessed

Lady represented
he believes

Paint-

her arms

veil,

and with the

opposite to her stands a man, clothed

volume

the pallium, holding a

in

one hand, and with the

other pointing to a star which appears above and between the

two

This

figures.

^ady, both

almost always accompanies Our Blessed

star

in paintings

and

in sculptures,

obvious historical excuse for

with the

Magi

it,

e.g.^

when she

offering their gifts (Plate X.

of the manger with the ox and the ass

figure, as in

the present instance,

been some difference of opinion,

meant

The most obvious

many

2),

is

an

is

represented

or

by the side

but with a single

There has

unusual.

among

archaeolo-

ought to be given of

conjecture would be that

one of the Magi.

for St Joseph, or for

ever, gives

is

"'

therefore,

gists as to the interpretation that

figure.

it

where there

De

it

this

was

Rossi, how-

reasons for preferring the prophet Isaias,

whose prophecies concerning the Messias abound with imagery

'borrowed from

This prophet

light. t

found on one of the

is

glasses in the Catacombs, standing in a similar attitude before

Our Blessed Lord, where

his identity

since he appears in another

can hardly be disputed,

compartment of the same

glass in

the act of being sawn asunder by the Jews (in accordance with

the tradition mentioned by St Jerome); J and Our Blessed

* The ox and the ass are found in a representation of the Nativity on a
torn!)

bearing the date a.d. 343.

Isa. ix. 2

Ix, 2, 3,

X In Isaiani xv.

c.

7.

19

St

Inscr. Christ,

Luke

i.

78, 79.

i.

54.

Paintings of Christ, &c,

259

Lady, as an orante, occupies the intervening compartment

between these two figures of the prophet.

Bosio

'"

has pre-

served to us another fresco from the cemetery of St Callixtus,

still

more

upon which we

closely resembling that

ing from St Priscilla

only there

no

is

are

but in

star,

battlements, as of

some town, appear behind the

Child, by which

was probably intended

it

of Bethlehem, as was so

De

Rossi considers

it

it

and

town

to denote the

We

have already said

art.

this painting,

first

He first bids us

with which

we

are

now

not in apostolic times,

if

hundred and

years of the Chris-

fifty

carefully to study the art displayed in

and execution of the painting, and then

the design

pare

Woman

were, under the very eyes of the Apostles themselves,

yet certainly within the

tian era.

stead the

in the sculptures,

concerned, to have been executed,

and, as

its

commonly done

mosaics, and other works of later

that

comment-

com-

to

with the decorations of the famous Pagan tombs dis-

covered on the Via Latina

mously referred

1858, and which are unani-

in

times of the Antonines, or with the

to the

paintings of the cubicida near the Papal crypt in San Callisto,

described in our next chapter, and

beginning of the third century

more

known

and he

classical style of the painting

obliges us to assign

that the

Catacomb

St Priscilla, from

to
in

it

still

which

whom

it

it

belong to the very

to

justly argues that the

now under examination

earlier date.

Next, he shows

appears was one of the oldest,t

receives

its

name, having been the

mother of Pudens, and a cotemporary of the Apostles

still

further, that there is

and others have

good reason

said, that the

for believing

and

what Bosio

tombs of Saints Pudentiana and

Praxedes, and therefore probably of their father, St Pudens

himself, were in the
in

which

this

immediate neighbourhood of the chapel

Madonna

is

found

finally, that

the inscriptions

which are found there form a class by themselves, bearing

manifest tokens of the highest antiquity.
fore,

combines
*

to satisfy

Rom.

him

Sott. p. 255.

Everything, there-

that this beautiful painting of

t See

p.

66.

Our

Roma

2 6o

Blessed Lady
it

is

Sotterranea.

needless to observe that she and her Divine Son are

is

clearly the principal figures in

the

and

the oldest which has yet been discovered,

She does not enter here into

it.

composition of an historical or allegorical scene as a

secondary personage, but herself supplies the motive, so to

She seems

speak, of the whole painting.

also, as far as

we

can make out from the imperfect remains of the painting,

have been repeated
herself,

other

in

parts

to

of this locuhis, both by

and with her Holy Spouse and Child

a group which

Bosio and Garrucci also have recognised in other parts of the

Catacombs.

De

Rossi

still

further tells us

and

again he

is

able to quote Bosio and Garrucci * as having been quite of the

that

same opinion with himself

this

same cemetery of

tion t

there are other frescoes in

St Priscilla, representing the Annuncia-

by the Archangel, the Adoration by the Magi, and the

Finding of Our Blessed Lord

the

in

Temple

in a word, all

these archaeologists are agreed that this cemetery surpasses

every other, both for the number, the variety, and the antiquity
of the pictorial representations of
St Joseph.

Some

Our Blessed Lady.

of our readers will be taken somewhat by surprise by

our mention of any groups representing "

and

especially of

any representation of St Joseph.

acknowledges that

some

The Holy

this

class of

monuments

question, the paintings into which he

enter being generally in a very

bad

the sarcophagi he certainly appears

is
is

still

Family,"

De

Rossi

open

supposed to
In

state of preservation.
;

and

in the

to

most ancient

of them, as a young and beardless man, generally clad in a

tunic.
fifth

In the mosaics of St Mary Major's, which are of the

century,

and

shown of mature
this

in

which he appears four or

age, if not old

and from

five times,

tliat

he

is

time forward

became the more common mode of representing him.

Probably the

later artists followed the

legend of St Joseph's

age and widowhood which occurs in the apocryphal Gospels,

* Bosio,

Rom.

+ Hagioglypta,

Sott.

549; Macar. Hagiogl. 174, 242,

p. 245.

Paintings of CIuHst, &c.

especially that which bears the

and those on the

birth of

name

Mary and

of St

261

James the Less,

the infancy of the Saviour.

These legends had been quoted by St Epiphanius, St Gregory

and other

Nazianzen,
allusions

to them, or

occur in the
centuries.

artistic

writers

the

fourth

century

and

even whole scenes taken from them,

monuments of

the

fifth

and succeeding

Before that time Christian artists seem strictly to

have been kept within the

Holy

of

Scripture.

Afterwards

limits of the
it

canonical books of

was probably considered that

there was no longer any danger to the integrity of the faith,

and greater

licence

was given both to poets and

Fig. 2,'2-Sarcophagus found avtong the ruins

artists.

of an ancieftt chamber in San Callisto.

CHAPTER

VI.

LITURGICAL PAINTINGS.

Liturgical
ingb veiy

pam

TT

might have been thought that the impenetrable secrecy

j^

which

ancient times shrouded the sacred

in

mysteries

from the gaze or knowledge of the profane would have rendered any sensible representation of them by

Catacombs

of the

quite

The

to describe are merely exceptional

at the

on the

walls

And, doubtless, such

impossible.

representations were very rare.

art

paintings

we

are about

and they were executed

end of the second century, or quite

in the

beginning of

the third, before the invasion of the subterranean cemeteries

by the heathen had taught the necessity of caution.

over,

by a

careful use of Christian symbolism,

artist

and a mixture of

and supernatural, simple and

things natural

More-

has contrived to produce a work which, whilst eminently

Bap-

liturgical in character (representing the administration of

tism and the consecration of the

Holy

enough and of the highest

and value

uninitiated stranger
ligible.

up with

The

interest

biblical histories

and

Holy Eucharist

These paintings deserve

the

They

are

to

to

an

unintel-

mixed

is

and

both complicated by

and

also veiled

from the Old and

Testament.

rnost minute detail.

is

sign of the fish,

historical scenes taken

in

to us, yet to

allegories of various kinds

under various

cuhicula

and plain

administration of Baptism, for example,

means of the hieroglyphic

early in the
third century,

Eucharist),

must always have been absolutely

the consecration of the

Vahuiblc
specimen

the

allegorical,

be examined

be found

in

New

in the

that series of

immediate neighbourhood of the Papal

crypt,

Liturgical Paintings.
concerning which

made about

all

has been already shown

it

the

263

same time

^'

that they were

the oldest, before the end of

the second century, the latest, at no very advanced period in

destroyed to enable us to recognise

we may judge from

as

far

much

In three of them, the paintings are too

the third.

their details

all

but as

the fragments which remain, they

were of the same subjects, and of the same general character

with those of the two oldest chambers, which

we propose

to

describe.

On

the wall at the

,,,.... ^
the old familiar figure
water gushes

left
.

01

Next,

forth.

of the door as

man
we

we

enter the

...

whence the

striking the rock,

see a

man

first, is

fishing in the stream,

and then another man baptizing a youth who stands

same

water.

The

bed on

paralytic carrying his

his shoulder

On

concludes the series on that side of the chamber.f

principal wall, or that which faces the doorway,

legged table, having on

it

standing on one side of

it

man on

bread and

fish,

in the

we

the

see a three-

wdth a

in the attitude of prayer

woman
;

and a

the other, clad only in the pallium^ extending his

hands, and especially his right hand, towards the table in such
a

way

as to force

upon every Christian

This

of the act of consecration.!

already described, of seven

and

fish

wood
side,

all

table with bread

to offer

up

his soir

scene easily identified by the ram and the faggot of

at their side.||

on the

interval

These three scenes are painted, side by

between two graves

by a

and they are flanked

full-length figure oi d^fossor, with his

arm extended and a pickaxe

The

sitting at

and then Abraham about

at either extremity
left

followed by the scene

is

before them, and eight baskets of loaves arranged

along the floor

Isaac

men

intelligence the idea

resting

on

his right shoulder. IT

painting on the third side of this chamber has perished,

the plaster having fallen to the ground

to dust.

and been reduced

But the plaster of the small recess on the right-hand

See

Plate XIIl.

p. 126.

t Plate XII.
II

PJate

XL

X Plate
i.

XIV.

Plate XI.

3.

3.

General description of

them.

Roma

264
side of the

doorway

Sotterranea,
and shows us the

perfect,

still

is

figures

of two men, not standing side by side, but one placed on a

higher level than the other (probably in consequence of the

One

narrowness of the space).

might be supposed

to

of these

men

be teaching from a long

of parchment, which he holds in his hands

be drawing water from a well which

to

we

find the

feast of seven, the baptism,

and the

In the second chamber,

same

On

as before.

chamber was
the dead

whilst

We

we

the other seems

already overflowing.

rock, the fisherman, the

on one side of the doorway

once been represented

a preacher

is

indeed,

is

there.

and such frequent repetition

some hidden

which,

through

this

all

if

apparent

confusion

is

a former chapter

Tertullian,

needed

rock

by the that Sacrament he

^^

rock.

themselves,'"'

sacramental

rites,

may

very probably

for their

describing Christians as
;

and

in his treatise

speaks of those waters as

The

was

to supply all the fresh

complete interpretation.

born in the waters of Baptism

i^^^,^

aright

about the time

we heard him

of Baptism

siiKmgolthe

them

common life.
who was in Rome

these paintings were executed, and

guidance that

typified

of

in

and scenes from

A single author,

fish

Nor,

sense.

carefully used, will guide

have often seen them, can be made

The waters

the

in

Already our readers have had the clue placed

is.

their hands,

^^^'^

that

a work of any difticulty to ascertain what that

it

biblical histories,

Te'itunfan

show

have been reproduced

naturally suggests the presence of

Their meaning

the

have already said that the same subjects, with more or

other chambers of this series

sense

much

sitting teacher,

distinguish the raising of Lazarus from

of variation, appear to

less

probably

roll,

standing, the fragments of plaster found on the other

2ifossor\\2.di

and

the right-hand wall, which in the former

in ruins,

and

is

seated,

is

nowmg

we know from the

rock, as
'

who

Christ,

refreshes

with

In
little

upon
r

forth

Scriptures
^

the

spiritual

waters of His grace and of the faith the weary and thirsty

wanderers

in the

wilderness of this world.

""

Cor.

X.

Isa. xxxv. 6.

There

is

nothing

Liturgical Paintings.
in the picture to

show who

that

it is

but we must anticipate for a

is

265

here striking the rock

moment what

be brought

will

Moses

before us in a future chapter,* and say briefly that

here a figure of Saint Peter,

" the leader of the

new

was the authority

to

who succeeded

Israel," as

draw

forth

and became

to him,

Prudentius says
the true

with him
of

living waters

sacramental grace which flow from the Rock, and are

given

is

first

Baptism, and to communicate them to the whole

in

Church.f

The

rock,

baptizing, J

ancient
call

is

followed by a

then,

Christian

The

under the

Old Law or of

truths

parallel

common

to the Christians of those days (the

'

life.

of the Gospel are

and

typical events,

The

pictures spoke

second and third centuries),

a very plain and intelligible way, of the gate of

in

the fisher-

which we have heard Lord Lindsay

art

yet revealed,

either of the

and another and

fishing,

a very striking instance of that characteristic of

" typical parallelisms."

veiled,

man

all

the

sacraments, the beginning of Christianity, the sacrament of

Baptism.

And

the

same mystery was again

set before

them

in

the and the

next painting on the same wall, the paralytic carrying his bed.

Those who have ever

St

visited the

Agnes with Father Marchi,

Catacombs of

(so-called)

will

remember

that he used

always to identify this painting with the sacrament of Penance,

supposing

naum,

to

it

to refer to the

whom Our Lord

man

that

was healed

addressed those words,

at

"Be

Capharof good

cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee ;" and, indeed, that miracle

is

expressly quoted in the apostolical constitutions as symbolical

* Chapter VII.

t St Cyprian, Ep. ad Jub., torn. ii. p. 332.

the Fathers, the font of the one Baptism and

Rock was a

favourite type of the origin

ments, and the Church.

And

Hence
its

in the writings of

derivation from the one

and unity of the

faith,

the sacra-

the impugners of the validity of Baptism

administered by heretics, had no stronger argument against their enemies

than this undoubted unity of Baptism and of the Church, and the prerogative of Peter as its head.

% Plate XII.

cariTui^^his
^^*-'-

Roma

266
of this sacrament.
out of
tice

Nevertheless,

harmony with

among

Sotter^^anea.

the prevailing tone of thought

and

prac-

days of persecution that

of the

Christians

the

would have been obviously

it

have represented grievous sin and repentance

they should

as a probable interlude between the sacraments of Baptism

and the Holy Eucharist.

that

all

the paintings on this

reference

all

Holy Sacrament of

clearly of the

understand

wall

Baptism, just as

to

more probable,

It is far

therefore,

were intended to have

those on the next speak

the Altar

and

better to

it is

this picture of the paralytic, as representing

that

other miracle wrought at the pool of Bethsaida, which Tertul-

and

tian, Optatus,'^

others,

have interpreted as typical of the

healing waters of Baptism.

The

We

next

pass on, then, to the next three pictures, which form a

pictures de-

group by themselves, quite as intimately connected with one

secration and
participation
of the Holy

another as those we have been just

uc

arist.

,..,,.,
m

followmg from them

exactly the

same

strict

train of

now

theological

considering,

sequence.

and
It

is

thought and combination of ideas

which we have found before

the ancient epitaphs of St

in

Abercius and of Autun, in both of which there

is

a natural and

easy transition from the waters of Baptism to the heavenly Fish

Moreover, we must not forget

of the Holy Eucharist.

that,

according to the ecclesiastical discipline of those days, these

two sacraments followed one another much more closely than

they do

now

they were, in

fact,

often administered simul-

taneously.

I'here are certain details, however, in the

Holy Eucharist

senting the symbols of the

ings which require a

Some

in

of repre-

these paint-

few words of additional explanation.

persons, for instance, might take exception to that which

we have

called a picture of the consecration, in consequence

of the insufficient clothing of the

He

ConsecratiiKr the priest.

priest clothed
^^^ j-^-g ]-,^and
in u\: pallnini
oly-

mode

is

clad only in

man we have supposed

to

be

pallium, and as he stretches

\\\q

over the table, his breast and arm, and one

De

Baptismo,

c.

De

Schism. Don.

ii.

6.

L iturgical Paintings.

267

whole side of his body become much exposed.

There can be no

doubt, however, that this simple austerity of dress, which was

a characteristic of the better class of heathen philosophers,

was

and especially the time

belong, adopted
by the Christian

one time,

at

pictures

to

at

which these

The

clergy.

also

Greeks and Romans always looked on the philosopher's cioak

as a guarantee of

mentions of Justin Martyr, that he " preached the

distinctly

Word

Eusebius *

more than ordinary knowledge.

God

of

in the dress

of a philosopher

quite certain that he was a priest.

"

but

it

not

is

Before him, Aristides of

Athens, and after him Tertullian, Heracles, a priest of Alexandria,

Gregory Thaumaturgus, and others,

and applauds

Tertullian expressly defends

De

his treatise

in

PaUio.\

Prudentius,

did

the

same.

mode of dress
who (as we know)
this

frequented the Catacombs, must have had before his mind's

eye some such painting as

he described,

coming down

in

He

very way.

are

now

when

explaining,

beginning of his Pyschoinachia^ Faith

the

do

to

we

battle with idolatry, attired almost in this

represents her as carried

away by

the eager-

ness of her zeal, and descending into the arena but imperfectly
clad,

bare arms

with

and shoulders, and other limbs un-

St Cyprian, indeed,

covered. |

who

lived

about

fifty

years later

than Tertullian, denounced the vainglorious immodesty of the

bare

of

breast

the

Christian teachers,

heathen philosophers, and spoke

by way of

of

contrast, as being philosophers

not in words but in deeds, not making any outward show of

wisdom by
* Hist.

their dress, but holding

Eccl.

Trypho.
t See note
1853, torn
111.

i.

'^

at

913.

iv.

II.

in truth.

But

this

beginning of Oehler's edition of

Also St Hieron. Ep. Ixxxiii,, ad

this

treatise,

Magnum.

Hnmertnu

Leipsic,

Catal. Horn.

exertiis^'' is the very avorI used by Tertullian,

"Agresti
turbida cultu,
X
Ntida huifieros, intonsa genas, exserta /acertos,

cxx.

...

nee

telis

De Bono

actantia."

only

See also the opening of Justin's dialogue with

meminit nee tegmine

Pectore sed fidens valido,

it

Patientia?, 2, 3.

c. 3.

cingi,

" F^xerti ac

Vv. 21-25.
seminudi pectoris invetecunda

j}U'7Hhrisqice retcctis."

Roma

68

indicates a change of taste

Sotterranea.
and

feeling

upon the subject which

had come over the Christian mind between the end of the
second century and the middle of the third
fact,

almost

them

this date, represent

tunic underneath

\h.Q

as clothed with the

Thus we seem

pallium.

point of

in

Catacombs

the pictures of men, painted in the

all

subsequent to

and,

to

be provided

with a very sure criterion as to the date of these paintings in

San

Callisto

and

it

is

how

important to observe

we had been

agrees with the result to which

precisely

led before

it

by a

multitude of concurrent indications of a totally different kind.

The Church

Another

~
represented by
,
subject 01
a woman.
.

who

which has been made the

...

detail in these paintings

some

,.

discussion,

is

meaning

the true

woman

oi the

stands opposite to the priest, with outstretched arms in

the attitude of prayer; whether she

is

some deceased

chamber, or whether she

lady, buried in this

intended to represent

does not rather stand as a symbol of the Church.

however, at the whole character of

cannot doubt that the

Looking,

more

latter interpretation is the

correct.

Just as the person represented here as receiving baptism

mere boy, or very young man, not because the

to denote

artist

some one determinate person who was

age, but because youth

customary to

call

is

the age of baptism,

we

of paintings,

this series

is

intended

really of that

and

it

was even

neophytes, of whatever age they might be,

infantes ox piieri ; so, in like manner, at the table of the tre-

mendous

mysteries, a

was desired

to

woman was

do honour

to

represented, not because

it

any particular lady whose tomb

might be near, but rather because, when the whole body of

the faithful was spoken

under

this figure.

writings of the

of, it

Both

was most usual

to

speak of them

in the Epistles of St Paul,

most ancient Fathers, the Church

She partakes

of Christ, without spot or wrinkle.

and

is

in the

the Bride

also, as

we

have already noticed, of the marvellous privilege of Our Blessed

Lady, and, whilst

still

a virgin,

is

yet a fruitful mother, so that

may be

many

things which are said of the one

other,

and a woman becomes a very natural

said also of the

artistic

symbol

Lihi7^gical Paintings.
for

the whole Church.

Sta.

Sabina

ex Circumcisione,
it is

tinued, with

e.g.^

of

Celestine in the earlier

century, the legends under two female figures

fifth

expressly designate

Jews; and

the old mosaics,

in

Rome, put up by Pope

in

half of the

Thus,

269

them

i.e.,

the

and Ecdesia

Church from the Gentiles and from the

more probable

certainly

more

as Ecclesia ex Gentibus.,

that these mosaics con-

or less of modification, the ancient types of

than that they invented new ones.

Indeed, the

Christian

art,

tradition

of this symbolical language was continued

Christian artists;

e.g., it

among

occurs in liturgical illuminations of a

Paschal candle in a MS. of the Barberini Library, belonging to

However, whether

the eleventh or twelfth century.

female

standing here in prayer, be really meant for the Church,

figure,

for

this

Our Blessed Lady,

some one

or for

paratively unimportant.

It

is

Christian soul,

her position and

is

com-

occupation

which command our attention, reminding us of the words of St

most prevailing which are made

Cyril,* "that those prayers are

with the consecrated

Of
and

men

the seven

fish,

answer

we have

to a

gifts lying

open

to view."

seated together, and partaking of bread Answers

already spoken

German

critic

we

will

who would

only add here, in

fain transfer the refer-

ence from the Blessed Sacrament to the eternal banquet

heaven,
of the

first,

that the

mere uniformity

number and sex

distinguish

them from the representations

and adjuncts of
determine

its

in various

numbers.

this feast in these

sense.

either of the agapce

Specimens are not wanting of

either of these subjects, but in both of

men, and

in all these paintings

of the guests, would alone sufiice to

or of the joys of paradise.

well as

them women appear

chambers seem absolutely

literal

to

In one instance, where the two scenes

by side with the representation of Baptism.

where a type or

as

Moreover, the position

are compressed into a single wall of the chamber,

side

in

figure of

each sacrament

representation, as the fishing

is

is

it

stands

In another,

joined with

its

next to the baptism, so

* Lect. xxiii. 9, Oxf. Trans. 275.

to

Roma

270

Holy Eucharist

the consecration of the

To

tainment.

Sotterranea.

doubt, then, of

is

next to this enter-

appHcation to the Sacrament

its

when we remember how

of the Altar, especially

universally

the history was so interpreted by ancient Christian teachers,

seems a

wilful closing of

our eyes against the truth, and can

best be accounted for by the rejection of the ancient doctrine

which the symbol expresses.

The

sacrifice

cal of the holy

sacrifice of the

Mass.

We

have seen that

after the paintings of the

same

the baptizing, there followed, on the

^j^id-^

also

^e

Isaac,'^

which, in like manner, must be connected with the

Holy Eucharist; and although

referred

bloody

Here

Abraham and

a third scene, that of

this wall, is

and

wall, the paralytic,

same sacrament.

therefore referred to the

upon

fishing

finds

to,

sacrifice

unbloody

the

same German

on the cross as a

sacrifice

on the

suitable figure also of the

altar,t his scruples will scarcely

considered conclusive, even by his co-religionists.

the sacrifice of Isaac

by

already

accepting a figure of the

in

difficulty

critic,

For surely

some

his father might, in

be

respects,

claim to be considered a more lively type of the sacrifice of

the

Mass than of the

on Mount Calvary;

sacrifice

although, as St Paul twice

Abraham

repeats,

since,

" off"ered

up

his only-begotten son," yet the

blood of Isaac was not really

shed; he was only " as

slain. "t

him from the dead

for

Isaac by his father

is

it

were

nce of the

New

Law.

The

a parable."

offering,

prefiguring

Here

it

is

together with

centuries,

fifth

the

priesthood

* Both are represented as praying,

alone enable us to identify them.

Rom.

\ Yet

it

is

it is

named with

X Apoc.

V. 6.

sacri-

faggot and the

Another

fresco of the

the

priest

ram behind them

same subject was

Sott. 503.

expressly

figuris prsesignatur,

and

the pendant (so to speak)

to that other picture already described, wherein

seen by Bosio.

then, of

frequently sculptured on the Christian

sarcophagi of the fourth and

other biblical stories

Abraham "received

cum

named

in the

Church's

hymn

Isaac immolatur;" and in the

Laiida

Canon

of the

the sacrifices of Abel and of Melchisedec.

Hel).

xi.

Sioii,

1719.

'*

In

Mass

L ihcj^gica I Pain ting

is

271

s.

consecrating, "filling the place of Christ," as St Cyprian*

speaks, " imitating what Christ did, offering a true

sacrifice in the

Not a

Church

God

to

and perfect

the Father."

which was The serlescon-

vestige remains of the principal subject

pamted on the remaining

Baptism.
supply

it

Nevertheless,

cludeswith the

pamtmgs of resurrection

we have

already intimated, the resurrection of Laza-

which to the Christians of that age would have seemed the

most

natural,

tions of the

and almost necessary, complement

Holy

to representa-

Not only did the language which

Eucharist.

Our Blessed Lord made use

on occasion of that miracle, bear

of,

a very striking resemblance to parts of His discourse upon the

Blessed Sacrament,t but

He

had

surrection to everlasting

life

in

also

seemed

so special a

to connect a re-

manner with

the

and drinking His blood, that the Fathers

eating of His flesh

always speak of the one as a kind of pledge and earnest of the

We may

other.

to the other; as
reflections

how

see from the language of Prudentius \

naturally the Christian

mind passed from one of

when he suddenly

upon the

these subjects

stops in the midst of his

of the loaves and fishes,

multiplication

bearing upon their relation to the Holy Eucharist, and, as

though he feared that he was

in

danger of revealing secrets

forbidden to profane ears, abruptly addresses himself to Lazarus,

as the next subject of

him

to speak.

It is to

which

it

be observed that Lazarus

in the ordinary

way

third century, as

in

an

would naturally become

is

not here represented

which he was represented during the

adult,

and swathed

like a

mummy

just

emerging from the tomb, but as a youth, having the windingsheet loosely hanging about his person, as though to
as an ideal
It is

^'^zarus.

to

we may venture with confidence

from the corresponding picture in the next chamber.

It was, as
rus,

opposite to the

wall,

and

allegorical, rather

not necessary that

* Ep.

ad Corn.

X Apotheosis,

liv.

v.

73.

than an historical personage.

we should draw out

f

mark him

Cf. St

John

xi.

at length the

25 with

vi.

58,

&c,

j_

Roma

272

hidden sense of that

Sotte7'ranea.

series of paintings of the history of Jonas,

with which the upper part of these walls

bearing on the
future one
Supplement-

Qf unrolling
a volume,

parchment

in

same

or,

hands

his

from a well which

ber, the

There remain, how-

on which we ought

^^ them

^^^

ofDoctorsand ^^^^^^^^'^^^^^
fossors
explained.

figures

is

is

decorated, their

and the hope of a

life

being sufficiently obvious.

two other

ever,

of this present

trials

is

make some

to

seated, apparently in the act

at

least,^

holding
n a

the

other

stands,

of

drawing water

In the next cham-

already overflowing.

figure appears twice,

loner
n roll

once standing, once

sitting,

but on both occasions holding a book, and seemingly engaged

work of

in the

He

instruction.

wears the same ascetic dress

who was

of Pagan philosophers as the priest

Our

impulse at sight of the well with

first

waters

is

to refer

them

to give water to

become

woman

at the well,*

that believe in

its

overflowing

Our Blessed Lord

to the conversation of

it

with the Samaritan

*'

consecrating.

wherein

He

Him, such

promised
as should

them a fountain of water springing up unto

in

And, doubtless,

everlasting."

and appropriate termination

this

life

would be a very beautiful

to a series of symbolical paintings,

beginning with the stream of grace, drawn from the rock of

by him who was himself a rock, and now ending

Christ

with the Well of Living Water and the promise of eternal

more

De

life.

careful consideration of the subject, however, has led

He

Rossi to adopt another interpretation.

supposes

this

figure to represent a Christian doctor of the faith, possibly St

who perhaps devised this whole symbolical

then commemorated in them, just as the mere

Callixtus himself,
series,

and

material

same

is

workmen

walls.

He

(the fossores) were also represented

takes the drawing of the water at the well to

be only an expression

when he speaks of
drawn

in art of

" the

what Origen had said

Well whence

John

iv.

f Horn. XII.

14
in

vii.

Num.

"

ii.

p.

be

+ and that the

37, 38.
torn.

in words,

spiritual waters are to

for the refreshment of the believers

* St

on the

311-314.

L iht rgica I Pa inlmgs.

273

reason for making use of these unusual memorials of individuals

was the

fact that this

cemetery was the

belonged to the Church

which had ever

first

in her aggregate capacity.'"'

Doubtless, this same reason explains also the exceptional This whole
series

character of the whole system of decoration that was adopted

in these

They form one uniform

chambers.

group, adorned

seems

inspired by
^^''

^^^^^'

with the same symbols and in the same style, freely changed

composition and arrangement, yet constant

in their

hidden meaning and theological sense

other cubicida of the same area

same system of decoration.

It

there

may

whereas

is

in

in

their

the

all

no trace of the

well be doubted whether

any private individuals would have ventured on such bold

representations of the sacred mysteries for the adornment of
their family vaults

cient

neither would every artist have

and are

certainly

seem

to

to us.

Rossi have discovered in the

full

and complicated a

the taking of the veil by

series.

some consecrated

for ordination,

and perhaps,

They

virgin, the laying

also, for

public pen-

And, as we have ourselves also before observed, many

of the

emblems and decorations

combs have a

distinct liturgical

when they seem

at first sight to

Enghsh

Christianity

few other

represent where.

ance.

a recent

St Priscilla other paintings of a liturgical charac- scenfrelse-

but not so

on of hands

bear the stamp of authority,

come down

De

Bosio and others before

ter,

ac-

one of the most valuable monuments of

ancient Christian art that have

Catacomb of

suffi-

On many

theological knowledge to design them.

counts, therefore, they

had

writer,

who

and Sacred Art

in various parts of the

sense and

be simply

Cata-

reference, even

historical.

Indeed,

has published a work on " Ancient

in Italy," trying to enlist

them on

the side of Protestantism, or, at least, to effect a separation of

them from the cause of Catholic

acknowledge that "

if

truth,

does not refuse to

any one could so cast away bias and

prepossession as to form for himself the ideal of a Christian

church exclusively from the records of the past that meet us

*

Sec pp. 83

-86.

-/

Roma

74

in the

Catacombs,

would be

sion

Sotterranea.

his impartial

and calmly-adopted conclu-

worship of such a church,

that, in the

all

should

revolve round a mystic centre of sacramental ordinances."

Before taking leave of this interesting series of liturgical

which we have been examining,

paintings,

how

ing

it

is

worth remark-

accurately they illustrate and confirm the remarks

which were made

in a

former chapter,* on the order in which

the several classes of paintings succeeded one another in the

development of Christian

We

art.

are sure that these

cham-

bers were excavated in the very earHest period of the third

>

century,

if

not in the end of the second

and there can be

little

doubt that the paintings were executed

time,

and the same subjects were painted

But

in

same

the

at
all

of them.

in the latest of the cubicuia, they are represented only

means of the

any admixture of scenes

biblical stories, without

In a yet later cubiculum

merely allegorical or hieroglyphical.

near the tomb of St Eusebius, the same substantial idea

still

there,

picture of the

in that

by

is

Good Shepherd and His

Apostles, and the various attitudes of the sheep, described

in

page 237

and

in

more

and parables.

but

it

literal

the

reduced to an expression

Holy Eucharist

its
;

less secret,

conformity to the text of the histories

The rock

of Baptism, and by
'

is

is

whence flowed the waters

on the next wall

side

but

there,

it is

fish to

before the miraculous multiplication.

It

an accurate representation of an historical

rious symbol, though, of course,

it

the symbol of

merely in a representation of the

two Apostles bringing the bread and

with a mystical intent that

is

Our Blessed Lord

is,

therefore, rather

fact,

than a myste-

we do not doubt

was painted

See page 196,

there.

that

it

was

CHAPTER

VIT.

GILDED GLASSES FOUND IN THE CATACOMBS.

THERE

collections

the

many

in

are,

of the great

more or

museums

of Europe, Various

less extensive of articles

Catacombs of Rome.

Rings,

coins,

terra-coita

in

^^

""

^^ Jf

lamps Catacombs,

emblems upon them, and various other ob-

with Christian

of domestic use or ornament, have been from time to

jects

time discovered in the Christian cemeteries.

They have been

found stuck into the cement which surrounds the

must have been placed there

surviving friends
tion,

found

and

who

and

time of burial, and by

desired thus to express their

own

affec-

to distinguish the grave of their departed relative

from those around

of the

undoubtedly

In some few instances the instruments

it.

of martyrdom were

many

at the

lociili^

buried with the martyr

articles
fictitious,

exhibited
still

under

there seems

this

and although
appellation

are

no reason why we

should doubt the genuineness of some of the ungulce, or ironclaws,

and of the plmnbatce^' or scourges loaded with lead

which are

to

be seen in Christian" museums, and which cor-

respond exactly to the instruments of torture described

the Acts of the Martyrs, and other ancient

records.

in

The

Vatican Library contains the largest collection of these Christian antiquities

in

but very rarely has any account of the locality

which they have been discovered been preserved, and thus

they have lost

Another

much

of their interest and historical value.

class of objects,

however, have an interest and value Gilded

* R. S.

ii.

164.

glass.

Roma

276
and

of their own,

many

tell

as to the locality in

own

their

we have

instances,

Sotterranea.
story

although here also, in

to regret the

absence of information

which they were discovered.

and

the fragments of glass, ornamented with figures

gold, of

which the

largest collection

to

is

These

are

letters in

be seen in the

may be found in the

Kircherian Museum at the Roman College, and in the museum
of the Propaganda.
The British Museum possesses about
thirty specimens, the museums of Paris, Florence, and Naples,
Vatican Library.

Smaller collections

Among private

not so many.
in this country

is

collections,

Mr

probably one of the best

C.

Wilshere's

contains about

it

W.

twenty specimens, the more important of which are at present

in the loan collection of the
Description of

These

South Kensington Museum.

glasses are, the greater part of them, evidently the

m the

bottoms of drinking cups.

Catacombs.

design having been executed in gold leaf on the

the

cup, in such a

Their peculiarity consists in

manner

flat

bottom of

and

as that the figures

letters

should be seen from the inside, like the designs on the glass

bottoms of the ale tankards so popular at Oxford and Cambridge.

The

gold leaf was then protected by a plate of glass, which

was welded by

These cups,

fire

so as to form one solid

found

like the other articles

were stuck into the

and the double

still

soft

mass with the cup.

in the

Catacombs,

cement of the newly-closed grave

glass bottom,

imbedded

in the piaster, has

resisted the action of time, while the thinner portion of the

cup, exposed to accident and decay by standing out from the

has in almost

plaster,

every instance

perished.

Boldetti

informs us that he found two or three cups entire, and his

representation of one of these

Even

work.*

is

given in Padre Garrucci's

the bottoms of these glass cups have frequently

perished in the attempt to detach them from the plaster, and

the impression

show the

The

left in

the

loss sustained

cement

is

all

that remains to

by Christian archseology.

discovery of these glasses

* Vetri ornati di

often

fifjure in oro.

Tav.

is

coeval with that of the

xxxix. nn. 7

a, 7 b,

first

edition.

Gilded Glasses

Catacombs themselves.

0211 id

in the Catacombs.

Bosio found

277

fragments of Their

five or six

them during

all

his

Ardeatina, and tlien found an equal

specimens

in a

single gallery

Appia and Via

the Via

researches on

number of whole unbroken

on the Via

Salaria

and when

dis-

covery by
Bosio and
f>Qj^^^an"

Catacombs.

Aringhi published the drawings and descriptions of these, he

added an account of a few others

Buonarruoti's

since.

added about

Boldetti

had been discovered

work contains an account of about

seventy specimens, which were

time.

that

all

thirty

that were

more.

however, has obtained accurate drawings of

now

extant in the various

publication

we have

full

known

in his

Padre Garrucci,
all

museums of Europe,

the specimens
so that in his

collection of about 340, twenty of

which, however, only exist in the pages of Boldetti, Olivieri,

Modern

and other authors.

light

many new

specimens.

exploration has not brought to

In the course of twenty-three

years of labour in the Catacombs,

De

Rossi has only

come

upon two fragments, and two or three have been brought

,

light

by the excavations recently made

neighbourhood of Rome, but

Two

found
Cologne.

at

Until 1864

at Ostia.

not a single specimen had been discovered

to

except in

in that year a very

the

remarkable

fragment of a gilded glass plate was found at Cologne in

excavating the foundations of a house near the Church of
St Severin

and

in

1866 another, though of a different work-

manship, was discovered, together with some charred bones,

in

a rough

fifteen

stone

chest about thirty inches in length, and

width and depth, in a similar excavation near the

in

well-known Church of St Ursula and her companions.

last

specimen

Museum

is

now

in the

Slade Collection in the British

and a woodcut of the other

These two exceptions scarcely seem

is

given in page 290.

sufficient to

the general opinion of archaeologists that

Rome

art to

overthrow The

was the only

place where this kind of glass was manufactured.

has, indeed,

This

to the

Roman

^no^wn^on^r^in

Garrucci Rome

adopted. a further conclusion, and considers the

have been confined

ait of

Christians.

It

is,

however, exceedingly improbable that the Christians should

Roma

278

Sotterranea.

have been acquainted with any ornamental

unknown

to their

Pagan cotemporaries.

Besides, several of

and scenes from

the figures represent gladiatorial combats

Pagan mythology, such

as

no Christian

artist

would have thought of depicting, nor can

the inscriptions which

asked, are

we

to

account

of the early ages

either the figures or

accompany them be

in

any way adapted

How,

so as to bear a Christian signification.

which was

art

then,

it

may be

for the fact of these glasses scarcely

ever having been found except in Christian sepulchral crypts?

We

acknowledge the

less

a fact that these glasses have never been discovered in

fact,

but deny the inference

for

it is

no

any Christian building or sepulchre above ground, and yet we

know

and more especially

that from very early times,

many

A.D. 312, the Christians possessed

down

to us

combs,

is

glasses

have come

from antiquity, except those found in the Cata-

to

be ascribed

to their

which the peculiar circumstance of

in

places of burial which

That no such

were not subterranean.

after

extremely fragile nature^

their having

mortar alone preserved from destruction.

jectures, with

much

been imbedded
Cavedoni con-

probability, that vessels of glass thus orna-

mented have been destroyed

in great quantities for the sake of

the gold which they contained, and this conjecture

by one or two instances recently found,

in

is

confirmed

which some of the

gold leaf has been scraped away with an instrument forced

in

between the plates of

glass,"

who

of Martial,t

glass.

The Jew

'^

" dealers in

broken

plied their trade in Trastevere, even in the days

may have had some

share in producing the scarcity

of specimens of this kind of manufacture,

It is

and practised

the third

difiicult

to

determine precisely the period to which

be assigned.

and fourth cen-

glasses are to
^i^^se

turies,

the cemetery of St Callixtus,

*

Cavedoni, Osservazioni, &c.,

''

Olivieri discovered

in

p. 6, &c.,

vitreis.

in

the middle of which was

quoted in BuUettino, 1864,

f Transtyberinus ambulator,
Qui pallentia sulphurata fractis
Perniutat

one

Epig.

i.

42.

p. 82.

Gilded Glasses found in the Cataco^nbs

279

represented a heap of money, and in the centre of the heap,

on the top of
Caracalla."

the rest, was to be distinguished the

all

Another

^'^

name

glass bears the

who was martyred under

of Marcellinus,

From an

Diocletian in a.d. 304. t

examination of the style of dress, and of the

mode

of arranging

and other

the hair, as also from the orthography of the legends

indications,

Padre Garrucci considers them

time of Theodosius

anterior to the

all

and De Rossi speaks more

head of

precisely,

assigning them to a period ranging from the middle of the

third to the beginning of the fourth century.

The

on them are more varied than

depicted

subjects

those painted on the walls of the Catacombs.

few are, as

we have already mentioned, scenes from Pagan mythology

Hercules, Achilles, and Pagan gods and goddesses.

ployed

a money-coiner, a

also

here

one or more of
frequently, a

times

tailor,

his

and a

men

wdth

Pagan.

and

variously em-

druggist, each in his

Domestic scenes from the nursery and the schoolroom

shop.
are

ship-builder with

[j^gj-j-j

Others

represent boxers contending for the prize, charioteers,

hunting scenes

Subjects de-

Social

and

be met with; a father and mother, with

to

their children in front of

husband and

them

or

by

wife, standing side

hands joined over the nuptial

side,

altar,

more

still

some-

which

is

generally presided over by Christ, either represented by His

monogram pP^,

or

married couple.
instead of Christ,
possible that this

else

In one instance,

who

is

it

seems

to

assisting at the union

may be

may be intended

figure

His own person crowning the

in

for

be an angel
but

it is

quite

Pagan scene, and the winged

Cupid.

Five or six specimens

exhibit the seven-branched candlestick, the ark containing the Jewisli.

rolls

of the law, and other Jewish symbols

but the great

majority are manifestly Christian.

Mr

Most

Wilshere, have one or two figures in the centre, and, grouped

^j^n?

Three of

around
*

these, of

these,

which two are

number of

Ganucci, Tav.

xxxiii. n. 5.

in the possession of

from

subjects
f

lb.,

Holy
Tav.

Scripture.

xix. n. 3.

fre-

Roma

2 8o
Description of
some of these.

Thus

one

in

we have

''

the water into wine

Sotterranea.

Christ with the rod of

power changing

Tobias with the monster

fish

Christ

with the rod of power enabUng the paralytic to carry his bed

and

with the same rod of power protecting the Three

lastly,

Children in the flaming furnace of Babylon.

the possession of

Mr

Another, also in

Wilshere,t has the Apostles Peter and

Paul in the centre, and the

compartments around them

six

contain successively figures of the Three Children

supposed by Garrucci to be the prophet

a man,

Isaias, with a roll of

a book taken out of a chest, and a symbolical figure of the

sun

then a female figure praying, possibly the Virgin, whose

maternity the prophet saw in vision

prophet

Isaias,

man

another

Moses and

being sawn asunder by two executioners

then

with a rod and a serpent in front of him, probably

the brazen serpent, which

type of Himself

and other

next a man, probably the

and

lastly,

Moses

Our Lord

tells

us was a

striking the rock.

scriptural subjects, such as the Fall,

Noe

These

in the

Ark,

the sacrifice of Isaac, the destruction of the dragon by Daniel,

and the

history of Jonas, are found sometimes singly,

Our Lord

sometimes together.

Good Shepherd,

the

the water into wine

water-pots

or as multiplying the loaves, or changing

but in this

signify

that

miracle as a type of the

Figures of

artist's

The

Blessed Virgin

name

number of

latter miracle the

six,

symbolical meaning of the

the

Holy Eucharist was

principally in

mind.

Saints.

her

frequently represented as

invariably represented as seven instead of

is

apparently to

the

is

and

represented sometimes alone, with

is

over her head, praymg between two

olive-trees

sometimes with the Apostles Peter and Paul on either side of

her
St

sometimes accompanied by the virgin martyr St Agnes.

Agnes

Other
tus,

is

found on several glasses with similar variations.

Lawrence, St Vincent, Hippolytus, Callix-

saints, as St

Marcellinus,

* Garrucci, Tav.

Sixtus,

i.

n. I.

Timotheus,

are

&c.,

lb.

I.

c. n.

found more

2.

Gilded Glasses foimd

But the favourite subject

rarely.

tion of the

evidently the representa-

is

two great Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.

Those who have passed a summer

forget the enthusiasm with
festa

in

Roma

Es consecrata

Horum

Leo

of St

qua?

what

duorum Principum

the Great, and the

"

whole of Rome, and shout

was observed

The people

They run

poems of Pruden-

festival

more than ordinary

may be

this

for joy,

to

Tell me,

and

fro

this

These

my

through the

because to us

by the blood of Peter and of Paul." *

in

flock together,"

joys.

day of the Apostles' triumph has come again,

then, as now, apt to

listen

una pulchritudines."

century.

fifth

sings the latter, " for

friend,

when they

this festal

day enobled
were

festivities

run into excess, and hence St Jerome,

while thanking Eustochium for her childish presents of sweet-

adds the caution, "

meats,

Blessed Peter
care

we keep

that

this

who you know

a martyr,

Augustine
to

the

cups,

laments

saints,

as

as with

the feast

the

pleased

Avith

the

more

over-eating to honour

God by

his

fasts."

dishonour done by scenes

much

as

the furious

Pagans used

specially

where agapce were celebrated

Perlsteph.

xii.

Enarr. in Ps.

lix.

to

St

of riot
their

pursue them

mourns over the scandal

given by the wine-bibbing in "the basilica

:|:

all

^'whom drunkards now persecute with

with stones;" J and he

and birthday of

the gladness of our souls.

very absurd to propose

is

it

is

solemn day not so much with the

abundance of our food,

For

It

and therefore we must take

p^^^j

glorioso sanguine,

show us with what solemnity the

the fourth and

still

of"

cruore purpurata cseteras

Excellis orbis

The sermons

not easily Feast

hymn

with proud satisfaction to the glorious

felix

will

keep the \^^

Even the vast basilica on the

of citizens in gala dress,

full

"

Rome

which the Romans

of their great patrons.

Vatican appears

tins,

281

the Catacombs.

of St

Peter,"

in the portico for the benefit of

f Ep.

xxxi.,

Ep,

xxix.,

ad Eustochium.
ad Alypium, lo.

at

Rome

in

Rojua Sotterranea.

282

Paulinus of Nola

the poor.

generated,

how

us

tells

the agapce thus de-

" the table of Peter receives what the teachmg

how

of Peter denounces," and at the same time he draws a graphic

picture of a festa in the fourth century.

"

Among

attracted thither by the fame of St Felix," he

one alteration we may

fairly transfer his

on the 29th of June, "there are

who cannot

the crowds

says,'"'

and with

description to

peasants recently converted

and who, before embracing the

read,

Rome

faith

of

Christ,

had long been the slaves of profane usages, and had

obeyed

their senses as gods.

from

They

Glowing with

parts of the country.

all

arrive here from afar,

faith,

and

they despise

the chilling frosts ;t they pass the entire night in joyous watchings

they drive away slumber by gaiety, and darkness by

But they mingle

torches.

hymns

after singing

They

of the saints.

drunken

with their prayers, and,

God, abandon themselves

They joyously stam with

cheer.

their

to

festivities

fore," continues the

the sight of

and by

sing in the midst of their cups,

" thought

good bishop,

them

coloured representations

have there-

good

with holy pictures the whole temple of St Felix.

when

good

odoriferous wine the tombs

the devil insults St Felix.

lips

to

to enliven
It

may

be,

strikes their astonished minds, these

will arrest the attention

of the rustics.

Inscriptions are placed above the pictures, in order that the

letters

may

point

them out

pictured

explain what the hand has depicted.

one another, and read by turns these

to

objects, they

The enjoyment

of the

forget

their eating

beguiles

sight

habits are formed in these gazers,

histories, chastity

of piety.

and

And

While they

virtue are

as they

their

a later hour.

hunger,

better

and studymg these sacred

engendered by such examples

spend the day

more, their potations become

till

in gazing

less frequent,

more and

and only a short

time remains for their repast."

Poema xxvi. {aliter xxxv.) De

+ The contadini who spend the
*

i^teps

of

Natal, carm. ix. v. 541, seqq.

of Saints Peter and Paul on the

Felice,
vigil

and under the colonnade of the Piazza

frost.

di

San Pietro are not

in

danger

Gilded Glasses foicnd in the Catacombs.

Whether

Roman

the

same idea of restrainmg the potations of the

by depicting

Christians,

when

seen to advantage

use of these gilded cups,

at

any

we

was empty, suggested the

shall not

pause to inquire.

rate certain that the feast of Saints Peter

much

as Christmas

is

Figures ot
Saints Peter

which could only be and Paul on

figures

the glass

observed as a general holiday in

very

283

ourselves,

It is

and Paul was

Rome during the fourth

now amongst

century,

and the

repre-

sentation of the two apostles on eighty glasses out of the three

hundred and

forty published

by Garrucci,

of their having been intended in

The

rate that day.

is

a strong argument

some way or other to commemo-

inscriptions,

where they occur, with the

figures of the apostles, confirm this supposition, for they are all

of a convivial character.

AMICORVM

CORVM

PIE ZESES

CVM

We

TVIS OMNIBVS BIBAS.

Dignitas

DiGNlTAS AMI-

CvM

CVM TVIS OMNIBVS BIBE ET PROPINA.

PIE ZESES

Thcsc may be

TVIS FELiciTER ZESES.

of friendship^' drink,\ and

Mayest thou live \long\'' "
[long] life to thee,

\long\

translated " A mark

life to

thee,

with all

thine.

mark of friendship, drink, and

with all thi?ie, drink [or, live\ and propose a

^''Mayest thou live happily with thiiie 07vn,^^ or,

toast.''

freely, " Life

gious

give a few examples

and happiness

inscription

has

FELICITER SEMPER
mayest thou

live

PACE DEI ZESES; that

IN

followed

Africa, of

whom

more

is,

the

Doubtless in

^^

Rome many

practice which St

reli-

omnibvs

with all tJwie ; happily mayest thou

ever in the peace of God."

pilgrim

to thee a? id thinei"

Hilaris vivas cvm tvis

more

Joyfully
live

for

a pious

Monica learned

in

St Augustine records, with the playful fiand-

* Dignitas Amicorvm appears to have been equivalent to the phrase

Digni amici, with which a Roman host was accustomed to pledge his
guests before drinking their health.
Perhaps it would have been more
exactly rendered by " Here's to our friendship.''''
The phrase is evidently
alluded to by St Augustine in the passage quoted below, where dignationejn stands for the honour paid to the saints by St Monica with her cup

of wine.

+ Pie, ZESES, for -n-te, ^t^o-tJs, Greek words in popular use in Rome.
BiBAS may be understood as it stands, or as written for Vivas. The
latter is more in conformity with tlie spelling on the inscriptions in the
Catacombs, in wliich VixiT is usually written Bixrr.

^^^^^

Roma

284
ness of

affection,

filial

Sotterranea.

that she used to bring to the festivals

" a small cup of wine, diluted according to her

which

habits,

smnei^ef).

for courtesy she

And

if

would

taste

many

there were

('

iinde digiiationem

shrines of the departed

be honoured in that manner, she would carry round

saints to

one same cup which she used everywhere

that

when

own abstemious

and

even

this,

had become not only very watery, but unpleasantly

it

lukewarm, she would distribute to those about her by small

sips, for

Ancient
portraits

she sought there devotion, not pleasure."*

question here naturally arises as to the representations of

the Apostles,

of these
Apostles.

how

far

they

may be

considered to be real

like-

nesses, or whether they were purely conventional, invented

perpetuated merely by Christian

We

art.

and

have the testimony

of Eusebius that he had " seen representations of the Apostles

Peter and

Paul,

and of Christ Himself,

paintings;" and he adds, "that

among

a practice

to

tomed

to

who were

pay

the

it is

preserved

still

probable

that,

in

according

Gentiles, the ancients were accus-

kind of honour indiscriminately to those

this

Moreover,

as saviours or deliverers to them, f

cannot be denied that there

is

it

a certain uniformity of type

about the figures of these Apostles on most of the glasses of

which we are speaking, so that they might often be

guished, even

The

if

there were

no legends over

oldest representation of

medal

is

is

probably

Vatican Library. J This

in the

about three inches in diameter

style of classical art,

their heads.

them now extant

on a bronze medal preserved

that

distin-

it is

executed in a fine

and the heads are finished with great

care.

This was found by Boldetti in the cemetery of Domitilla, and

has every appearance of having been executed in the time of
the Flavian emperors,

The

when Grecian

portraits are very life-like

press of individual character.

and

art still flourished in

natural, bearing a strong im-

One

of the heads

short curly hair, the beard clipped short

features
*

Conf.

Hist. Eccl.

vii. c.

18.

is

covered with

and also curled, the

somewhat rough and common-place.

vi. 2.

Rome.

The

+ See Plate

features

XVII.

1.

Gilded Glasses found

of the other are

head

the

more noble,

medal confirms the

valuable

long.

This

preserved by

Nice-

and

thick

is

285

and strongly marked,

graceful,

and the beard

bold,

is

the Catacombs.

tradition

phorus * of the personal appearance of the two Apostles, the

first

being that of St Peter, and the latter that of St Paul

we have

as

and,

already said, these characteristics are in the main

retained in most of the glasses, excepting a few which are of

very inferior execution.

.

side

by

some

-.

instances Christ

victory

it

are represented Variously

,

is

represented in the air (that

-r

other instances, a single crown

between the two, as

not divided."

to

if

show

is

from

is,

suspended

which

is

circle

sur-

often supported on a

pillar,

thus symbolising "the pillar and ground of the truth,"

which

is

"that very great, very ancient, and universally

at

Rome by

and Paul." t

For there

Church founded and organised

glorious Apostles Peter
to

be good ground

ised

Mr Palmer's
Roman Church
r

is

the two most

11

way we can account

for their

the Blessed Virgin,

of St Agnes, or of other saints,

the

hands uplifted

same

attitude,

diminutive

some

intended to be symbol- sometimes

the Apostles themselves to be represented personally.

their

seems

certainly

In this

being placed on either side of

who have

in prayer, whilst the Apostles are not in

and moreover, are made

stature.

It

to

appear of very

can never have been

intended to

represent St Agnes as superior to the chiefs of the Apostles, or

* See also St Jerome,

Comment,

in

Ep. ad. Galat.

i.

i8,

tom.

vii. p.

It is a curious coincidence also that in the apocryphal

329, ed. Migne.
Acts of the Apostles, edited by Tischendorf, it is said of Dioscorus, the ship-

master,

who had

followed St Paul to Rome, and was mistaken for the

in his stead, that he was bald, "/cat auros ava(pa\o.vhb%

Apostle and beheaded

uTTctpx^J'," p. 4.

+ Early Christian Symbolism,

p. 2i.

Symbolical of

and patrons, rather than Roman

the persons oi her founders

known

conjecture, J that in

for

of these glasses the

represented
^^^ -riass.

that " in their death they were

This crown becomes sometimes a

rounding the labarum or ^P^

In

crown of

were), holding over the head of each a

in

or,

sometimes standing, and sometimes seated.

side,

heaven, as

The two Apostles

S. Irenceus, Haer.

See Plate XVIII.

iii.

i.

3.

^l^^"cJi-

Roma

86

as

making intercession

course

"

Sotterranea.
" finished

who had

those

for

nearly a century and a half before her.

understand St Agnes, St Peregrina, and the

Blessed

Lady

these Apostles had founded,

and through

Church

for the

it

Roman

at

special orna-

ment and glory of the Roman Church, and we have

proof of the

we

even our

rest,

Agnes was always accounted a very

St

large.

Rather,

Roman Church which

praying for the

herself, as

their

certain

Christians of the fourth century asking

her prayers in the inscription by Pope Damasus,

seen at the entrance of her Qhwxoh. fuori

niiwa

le

be

to

still

UT DAMASI PRECIBUS FAVEAS PRECOR, INCLYTA VIRGO.

She was

more

also represented

Apostles of
St Peter under
the type of

Moses;

than

frequently

whom we

alone* upon these glasses almost

any other

two

the

have been speaking.

two Apostles, in ancient

"^^^ relative positions of these

works of

excepting

saint

have been a subject of frequent discussion ever

art,

since the days of St Peter

however,

establish

to

Damian.

It

any theory upon them.

generally at the right hand, but by no

if

any one attempts

Christians looked

to

Agnes, too,

is

met by the

Jupiter between

Roman

as in

all

respects

fact

left

first,

that

of St Paul

artists,

Juno and Minerva, observe the same

secondly, that the primacy of St Peter

the type of

Our
;

St

glasses

indiffer-

And

distinctly attested in

those in which he appears under

The rock, of course, at

Paul " They drank of that

striking the rock.

once suggests the passage of St

* See riate

of

by another symbol which can hardly be

We mean

Moses

is

left

when they placed

ence as to the relative position of the two goddesses, f

misunderstood.

and

the

and husbands, often placed on the

moreover, that Pagan

some of these

the place of honour, where she appears wdth

in

is

so

is

that

this

found once standing on the

the Blessed Virgin

their wives

prove from

St Peter

means always

upon the two Apostles

equal and co-ordinate, he

Lord Himself

seems impossible,

XYIII.

2.

Bidleif. i86S, 43.

Gilded Glasses found in the Catacombs.

spiritual

287

rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ

"
;

but we should hardly have ventured to affirm that the figure

striking the rock

was St Peter,

if his

name had

One

instances at least, been unmistakably given at his side.

of these glasses has been long

the

Vatican

known

two

not, in

to antiquarian visitors to

Museum,'^ and within the

few months a

last

second, preserved in the same place, but whose surface had

become corroded and opaque, has been cleaned and rendered

transparent by Professor Tessieri.
essential

respect from the other, yet there

difference to indicate the

f'""^-

does not

It

hand of another

12,. Bottom of a Gilded Glass

is

differ in

any

just sufficient

artist.

found i7i the Catacombs,

restored to the Vatican Mnseum.

and

lately cleaned,

These invaluable glasses supply us with a key

to

many

and

of

Catacombs and sculptures on Christian

sarcophagi, where the same scene is so frequently repeated.
the paintings in the

They show

us that St Peter was considered to be the

* See Plate

XVII.

2.

Moses

"^

Roma

2 88

new

of " the

Israel of

explain the reason

why

God," as Prudentius speaks, and they

the rod, the

emblem

Divine power,

of

never found except in three hands, those of Moses, Christ,

is

and

Peter.

belongs primarily, and by inherent

It

Christ, the eternal

Son of God.

gated to Moses, of

whom God

in

my

all

drew His own

to use the

By Him
testified,

by the Incarnate Word

to

was of old dele-

it

"He

is

most

faithful

He

and when

with-

visible presence from the earth, " afterwards,"

words of St Macarius of Egypt,t " Moses was suc-

ceeded by Peter, to

whom

committed the

is

We

and the new priesthood."

Christ,

right,

For a few years the rod of power was

house."'''.

visibly wielded

New Church

understand, also, that

of
it

not without reason that in the sarcophagi the figure striking

also in sculp-

is

tureonsarco-

^^

phagi,

Sotter7'aiiea.

yqq}^ is

almost invariably found in immediate Jjuxtaposition

f
'

with the Prince of the Apostles led captive by the satellites of

Herod Agrippa, and

there

is

frequently a studied similarity in

The most

the features of the principal figure in both scenes.

example of

striking

this

is

in

the large sarcophagus which

stands at the end of the principal hall in the Lateran

Museum.

In one of the four compartments into which the front of that

sarcophagus
First,

by

is

divided, vve have an epitome of St Peter's

he stands with the rod of power, already given

Divine Master, who

his

bolised by the cock at his

is

warning him of
Next, he

feet.

the satellites of Agrippa, but he

Word

of

God

is

still

not bound," and

it.

Lastly, he appears

fall,

him
sym-

taken prisoner by

bears the rod, for " the

no worldly violence can

wrench the rod of jurisdiction from him

given

is

his

to

life.

to

whom

Christ has

under the symbol of Moses,

Num. xii. 7 compare Heb. iii. 5, 6.

+ Horn. xxvi. c. 23.
X There must have been some special cause for the frequent repetition of
The most reasonable explanation is, that St Peter's imprisonthis scene.
*

"
ment and miraculous deliverance, after which " he went into another place
(Acts xii. 17), was the occasion of his coming to Rome, where the same
scene was enacted again and again in the apprehension and martyrdom of

so

many

of his successors.

The

parallel event in the

life

of St Paul (his

imprisonment and deliverance at Philippi) is nowhere reproduced

Christian art,
See Palmer's " Symbolism," p. 18.

in early

Gilded Glasses foiind

using the rod to bring from

''

tlie spiritual

God

of grace, at which the Israel of

We

souls.

289

the Cataco7nbs.

Rock

" the

streams

slake the thirst of their

have already seen that the same idea runs through

All and in frescoes
in Catacombs,
there represented as flowmg from that

the paintings in the earliest cubicula of the Catacombs.

.

sacramental grace

is

one stream over which Peter presides.

Pope Innocent
for the

wish

to

it

I.,

he

purpose of increasing your great fountain, but we

Peter, " from

same Head of rivers whence comes

And

name

whom

Pope

in his reply the

the very Episcopate, and

(of the Apostolic See) sprung

the authority

all
.

says of St

that thence

other churches might derive what they should order;

they should absolve

whom,

pollution, the stream that

avoid

as

whom

bemired with ineffaceable

worthy only of pure bodies should

is

from their parent source

just as

be decided by you whether our stream, however

your own abundance."*

all

cen-

''We do not pour back our stream-

said,

small, flows forth from that

of this

fifth

Augustine expressed the same idea when, writing to

tury, St

let

Early in the

all

waters flow, and

through the different regions of the whole world the pure

streams of the fountain well forth uncorrupted." f

Among
a great

posed

the glasses delineated by P. Garrucci

number of very small

size.

may be

noticed Large

These had been

belong to glass cups of small dimensions

to

careful examination of them,

sup- medallions

but a

especially since the discovery

which we have mentioned of the fragments of a glass plate at

Cologne, has proved that they once formed parts of similar
patencB.

It will

subject at once.

be observed that they rarely contain a whole

Thus one of them

will

contain the figure of

Adam, another

that of Eve, while the tree

coiled round

will

it

be represented on a

and the serpent

third.

The Three

Children are represented each on a separate glass, and so are

the three Magi.
* S.

Aug. Epist.

Our Lord,
clxxvii. vol.

Inter Epist. S. Aug.

on the Chair, of St

Peter^

181

and

ii.

or St Peter, as the case

p.

its

938, ed.

may

Gaume.
See Note

be,

C. in Appendix,
949.
connexion with the Baptismal Font on

ib.,

p.

the Vatican.

patence
let

^"^" ^'^ glass.

Ro7na Solterranea.

290
is

represented about a dozen times standing alone with a rod

in his hand, while

carrying his bed,

on other glasses are to be seen the paralytic

Lazarus as a

mummy

at the

door of his

Daniel and one of the two

lions.

Adam

and Eve.
of Jonas

History

medallions.
Christ with Rod

in

four

probab'y
conmedallion
tained Lazaius.
;

another

Two of the Three Children.

An Orntiie, probably ihe Viigin
Isaias

vii.

of

14.

Fig.

3.;.

FragDietiis of a Glass I''ate}in-found at Cologne.

sepulchre, and the rock with the stream issuing from

is

true that

it.

It

sometimes these small glasses have been taken out

of the series to which they belong.

Thus, one published by

Gilded Glasses foioid in

Garrucci in Tav.

iv.

9,

which

tJie

Catacombs.

in the Vatican,

is

291

was found

in

the plaster round a child's grave, in the cemetery of St Pris-

surrounded with a

cilla,

had been hung round the neck

ject

small glasses

medal

as a

and yet the sub-

proved by the fragments discovered

is

it

But the general use of these

one of the three Magi.

is

a ring by which

circle of iron with

plate about ten inches in diameter

of a

flat

into

which have been inserted, while

in

made

at

Cologne,

of clear glass,

a state of fusion, a num-

ber of small medallions of green glass exactly similar to those

found separately

in

Rome, and which together form a

series of

These medallions, being of double

scriptural subjects.

glass,

have resisted the ravages of time and accident which have destroyed the more thin and fragile glass oi\h^patena.

De

Rossi

has seen in the plaster oiloculi in the Catacombs the impression

of large plates of this description, which have probably perished

them from the cement."

in the attempt to detach

We

have alluded to the probable use of these glasses at the

AgapcE, and the subjects on

been also used on other

days, &c.

It is

sider whether

it

many

at the

is

not possible that some of them

chalices of the second

having

and

to con-

may have

in the celebration of the

Pontiff for painting

Good Shepherd,! would

the

their

however a more interesting question

The well-known passage

Roman

them suggest

festive occasions, as marriages, birth-

been used as patens or chalices

Eucharist.

of

which Tertullian

in

on

Holy
scoffs

lead us

his chalice the figure of

to

third century

suppose that the

must have been

fre-

quently of similar material and workmanship to the glasses of

which we are

The

treating.

preserved at Genoa, which

chalice used

by our Saviour

celebrated Graal or Sacro Catino,

is

supposed

to

have been the

at the Last Supper,

and

search

in

which so many romantic adventures were encountered by

for

legendary knights,

is

of glass, and of hexagonal form

but

it

* Bullett. 1864, pp. 89-91.

t " Ipsa picturoe calicum vestrorum, si vel in WWs pe7'luc^-l>it interpretatio,"

and again, "pastor queni in calice depingis."
Tert. De Piidicit. 7, 10.

&:c.

^^^^ass

chalice.

Roma

292
would not be

safe

priests

made

Pontlficalis says of St

a constitution of the Church,

it

should carry glass paieiis into the church in

that ministers

the

The Liber

relic.'^

Zephyrinus, that " he

front of the

deduce any archaeological argument

to

from so doubtful a

Sotterra7iea.

priests,

while the bishop celebrated mass with

standing before

him,

and that

in

manner

this

masses should be celebrated, care being taken

what be-

for

longed to the rights of the bishop, that the clergy only should
take away for

by the
it

to administer

and

"

made

About twenty

the consecrated vessels

From

set apart twenty-five silver patens."

the

chalices

their

successors

Pope Zephyrinus

and martyr, ordained

that the

of

silver,

these notices

Holy

masses

in glass

in

but Urban, Pope

Sacrifice should

The

be offered

passages, how-

do not bear out so absolute a limitation of the period of

glass chalices to the few years

It is

all

celebrated

gold or silver chalices and patens.^' +

ever,

years after-

such as Honorius of Autun, have affirmed that

Apostles and

wooden

ill

that the priest should receive

to the people."

it

Urban

later writers,
''

own hand, and

bisliop's

wards, St

Holy Loaf {coronam) consecrated

present the

all

between Zephyrinus and Urban.

not said that the latter Pope forbade the use of chalices

merely stated that he provided

of less precious materials

sacred vessels of

and especially a number of patens

silver,

it

is

corresponding to the number of the city

The

titnli.

history

of St Sixtus n. and St Laurence shows that the treasures of

the Church were constantly liable to confiscation, and

it

Avould

have been as impossible to ensure the. sacred vessels being

always of the precious metals in Rome, during the ages of
persecution, as

it is

now

communities which

for those Christian

groan under the bondage of Mohammedanism.

* See Didron, 'Christian Iconography," vol.
trans.)

+ De Gemma

X The present writer once received a

bej^ged earnestly to have given

him

visit

i.

p.

Wlien hap-

270, note,

Animse,

i.

(Bohn's

89,

from a Coptic priest, who

one of the ale-glasses

for a chalice

which he saw on the table of the Nile-boat saloon.

universal throughout Egypt in the Coptic churches.

Glass chalices are

Gilded Glasses found in the Catacombs.

and the munificent

pier days came,

chalices displaced the glass vessels,

for

some of the

latter to

of gold and silver

gifts
it

was not

at all unlikely

be put up as tokens of affection and

on the tombs of the departed, and hence

distinction

some of our

possible that

293

glasses

may be

it is

quite

fragments of chalices.

"WiQ patencB 77Vr<?^ which St Zephyrinus required, belong to a Glass

They were not

different category.

bishop or priest

which required

all

and great
rinus

for the use of the celebrant

but in conformity with that ancient practice

t!ie

festivals to

priests in cathedral

on Sundays

cities

Zephy-

assist at the bishop's mass,' St

ruled that the priests of the several

should be

titles

attended on such occasions by a minister with a glass patena,

in

which a requisite number of consecrated hosts (made then

in the

form of the

called

coi'OJia)

by the

who

" being

all

hands.

''

circular biscuit ciambella^

and hence

should be placed at the bishop's mass, and taken

priests to

parishes,

Roman

be administered

to the faithful in the different

thus signified their union with the bishop by

partakers of that one bread

Take heed,"

"

consecrated by his

says St Ignatius of Antioch,

For there

have but one Eucharist.

is

one

''

flesh of

that

Our Lord

Jesus Christ, and one chalice in the unity of His blood.

altar,

there

as

my

deacons,

is

but

one bishop, with the

fellow-servants.'^

two large patence discovered

to

Now,

"^

at

priests,

and the

Cologne, correspond exactly

and the absence of any

The

scriptural

allusions to secular feasting,

accord well with so sacred a purpose, and we

fairly

One

the fragments of the

the kind of glass paten here mentioned.

subjects,

you

may

therefore

presume that those other smaller glasses of which we

have also spoken may also be remains of the patence used to

convey the Blessed Sacrament from the Pope's

parish churches in

Rome.

altar to the

Padre Garrucci thinks

this

not

improbable, although he does not admit that any of our Cata* S. Ign.

ad Philadelph.

c.

4; compare ad Smyrn.

be deemed a sure Eucharist which

by one to whom he has entrusted

is

c.

8:

" Let that

[administered] either by the bishop, or

it."

/^?/^//r^

294

Roma

Setter ran ea.

comb glasses ever formed portions

The patena found near the Church

of Eucharistic

chalices.

of St Ursula differs from

the other discovered two years before, in having the subjects

depicted in gold and colours on the surface of the glass,

stead of being Avithin medallions of double glass.
ing

is

in-

The draw-

also in a better style of art.

Fig. y^.--SarcoJ>hagHS still io he seen in Cemetery of San Callisto.

CHAPTER

Vlll.

CHRISTIAN SARCOPHAGI.

IN

the course of the preceding chapters

we have

frequently Christian use

P
^
had occasion to mention the sarcopliagi, or stone coffins,
^

in

which some of the more

Catacombs were

down from

laid

The

to rest.

buried in the

use of sarcophagi comes

we have

the remotest E^gyptian antiquity, and, as

already remarked,

it

prevailed in

burning became general.

may be

phagi

illustrious of those

Rome

before the practice of

Examples of Pagan Roman

sarco-

seen in almost every museum, and the most ex-

tensive collection of Christian sarcophagi

great hall of the Lateran Palace.

Marchi, and additions have been

the direction of the

It

is

to

be found

in the

was arranged by Padre

made from time

Commendatore De

Rossi.

to time

under

Before exam-

ining this interesting collection of early Christian sculpture,

is

worth while to inquire into the Christian use of

burial, in order that

we may gain some general

this

mode

it

of

idea as to the

date of the specimefis before us.

We

have seen that the Catacomb of St Domitilla,* which

bears every

mark of having been constructed

in the

time of ^jj^gg/^

the Flavian emperors, appears originally to have been intended

solely for the reception of those buried in sarcophagi.
loculi^
first

The

cut through the plaster which covers the walls of the

portion of this cemetery, are manifestly later additions

while the wide recesses, in which the sarcophagi once stood,

prove the original design of the sepulchre.

In

fact,

the

body

of St Petronilla lay here in a stone sarcophagus, in which

* Sec

page

71.

dates from

it

=>

296

Ro??ia Sotterraiiea.

was translated

by Pope Paul

to St Peter's

I.

Louis XI. of France restored the altar of

In 1474, King

this saint,

and

in

consequence the sarcophagus was exposed to view; and there

Pope

Sixtus IV. to the king, in which he describes

is

a letter of

it

as having four dolphins at the corners.

The

inscription,

AURELIAE PETRONILLAE FILIAE DVI.CISSIMAE,

said to have been engraven

is

whose daughter,

in the Gospel, this saint of Caesar's

The sarcophagus

was.

St Peter,

household

of Linus, the immediate successor of

by Severano

related

is

by the hand of St Peter himself,

have been found

to

in the

time of Urban VIII., during the restoration of the Confession

The

of St Peter.
-h-

Christian use of sarcophagi, then, appears

have been coeval with the introduction of Christianity.

to

There were, however, several reasons which made

among

of burial far from general

In the

They were not,

very een'eral
"^^-

first

mode

the Christians.

place, the sarcophagus

was an expensive

article,

mass of the Christian community was composed of

^"^^ ^^^

the poor.

The conveyance

city to the

cemetery required the presence of a considerable

number

Consequently we
fnensa,

which

living rock

as

of a heavy stone coffin from the

of workmen, and must have attracted

Christian

the

to

j_

this

at

find,

was generally desirable.

than

a very early period, the scpola-o a

nothing else but a sarcophagus cut out of the

and the

we have

is

cemeteries

more attention

later

form of

seen, the a?rosolwm,^

this

kind of sepulchre was,

which has been described as

" an excavated sarcophagus, with arched niche above."

Christian subjects not

Even when
|.|-jgy

^Q

j^Q^

the Christians did bury their dead in sarcophagi,

appear, until the ages of persecution had passed

^r^r^^^^^

sarcophagi
away, to have ornamented them with sculptures of a distinctive
during ages
Out of the four hundred and ninety-three
of persecution. Christian character.

,..

dated inscriptions, described by

first

De

Rossi as belonging to the

four centuries, only eighteen are found

of these not
* See

more than
page

65.

on sarcophagi, and

four bear dates anterior to the time of

f See

fig. 4,

5, in

page

30.

;; '

Ckristla7i Sarcophagi.

These are ornamented with

Constantine.
pastoral

or hunting scenes

297

genii, or griffins, or

and the earhest dated

sarco-

phagus, with a distinctively Christian subject sculptured upon

one from the Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus,

is

it,

upon which

represented the Nativity with the ox and

is

and which bears a consular date corresponding

ass,

to a.d. 343.

This tardy development of Christian sculpture cannot be

explained by the supposition that the Church forbade or dis-

couraged the representation of sacred subjects and symbols,

for

applied to painting, and

we have seen

placed upon the Christian

same

such had been the case, the

if

simple explanation of

branches of Christian

art

artist

no

would

liave

restriction

was

even from the apostolic age.

contrast presented by these tvva

tlie
is

that

rule

to

be found

in the consideration

of the widely different circumstances under which the painter

and the sculptor pursued

The

of persecution.

their respective callings during times

Christian

artist,

concealed

in the

bowels

of the earth, prosecuted his labours without fear of danger

while the sculptor would be unable to execute Christian subjects in his

workshop without drawing a dangerous attention

to his work.

Constantine,

Hence upon
we

the sarcophagi, prior to the time of

find Christianity,

if

represented at

under forms which were not unknown even

to

all,

veiled

the Pagans

while upon those belonging to the period wdiich followed the

peace of the Church, we notice at once the reproduction in

marble of the same

series of sacred subjects

which we have

seen reduced to a regular symbolical system in the subter-

ranean fresco-paintings of the second and third centuries.

fact,

art

no sooner

w^as

peace given to the Church than Christian

sprang up everywhere, and sarcophagi of the fourth cen-

tury,

adorned with Christian sculptures, have been found

Aries and Saragossa as freely as in

*

In

great

hood of

number

Aries,

may

Rome, Ravenna,

in

or Milan.*

of Christian sarcophagi, discovered in the neighbourstill

be seen

in the

museum

of that city.

There ap-

pears to have been a very considerable school of Christian sculpture there.

['

Rovia

2 9cS
Sul)jects
selected by

P^rom the

Christians
from the
Pagan shops.

difficulties

in

Soticrrajica.
the

way of anything hke

mation of a Christian school of

persecution,

it

sculj^ture during the ages of

who wished

evident that those

is

the for-

to procure

sarcophagi must have had recourse to the shops of the heathen

and an examination of the fragments which remain of these

ages proves, that they took considerable pains to select those

which did not

directly offend against the Christian religion

representing idolatrous
peculiar to Paganism.

upon them

by

or false gods, or scenes clearly-

rites,

Sarcophagi with such scenes sculptured

met with

are sometimes indeed to be

in the Cata-

combs, but they have either been carefully defaced with a

or turned against the wall

chisel,

and when used

close

to

loculi^

the sculpture has been turned towards the inside of the

tomb.

For instance, a bacchanalian scene sculptured on a

sarcophagus was found in the cemetery of St Lucina, turned

against the wall, while the rough side was exposed to view,

and on
IRENE.

The

teries are

ornamented

pastoral

Pastoral
scenes.

figures.

was inscribed the name of the deceased,

side

this

sarcophagi usually found in Christian cemeeither

by

wave-lines,'"" or

agriculture, the chase,

life,

and (more

his shoulders is also to

These were

at

ora?iti^

shepherd with a sheep

be found among heathen subjects.

once expressive of thoroughly Christian

and were consequently

examples of them
less

comic

rarely)

Figures with their hands raised in prayer,

were not unknown on Pagan tombs.

on

by scenes of

susceptible

testify.

of a

great

in

request, as

ideas,

numerous

the

Sometimes, other subjects appear

Christian

interpretation.

Cupid and

Psyche are represented side by side with a Good Shepherd,

who

is

overturning a basket of

than good, f

It is

however

fruit,

fair to

an

add,

omen
that

of evil rather
this

sculpture

was found with signs of plaster upon

it,

beneath the floor of the chamber.

Another, found

and had been buried

in

the

Ulysses and

crypt of St Lucina, represents the story of Ulysses and the

Syrens.

Syrens, and
*

As

it

is

probable that the monogram of tyranio was

in Fig. 15,

page 109.

P^ig.

32,

page 261.

Christia7i Sarcophagi.
a disguised form of the Cross. *

This

299

not the only instance

is

of the representation of this fable on Christian tombs

the

fifth

Maximus

century, St

and

in

of Turin explained the ship of

Ulysses to be a type of the Church, the mast being the Cross,

by which the

faithful are to

senses, " for in that Christ

be kept from the seductions of the

Our Lord was fastened

so let us pass through the

with as

it

were closed ears

ensnaring
;

of

perils

we be

thus shall

to the Cross,

the

world

neither held

back by the pernicious hearing of the world's voice, nor

swerve from our course to the better
rocks of voluptuousness."!

and

life

fall

upon the

Both these fragments of sarco-

may be seen in the Catacomb of St Callixtus.

The Good Shepherd at each end of one of the sarcophagi

phagi

that

Catacomb, which

still

contains the well-preserved body of

The dog

a man, was probably taken from the Pagan shops.

his feet

is

in

foreign to Christian

art.

at

Yet the chamber was

probably not made before the fourth century, and another

sarcophagus in
In the Lateran

covered with

is

it

Museum

subjects wholly biblical.

a good specimen of a Pagan

may be

Shepherd, adapted to Christian purposes,

the middle of the

hall,

on the right-hand

side.

three shepherds, one holding a sheep by his

seen about
represents

It

tail,

Good

the second

with a sheep on his shoulders and another at his

feet,

while

the third leans on his staff and watches three sheep feeding on

the mountain-side, a fourth lying at his

bears the inscription

feet.

This sarcophagus

ENGAAE IIATAEINA
KEITAI MAKAPfiX
ENI XfiPfi
HX KHAET2E IIAKATA

BHN ePEHTEIPAN
TATKEPHN
APIAN EN XP12
*'

Here Pauline
[for

lies in

the place of the blessed

whom

Pacata buried

she was] her sweet and holy nurse in Christ."

* Fig. 28, page 232.

t
c.

1,

S.

Maxim. Horn.

i.

Clark's edition, vol.

De Cruce Domini.
i.

p. 267.

See also Philosophumena,

% Fig. 35, page 294.

vii'.

Rojiia SoUerranea.

300
Bosio says that

on the Via

it

was dug up out of the cemetery of St

Salaria,

and he

infers

Priscilla

from the inscription that that

cemetery was a celebrated resting-phice of

The

saints.'"'

sar-

cophagus, with Orpheus and a fisherman sculptured upon

of which a lithograph

is

XX.

given in Plate

it,

end of the

at the

volume, belongs to the same category.

Sarcophagi

in

the Lateran.
That nearest

Since sculpture cannot be said to have existed as a Christian

art before the

we may

time of Constantine,

safely attribute all

the sarcophagi, with distinctively Christian subjects sculptured

upon them,

to the fourth

and

fifth

centuries

and having thus

may

determined an approximation to their date, we

pass on to

We

examine some of the more remarkable specimens.

commence

will

with the large sarcophagus which stands at the end

of the hall in the Lateran, and which

attract the attention of visitors.

is

usually the

lithograph

first

given of

is

it

to
at

This sarcophagus was recently found

the end of the volume. f

above the tomb of St Paul, when the excavations were made

for the construction of the magnificent

Baldacchino which

now

covers the high altar in his basilica on the Via Ostiensis.

.

That

basilica

was

by Tlieodosius towards the close of

rebuilt

the fourth century, and this sarcophagus appears to have been

placed there about that time.

busts

the

in

woman

to

doubtless

centre,

be buried

in

show

plete condition,

it,

The

unfinished faces of the

intended

and other heads

that

the

for

in the

man and

same incom-

some circumstance prevented the

execution of the original design.

has been suggested that

It

the invasion of the Goths under Alaric was the cause, and this

would
The Holy
Tnniiy.

fix

the date at a.d. 410.

Beginning

at the

right

hand of the upper

cophagus, we have three bearded

their

unity of operation

Blessed Trinity.

The

fountain of Deity,

is

figures,

the Three

Eternal

Rom.

representing by

Persons of

Father, as

the

symbolised by the figure

veiled, as the episcopal chair was, in

* Bosio,

part of the sar-

Sott. p. 513.

the

source
in

Ever-

and

the chair,

token of His supreme

t Plate XIX.

"

Christiaji Sarcophagi,

Eternal

Him
Word, by whom all

creating

Eve from the

dignity.

In

of

front

is

301

who

figure

represents the

things were made, in the act of

side of the sleeping

Adam.

seated figure stands a third, to represent the

Behind the

Holy Ghost, who

In the next group we The

co-operates in the work of creation.

Fall,

see the serpent with the fatal apple in his mouth, which he
offers to

common

our

mother, while between the guilty pair

Our Lord, here represented without

shame of the

the depth of the

fall

a beard, because

He

that

it

was

is

in

was revealed as the

promised seed who should be born of the woman, and the Incarnation

is

expressed by the signs of youth.

He

gives to

Adam

a sheaf, for " in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread

while to Eve he gives a lamb, a type of domestic labour in

was

Lamb

God whom

the second

Eve

to bring forth to atone for all the evil that the first

Eve

spinning,

and also of the

had brought upon mankind.

of

Immediately below we see two TheEpiphany.

other groups, evidently intended to contrast in

some way with

Here the Eternal Word

those already described.

is

again

represented, but this time not according to His divine nature

by which

made
is

He

flesh,

is

co-equal with the Father, but

Holy Ghost

it

Mary conceived

that

Blessed Trmity in her virginal

to distinguish the

the W^ord

is

The Holy Ghost

an infant on His mother's knee.

represented just as before, for

He

was by the operation of the

Second Person of the

the

womb.

Her

chair

is

not veiled,

most blessed of creatures from the unap-

proachable Creator; and to mark the twofold generation of

which

Christ, that

Father before

which

He

is

invisible

worlds,

all

by which

He

was born of the

and that which was made manifest by

was born of His mother

versahty of His kingdom

is

typified

The

in the world.

by the three Magi, the

representatives of the whole Gentile Church.

And

finally,

application of the universal redemption to the individual

forth

by Christ giving

His hand a

show

that

it

uni-

sight to the blind, while

He

is

the
set

holds in Our Lord

frivino" sitrht to

roll,
is

either to signify

His divine mission, or

His doctrine which alone can

enlic^hten

to the blind.

the

Roma

302
Eucharistic
types.

Sotterranea.

of the darkened understandings

eves
^
^ of men.

Turning:
^

now

to

the upper portion of the other side of the sarcophagus,

we

see

our Lord with the rod of His power changing the water into

and multiplying the

wine,

symbols of the Holy Eucharist,

His blood, and the bread His

And

of the world.

the well-known

loaves,

which the wine becomes

in

He

which

flesh,

patristic

gives for the

life

and foreshadowing of the

then, as a type

power of the Holy Eucharist even upon the mortal body, according to the promise, "

He

blood hath everlasting

we have

day,"

that eateth

life,

Beneath

him up

raise

My

in the last

enough

represents the raising of Lazarus.

it

Eucharistic series, as

this

Peter, having

I will

and drinketh

a third group, mutilated indeed, but with

remaining to show that

St Peter,

and

My flesh,

we may

call

it,

we

see St

had already committed to him the rod of power,

which Our Lord held

in the

former

and yet receiving

series,

from his Master the solemn warning, " Before the cock crow
thou shalt deny

and the cock

Me

The

thrice."

at St Peter's feet,

uplifted

express this with sufficient

hand shows

clearness, while the rod in the Apostle's

fall

would not deprive him of

hand of Our Lord,

that his

his great prerogatives, but that,

being converted, he should " confirm his brethren."

The next

group represents the apprehension of St Peter; the bearded

face and general similarity of expression identify the Apostle,

and distinguish him from

his

caps mark the

Herod Agrippa, and

satellites

of

The Jewish

Divine Master.

it is

worthy of

note that, though they have power to lead the Apostle whither

he Avould not, yet he

God

is

still

retains the rod, for " the AVord of

who

not bound," and imperial soldiers,

repeated the

scene over and over again in the person of Peter's successors,

have never been able to wrest from him the rod of power with
which he rules the Church as Vicar of Christ.

which probably led

scene in St Peter's

Another reason,

to the very frequent representation of this

life, is

that his imprisonment

and miracul-

ous deliverance was the immediate cause of his coming to

Rome

and founding the

Church there

and thus

Roman

Christian Sarcophagi.
Christians would

see

in

303

the apprehension of St

Peter the

symbol of " the Holy See of Blessed Peter, through which,"

the words of St Leo,

Rome

''

was made a

priestly

and royal

in

city,

and the head of the world, extending her sway more widely by
the religion of

than ever she had done by earthly domi-

The next group

nation.'^''

Moses

God

a mutilated representation of

is

striking the rock, of the waters flowing

We

people of Israel are drinking.

found

in the

Catacombs enable us

from which the

have seen that the glasses

symbol

to interpret this as a

of St Peter, and in him the Christian priesthood, touching with

the rod of power the

grace for

Rock from which

The remaining

needs.

all their

busts of the persons for

the spiritual Israel draw

whom

group, beneath the Daniel among

the sarcophagus was intended,

represents Daniel in the lions' den, protected by

God under

the figure of an old man, while the figure offering to Daniel a

whom

basket of food represents the prophet Habacuc,

angel of the Lord took by the top of his head,

him

cried,

saying

'
:

Daniel, thou

God, take the dinner that God hath sent

is

met with very frequently both

is

found in the

earliest

of the tenth century.

thee.'^'f

and

set

The

servant of

This group

it

continuator of the Liber Pcmtifi-

of Daniel in

the

altar frontals with

lions'

den.

writings of the early Fathers inform us that the Christians

in

It

may be seen
San Clemente, among frescoes

mentions Gregory IV. having adorned

representations

spirit.

and sculpture.

in painting

known Catacomb, and

in the subterranean church of

gilded

the

Babylon, over the den, in the force of His

in

Then Habacuc

calis

''

The
saw

Daniel the type of the Christian martyr, sometimes like

Daniel unharmed

exposed

in

by

the

savage

beast

to

which

he was

the arena, but always victorious over those

who

could at most only destroy the body, and consoled in the

dungeon,

in

which he awaited

his

martyrdom, by the Christian

* Serm. i. in Nat. Apost.

See Corn, a Lap.
t Dan. xiv. 32-3(S. In the Protestant version
Bel and the Drajjon."

in

Act.

it is

xii.

called

17.

" The Story of

^^

'"^'

Roma

304

Sotterra^iea.

who strengthened him for the conflict with the heavenly

food of the Holy Eucharist. Thus St Cyprian apphes the
priest

history

"

For since

things

all

God's, nothing will be

are

wanting to him who possesses God,

Thus a meal was

wanting to him.

when he was
lions

and

On
the

himself be not

divinely provided for Daniel

command in the den of

beasts who were hungry and

shut up by the king's

in the

midst of wild

yet spared him, the

Sarcophagus

God

if

man

of

God was

fed/^*

either side of this sarcophagus are

Good Shepherd.

Eusebius

tells

two small statues of

us that statues of

Our

Lord, under this form, were set up by Constantine at Con-

Rome

stantinople, but in

early Christian sculpture

always confined to bassi rilkvi.

,

be noticed before we leave

The

one whose

lid is

FiDELissiMAE

most

faithful wife

mayest thou
bility,

the hall,

is

"

primitivae

Marius Vitcllianus to

Hail, innocent soul

Primitiva.

This

live in Christ." f

conivgi

lid,

however,

his

dear wife,
proba-

in all

belongs to another sarcophagus, since in Bosio's time

this latter

was used as the cistern

Gardens, on the Pincio, whither

crypt of St Peter's.
the

we pass up

as

left,

vitellianvs

AAiKCBBiN /k'

will

ornamented with sea-monsters, and bears the

marivs

inscription

remarkable exception

museum.

this

sarcophagus on our

first

nearly

is

The

inscription, again

stands Martha

and the

central group, immediately beneath

kneels at the feet of

On

disciples stand around.

Shepherd watching over two sheep

probably intended for the Churcli.

* S. Cypr.

De

is

Our Lord

out of the tomb, close to which

Mary

subject on the sarcophagus

rock and the

while on the one side

mummy

her sister

Medici

had been removed from the

represents the smitten

apprehension of St Peter
calling Lazarus as a

it

for a fountain in the

is

the other side

in

Our Lord,
is

Good

a temple-like house,

But the most striking

the history of Jonas,

who

is

Oratione, 21.

f Such at least is the interpretation adopted by De Rossi, who follows

Maffei in understanding the congeries of letters at the end as the initials of

Ave anifua

itinoce)is

kara conjicx bibas

iji

Cfuisto.

Bidleit.

868, lo.

Cludstian Sarcophagi.
represented

which

as being cast out of a ship, the large sail of

first

is filled

305

with the wind from the conch-shell of the winged

The sea-monster opens

figure above.

his

enormous jaws

to

receive Jonas, and a female bust in the sky apparently indi-

The same monster

cates the calm which succeeded.

next

is

represented as vomiting forth the prophet upon the dry ground,

upon which

crabs, lizards,

Close to this scene

and

snails are seen crawling about.

the reclining figure of Jonas asleep under

is

The

the grateful shade of the gourd.

bit

of available space with figures, and the same water in which

float the sea-monsters

made

is

intended for the Ark,

which Noe

in

come from

out meaning, to

At the

prophet reposes.

represented fishermen
assisting

him

of fish to the boy.

besides those

whom

the watch for those

...
On

the

same

made, perhaps not with-

is

edge,

water's

and

to

on either
fish

is

made

" fishers of men," are on

are born of the waters.

is

another sarcophagus, upon Sarcophagus

11takmg

sheep rather larger than themselves.

of the

Holy

which a boy

also looking out for prey,

the iid 01 wnicn are two shepherds, each

roll

are

in the other, giving the basket

side of the hall

holds a circular

side,

convey the warning, that others,

Christ has

who

and receives the

the place of refreshment where the

water bird

and may be intended

sits

square box,

little

one case hooking a

in

to land,

up a

to bear

olive-branch from the dove, which

is

sculptor has filled every

^1

Every one of the sheep

of bread in his mouth, evidently a figure

Eucharist, which (we have already said) was for-

merly consecrated in bread made in the shape of a corona.

The sarcophagus
first

God

of which
is

is

itself is

ornamented with sacred

the sacrifice of Cain

and Abel.

subjects, the

The

invisible

represented by the bearded figure seated on a stone,

which possibly has reference to the rude

times; Cain, as the eldest, offers his
follows with his lamb.

represented, but

Saviour, beardless, as in

altar of patriarchal

fruits first,

while Abel

In the next group, the Fall

Eve has taken the

all

apple,

with Cain and

care of three Abel

is

again

and the promised

representations of the Incarnation,

offering

sacrifice,

J 06

Ro77ia Sotterranea.

holds the sheaf in His hand, but extends

figure,

though to imply that the bread obtained by the

as

sweat of Adam's brow

is

to

to be offered to

is

God,

lamb

does not here

to Eve, Abel's offering, perhaps, sufficiently con-

The

Mary Mag- veying the lesson.

open box

His blessing

if

He

be expected upon the labour of man.

give the
st

towards the seated

it

in her hand,

central figure

a female with an

is

the " alabaster box of precious oint-

ment " which Mary poured on Our Lord's head, and of which

He

said, "

Wheresoever

Gospel

this

be preached

shall

whole world, that also which she hath done

memory

of her."

carrying his bed,

The remaining

-''

Our Lord giving

the water into wine,

and

shall

in the

be told for a

subjects are the paralytic

sight to the blind,

raising Lazarus

changing

from the tomb.

Sarcophagus
Proceeding still further along this side of the Museum, the
from S. Faolo
.
_
,
fuorz le nmra. Visitor Will hardly fail to notice a very finely sculptured sarco.

.,.,-.,

phagus, in the centre of which are the busts of two men, whose
refined

and

intellectual expression of face contrasts strongly

with the rude grotesquesness of most of these sculptures.

is

who

impossible to say

men were

these two

It

but the sarco-

phagus, which probably once contained their remains, formerly

stood beneath the altar in the tribune of

and the
Sixtus V.

Holy Innocents were placed within

relics of the

removed

in Sta.

Maria Maggiore.

Mary

kissing

The upper
hand

Saviour's

Lazarus to

restored her brother

series of figures represent

for

having

Peter warned

of his

gratitude

in

life

denial before the cock should crow

and Moses receiving the

law from a hand stretched out from heaven.

Pilate

washing

his hands.

stretched

hand checks the

about to

sacrifice his

bound behind
\-

The
,

Another out-

arm of Abraham

uplifted

son Isaac,

his back.
,

who

as he

sacrifice of the true Isaac is

i

r^^

not
^

art,

but

the article of the Creed, " crucified under Pontius Pilate,"

forth

here with

sufficient

clearness

* Si Mall. xxvi. 13.

is

kneels with his hands

found among the subjects selected by early Christian

set

it.

with the relics to a chapel built by him

it

Our

Paolo fiiori lemura^

6".

in

is

the group which

Christian Sarcophagi.
represents the servant with the ewer and
to

wash the hands of the

in

sarcophagus,

who, seated on

away

his

head

in token of his

Our

condemning the innocent blood.

Moses

tation of

basm standing ready

irresolute governor,

his veiled judgment-seat, turns

repugnance

;o7

as the figure of St Peter

interpre-

confirmed by

is

on the lower portion of which we see that

Apostle in the hands of Herod's

satellites, still

pointing to the

stream which flows from the rock above his head

Christ, or possibly St John,

is

He

hension in the Garden, or else to teach that

and the prophet Habacuc,

Our Lord

tree to

suffers

still

in

and multiplies the

In the centre, however,

has somewhat puzzled the learned.

under the

appre-

while, oii the opposite

gives sight to the blind,

loaves and fishes.

own

Again, we see Daniel in the

the persecution of His Church.

side.

while

represented as also engaging the

attention of the satellites, either in allusion to His

lions' den,

this ^^ Peter,

is

a group which

Bosio makes the old

be Moses giving the law

to the people,

man
and

the head which appears between the branches of the tree to be

Zaccheus climbing up

that of

On

same

the

nearest

side

resemblance

Saviour's

in

order to see

of the hall
to

the

is

later

Our Lord.

a sarcophagus, with the Sarcophagus

representations

Passion to be found in early Christian

Fig. 36.

Sarcophagus

in Latcraii MuseH)tt

of

art.

Our
It is

of/onrtk or fiftJi ceninry.

divided into five compartments by twisted Corinthian

pillars,

the pediments above which are decorated with scenes from

the vintage.

In

the

central

compartment

is

the labaniuh

surrounded with a crown of immortality, and supported on a

]^//^/^^J^^

Roma

;o8
cross,

Sotterranea,

on each of the arms of which

is

a dove pecking at the

crown, thus symbohcally representing the hope of an immortal

crown with
its

Christ,

which feeds the

only resting-place

although here below

The guards appointed by

His Cross.

is

soul,

Constantine to keep watch over the sacred standard are

presented below by two soldiers

re-

and we may see here a type

of the Christian army, who, whether they sleep or wake, live or

Representations of the

Passion.

die, find

rest

Two

beneath the Cross.

of the side compart-

ments represent Our Lord witnessing a good confession before

whom

Pontius Pilate, above

those

who

soldier

hangs a crown, the reward of

On

confess Christ before men.

places a crown on the head of

Our

resembles rather the crown of glory which

of the crown of thorns endured for

the other side a

it

the recompense

is

Him on

Saviour, but

The

earth.

last

compartment contains a representation of Our Lord carrying

His Cross under the guard of a

none of

soldier, but there are

the traces of suffering with which later artists, following the

sacred narrative, have familiarised our imagination, and the

to the reward for bearing the Cross after

crown above points

Above

our suffering Master.

this

sarcophagus

wall a fragment of another, which represents a

sons,

some

number of per-

one who

listening with devout attention to

ing to them, while others of the same

into the

is let

company

is

read-

are partaking

of the agape.
Sarcophagus
under canopy.

Perhaps the

finest

specimen of Christian sculpture among

^ ^^ sarcophagi in the Lateran Museum

that which stands

is

under a canopy supported by two beautiful columns of Pavonazzetto marble,

and

placed in this position to show

is

sarcophagi were arranged in the ancient basilicas

how

the

for this, as

well as the one last described, were found in the crypt of St

The

Peter's.

figures

in

high

ornamented

Abraham's

front of the
relief,

ing his hands.

divided

is

sculptured with

into groups

by eight richly

The groups

pillars.

sacrifice,

sarcophagus

at the

and Our Lord before

The

rest

two extremities a^e

Pilate,

of the figures

are

who
the

is

wash-

Apostles

Christian Sai^cophagi.
grouped around Our Lord, who

309

seated in the centre as in Our Lord

is

in

glory sur-

heaven beneath His

glory, the vault of

(as

in

Pagan monuments) by the

De

holds above her head.

refinement of the faces of

incline us to ascribe this

feet

being expressed rounded by

which a female

veil

to the age of Septimius Severus,*

of the sides indicate the latter as

for St

easily to

New

actual date.

characteristics

we have noticed on
St Paul

be discerned here.

hands reverently

^x^ on one

The two

the Apostles are manifestly intended

guished by his baldness from

the

its

Peter and St Paul, and the

Apostle, which

P^

Our Lord and the Apostles would

work

among

^^

Rossi remarks that the grace and

rather than to that of Constantine, did not the

principal figures

figure

veiled, the

of each Saints Peter

the gilded glasses, are

is

on the

St Peter,

who

new law from

right, distin-

receives, with

the Mediator of

Testament, just as heathen magistrates were wont to

receive from the emperors the

by they were

book of the

constitutions where-

govern the province committed to their charge.

to

Our Lord

Often, on similar representations.

is

represented as

giving the volume to the Apostle, but saying nothing.

others, again,

the

roll

bears the inscription, dominvs

In

dat

LEGEM, or PACEM, somctimcs one, and sometimes the other,

whence the Bishop Eribert was

led to engrave

on the Book of

the Gospels provided for the cathedral of Milan the words

"

LEX ET PAX."

Moses of

the

Here again we

new

dispensation,

creases the probability that in

see Peter represented as the

and every such discovery

all

in-

other representations also of

Moses, the chief Apostle was really meant to be understood.

The two

On

one

sides of this sarcophagus are covered with sculpture.

is

represented the denial of St Peter, with a basilica Denial of

St Peter,

and a baptistery

in the

background, the

doubt by an intentional anachronism)

y^

On

in front

is

* Sickler,

date.

the other side

is

is

latter of

which (no

surmounted with the

a similar kind of background, but

the smitten rock, and, apparently, the ^''Noli

Almanach aus Rom.

Metan-

pp. 173, 174, actually assigns to

it

that

Roma

3IO
ge?'e,''

although

Mary

On

Sculpture of
ino-^o^heTven
and leaving
paUijiin to
Eliseus.

^^

may be

group

this latter

the gratitude of

Sotterranea.
intended to represent

for the resurrection of her brother.

the visitor's right, as he ascends the staircase at the

^^^^

he

\').Si\\,

end

a spirited sculptured representation

will notice

The

of the ascent of Elias into heaven in the fiery chariot.*

\Vi^

sons of the prophets are gazing with eager astonishment at

who

Eliseus,

and with veiled hands, receives from

reverently,

the ascending prophet the cloak or pallium^ the symbol of the

double portion of the Spirit which rested upon him.

St

Ambrose and other Fathers saw a

Rupertus explains further

"

When

Elias,
;

and

was on the point of

being translated, he laid his pallium on Eliseus

Our God and Lord, when about

Our Lord

figure of

Elias

In

because Christ

to pass out of this world

unto

the Father, gave to the Apostles both His office and His
Spirit."

" Eliseus," says the Venerable

mantle of

and with

Elias,

when he invoked
passed over.

the

The

it

God

Bede,

took the

''

struck the waters of Jordan,

and

of Elias, they were divided, and he

Apostles took up, the Church founded by

them took up, the sacraments of her Redeemer, and with them
and consecrated

spiritually enlightened, cleansed,

is

name

also invoked the

of

God

and she

the Father, and learned

how

to

conquer the torrent of death, and despising the hindrance of

it,

to

pass over to eternal

subject of a painting which

of SS. Nereus and Achilles.

life."

may

This history forms the

still

It is

be seen

in the

Catacomb

carved also at the end of a

sarcophagus near the door of the sacristy of St Peter's, containing the bodies of

or

three

Bottari,

Roman

other

and

Popes Leo

II. III.

sarcophagi, copied

others.

It

in

and IV.

and on two

the works

would certainly

of Bosio,

have

Christians of the pallium^ the symbol of jurisdiction

worn by the Bishops of Rome, and given by them

politans as from the very

Petriy\

reminded

It

is

body of

worthy of notice,

* See Fig. 29, p. 251.

X Horn, in Ascen.

Dom.

in

St Peter,

'''de

to metro-

corpore Sancti

connexion with

this subject,

f Rupert. Abb. De Trin. v.

See Note Y in Appendix.

c.

15.

Christian Sarcophagi.
and

the roll given to St Peter by the ascended

also with

Saviour in the

^^

last

sarcophagus, that the most ancient part

catalogue

of Filocalus'

Dominus

Passiis est

considibiis viii

311

KaL

Popes commenced thus

of the

Chrishis duobiis

noster Jesus

Our Lord Jesus

Geminis

Apriles, ei post Ascenstmi ejus beatissimus

Petriis episcopatiim suscepit, ex quo tempore^' &c.

"

'"'

Christ suffered on the 25th March, the two

Gemini

being consuls, and after His Ascension the most blessed Peter undertook
the episcopacy, after which time," &c.

Above

the translation of Elias

a fragment of a small sar- The

is

Nativity.

cophagus representing the Nativity, with the ox and ass and

the

Magi

and below

is

a rude

intaglio of

Lazarus, on a marble covering of one of the

inscription to datvs.

But our readers

interpret for themselves

the raising of
loculi,

will easily

with an

be able to

most of the other sculptures

in this

museum.

As we pass out of

the great hall into the upper corridor, Sarcophagus

...,,_._,.,
around which De Rossi has
the Catacombs,

we may observe

cophagus similar

to

some

arranged the inscriptions from

number of

we have

that

casts of a sar-

described,

possessing certain remarkable features peculiar to

itself.

and yet

Many

of our readers will have seen the original in St Peter's crypt,

where

stands on the right hand of the passage leading to

it

the subterranean chapel, and bears the inscription

IVN BASSVS VC QVI VIXIT ANNIS XLII

PRAEFECTVRA VRBIS

NEOFITVS IIT AD DEVM

YPATIO COSS

VIII

MEN

II

IN IPSA

KAL SEPT EVSEBIO ET

"Junius Bassus, who lived forty-two years and two months. In the
city, he went to God, a neophyte
on the 23d of August, a.d. 359."
very year in which he was Prefect of the

The noble
as having

the

family of the Bassi

been among the

Christian religion ;t
*

Rom.

Sott.

ii.

307.

first

is

mentioned by Pmdentius

of patrician rank to embrace

and the death of

this

very Junius

t Contra Symmachum,

i.

558.

of Junius
Bassus.

Roma

12

Sotterranea.
Bassus

is

porary

writer

soon

place
as

"^'

is

taken

appointment

his

The

Rome.

sarco-

of white marble, hand-

somely carved
style

having

as

after

Praefect of

phagus

by a cotem-

recorded

the

in

Corinthian

and besides the representa-

tions of

Adam and

of Isaac, Daniel

and Our Lord

Eve, the sacrifice

among

the

glory delivering

in

the law to His Apostles,

on the upper
which

is

sion of

lions,

portion,

we

have,

a group in

represented the apprehen-

Our Saviour

in the

garden

by

and again His condemnation

The apprehension

Pilate.

on the other

Peter appears

of St
side,

the Apostle being distinguished from

his

Lord by the beard, thus con-

firming our explanation of a similar

on other sarcophagi.

scene

The

lower portion also contains in the

Our Lord's

centre

salem

entry into Jeru-

and, at one extremity, Job

comforted by his friends, while his

wife, with her

nose,

handkerchief to her

illustrates

the

the afflicted patriarch,

abhorred

my

of a

of

"My wife hath

breath." t

extremity contains
tion

complaint

the

The

other

representa-

person bound and led

away, which, from the baldness of the

head, and the sword in the hand of

one of
*

Ammiamis

Mavcellinus.

his guards,

we may consider

t Job

xix. 7.

Christian Sarcophagi.
be intended

to

for St

11
up the lower

The

spandrils of the five arches Symbolical

The

Three Children

miracles,
in this sarcopha- ^"

a lamb

it is

who occupies

the place of the

A lamb with

in the furnace of Nabuchadonosor.

a rod touches the rock from which another lamb drinks.

a lamb with the rod multiplies the loaves

lamb imposes

Again,
his

upon the head of another lamb, while a dove pours down a

foot

stream of light upon the

the

figures of the

/-

subjects indeed have been explained before in other

sculptures, but here

portion are ornamented with figures i^amb work-

which form perhaps the most interesting feature

gus.

Paul being conducted to the place of his

execution on the Ostian Way.

1-11
which make

Holy Ghost

the seven-fold

gift

of

sacrament of Confirmation or of Holy

in the

Further on, a lamb approaches reverently to receive

Order.
the law

latter, signifying

and

lastly,

from his tomb.

lamb with the rod brings

These

six subjects

forth

Lazarus

prove incontestably the

symbolical character of the subjects represented on these sarcophagi, and teach us that, whether in the

Lamb, the divine rod

of Peter, or of the

by

whom

are

still

will

Christian

the

and which
to

sculpture.

is

Church

sculptures in the Lateran Statue of St

be the

which stands

at the

upper end of the

pronounced by Winckelmann and other

finest

known specimen

of early Christian

This statue was discovered, a.d. 155

excavations were being

le

Christ,

not be complete without some notice of the

statue of St Hippolytus,

fiwri

power of

worked.'"

Museum

critics

the

the miracles of grace in the sacraments of the

Our account of

hall,

is

hand of Moses, or

miira,

made near

when some

the basilica of San Lorenzo

and must have stood either

cemetery of St Hippolytus, or

i,

in the

subterranean

in a basilica close by.

It

bears

These six subjects, three of which are shown in Fig. t,7, are more clearly
be distinguished in Eosio, Rom. Sott., p. 45, than on the sarcophagus
itself, which has probably suffered some damage during the last two hundred years.
to

It is interesting to

observe the comparative frequency of the different

scriptural subjects introduced into the sculptured sarcophagi.

The

fol-

lowing list is taken from Burgon's Letters from Rome, Letter xx., with
one or two corrections in the description.
He counted fifty-five sarco-

Roma

314

Sotterranea.

every mark of having been executed during the third century,

though the head and arm are modern restorations, yet the

for,

classical dignity of the figure

the age of Constantine

on one of the

greatly superior to statues of

is

while the Canon Faschalis, engraved

which the

sides of the chair in

saint

seated,

is

would hardly have been considered worthy of commemoration

Paschal

many

Canon of
St Hippolytus.

years after the

martyrdom of

We

St Hippolytus.

have

no intention of taxing our

an account

readers' patience with

of the long disputes concerning the proper time for the observ-

ance of Easter, which occupied so much serious attention during the early ages of the Church.
that the

Roman Church

It is well

known, however,

always strenuously opposed those

who

followed the Jewish reckoning, and who, from their keeping

Easter on the 14th day of the lunar month, received the

of Quartodecimans.

Still,

during the

first

and second centuries

mode

the Church had, as was natural, adopted the Jewish

moon

full

unhappy people against

Christianity prejudiced the

coming from them

Christians against anything

the beginning of the third century, the

in

no way

to

inferior

of

but the blind fury of that

determining the Paschal

name

minds of

and

since, at

Church possessed men

the Jewish rabbis in

scientific

know-

phagi, and we have placed side by side with his numbers those which result
from an examination of the forty-eight sarcophagi illustrated by Bosio,
thirty of which were found in the crypts of the Vatican
:

Lateran. Bosio.

Lateran. Bosio.

Adam

History of Jonas,
The Smitten Rock,
Apprehension of St Peter
Miracle of Loaves, .

23

II

Fall of

21

16

Woman

20

14

20

14

Giving Sight to Blind,

19

II

i6

16

14

14

14

Change of Water

into

Wine,

and Eve,

with Issue of Blond,

Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,
The Good Shepherd,

Noah

in

Ark,

Christ before Pilate,

Giving of the Law,

Three Children in Fire,

Raising of Lazarus,
Denial of St Peter,
Daniel in Lion's Den,
Paralytic Healed,
Creation of Eve,

12

Moses taking off his Shoes,

Elias taken up to Heaven,

II

Nativity, with

Sacrifice of Isaac,

II

Crowning with Thorns,

II

Adoration of Magi,

Ox and

Ass,

14

10

Burgon, in his contemptuous remarks about the symbolical meaning of

of
these sculptures, seems to show himself entirely ignorant of the method
interpreting Holy Scripture universal among the Fathers of the fourth aud

Mr

fifth centuries, to

which these sarcophagi belong.

Christian Sarcophagi.
ledge,

it

was

fitting that the

Bishop of Rome,

the

method

Christian bishops, and especially

should

some

sanction

determining the great Christian

for

Hippolytus was the

315

first

to

form a

authoritative

festival.

which, by

in

table,

doubling the Greek periods of eight years, he endeavoured,

with the help of seven such periods, of sixteen years each, to
obtain a formula by which the difference between the lunar

and

solar

and the

vears should be corrected,

There

determined for ever.

is,

in

true

accordance with

this

Easter

mode

of calculation, engraved on the opposite side of the chair to

upon which the canon

that

fatal defect

years

method laboured under

Unfortunately, St Hippolytus'

years.

the

found, a table for 112

itself is

of an error of three days in every sixteen

and hence the

upon the

praise lavished

first

attempt to

form an independent Christian calendar died away, and fresh

calculations

became

necessary.

which has been ascribed

We

learn this from a

to St Cyprian,

work

and which bears the

date of A.D. 243, and whose author, curiously enough, ascribes

St Hippolytus' error of three days to his having calculated

from the creation of the world instead of from the 4th day, on

which the moon was created

We may

therefore conclude

that this statue belongs to the early part of the third century,

while the errors of Hippolytus' canon

and the renown of

fitting tribute to his

its

still

author caused

remained unknown,
to

it

memory.

St Hippolytus professes that his table will

the past as well as in the future.

of the

be considered a

more remarkable Paschal

He

show Easter

therefore gives

solemnities,

in

some

such as the

Exodus, which he makes out to have taken place on April 2d,

or April 5th,

if

Daniel's computation

Paschal solemnities in the desert,

is

in

to

be followed.

the time of Joshue,

Ezekias, Josias, and Esdras are also determined.

in the year

He
all

when

suffered, are

Christians.

Christ was born,

marked

and

The

The Pasch

also in that wherein

as being of the greatest interest to

Roma

i6

The
titles

Sollerranea.

commences with

the

of two works, of which only the last four letters can

now

list

of the works of St Hippolytiis

be deciphered.

Critics

have exercised their ingenuity

plying the remainder, but no certainty can be arrived

in sup-

at.

The

Paschal Canon, and other matters inscribed on this statue, are

given with explanations in Migne's edition of the works of St

Hippolytus, to which

we must

refer those of our readers

desire to investigate further this interesting

Christian

monument

who

of early

art.

Fig. 38.

Representing Christ between

Glass in the Vatican Library,

Sts.

Lambs Jews and

Peter and Paul

also Christ as the

Lamb, and the

Gentiles coming from Jerusalem and Bethlehem

[Recle] to Moiuit Sion, whence flow the four Evangelical Streams, united in the
faithful as

Mystical Jordan.

BOOK

V.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE CATACOMBS,

CHAPTER

I.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE CATACOMBS TO THEIR CHRISTIAN

ORIGIN.

the preceding chapters our information has been princi- Scope of

.

pally

down

drawn from the

historical records

which have come work.

from antiquity, and of which an account has been

to us

We

given in the second part of the Introduction."'

have also

taken our readers into the subterranean cemeteries, and confirmed our historical conclusions by the inscriptions and other

monuments

still

remaining there.

our subject, however,

and

this

is

themselves,

still

what we may

An

important branch

of

remains comparatively untouched,

call the

understanding

by

Testimony of the Catacombs

this expression,

not the evi-

dence to be drawn from the dates and names inscribed on the

stones and walls, but the conclusions to be deduced from a
careful examination

method of

their

of the subterranean galleries, and

construction.

This appears

the

at first sight

dry and uninviting subject, but the results are too important
to

be passed over

in

silence,
*

and the

Sec page

17.

striking

this

portion of the

and incontro-

Roma

which they give

vertible confirmation

him

will cost

The

first

^^
bi r?T-^T^

subterranean streets of tombs

assertions of Burnett

is,

The

origin.

enough

foolish

were the forgeries of a

monks

i^^^

11

whether they are able

ignorant

serious refu-

to publish his opinion

that all the tokens of Christianity found in the

turies,

it

these long dark

-i

and Misson do not deserve a

The former was

tation.

own

us any clue as to their

^^ afford

of our histori-

for the pains

we would ask of

question which

Silent

many

to master the details.

combs used by
none but

to

amply repay the reader

cal conclusions, will

The Cata-

Sotterranea.

in the fourth

Catacombs

and

fifth

cen-

while the latter put forth the no less untenable theory

that they were used " as

marks of distinction

to prevent the

graves of the faithful from being confounded with those of the

The

infidels."

Catacombs by the Chris-

exclusive use of the

now, however, been universally admitted, and the

tians has

only serious argument that was ever adduced against

the presence of a few

Pagan

Pagan
ed

HOW
....

inscrip- for

it

is

tell

in the opposite direction.

ascertained that in every instance these Pagan

inscriptions have

for.

viz.,

inscriptions in these Christian

cemeteries, has been found to

tions account-

it,

some marks which prove

originally intended for the position in

that they were not

which they have been

found, but like the stone on which the copy of the inscription

Pope Eusebius was

to

Christians,

and

used

written,'"'

have been appropriated by

for

own

their

purposes.

It

is

not

enough, however, to establish the exclusively Christian use of

,the

Catacombs

them

to

as burial-places.

We

are able also to prove

have been originally excavated by the Christians

that purpose, ^.nd this

for

by the testimony of the Catacombs

themselves.
Padre Marchi
^^""

dlcate^the
Christian
ongin of the

Catacombs

Until within
received

a very recent

theory that

these

period

subterranean

been made by the Pagan Romans

rials for

building

and

it

was the generally

excavations

in order to extract

that the Christians, finding

had
mate-

them con-

venient as places of concealment where their martyred brethren

* See

page 171.

Christian Origin of the Catacombs.

might

had taken possession of them, and

rest undisturbed,

adapted them by additional excavations to the purposes of

burial

and worship.

wards

see,

This theory was not, as we

destitute of

shall after-

some apparent support from ancient

against a
widely-reis silent ceived opinion

documents, and was accepted by Baronius, Severano, Aringhi,

and other

upon the

upon the

writers

origin of the

subject.

Bosio himself

Catacombs, and Boldetti, with

all

his

^j..^

knowledge acquired by personal observations, only ventures

claim a Christian origin for a few particular cemeteries.

to

Padre Lupi went somewhat

made by

tions

and showed that the addi-

the Christian fossors exceeded in extent the

works of the Pagan excavators

original

and Raoul-Rochette,

court,

farther,

of the Catacombs.

all

but Bottari, D'Agin-

maintained the heathen origin

Padre Marchi was the

first

to enunciate

the proposition, that the Christians themselves had originated

those subterranean cemeteries which are

all

The weight

name.

he defended

known by

this

of authority was strong against him, but

his proposition

by proofs taken not so much from

the works of learned authors, as from the cemeteries themselves.

His investigations have

brothers

De

much

so

Rossi,

Catacombs may be regarded

Handbook

as

now

firmly estab-

this conclusion,

to

Rome,"

will

Summary

own

more

De

account given by Michele

diffuse
far

Campagna,

the

in

to

condense the

Rossi.

greatest part of the surface of the

in the

of igneous origin.

Murray's

perhaps be more satisfactory to

our readers than any attempt of our

By

have thrown

which the Catacombs have been excavated, and a por-

tion of the carefully compiled Geological

"

the

be necessary to give a brief notice of the geological

strata in

"

by

subject, that the Christian

In order to understand the proofs of

lished.
will

upon the

continued

labours

their patient

additional light

origin of the

it

and

been

Roman

formed of materials Rome

They may be classed under two heads,

environs of the capital,

is

very different in their mineralogical characters, as they are in

the

mode

in

Volcanic strata

which they have been deposited,

their age, &c.

Roma

320
The more

Sotterranea.

which appears to have immediately suc-

ancient,

ceeded the Tertiary marine deposits, or even

have been

to

co-temporaneous with them, and to be the result of submarine

volcanic action, consists, in the more immediate vicinity of

Rome, and

within

the

city

of a red volcanic tufa,

itself,

formed by an agglomeration of ashes and fragments of pumice

Tufa

litoidc.

it

name

has been designated by the

geologists
poses.

the

still

is,

liioide

much used

by the

local

for building pur-

forms the lower part of most of the Seven Hills on

It

left

and was, and

of tufa

bank of the Tiber, constituting the Tarpeian rock

beneath the Capitol, the lower portion of the Palatine, Quirinal,

and Aventine

Esquiline,

the foot

of

Monte Verde,

building stone.

can

this older tufa

"

.... No
now be

the

outside

which produced

certain interval appears to have occurred

several

marshes.

of

parts

between the

modern volcanic rocks of the

to have

been

raised,

covered with fresh-water lakes or

period that belong the strata of cinders,

It is to this

ashes, &c.,

it

Portese, for

discovered.

Campagna, during which the land seems

and

Porta

trace of the craters

deposit and the more

latter

quarried at

It is extensively

which form the more immediate

and

surface,

which are

stratified,

leaves of land plants,

and here and there a bed of calcareous

gravel

and marls, with land and

times of

fossil

fresh water shells,

and some-

But the greater part of these more

bones

recent volcanic rocks have been deposited on dry land

Pozzjiana.

and

certain impressions

often very regularly

the

beds are in general horizontal; the deposits oi pozzola7ia or

volcanic rocks, so extensively used for making mortar, belong

Tufa graiih-

to this period of subaerial volcanoes, the x^^ tufa gi^anulare,

hire

in

which the Catacombs or early Christian cemeteries are

hollowed out, and probably the more compact varieties of

tufa

known under

the

name

of feperino, quarried at Albano

and Marino."*

Such being the nature of the

* Murray's

soil

Handbook of Rome,

in the vicinity of
1

868, p. 321.

Rome,

Christian Origin of the Catacombs.

321

the confidence of Padre Marchi in the old theory of the Pagan Catacombs

Catacombs was

of the

origin

first

shaken by

observing

his

^^^^ irraiuilare

that they were excavated in the tiifa graiiulare rather than in

The

any other kind of rock.

tufa

by the

called

/itoide,

ancients lapis ruber and saxiim quadratuDi^ affords numerous

examples of ancient quarries, but not one instance of a Cata-

comb

while the pozzotana, esteemed so highly by Vetruvius

as fulfilling

making

the conditions of the best sand for

all

cement,* and extensively quarried

appears

for that purpose,

have been carefully avoided by those who originated the

to

The

Catacombs.

tufa granulare, from the quantity of earth

which enters into

cement when the

its

composition, would never be used for

true pozzolaiia

was procurable, while

far

too soft to be of any use as stone for building.

in

this

Yet

which we

call

The

the Catacombs.

treme improbability, therefore, of the Pagan

Romans

argument

favour

in

tufa granulare^

useless

of their Christian origin

for

other

was

purposes,

adapted for the reception of the dead.

It

is

ex-

having

constructed these galleries for no conceivable purpose

first

it is

have been excavated those vast

very stratum that

s)^stems of galleries

is

it

the

is

for the

admirably

easily

worked,

of sufficient consistency to admit of being hollowed out into

and chambers without

galleries

at

once

falling

in,

and

its

porous nature causes the water quickly to drain off from

it,

thus leaving the galleries dry and wholesome, an important con-

when we

sideration

think of the vast

number of dead bodies

which once lined the walls of the subterranean cemeteries.

Some

of the

Catacombs have been constructed

more unserviceable
lare ;

for

as,

instance, the

Monte Verde, and

where the stratum
* Vetruvius, Arch.

mixtam

for building

et quae

that of
is
iii.

in

a rock

purposes than the tufa graiiu-

Catacomb of San Ponziano on

San Valentino on the Via Flaminia,

a mere marine or fluvial deposit, com7?

manu

"

i-^t

ea

sit

idonea neque habeat terram com-

confricata fecerit stridorem erit optima

vestimentum candidum ea conjecta fuerit, postea excussa vel

lion inquinaverit neque ibi terra subsiderit, erit idonea."
item

si

still

in

icta

a proof of
^^^\,y\^^

Roma

332
posed of
animal

earth,

fossils,

sand,

shells,

and

pebbles,

have been made

fall

for the

Christians alone used

in.

masonry to

Such excavations could only

purpose of sepulture, and since the

them

for that purpose,

none but the Christians had any part

Their general

The manner

in

and

vegetable

&c., requiring solid substructions of

tendency to

resist its

Sotterranea.

we conclude

in originating

that

them.

which the Catacombs are constructed affords

proof of their exclusively Christian origin; especially

ed^withTha^Vf ^^^^^^^
the sand-pits

when we

contrast

them

either with the arenifodince or sand-pits,

another proof,

which have been excavated both

for the

and modern times

in ancient

purpose of obtaining pozzolana^ or with the

as the ancient stone-quarries were called.

lapidicincB^

In both these cases

the object has been to extract the largest possible quantity of

Hence

material with the least possible difficulty.

made

are

as wide as possible, the arch of the roof springing

from the

floor,

to carry

away the sand or

thus affording space for carts to be introduced

stone.

the excavators to avoid sharp angles,

run in curved
,

the passages

the Catacombs.

lines.

In

The same reason causes

and to make the passages

Entirely different

them the

is

the construction of

walls are vertical

very slightly arched and often quite

flat

and the roof

the passages are nar-

row, so as rarely to admit of two persons walking abreast

run generally in straight

sharp angles.

at very

lines,

is

they

and they cross each other often

Only the narrowest kind of hand-carts

can be used by those who are now occupied in clearing them

out,

and hence the slowness and expense of the work.

latter consideration, indeed,

might not have weighed with the

Pagan Romans, who had an almost unlimited supply of

labour

The
slave-

but the comparison of a Catacomb with an undoubted

ancient arenifodina,

such as

may

easily

be made

at

Santa

Agnese, of a portion of which a plan has already been given,*

will

be more convincing than any description of the great

difference

between the two kinds of excavation.

There are

not, however,

wanting instances

* See Fig. 2 at page 29.

in

which

arena7'i(^

Christian Origin of the Catacombs.

323

have actually been converted into Christian cemeteries, and which

these exceptions, which prove

the rule, afford us the

convincing proof of the Christian origin of

combs.

We

the

floor of

first

the cemetery of St

the other Cata-

all

have one remarkable instance

most

in

appearance

Pa7-t of

Hermes,

differ

closer examination

Wall of Gallery of St

greatly from

shows that

in

slightly arched,

range, the slabs at the

height, but

roof

in

but a

being cut
is

of tufa,

the niches

the two walls, and closed

mouth of which

are laid obliquely, as

Fig. 40.

Section of Gallery in St Hermes.

above

(Fig.

when

with the exception of the uppermost

the usual manner,

in the section

The

and often sustained by brick-work

of the locu/i are regularly formed

in

the general type

masonry.

40).

the brick-work

The
is

gallery

cleared

^'^^j^

such as the
Cemetery of
not St Hermes,

which the

Herj/ics

their walls, instead of

in the rock, are constructed of

^j^^

in a portion of

form and proportions of the galleries and of the locuH do

Fig. 39.

is only
strengthened
by apparent

is

away

of the usual
its

breadth

is

Roma

324

Sotterranea.

on an average two or three times that of an ordinary Cata-

comb

the

of the

section

walls

and roof forms a tolerably

At the crossing of the

regular semi-ellipse.

span

galleries the

of the arch becomes greater, and the walls more inclined, and

sometimes the roof

wall containing

is

loculi,

supported
while

the

walls are

strengthened at

the base by brick-work, but contain no tombs.

Fig. 41.

which show

sufficient

is

to

show

the

alterations

necessary in order to

convert an arenaria into

converting an
arenaria into

the theory of Raoul-Rochette were true,

the

This instance

Section of Gallery supported by Brickwoj'k.

the difficulty of

a Catacomb.

by a thick

the middle

in

a Christian cemetery

Roman Campagna numbers

whereas

we ought

if

to find in

of subterranean excavations

destitute of tombs, with the narrow, straight galleries of the

None such have been

Catacombs.
fore

discovered, and

we

there-

conclude that the marked contrast between the Cata-

combs and
origin

for,

the areitarice

proves that

they had a different

although a Catacomb might easily be so amplified

as to resemble an arenaria^ nothing could convert an arenaida

into a

Catacomb except a process which whould

tell

its

own

story as plainly as in the instance just described.

How

the
theory of their
Pagan origin

came

to

be

accepted.

It

may, however, not unreasonably be asked,

if

the Cata-

combs themselves bear so conclusive a testimony to their

Christian origin, how came the theory of their having been
originally excavated

learned

men ?

by Pagans to be so generally received by

This question must be satisfactorily answered

before our readers can feel confidence in the arguments by

Christian Origin of the Catacombs.

which we have proved our

The

case.

men formed

already hinted, learned

fact

is,

325
we have

that, as

their theory of the origin

of the Catacombs rather from a supposed historical tradition

than from the examination of the cemeteries themselves.

This tradition rested on the words in ancient documents which

describe the burial-places of certain martyrs and others as
arenario, or juxta arenarium, or in cryptis arenariis.
is

some copies of the Liber

stated in

buried Pope Cornelius in her

coemeterium Callistiin arenario

own

Thus,

it

Lucina

Pontificalis that
.

companions

i-

relate that

at the first mile

from the city of Rome, in

the very arenarium in which they were

wont

the Acts of Saints Nereus and Achilles

tell

and buried them

carried off their bodies,

to assemble;"'^

how

" Auspicius

in the property of

Domitilla in ajpta are?taria, on the Via Ardeatina;"+ the

Acts of Saints Marcus and

Marcellianus likewise

mention

those martyrs having been buried " two miles from the city

which

in the place

is

called

Ad

becaus,e there were

arenas,

the sand-pits {cryptce arenarnm), from which the walls of the

city

were built;" J the Acts of St Susanna represent her as

buried

i?i

coemeferio Alexandri, in arenario in

Other copies have

Alexandrum.
et

Darice via Salaria

ijt

arenario ;\

on the same Via Salaria

Nova, St Crescentianus, martyr, was buried

in arenario:

crypta jnxta S.

juxta corpora SS. Chrysanti

in coemetei'io Ff^iscit/a

on the Via Labicana, about three miles from

\\

Rome

the bodies of the Quatuor Coronati were buried with other

saints in arenario

martyrdom

;^ and

to the

* See Bosio,

lb. p.

body

at the

same

place, in crypta aj-en-

These passages from ancient documents

aria^'^'"'

II

TertuUinus " was led out to

second milestone on the Via Latina, and

St Stephen buried his

lastly St

481

.\ringhi,

Rom.
;

Sott. p. 193.

11d. p.

and Bolland. Acta SS. August,

Rom.

Bosio, p. 319.

Sott. torn.

ii.

p.

ii.

p.

219.

** lb.

p.

300.

certainly

+ Ih. p. 186.

192.

625.

^^1^1

^ \

to

^^

bunal-places
" St of Christian
martyrs
'

Stephen, the bishop, collected their remains, and buried them

on the Via Appia,

in

property in crypta jiixta which seem

the Acts of Saints Hippolytus,

their

Passages

ancient records

i-

Eusebius, Marcellus, and

Roma

326

establish a connexion

of the Catacombs

Sotterranea.

between the arenarke and

and when we

sofue at least

the passage where

recall

m arenarias

Cicero describes the murder of the young Asinius,

with Pagan

qiiasdam^ outside the Esquiline

sand-pits.

_.

m
.

saymg of Nero, when

speaim

was dead
to

egestce are?ice),

and he refused

{iiegavit se viviim

be surprised

to

sub ten-am

at the theory of the

more famous

he was urged to

subterranean

these

in

still
,

his last extremity

conceal himself for a time

{in

or the

gate,'^"

be buried before he

itiiruni) ;t

Pagan

caverns

we cease

origin of the Cata-

combs, which appear to be so identified with the ancient

sand-pits.

Examination

documents

careful examination, however, of the ancient

of which Proves that the eight passages quoted above are the only
there are at
instances to be found in which Christian burials are said to
most nine
nunaber.
have taken place in ai-enarice. It is true that if we include
sae:es

Nomentum and
Roman Catacombs,

the accounts of martyrs buried at

other places

beyond the

a few

examples

of the

circle

may be

But, confining ourselves within

collected.

a range of five or six miles from

is

more

no mention of arenarke

in

Rome, we

find

there

that

connection with any of the

cemeteries on the Via Ostiensis, Portuensis, Aurelia, Cornelia,

Triumphahs,
nestina.
to

have

crypta7n;

Flaminia, Salaria Vetus,

On

Nomentana, or

the Via Tiburtina, indeed, Constantine

built

basilica,

in

Agro

and Bosio sees reason

is

Prse-

said

Verano super arenariam

to think that the saints buried

there were Saints Narcissus and Crescentius, companions in

The term

martyrdom with

ayp

j^'^g

cB

aien-

does not
imply pozzo-

Thus we

sepulchres
of martyrs
^

different

artce

St Lawrence.

in

have, at the most,

arenarice or

cryptce
-^'^

-'

arenario:.

The

latter expression occurs three times,

viz.,

as

lana-pits.

the locality of the sepulchre of Nereus and Achilles, on the

Via Ardeatina
Tertullinus,

of St Lawrence, on the Via Tibartina; and of

on the Via

Latina.

During the recent restoration

of the basilica of Sa?i Lorenzo fuori

le

mura, there were un-

usual facilities for examining the rock in the neighbourhood

*

Fro Cluenho,

14.

+ Sueton. in Neron. 48,

Christian Origiji of the Catacombs.

Every one might convince himself that

of that basilica.
is

composed of a material

It

is,

is

what

in fact,

quite different from

vulgarly called in

is

Rome
And

utterly useless for building purposes.

Catacomb of

the whole

lies

327

which

said of the rock in

is

it

pozzolana.

capellaccio,

and

yet in this rock

The same must be

St Cyriaca.

formed the Cemetery of Domitilla.

The

sepulchre of TertuUinus

fore

cannot be examined, but

not yet identified, and there-

is

two examples are

the other

sufficient to

prove that the expression c?ypta arenaria merely

denotes an

excavation

made

sandy kind of rock, and

in a

does not necessarily imply the existence of an areuaritim or

As

sand-pit proper.

to the sepulchre of Saints

Marcellinus, Padre Marchi justly observes that

it

is

not said

those martyrs were buried in cryptis arenarum^ but

tliat

loco

Marcus and

qui

Ad arenas,'"

dicitiir

bourhood of " the

pits

///

and, therefore, merely in the neigh-

from which the walls of the city were

built."

There remain then

five

passages in ancient documents which Fiveremaining

mention martyrs being buried

The

denoting a pozzolana-pit.

Pope

Cornelius,

Catacomb

is

arenario,
first

all

a term certainly

of these,

the

relating to

MSS. of

j'p'g

'

Cornelius

the Liber

a stratum of pozzolana in

lower level than the stratum in which his

at a

crypt was made,t

copyists to

not found in

is

but as there really

Po7itificalis,

that

in

some excavations there may have

add the expression

led later

in arenario, in order, as they

probably thought, the more distinctly to identify the spot.

Of

the four remaining passages, three describe localities which

can be identified,

and which correspond exactly with the

description, for there

precisely at the

De

same

is

in

each of them excellent pozzolana

level with the galleries of the

Catacomb.

Rossi has not yet succeeded in finding any good pozzo-

lana

in

the

cemetery of Marcellinus and Peter, which

is

supposed by Bosio to be the locality indicated by the fourth

*

Compare

+ See

Map

Ad

Caiacuinbas, and similar appellations of places.

accompanying

this

volume,

E/?,

Yh.

2.

Quattro

Roma

o 28

Sotterranea.

passage, which describes the burial of the Qiiatiior Coronati;

but the

employed

artists

for Bosio's

work seem

to

draw the plan of

Catacomb

that

have penetrated into a portion of the

to

some passages

ancient arenarium, for their drawing represents

resembling those of pozzolana rather than the galleries of

Catacombs, and

speak of " a large

in their description they

again, " a

and

grotto without tombs, like a stone quarry;"

wide

place where the tombs have been destroyed to get out the

pozzolana."

examine

prove

apparently gave
3.

vSS.

Chry-

^"^
iTria^^

there

First,

martyrs

The

satisfy ourselves

disprove

or

theory

the

the arenarium

which were buried the

in

Chrysanthus and Daria, on the Via Salaria Nova.

S.

Chrysanthus and Daria."

were not only buried

Numerian

''

/;/

galleries
loculi are

i7i

arenario,

.... and there

be observed

that, in

This arenarium was

and

it

one part of the Catacomb, the

This has evidently been

weakening the
In

fact, as

into the arenarium proper,

to convert the latter into a

traces

of the

passages in order to
for

diminished in number, so that there are only two

in order to avoid

evident

be both of them

widen out into the form of an arenarium, and the

and of good pozzolana.

comb

to

and described by Bosio and Marangoni

of them, one above the other.

done

these

but the Emperor

arejiario,

blocked up alive with earth and stones."

still

Now

ordered them to be led out on the Via Salaria,

and put down

identified

" restored

I.

Saturninus, on the Via Salaria, together with

the cemetery of SS.

tiers

which they

rise.
is

the basilica of

may

we

whether they

to

Liber Pontificalis states that Pope Adrian

saints

if

passages mentioned above, in

three

we may thoroughly

truth

in

be more satisfactory to our readers

It will

carefully the

order that

do

'*"

sepulture

while

Christians

in

which are sloping

we pass from
find

the Cata-

even these attempts

cemetery disappear, and there are

prevent

we

walls,

the

having

access

to

immediate

I'josio, p.

591, D.

blocked
a region

vicinity

up

the

unfitted

of one

of

Christian Origin of the Catacombs,

SCALE

OF FEET.

20

Fig.

>30

^-z.

Plan ofpart of Caiacoinb of St

Prisciiia.

329

Roma

330

Sotterrauea.

the galleries thus blocked up, a flight of steps leads

a lower

We

have, therefore, here another instance of

the Christians having

more convenient

new

entirely

made an

arenarium, but

the

utilise

to

where we find a Christian Catacomb of the

level,

ordinary type.

to

down

to

abandon

galleries,

even

attempt,

as at

St

Hermes,

appears that they found

it

and

that attempt,

it

to construct

the cost of descending to a

at

greater depth into the bowels of the earth.

4.

S.

Crescen-

tianus in cemetery of S.
risci a
,

The second passage to be examined is

....
how the martyr Crescentianus was buried in

that

^^^

which

relates

t^

-77

ccemeterio FrisaUce.

Every one who

arenario on the same Via Salaria Nova.

has visited the central and more ancient part of that Cata-

comb

has remarked

Numerous
sometimes
cealing

the

pillars,

how

greatly

of various sizes

straight,

graves

these peculiarities

differs

from the usual type.

long walls of solid masonry,

sometimes broken into angles, both con-

and sustaining the

often

it

and the tombs

tufa

interrupted by pillars

of brickwork

show the immense labour

to convert the original excavation into

its

in the galleries

that

all

was required

present form.

The

plan on the preceding page will render this more unmistakably

evident, for the

masonry

is

represented by light shading, the tufa

rock being shaded darkly, so that the original excavation

once distinguished from the form into which

converted.

The wide passages

in the portions

marked

shaft

at

was afterwards

of the arenarium are to be traced

marked A, while the Catacomb

The

C.

it

is

B was

galleries are

originally a pit for extracting

pozzolana from the arenarmm, but was afterwards modified so

Here, then,

as to form a large luMuiare.

tomb having
of

its

plan

is

its

is

actually a Cata-

origin in an arenarium, but the examination

sufficient to

prove the impossibility of

many

of

the Christian cemeteries having been so constructed.

5.

Saints

Lastly;

we must examine

the passage of the Acts of Saints

and their companions, which

Eusebius'&c., Hippolytus, Eusebius, Marcellus,
on Via Appia.
" on the Via Appia, at
relates their burial by Pope St Stephen
the

first

mile from the city of

Rome,

in the very

arcnariwn

in

Christian Origin of the Catacombs.

which they were wont

De

to assemble."*

Rossi

331

will

not un-

dertake to say that he has identified this arenarium with the

same certainty

as the tAvo just described

but

is

it

signifi-

cant fact that one of the largest staircases in the cemetery of

St Callixtus leads directly from the surface of the soil to the
third piano of the

pozzolana

pits,

Catacomb, which

and close

is

on the same

level with

the spot where passages con-

to

nect them with the cemetery.

Later excavations have also

revealed the existence of a very narrow secret passage leading

themselves from the surface of the

directly to the sand-pits

This staircase stops suddenly short at the roof of the

ground.

arenaiHtPfi, so that a

person descending by

it

would require a

movable ladder, or some other assistance supplied by those

below, to enable him to reach the floor.t

These

facts

prove a

connexion between the Catacomb and the arenarium^ which

will

be more

Rossi

is

right

examined

fully

in

supposing

which Christians were wont

time of persecution,

its

our next chapter; and,

in

De

arenarium to be the one

this

to

if

in

assemble for worship during a

connexion with the Catacomb

is suffi-

cient to account for St Stephen being said to have buried the

martyrs

in arcjiario^

when

in fact

he buried them

in the

ceme-

tery adjoining.

The examination

of these instances, so far from leading us to These appa-

suppose that an arenarium was the ordinary matrix of a Cata-

[fons^tluis*"

comb, suggests the very opposite conclusion, since the difference

P^'ove the rule,

between the one and the other

*

The

is

so

marked

as to strike the

by Bosio relate the baptism of Adria,

and Maria, and how afterwards these holy women took
up their abode with the priest Eusebius, and the deacon Marcellus, and
ethers, in the same crypt where Pope Stephen was concealed, and every
day and night they used to persevere in prayer, and fastings, and the voice
of psalmody. When St Paulina suffered martyrdom, Hippolytus, a monk,
by command of St Stephen, buried her body in the arenarium where
they used frequently to meet together, and afterwards, Hippolytus and the
rest being martyred, their bodies were also buried in the same arenarium.
ancient Acts quoted

Paulina, Neo,

Bosio,
"V

X*

p. 193.

section of this staircase

in the plans

which

is

given in our next chapter.

illustrate that chapter.

It is

marked

Roma

332

Sotterranea.

most ordinary observer, and yet these and two others are

all

the

examples of their connexion which have been noticed by the explorers of the last three

: The

thus

hundred

years. *

We

argue, therefore,

ancient documents in four or five passages seem to

speak as though the martyrs had been buried in sand-pits. In five

cemeteries out of twenty-five or thirty, an arenarium

more or

less closely

is

connected with the cemetery, and of these,

three are discovered to be identical with three of those

tioned in the ancient records.

what

is

found

We

men-

consequently conclude that

mentioned so seldom by ancient

writers,

and found so

seldom by modern explorers, could not have been the normal

condition of things, but, on the contrary, that these instances

were deemed worthy of special mention as being exceptions to

the general rule, and thus these examples form one of the most

convincing proofs of the Christian origin of the Catacombs

generally.

what Bosio calls the ^''singularity " of the portion of the cemeand of that near St Saturninus described above, has
been commented upon by nearly every writer on the subject, from Bosio's
*

In

fact,

tery of St Priscilla,

time to the present day.

Fig. 43.

Gilded Glass in the Louvre Collection representing Si Callixius.

CHAPTER

II.

MODE OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT.

WE

have seen how the Catacombs bear witness to

their Scope of

this

Christian origin, and furnish a reply to the difficulties

that have

been urged against

remains for us to examine them

extract from them,

now estabhshed

this

still

more

carefully,

mode

possible, an account of the

if

construction, the successive additions

It

fact.

and

to

of their

and modifications which

they received from time to time, the traces to be found in them

of the relations in which these Christian cemeteries stood at

various periods to the

Roman Church

in

Roman

laws,

and of the condition of the

times of persecution and of peace.

have already traced these various relations

chapters,

and

if

we

find those observations

We

our historical

in

borne out by the

testimony of the Catacombs themselves, we shall be repaid for

having mastered the somewhat dry and uninviting portion of

our subject which

now

lies

before us, for

we

shall

have exam-

ined an independent and perfectly unexceptionable witness to

the truth.

We

have already noticed some of the circumstances which

determined the locality of the early Christian cemeteries.

The

""

cemeteries.

laws obliged them to be outside the walls, and conven-

ience required that they should not be too far

city.

Locality of

The

away from the

ancient documents give us a radius of from one to Distance from

three miles from the wall of Servius Tullius as the zone within

which most of the cemeteries were

situated,

* See page 56.

and

it is

precisely

^^ ^^^^'

Roma

334

within this zone that

we

Sotterranea.

see, in the present

Between the

the principal Catacombs.

to all

day the entrances

third

and

fifth

mile from the walls, no Christian sepulchre has been found

at the sixth only one, that of St

seventh mile from the

Alexander

tombs

city,

while beyond the

met

are again

these belong rather to the towns and villages of the

than to

On
'^

high
'

Rome

with, but

Campagna

itself.

further cause which determined the situation of the Chris-

tian cemeteries

was the geological condition of the

Had

the limits stated above.

valleys,

soil within

they been excavated in deep

they would have been

constantly exposed to

the

danger of being flooded by the neighbouring streams, or at

any

rate

by the

filtration

of water, which, besides impeding

access to the cemeteries, would have greatly accelerated the

and corrupted the

putrefaction of the bodies,

the careful closing of the

the Via Labicana,

low

situation,

it

is

is

lociili.

The cemetery

an instance of

now

this.

tomb of
usual

St Peter

manner

first

Damasus

pains taken by St

spite of

of Castulo, on

Being

in a

somewhat

quite inaccessible, from the water

the clay with which the galleries are

of having been from the

air, in

filled,

and

it

bears signs

an exceptional excavation.

to prevent the water

and

The

damaging the

on the Vatican are commemorated

in his

" Cingebant latices Montem, teneroque meatu

Corpora multorum cineres atque ossa rigabant.
Non tulit hoc Damasus, communi lege sepuhos
Post requiem

tristes

Protinus aggressus

iterum persolvere poenas.

magnum

superare laborem,

Aggeris immensi dejecit culmina Montis.

Intima

sollicite scrutatus viscera terra;,

Siccavit totum quidquid madefecerat humor,

Invenit Fontem, pra^bet qui dona

saUitis.

Hrec curavit Mercurius Levita Fidelis."

"The waters used to surround the hill, and with their gentle flowing
Damasus
used to drench the bodies, ashes, and bones of many [saints].
that those buried after the law common to
did not suffer this [to go on],

So
should be disturbed in their rest, and again suffer sad punishment.
at once he set himself to conquer the formidable difficulty, and cut away
He diligently dived into the
the ridge of an immense bank of the hill.
all

Mode of Constructio7i

a7id Development.

335

very bowels of the earth, and drained the whole of that which the damp
He discovered the spring, which [now in the baptismal

had moistened.

Mercurius, his faithful deacon, had

font] conveys the gifts of salvation.

charge of these works."

Christian cemeteries were thus restricted to the high Cemeteries in

tufa gramiground, and there in fact we find them; and this circum- /^^;-^

The

stance alone was sufficient to prevent any line of communication having existed, either

between the various Catacombs^ or

between them and the churches within the

already remarked

always excavated
stratum of rock.

how

the

depending
is,

to a cer-

that the different

Hardly ever does a gallery lead

from each other.

down from

gradually

made by

than in any other

piani of excavation in the same cemetery, are quite

levels, or

distinct

characteristic,

upon the geological formation,

tain extent

have

Christian cemeteries were almost

in the tiifa granulare^ rather

Another

We

city.

a higher to a lower level

The

a flight of steps.

the descent

the galleries

is horizontal,

preservation of the horizontal

plane throughout each piano was a wise precaution against

danger to the roof or to the floor of the galleries and chambers,

for, if

the horizontal plane

had been departed from,

have been almost impossible

tific

for Xh&fossors^

would

it

unaided by scien-

instruments, to have avoided running one gallery into

another.

An

cause but

little

accident of this kind on the same plane would

damage, but the safety of a whole chamber, or

even of a whole

gallery,

would have been imperilled by the

excavation of another, either close above or close below

Hence
val,

it.

the principal levels are separated by a very wide inter-

and

if

between them small

galleries are

sometimes found,

these are a later work of very limited extent, and resemble

those

little

second

rooms which

stories of large

are to

houses

be seen between the

in

Rome, and which

first

and

are called

mezzanirii.

The

section

on the next page

will

convey a general idea of

Different //V7;z/

O"^ below

the depth below the surface at which the dmerent piajii are another.

excavated.

It

is

a section of the crypt of St Lucina,

imme-

Roma

33^

Sotterranea.

diately beneath the vast ruined

The

floor of the gallery

the surface of the

had
into
'Y\\\^

it

soil,

ft

and

is

in

monument

not more than twenty feet below

some places not above

been continued on the same plane,

open

the

piano

is

air,

it

ten

in

it is

in fact the

is

marked

earth

and

II.

only

which

this gallery

surface.

is

composed

full

of amphi-

was formed

gene, a kind of garnet, and here and there black augite.

Geological

hill.

Section of the Cemetery of St- Cnllixtns.

of a friable tufa granulare, of a gray colour, and

strata.

so that

must have run out

specimen of a gallery being excavated so near the

The stratum

consequence of the slope of the

in

consequently very small, and

Fig. 44.

already described."'

and the stratum

stones, ruins of ancient

*

I.

above

it

is

made

This
uj)

of

monuments, and other mate-

See page 123.

Mode of Construction and Development.

Stratum

rials.

III.

composed of a

is

less solid

337

kind of tufa

without those crystals, and this was the favourite stratum of

we

the Christian fossors, in which

most important piano of

P, X,

and

find the

The

galleries.

most ancient and

how

section shows

were excavated, with the roof of those

galleries

coinciding with the junction of this with the stratum above.

By

this

means

the ceiling,

the y^v.swi' secured a

more

solid kind of rock for

and the difference of colour, and the sparkling of

the crystals in the rock which forms the roof,

with that in which the

attention of those
a, this

who

are cut, frequently arrests the

loci/ii

visit

when compared

this

About

Catacomb.

the point

stratum insensibly merges into the pozzolana proper,

although between them there

is

sometimes a thin stratum of

stones and cinders in fine volcanic sand, with crystals and bits

This occasionally has become solidified by the

of mica.

action of water into tufa

litoide.

Stratum V.

is

pozzolana

proper, and here a low and narrow gallery has been excavated,
if it

marked

^^-

the section, which would terminate here

in

were simply a vertical section of the galleries beneath

De

ruined monument.
is

Rossi, from

whose work

this (Fig.

this

44)

copied, has, however, added below the line which crosses

stratum V., a section of another portion of the Catacomb of St

the principal piano of which

Callixtus,

same

level witli

and

is

very nearly of the

the principal piano here, but

whose

may be found on De Rossi's map by the reference L

I.*
By this means we have a comparative view
and I

position
^,

1,2,

/,

of another

\o\\itx piano in

stratum VI., which

a

still

is

lower gallery,

the pozzolana,

marked r r r

n n

n, so
is

deep that the

air

becomes

VII. beneath this

The

is

far to

level.

impervious to water, and has not

levels of the Tiber,

* These are situated too

accompanying this voku-ne.

less

put to the excavation by the

water which almost always inundates the gallery at this

been examined.

in

composed oi tufa gj-aniilare again, we have

easy to breathe, and a limit

The rock

and

and of a

little

stream

the north to be included in the

map

Roma

33^

Sotterranea,

which crosses the Via Appia, called the Ahiione, are given
from Father Secchi's measurements of the trigonometrical base

on the Via Appia.

Having obtained a general idea of

Formation of
the Catacomb
ofStCallixtus.

mode in which the

we may proceed to

the

....,,.

arious /^^;/2 or galleries were constructed,

inquire into the

manner

in

which the

on the same piano were formed

Callixtus

the only

is

Catacomb

galleries

and

as the necropolis of St

of which a

The

our observations to this great cemetery.

conveyed by a glance
is

at the

that of an inextricable

we

but, as

scienti-

will confine

first

map accompanying

confusion

and

full

accurate plan has yet been published,

fically

and chambers

impression

this

volume,

we have already

remarked, a more careful examination, aided by the various

colours which distinguish different parts of the map, enables

us to recognise a certain order in the disposition of the gal-

each of these divisions, so that we are prepared to

leries within

acquiesce in Michele
Distinct arese.

Ue

Rossi's assurance that each of these

portions originally formed a separate cemetery, the a7'ea of

which was defined and protected by the

measurements of these
larly

confirm

arece^

reduced to

this observation, since

it

Roman law.
Roman feet,

The
singu-

can hardly be an acci-

dent that they should form such round numbers as loo, 125,
150, 180,

and 250

feet.

But the

fact

is

put beyond

all

reason-

able doubt by a minute examination of the galleries themselves,

and of the points

at

which those of one area now com-

municate with those of another.

us, in a

work of

ful analysis

this size, to follow

It

would be impossible

De

Rossi through his care-

of each gallery and chamber, and almost of every

tomb, by which he demonstrates the truth of

and we
Area of St
Cecilia and
the Popes.

for

his conclusion

shall therefore content ourselves with the results of

De

Rossi's examination of a single area^ for the minute analysis of

which we must
shall

refer our readers to a separate chapter.

select the area

and of

St Cecilia,

We

which includes the tombs of the Popes

which have been already described, and

which history teaches us

to regard as the

most important of

Mode of Constriictio7i
the

all

ancient

cemeteries,

a jid Development.

being

administered by the Pope's archdeacon.

be unfair

to

this arca^

and

successive developments, formed

its

or the architectural

of the

the w^ealth of the

soil,

Catacombs.

who

notions of the persons

superintended the excavation, doubtless varied in the

ent

type

the construction of other

in

The circumstances

proprietor,

would, of course,

It

conclude that the architectural characteristics of

which was universally followed

cemeteries.

cameieritim

the

fact

in

339

Nevertheless, since

differ-

affected

the la\ys

all

Christian cemeteries alike, and the necessities for increased

accommodation or

for

concealment came

at the

same periods

upon the whole Christian population, the account which we

about to give of

are

this great

and important cemetery,

will

enable us to trace the leading features of the changes and successive developments of other Catacombs.

The

comb

great necropolis, which forms what

of St Callixtus,

called the Cata- Public and

is

bounded by the Via Appia and the

is

Via Ardeatina, and the

tract of

ground between these two

public ways was anciently traversed by two small cross roads

which connected them, and which we

Ardeatina.

It will

be seen by the

map

will

that

call

Via Appio-

most of the

stair-

cases which led into the hypogsea were either parallel or at

right angles to

one or other of these roads, and that the

ent area, into which the necropolis

own

differ-

divided, each with

is

its

have a clearly-defined frontage along them;

staircase,

Confining our attention to the area of St Cecilia (marked III.

in the

map), we

ment from

plot

will

its first

proceed to trace

construction to

its

its

architectural develop-

latest transformation.

of ground, measuring 250

Roman

feet

along the

small cross-road, and extending back 100 feet in agro, was

secured by

its

Christian proprietor as a burial-place with the

usual legal formalities.

determined,
the

of

and, as

manner indicated
^ J-^.
1 u o o

The plan

of the excavation

occasion required, was

in

Fig. 45,

which

is

was then

carried

out in

drawn on a scale

First period of

Roma

340
The two

parallel galleries,

communicating with the

Sotterranea.

and B, each with

surface,

gallery

pickaxe in

full

length of the area.

connecting them appears from the marks of the

its. walls

have been commenced from the corner

to

The ambulacra,

AC.

staircase

appear to have been excavated

about the same time, and extended the

The

its

and

B,

were also united by the two

PEDES CCL-

20

10

1-^-! j-

Scale of

and

English Feet.

Fifst Pet-iod o/Excaiiatioii.

Fig. 45.

Other galleries

-I

FRONTE

IN

and the

original design appears like-

wise to have provided for the passages F, G, H, which, however,

were not, during

The

extent.

chamber

L-,

A^, A^, A^,

mer

How

it

can be

distingLiished.

L,

gallery

completed to

this first period,

belong to

with the papal crypt

this period,

as also

L^,

their full

and the

do the cubicula

whose painted walls have been described

in a for-

chapter."^

Our readers

will here fairly ask,

upon what grounds do we

n
thus positively assert that such and such a gallery belongs to

this

or that period

of excavation, and pretend to give the

exact dimensions of the area as gravely as though

we were

in

possession of the original legal documents which defined them.

To

the latter question

marked
floor

off

we

reply,

from the adjacent

being about

respect to the

five feet

that

this

area^ of the

area

is

at

once

Catacomb by

lower in level than

theirs.

its

With

period in which the different galleries were

*

Chapter VI, of Book IV.

Mode of Construction and Development.

formed,
lociili

may

it

34

be taken as an axiom, that when the

certainly

the walls of an ambulacrum are broken through in

in

order to afford an entrance into a gallery, this portion of the

gallery at least

which

it

is

enters,

and did not form part of

the entrances to

C,

through three or four

afterwards

galleries

loculi,

by masonry.

It

its

into

original plan.

outside wall of the

Thus, in Fig. 46, which represents the

gallery

ambulacrum

of a later date than the

C^ and C^ have been broken

which have been strengthened

is

that

the

in the original

plan

evident

therefore

C^ and C- were not contemplated

of the gallery C, and were constructed at a

much

later date.

This observation, however, only affects the outside walls of

B and

C, and enables us to exclude from the original plan

those passages which

now branch

not account for our representing

B,

and G,

extended so

in

the

out from them

F and

same manner,

far as to fall into

A.

as

but

all

does

it

as stopping short of

not having originally

Our grounds

for so repre-

senting these galleries will appear from an examination of the

woodcut on the next page, which gives the elevation of the

whole of the inner or left-hand wall of the ambulacrum A,
as

it

exists at the present day,

and shows the

relative sizes

and

positions of the entrances into the cross galleries D, E, F,

G, H,

I,

and L.

Now

it is

obvious that the entrance

could

Roiua Sotterraiiea.

i^^2

never have been constructed of the height of 15

now

reaches,

the floor of

and

tlie

it

can be proved that

tlie

feet,

which

it

original level of

ajubulaciuin must have been that indicated by

Mode of Constrttction and Development,

the dotted line

but

This level would give the entrance to

c d.

a height of about

to G, being yet lower,

until the floor of the

gallery
that

manner

show

while the entrance

not excavated

in all probability

had been lowered, and the

could not possibly have been constructed until after

that

until after its floor

to

was

a somewhat lower elevation,

purposes

ambulacrum

had been done.

in like

feet, that to

sufficient for practical

still

343

similar examination of

F and

did not

had been lowered

that our plan has not

we must

further details

been

fall

B would prove

into that amhulacrutn

but we have said enough

arbitrarily

drawn, and for

refer our readers to the descriptive

analysis.

The lowering

may

call the

of the floor of the galleries marks what

second period of excavation.

The

we

necessity of

providing more space for graves, and the confidence in the

consistency of the rock which })ractice had given the fossors,
led

them

to

They appear
to

adopt
to

this

method of enlarging

have commenced with the af/ibulacrum B, and

have continued the work along

this

latter gallery,

templated when the chambers

Fig. 48.

much

now

cubic ula

until they

reached A.

carried out to the extent conA"*,

A'^,

A^, were constructed.

Second Period of Excavation.

were evidently excavated

in anticipation of a

greater depression of the floor of the ambulacrum^ for

enter

In

however, the change of level was by no

means uniform, and was never

These

the cemetery.

them by descending some

steps,

we

whereas wc have

Second period
fl^or^of

tS

galleries,

Roma

344
to

ascend

is

there at

variation

Sotterraiiea.

reach A^ and

in order to

original level.

its

that the fossors

is,

A'^

from the gallery which

reasonable explanation of this

had presumed too much upon the

strength of the rock, and finding themselves obliged to sup-

now forms

port the wall by the mass of brickwork which

corner 27

C,'''

deemed

they

more prudent

it

the

abandon the

to

design of reducing the whole gallery to the same level with

B and

This Avork, together with the completion of the

C.

galleries F, G,

and H, and the construction of a new one E,

marks the termination of the second period of excavation, when

the plan of the cemetery must have been such as

it is

repre-

sented in Fig. 48.

Tliird period.

We now come
cemetery.

The

to a third period in the construction of this

further enlargement of the ambulacra having

proved dangerous, the fossors were compelled to attempt the

construction of another system of galleries at a lower level.

In order not to endanger the existing

Attempt

make
piano

to
a lower

hypogeum
and we

sary to go to a considerable depth,

find a

was neces-

it

staircase
i

leading from the cross gallery H, and consisting of thirty-four

They had

steps.

former
the

level,

hardly,

when they found

tufa gramilare,

pozzolana.

however,

The

penetrated

that they

and were

in

below

the

had passed through

stratum of very friable

very walls of the staircase had to be pro-

tected with brickwork

and, at length, finding

it

impossible to

get out of this stratum, they pushed a narrow passage in a

horizontal direction, which

is

represented in Fig. 49 as

H-^'

but, not meeting with any kind of rock adapted for their pur-

pose, they

abandoned the

here

formed

are

remarked how

design,

entirely

this

and the few

of .brickwork.

and other

/(9r////

We

constructed

have already

similarly fruitless attempts to

excavate sepulchral galleries in the pozzolana go to prove the

exclusively Christian origin of the Catacombs.
in this staircase,

and the

galleries

The

tiles

used

immediately adjacent,

all

bear the stamp of the imperial brick-kilns of Marcus Aurelius,

* Sec Fig. 47.

Mode of Coitstructioii and Development. 345

and must,

therefore,

have been made between

a.d.

161 and about

a. d.

170.

180.

It IS true that

we cannot from

circumstance alone

this

determine positively the date of the work

but

that all the bricks of a building should bear the

building

the

itself

had been

removed from the time of

admitted,

we have

constructed

was during

farther

into

this
^

Connexion

time before a.d. 197,

by Pope Zephyrinus
It

date, if

If this

be

a proof of this cemetery having been in use

riiird Pc^'iod.

for a considerable

unlikely

period far

at

is

same

their manufacture.

IC

Fig. 49.

it

to his

deacon

l|F

li'itlt

A}'cnn?iii/n.

when

it

was committed

Callixtus.

period that an alteration was

1

end of the papal crypt Li,

m
'

made

at the Construction
'^^ CrVDt of St

order to form a passage

D, the crypt where St Cecilia was buried near to the

c'ecilia.

Roma

34^

tombs of the Popes.

Sotterranea.

This crypt bears

much

having been originally of

in

smaller dimensions than at

and was probably of the form represented

present,

marks of

evident

in the plan,

which we also see a gallery Q, and two aihicula Qi, and Q2,
entrance to which was originally through the crypt of

the

chambers and

All the

St Cecilia.

whose

galleries,

architec-

tural history v/e

have hitherto been tracing, are distinguished

by

and whiteness of the

the. fineness

the

especially in

absence oi

more ancient

The

arcosolia.

on

plaster

portions,

and

their walls,

graves are simple loculi

as in the instances distinguished

by the

also
;

or when,

on the plan by a small oblong,

they are table-tombs,'^ they are always loculi a moisa and not
arcosolia.

Necessity for
concealment.

Our readers
^

will

not have forgotten that, towards the middle

r^^

it

of the third century, the Christians began to be disturbed

the hitherto peaceful possession of their cemeteries. t

no longer possible

and hence

it

for

them

It

was

to claim the protection of the law,

became necessary

to provide for the preservation

of the tombs of the saints by concealing their entrance from

they blocked up and partially

Accordingly,

public view.

destroyed the staircases

and

B.

The evidences

may be

recognised

in

the section

of A, Fig. 47, where, at the point

numbered

11,

we

remain

in

both cases, and

ancient staircase stop short about six feet from the

the

Cemetery con- the

artnariiim.

of this

tombs,

7,

demolition

9,

10,

of the staircase.

convenient proximity.

was opened

in the outside wall of the avibula-

Xi X2 X3, which was

We

situated

in

see from the plan that there were

entrances from the arenariuni, some of which have

been closed with masonry.

means of escape even when

*

B-^,

still

order to enable the Christians to enter their cemetery

through an arenariuni,

several

while

The entrance B was

more completely destroyed, and a passage,

cruiii, in

floor,

only have been excavated after

could

and supported by masonry

see the

See Figs. 4 and

5,

page 30.

These various passages provided

their

enemies had tracked the

See pp. 54-88.

Mode of
Christians into

Construction

tlie

Catacomb

of the tyrant, led perhaps

into the

and

347

and, while the satellites

itself;

by some

Dcvelopjuent.

traitor,

cemetery by one passage, the

were penetrating
only separated

faithful,

from them by a few feet of rock, might be silently passing out

at another.

Even when

the Pagans

had

guards at

set

entrances into the arcuarium^ the Christians had

still

all

the

way of

escape through an exceedingly narrow and steep staircase,

Secret
case.

which leads directly from the areuariinn

This staircase, marked

X4

in Fig. 49, to

was clearly never intended

Fk;. 50.

of the arcfiariuni,

them with

given in Fig.

to reach forther than the roof

Secret Staircase into Arejiarimii.

to

those

who had

for ingress

below

friends

to assist

movable ladder, or some other means of con-

necting the lowest step with the ground.

galleries uniting the

with artoso/ia,

is

and must have been useless either

or egress, except

air.

which allusion has

already been made,'"' and of which a section

50,

the open

to

tlie

In none of the

cemetery with the araiariuin do we meet

introduction of which

noticed as a sign of a later period than

* S/^/nr, p. 331.

It is

we have already

we have

markel Ac- on

the

as yet readied.

lari^^c

map.

stair-

Roma

348

Sotterranea.

We

A second area
have seen how the original Hmits of the area were transincorporated
communication with
with the oxVA- gi^essecl, in order to put the cemetery
nal cemetery.
areiiarhim.
Indeed, the legal protection being removed,

...

m
.

^^

there was no longer any reason for observing the legal limits

and, since the adjacent arae on either side of the

road appear to have been

work, the most important of

all

in other parts of this

first

opposite, which

area.

is

scale of

S^

150 by 125

viz.,

of which traces

still

Roman

At

feet.

S,

main amhulaci'wn of

peculiarity of the latter

a^,

a^,

and

a",

this

is

inferior

adopt

De

first it

was con-

but when the steps,

into the latter

second area.

which had been

<?,

The most

striking

the group of large chambers,

These evidently formed the

and most important part of

which

pre-

<^^,

a-\

situated opposite to each other on either

side of the ambulacrum.

arcosolia

its

by subsequent works, a new entrance

was effected through the chamber A^ into

ally

being double the

^J-y,

remain, leading from

gallery were destroyed

plan

dimensions determined partly by the

its

nected with our cemetery by the gallery

an

The

of those previously given, represents this area in

gallery

a"^,

The

form one necropolis.

on the large map.

drawn on a

sent condition, with

the

which

arece,

area thus added was that on the opposite side of the Via

Appio-Ardeatina, marked

Characteristics size

as to

it

Roman

that belonged to the

Church, was enlarged by the addition of other

were so connected with

cross-

little

possession of Christians, this

in the

we have seen

cemetery, which was, as

tliey

now

this

hypogeum

earliest

and, since the

contain are coated with a plaster of

kind to that which covers their walls, we

may

safely

Rossi's opinion that these cubicula were not origin-

intended for sepulchral crypts at

all,

but for wine-stores.

In times of danger, the Christian proprietor of the vineyard

above put them

at the disposal

of the Church for places of

assembly, the original entrance being turned into a luminare, and

they were then fitted with marble benches, which

and lighted by wide

* Sec the

luminaria.''

ilKist ration, Fig. 6, p. 31,

When

still

remain,

once connected with

wliich represents a siniiLir arrangement.

Mode of Coiistriictioii and Development. 349

Fig. 51.

A\B.

Fpicrth Period.

Union

ivitli

n Second Area.

The shaded parts represent masonry below ground.

The

black parts represent

two buildings on the Via Appio-Ardeatina, and liuninarin. The cnhicithini d^ contains the sarcophagus of St Melchiades.
For description, see Note G on Atlas.

Roma

350

Sotterranea.

the cemetery by the galleries S and

came

by

intersected

and

galleries,

the area gradually be-

b^

with

filled

and the

loculi^

frequent occurrence of arcosolia in both galleries and chambers

oblige us to refer the construction of these to a later date than
the third period

grounds

of excavation.

De

Rossi sees

supposing that the three-apsed building, situated

for

nearly in the middle of the frontage of the

by

fabricce constructed

The

Fourth period.
ArCOSolia.

St Fabian.'''

1,1,

is

H^, P^, and Q^t, are

the formation of

The chambers,

times found adorned with slabs of marble.

Q'^,

thus identified with this

with

its

arcosolia

and

From what has been

gallery S.

it

it

is

evident that

belong to

many

many

ciibicula are

of the

and

up

into the

already said of the second

of the passages and chambers in

period, for they

this

period,

In ni in a re, necessi-

tated the demolition of the steps which led from

area,

one of the

ar-ea, is

fourth period in the architectural history of this ceme?

r
marked by the appearance or areoso/ia, which are some-

tery

sufficient

abound

in arcosolia,

and

adorned both with paintings and

marble, which are never found together in earlier constructions.

Fifth period.

with earth

We now

approach an epoch which has

almost every portion of

formed us that

in

Roma

left

Sotterranea.

the last terrible

its

traces in

History has

persecution

in-

which the

Church endured under Diocletian, not only were the

faithful

forbidden to enter the cemeteries, and hunted out when they

evaded the tyrannical

were

confiscated,

heathen. J

edict,

but the cemeteries themselves

and handed over

the

to

of

possession

In order to prevent the profanation of the sacred

sepulchres, the Christians had recourse to an expedient, the

labour and expense of which proves

They

filled

up with earth

all

its

extreme necessity.

the principal galleries,

and thus

rendered the cemeteries inaccessible either to friend or

Evidence of

The evidence

of this extraordinary fact

is

foe.

deduced, not only

this.

* See p. 86.

X See above,

f See Fig. 52, which

p.

90.

illustiates the fifth period.

Mode of

Fig. i-z.-Fi/th Period.

Constniction a nd Developmen t.

Galleries

made

7vken the ancient ones 7veye filled with earth.

.V.^ -These galleries are distinguished

by the light shading.
darker shading. Luminaria by black
squares.

water.

35

Fl

is

Brickwork

a well which

is

denoted by

still

contains

Roma

352

from the condition

Catacombs

which most of the

in

found at the present

Sotterranea.

but,

day,'"'

are

more convincingly, from

still

the discovery of a series of galleries, the floor of which

many

must have been the surface of the earth with

parts

which the older galleries had been thus

in

we

them from those whose

Thus, along

follow.

from which crosses

are tracing,

direction they sometimes

runs the narrow gallery I\ one branch

and

an irregular curve, while the

I in

other terminates in a shaft immediately above

a

is

these galleries are represented with a light shading to

it

distinguish

runs

Fig. 52

filled.

plan of part of the cemetery whose history

and

in

similar

Y\

ciibic?(/a,

gallery,

and

Y^,

which opens

B*,

Y,

into

and the

and Z are excavated

B^

Y-^.

Along B

A'^.

at

higher level, and have no connexion with the more ancient

We

ambulacra.

remarks

shall confine our

to the little gallery

1\ and we must refer the reader back to the elevation, in Fig.

The

47, of the wall of A.

been the

dotted

ab^ was stated to have

line,

original line of the roof of the aj?ibulacru7n,

and

it is

evident that the /oculi above that line could never have been

constructed while the floor of

even

at its

more ancient

level

lery in

H, shows

may be

whose wall

was the

that a b

that

at the point

the dotted line

noticed above the en-

doorway was opened.

where

falls

c d.

level of the floor of the gal-

clear from the opposite Fig. 53, Avhich

of

at its present level, or

marked by

Moreover, the doorway which

trance to

was

into

is

This

will

be more

a transverse section

Here we can observe

it.

the difference in width between the original ambulacriini and

gallery P, cut through

tiie

The

floor.

time

when

means of

latter

A
this

was

gallery could

The

great

floor

artificial

work

this earth,

Damasus, conceals the

of

and now

that

earth,

it

made

at a

was only by

Pomponio Leto and

to write their

tlie

and

any

destitute of

only have been

up with

filled

companions were able

removal of

its roof,

names on

his

the ceiling of

Coriimission of Sacred Archceology

is

the

which, except in the important crypts cleared by St

galleries

now

as effectually as in the year a.d. 303.

Mode of Construction and Development, 353

this

narrow

the

ground.

gallery, Avhere they

Fig.

^Ty

now appear twenty

H.

little

above

bridge of brickwork has recently been

Fu;. ^T,. Section

A and

of Gnllcriis

thrown across the ambulacrum

to

earth which has been removed, but

from

also gives us a longitudinal section of

the branches of I\ which crossed that gallery a

the roof of

feet

H,

attci

o/V.

supply the place

it is

of the

worthy of notice that

does not break through the roof of H, nor into the chamber

A'',

which

it

could hardly have failed to do,'*unless those exca-

vations had been

filled

with earth

when

I'

was

This earthing-uj) of the galleries marks a

history of our cemetery, to

in use.*

fifth

period in

tlie

which we may, without hesitation,

assign the date of the Diocletian persecution, a.d. 303.

sixth period

commences with

the cessation of persecution,

* Fig. 53 also illustrates our remarks

nal level of A, which is now entered from

upon the depression of the origiH by a sharp incline. That it

was not lowered, however, so much as had been anticipated, appears from
the floor of A^ being considerably below the present level of A, froni
which it is entered by steps.

RoTua Sotterrafiea.

354
Sixth period.
Peace of the

when

the faithful eagerly sought access to the

tombs of the

The staircase was re opened and restored, although at

saints.
Church.
of
Excavation
a somewhat higher level, shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 47,

small galleries,

and thus an entrance was effected into the crypts of the Popes
and of St

The

Cecilia.

was not removed from

earth, however,

other less remarkable portions of the cemetery, and hence

became

An

possible to excavate the

to

date, a.d. 321

in Fig. 53) for extracting the earth

have been made

and other

galleries just described.

one of them bears the

inscription in

shafts (as

little

in a

it

the

prove them

time of peace, while the inscriptions

characteristics

show them

to

have belonged to a

period anterior to the age of St Damasus.

Fig. 54.

Last Period.

Works of St Damasus.

The hiniinaria and masonry, which reaches the surface, are represented black.
Subterranean masonry by daik shading.
Galleries of sixth period by lighter

N.B.

shading.

Last period.
Works of St

Damasus.

The

last

epoch

in the architectural
.

terranean cemeteries
the indefatigable

proved

development of the sub-

is

marked by

Pope Damasus.

insufficient for the

the extensive alterations of

The

restored staircase

crowd of pilgrims who came from

A^ode of Construction and Development.

parts of the world to satisfy their devotion at the

all

the martyrs.

Damasus

St

355

tombs of

therefore constructed the staircase

by which we now descend directly to the crypts of the Popes

and

St Cecilia.

from which
the

gallery

it

It

be seen that

will

In

Q.

marked P

is

it

plan,

occupies a large portion of

brickwork which sustains

the

fact,

accompanying

in the

it

blocked up some of the cubicu/a, and reduced the dimensions

The

of others.

A\ and

raising of the floor

the passage through

it

and

into the

ceiling of the

chamber

second area, probably

belongs to this period; and also the chamber P^, and the
vestibule

M, with

tj(mina?r,

its

and passage R, leading

of which the former entrance had been stopped up.

largement of the crypt of St Cecilia and

adornment and

its

lighting of the papal crypt,

enlarged without

''

lujninare,

to

Q\

The

en-

and the

which could not be

disturbing the ashes of the saints," were

under the special direction of St Dama-

certainly carried out

sus.

We

have confined our attention

ments of

this

to the successive develop-

one area, and therefore have not alluded

third a?'ea * intimately connected with the

a7nbulacrnm o,\ which

The dimensions

is

third area.

to a

second area by the

continued throughout

its

entire length.

of this third area are exactly the same as that

of the second, and

have been not of an

its

architectural characteristics prove

earlier,

and probably of a

later date.

it

to

The

arcosolium appears frequently, and the luminare, but the loculo

a nwisa never.

and

Cross,

tlie

At the same time the disguised

figure of the

double, and often triple chambers for purposes

of sacred assembly, prove

it

to

have been occupied before the

age of persecution had ceased.

of this area (among which

is

In

fact,

the dated inscriptions

the celebrated one of the

Deacon

Severus) range from the latter part of the third century to the
tenth year of the fourth.

glance at the large

map shows how

this last area is con- Other

nected with the cemetery of St Soteris, comprising the four

*

Marked VI.

in the large

map.

f See Fig.

51.

arece.

Ro77ta Soiterranea.

35^

VII. VIII. IX. X., which were once,

a?rcE

in

all

probability,

separate cemeteries, and the peculiarities of which have been

noticed in a previous
Labyrinth
connecting the
different arar.

We

chapter.-''

have thus traced the successive development of the

most nnportant group of sepulchral

comb

of St Callixtus, from

vate cemetery, to

its

its

first

galleries

commencement

it

had become united.

attention to the striking

as a pri-

embellishment by St Damasus as

final

the centre of the vast necropolis with which,

time,

Cata-

in the

course of

in

AVe have also called our readers'

manner

in

which the most remark-

able facts of the history of the Catacombs, already deduced

documentary sources, have been

from

confirmed and illustrated by the testimony of the

period

Catacombs themselves,
tery

each successive

at

as represented

which we have examined.

further strengthened

if

by

ceme-

this particular

This testimony would be

still

our space permitted us to examine with

equal minuteness the other arece, and especially that scarcely

less

important and ancient one which contains the tomb of St

Cornelius.

Our account, however, of

the architectural history

of the Catacombs, and even of this particular cemetery, would

be incomplete

if

we were

to

omit

all

mention of that vast and

bewildering labyrinth of galleries which

tor with astonishment,

and which

it

is

fills

the ordinary visi-

impossible, even on an

accurately-drawn map, to reduce to any regular system.

have already described these

different depths

picwo of which

piani of

which are found

is

pretty generally observed.

this labyrinth

we may

safely

From

two

the charac-

conclude that both

belong to an age posterior to the regu-

lar construction of the hypogeiiin within the legal limits

separate arece.

at

below the surface, the horizontal plane of each

already mentioned,!

teristics

galleries,

We

The union

was not effected without

of the

of these into one vast necropolis

difficulty,

owing

to the widely differ-

ent levels at which their principal galleries had been exca-

vated

and the attentive observer who traverses a portion of

* See p. 128.

See

p.

176.

"

Mode of
on

this labyrinth

of St Cornelius,

and

Co7is true Hon

his

v/ill

way from

not

fail

and Development, 357

the

tomb of

St Cecilia to that

to recognise the points of junction,

will appreciate the ingenuity

with which \}[iQfossors accom-

plished their task.

We

must again repeat that we by no means venture

that the successive architectural changes

in the

Catacomb of

which we have traced

be found in

Callixtus, are to

St

No

subterranean Christian cemeteries of Rome.

these had

but yet

its

we

own characteristics, and

to affirm Application to

possibly

its

all

doubt each of

own

architect;

are quite justified in supposing that the cemetery

which we have examined, placed

under the

at so early a period

immediate care of the Pope, and committed by him

Archdeacon of Rome, must have furnished a

important cemeteries.

to the

pattern, followed

who had

with more or less exactness by those

less

rreneiallv

the

the charge of

AVe may, therefore, sum up the

testimony of the Catacombs as to their successive develop-

ment, in the following general remarks.

When
menced

the

Roman

of the

Christians

age com- Summary of

apostolic

the excavation of subterranean cemeteries, the

was comparatively new.

sistency of which
legal area^

and

It

work

^^^ a^adual
in a rock the con- (development
of a Catacomb
within the narrow limits of a from its com-

was carried on

was unknown,

for the use of a

people as yet few

number.

Consequently, they did not think of constructing spacious

chambers with

ceilings

of perilous dimensions, neither did

they contemplate the construction of more than one piano

nor again did the necessity of economising space lead them

to excavate galleries dangerously near to each other.

the most ancient part of a

gallery,

Catacomb

is

Hence

found to consist of a

extending as far as the limits of the area permitted.

Small cubicida were then constructed as circumstances might

render necessary, with entrances from this gallery
this single gallery

became

insufficient for the

and when

wants of the com-

munity, other galleries and cubicida were excavated at considerable intervals from each other.
x\s

time

went on.

certain

further

modifications

became

'

Roma

358
The

through divers necessary.

modifications
necessary to
obtain nicreased ac-

SoUei^ranea.

having been increased

galleries

in

length and

number, the necessity

ot great

economy

of space was forced

the attention of those who had the

upon
^

chan>:e
of the

ceme-

commodation; tery, and the experience which had been gained by th^fossors

of the consistency of the rock enabled

economy

by lowering the

more

find

floor,

so as to receive

made more

many more

space was economised by the galleries being

The

than before.

tiers

of

period

this

made narrower

made

themselves were

loculi

on

ciibicida

new excavations made during

while, in

loadi ;

to practise this

of the galleries, and these latter are

either side
lofty

Thus we

various ways.

in

them

smaller,

and

space was saved by their being formed wide at the shoulders,

and narrow

at the feet.

The

fossors also found

it

practicable

to cut galleries with a comparatively thin wall of rock

between

them, and at the angles of their intersection, where the

bility of the

tufa

would not admit of

cut, these portions

being

were turned to account by being made to

receive the bodies of infants.

at length to

full-sized loadi

fria-

Even these expedients faihng

supply sufficient space, the fosso7's conceived the

idea of excavating another piano either above or below the

The

first.

decorations of this period also show that ihQ fossors

had become more accustomed

to

the material in which they

were working.

The most

formed

of stucco and brickAvork,

entirely

ancient ornamentation had been

cornices, columns, pilasters, brackets,

The shape

of the solid rock.

themselves varied in
gular shape,

many

chairs,'''

cut out

of the /odiH was in time diversi-

instances from their former rectan-

and are found of an hexagonal or octagonal

and sometimes with apses

l^ersecutors;

and even

find

by the introduction of the arcosolium, and the chambers

fied

or to avoid
the search of

now we

but

later period

at

one or more of the

figure,

sides.

shows signs of the protection of the laws hav.

ing been removed,

same

The

careful observance of the limits of the geometrical area.

shafts

and the cemeteries no longer manifest the

communicating with the open

See Fig.

7,

page

32.

air,

t See examples

in

constructed during
Area

in Atlas.

Mode of Construction and

Development.

359

not square apertures for conveying light and

this period, are

air into the cublcula,

but are round

above the crossing of the

pits,

generally situated just

and were evidently made

galleries,

principally for the removal of earth.

ThQ.fosso7's,

no longer

confined within certain prescribed limits, constructed at this

period very large crypts and wide arcosolia, and, at the same
time, to satisfy the requirements of a large Christian
tion,

we

loculi^

find a multitude of poor miserable galleries full

but destitute of

ornament.

all

period that

we meet with

ment from

persecution.

ished,

popula-

It

is

of

also during this

studied contrivances for conceal-

The

regular staircases were demol-

and instead of them were constructed

As a

leading into caves and sandpits.

secret passages

last resource,

the galleries were filled with earth in order

more

many

of

effectually to

conceal the tombs of the saints, and preserve them from the
profane insults of the Pagan occupiers of the confiscated cemeFinally,

teries.

in this

period

we

notice indications of the

gradual abandonment of the practice of subterranean inter-

Many

ment.

contain no

on the

loculi,

wall,

some of

portions which

of the galleries terminate in

or in which the /oculi are

marked

but have never been excavated

the spacious crypts

we

in outline

and even

in

find the spaces for arcosolia

sketched out, but the arcosolia themselves have not been constructed.

more

Of

course, in the

more celebrated

striking characteristics are to

historical crypts,

be discerned, but the

going remarks apply to the Catacombs as a whole.

fore-

until its

aban-

burial-place,

CHAPTER

III.

ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAN OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AREA OF THE CEMETERY OF ST CALLIXTUS.
N.B.

TJie reader should

ope]i the

and should refer also

Staircase A.

'^

^HE

Staircase

Plan

tills

Chapter^

to the elevation in Fig. 47, p. 342.

which originally formed the entrance

principal gallery of this area

utely

wliile study ing

to the

was thoroughly and min-

examined by the brothers De Rossi in May 1865. The

them to determine with accuracy

inclination of the steps enabled

the upper portion of the

flight,

of which nothing

but the original position of which

lines.

The

face of the

first

soil,

underground.
tufa

is

now

remains,

indicated by the dotted

remains appear about ten feet below the

and extend

The

to a

depth of about thirty-nine

sur-

feet

plan indicates^ a wall of brick-work and

on each side of the

staircase for a short distance, but the

greater part of the length

is

excavated out of the living rock.

As we have before remarked, there are evidences of two

of stairs constructed at different periods.

The

flights

original flight

had steps covered with slabs of marble, and walls coated with
very fine stucco, and adorned with narrow bands of a bright
red colour.

This

flight

of steps, however, bears signs of having

been demolished and interrupted

A
A

2,
3.

in

many

portions of its length;

and hence another flight was constructed on foundations composed of masonry resting on such of the original stairs as
remained entire. This flight of stairs is indicated by the dotted
line in Fig. 47, to which we must refer our readers, as well as to
The numbers and letters
the plan at the end of this analysis.
are alike in both, being those used by De Rossi.
Wall resting on a step of the earlier staircase.
Similar construction on three steps.

'Analysis of the Cemetery of St

About half-way down the

stairs,

on the

Ca Hix tits.
left,

we

find a large Staircase

sepolcro a ?nensa divided so as to contain three bodies.

shaped

filling

It

4.

is

Cornelius, and lined with white stucco,

like that of St

but the

361

up of the niche above the me?isa

is

of rough

masonry covered with coarse plaster, as also are the materials

used to stop the /oadi which are on either side of the staircase.
These are, therefore, of later construction than the original
ambulacrum to which the steps lead.
Three or four toculi have been cut in the staircase itself, A
evidently between the period of its demolition and that of the
And near its A
construction of the later staircase upon its ruins.
lov/er extremity,

9.

two large sepulchres have been constructed,

each between four and

appear

7.

depth, and so wide as to

five feet in

beneath the staircase.

like small galleries passing

In

the sides of one of these sepulchres are three tocuti closed in

the usual manner, while the other

is

so divided as to contain

The mouths

10.

u.

about thirty-three inches above the A

13.

nine bodies each in a separate niche.

sepulchres are covered with

tiles

of these

placed roof-wise, so as to bear

the weight of the staircase afterwards built over them.

last

few steps of the original

flight,

The

indicated by dotted lines,

have been entirely destroyed, evidently with the design of not

leaving even the least remains of them on the side walls, so that

any one attempting to enter the cemetery would have had

make a

leap of

the ambulacrum.
several bodies

some

five feet in

to

order to reach the floor of

In the vertical wall thus

left

a sepulchre for

was afterwards found, the ruins of which

still

remain.

The second
first,

and

staircase

this difference

is

in level necessitated the construction

of a flight of steps in order to reach

the cubiculum A^

on
and likewise to enter the gallery L on tlie left.
The ambulacrum which we have now entered was cleared Ajubulacnim
of earth at the beginning of 1856, but it had been visited by ^"
Boldetti and other explorers, who have left memorials of their

the right,

visits

in

the galleries leading out of

it.

As we

pass along

between chambers A3 and A3 we notice that the walls are A 16.

much ruined, almost up to the roof; but that immediately Its roof.
under this they are in good preservation for the space of two
loculi,

line as

and that here they do not spring from the same basedo the lower i)ortions of the wall. The locuU of this

Roma

362

Sotterranea.

higher portion are smaller than those at a lower level, and both

and walls are plastered and ornamented with paintings, which cannot be distinguished when we stand on the
This upper portion, of which a section is given on
ground.
page 353, must therefore have been excavated when the whole
of the lower part of the ambulacrtt?n was filled with earth, and
this earth, which formed the floor of the small gallery above,
enabled the companions of Pomponio Leto to write their
names, Parthe?iius and Gallus^ on the roof of the gallery.
Turning our attention from the roof of the gallery to its floor,
we observe that we have to ascend two steps in order to enter
the chamber A^, and at the door of chamber A3 a similar
the roof

Its floor.

Ambulacrum

^^cent indicates a corresponding depression of the level of the

On

17. floor.

strikes us
is

the opposite side of the gallery the

18.

peculiarity

horizontal throughout, the floor, for about half

rises gradually

same

even more forcibly, for while the roof of the gallery

from the point where

it

its

length,

meets the ambidacrmn

When, however, we reach the door of chamber A^, we

the floor of this chamber at the same level with the
anihidacnnn, showing that this chamber was constructed subsequent to the depression of level. At the entrance to the
A.

find

19.

gallery

H, the

level of

which

is

about two

feet higher

that of A, there are to be seen traces of two steps,

now become worn

into

an inclined plane.

The

than

which have

difl'erence

of

on page 353, which proves that H

must have been formed before the floor of A was lowered.
Almost opposite to H is the entrance to the chamber A5,
which is entered by descending two steps, as may be seen in
level

is

shown

in the section

the above-mentioned section.

constructed

after

the

floor

This mbicidum^ therefore, was

of

the

ainbtdacriim

had been

lowered, and in anticipation of a more considerable depression than was actually carried into effect.

The same

section

shows the narrow gallery above the anibidacriim A, and the

traces of the original roof of that and)iilacrum.

It also repre-

sents a portion of the small gallery ! the shaft for removing

the earth from which

falls

exactly on a line with the wall of

The modern bridge, which now crosses the

the chamber Ag.
ambidacnnn A, had no counterpart in the ancient remains,
and was only constructed by the Commission of Sacred
Archaeology to enable the gallery

Ij

to

be traversed,

now

that

Analysis of the Cemetery of St

the earth which formed

galleries

We

its

floor has

Ca Hixtits.

363

been removed from the

and H.

now worn

next descend five steps,

into an inclined plane Amlmlacrum

page 344), and reach the entrance to the gallery G, which

formed at the lowered level of A, and the wav into which

(see
is

would not have been practicable when the

made.

w^as first

constructed after the level of

opposite to

which

had been lowered.

Nearly

the lowest portion, so that here w^e see the

eff"ect,

which the lower

shown us had been intended

part as

is

so ruinous in this

have required them to be sustained by modern

to

The

masonry.

of A- has

level

also there, but not carried out.

state of the walls of the anibidacrum

Y was first opened at

the new level, as appears

entrance to the gallery

and then lowered

the higher level,

its

to

great height, and also from the tufa not having been

entirely cut

beside A^

away from
is

the lower portion of

a large sepulchre

resembling a sepolcro a

7/ie?isa,

23,

its

walls.

marked

except that

entrance to the gallery

E must

the corner

AC,

its

original construction.

the left wall

is

26.

lociilus.

while D, like

been cut away

F, bears evident signs of having

23.

evidently have been con-

structed after the depression of the floor of

lower level after

too near the

is

it

Close

the plan,

in

ground, and seems to have been closed like a simple

The

was

very slightly below that of the ambttlacnmi^ of which

is

design carried into

from

the entrance to the cnbiculum Ag, the floor of

is

we have reached

The

floor of the latter

This opening, therefore, of the gallery

to

meet the

As we approach

observed to be strengthened

its height by constructions of

brick-work,
and
while
the corner itself is entirely filled
tufa
up with a solid pillar of the same materials, having merely a a
narrow passage through it, along which only one person could
Along the whole length of A, numerous inpass at a time.
scriptions have been found in fragments which have fallen
from the loculi^ and they are for the most part in the Greek

fur

a considerable portion of

27.

language.

Returning again to the foot of the

cublculum Aj,

tlie

inches lower than

fine

able

original
it is

floor

at present,

white stucco, with red lines

to

staircase,

of which

we

was

enter the

thirty-three CnbiculHui

and from the line where the

upon it, now ends, we are

determine the corresponding elevation of the roof

Roma

364
The

wall of the original

left

removed

in

Sollerrauea.
chamber

entirely gone,

is

order to enlarge the chamber, and to

through

for the entrance

it

and

into the second

and was

make room

third

a?'ece

the necropolis, which being at a higher level, required

elevation of the floor of this chamber.

of

the

Both the door and

ioctdi are quite in ruins.

Ciibu-idutiiX

A2

approached by two

is

and

steps,

which are painted the frescoes

is

lined with stucco,

in Plate XII.

XIV.

on

An

2.

examination of the stucco at the lower part of the walls shows

must have been lowered about eight

Near the door on the right hand is a square pedestal
made of tufa^ and covered with a slab of terra-cotta,

that the original floor

inches.

or seat

and

to the left

is

the cemetery, but

little

staircase leading to a higher piaiio of

evidently

much more modern

than the

chamber.
CnbiciihimA^,

The chamber A3 is square like the last, and similarly decoThe floor is about eleven inches above the level of
rated.
This chamber

by the guides the

Capella del Sacrajnenti from the liturgical paintings on the
walls.
See Plate VII. XI. i XII. 2, 3 XIV. 3. See also
the ainhulacrum.

called

Cuhiaduiiik^^

is

page 263.
The succeeding chamber, A^,

same way,
The roof is so low as
but the stucco is of an inferior quality.
to be hardly six feet two inches above the floor, which is of
is

decorated

in the

De

coloured marbles arranged in a geometrical pattern.

Rossi has, however, ascertained that the original floor

neath

lacrum

this

is

be-

pavement, and that in consequence of the ambu-

not having been lowered to the depth once contem-

plated, this original floor

was raised so as to be on a

level

with the amhulacniin^ thus accounting for the unusual lowness

of the ceiling.

This, as well as A3, has a loado a mtnsa in the

wall directly opposite the door; the side walls are also pierced

by two locidi^ one above the other.

two hculi for children have been

The

period.

the loculo a i?iensa

irregularly cut at a later

explorers of the fifteenth century had pene-

trated into this chamber,

Cubiculnm A..

Above

and

left

their

names, Parthenius,

Gallus, Matthias, Thomas, which are now barely

The ciMculum A. resembles the preceding in

is

its

form and

and there is reason to suppose that the floor,

now two steps below the ainbulacnun A, had been

decorations,

which

visible.

Analysis of the Cemetery of St Callixtns.

chamber

raised like that of the

has been removed, and a

to

later

plaster,

portion

and has a

vaulting found in

since the original ceiling

A_j,

new one made

admit of an additional range oi

This

365

at a sufficient elevation

loculi all

round the chamber.

covered with a very inferior kind of

is

barrel-roof, instead of the flat or cruciform

all

the preceding cuhicula.

See dotted lines

in Fig. 53.

Ag resembles the other chambers in form and decoration,

but on either side the lower tomb is a loculo a mensa, with the
sepulchre lined with marble and forming a bisonwm, although
in

each case they have been closed like a

The end

of the chamber, however,

one large

sepolcro a meiisa divided for

The

being lined with marble.

common

dibicuhiDi A^.

loculus.

entirely occupied with

is

two bodies, each division

iron bars

which supported the

it became necesand to this period

must be assigned the two marble pilasters which now stand
on either side of the sepulchre, and the vertical slab of
Grecian marble which once covered the whole space between
The marble pavement still remains upon the
these pilasters.
floor.
Within this chamber was found the epitaph

mefisa are

still

to be seen.

At a

later period

sary to strengthen this wall with masonry,

SERGIVS ALEXANDI
CAECILIE FAVSTAE

COIVGISVEBENE
MERIENTI FECIT.

The

wide and

made

and ambulacrum B

staircase
lofty,

but

it

is

parallel to A,

and very

in ancient times, but

from the carelessness with which

the possessors of this property in the last century adapted

for the

Staircase B.

has suffered not only from the changes

purposes of a wine-store.

recklessly destroyed to

make

it

Both tombs and walls were

receptacles for the butts of wine,

was entered from a modern staircase made

beneath the three-apsed chapel which we have noticed above
This staircase has now been blocked up,
the second area.
and the point where the ancient steps must have reached

and the

gallery

the surface of the soil

is

marked

in

the plan by the dotted

lines.

A
From

wall
this

closing

up the

staircase at about half

its

length.

point the upper portion of the staircase was de-

29.

Roma

366
prived of half

narrow

flight

Sotteri^anea.

width in order to

its

of steps B^, which lead

make a space for the

down to the galleries Z

and Y. Near this wall the staircase B retains traces of the

same fine stucco, with its ornament of thin red lines, which
we observed on the walls of A. Almost immediately below
this wall the steps have been demolished, as we observed
had been done in the case of the parallel flight, and evidently
at the same period
the traces of them, however, remain on
the side walls.
Here was found the remains of a small sarcophagus, ornamented with dolphins, and bearing the inscription
AOITAIANOC KAT nPOH EIAHN AFIPIA; and another
inscription in Latin to hasellica, apparently on a step of the
;

staircase.
Staircase

B 32.

small opening on the

leads into a rectangular cham-

left

ber coated with coarse plaster, and almost destroyed by a

B B

modern passage which passed

close

to the gallery B^, cut through so

done to the sepulchres in B in

was chosen with special care

The

small as possible.
the

left

wall

above

many

its

lociUi,

entrance

shows the damage

formation, although a point

that the

damage might be

wall on the right

may be observed

The

it.

is

a line of

all

lociili^

as

On

in ruins.

near the roof,

evidently belonging to a different period to those below them,

from which they

differ in

size

and arrangement.

dicate the existence of a gallery, similar to

A, excavated when

B was

filled

Ij in

These

in-

the ainhulacnini

with earth, and probably com-

municating with B4 after the staircase was blocked up, since

it

has no other outlet apparent, and must have been on the

same level with that gallery. From the entrance of B^ to the

bottom of the flight, the steps are well preserved and covered
with slabs of terra-cotta.
Afiibidacriim

The ambulacrum

itself is

paved with large

tiles, all

of which

bear the stamp opus doliare ex pr^diis domini n et figl

Novis, that

is,

according to Marini, from the imperial manufac-

Marcus Aurelius. As we approach the entrance to the

gallery B3, communicating with the arenarium^ we notice the
wall on either side of that entrance is sustained by masonry of
tufa and brick-work, and that the entrance itself has been cut
through some of the loculi ; an evident proof of its having been
tory of

made

at a later period

than the ambulacrum.

however, does not reach the present

roof,

The masonry,

because

at the

time

Analysis of the Cemetery of St

that

was

it

built tiie roof

had not been

Callixt2is.
raised to

367
present

its

elevation by the excavation of the small gallery B^.

On

the right hand,

sepolcro a mensa, 37,

when

will

at

which

at a

somewhat high

elevation,

a Ambulatnnn
^'"

important as proving the present

is

was

it

And

originally constructed.

a practised eye

once perceive that the adjacent entrance into

originally

is

ainbnlacrum to be at a considerably lower level

floor of the

than

now

opened

by the tomb.
more than six

at a level

was b

I.

which corresponded to that required

The entrance

H, on the contrary,

to

is little

B H.

and could not therefore have been

made use of when the floor of the amhilacnun was nearly four
feet above its present level.
From the arrangement of the
loculi^ however, it appears that an entrance into H was contemfeet high,

plated in the original design, although not carried into effect

pavement of B. The masonry

on either side of H, and other signs, show that H was once
continued in a direct line into B, but was at a later period
until after the depression of the

moved about twenty

On

inches to the

left.

much broken, and on the right we see

that the gallery G was commenced originally from this end, B G.
although it appears to have been only commenced and not
proceeded with until the ainbulacnun was deepened. The
small gallery in the roof is very discernible at this point.
The
entrance to F shows the same traces of having been opened B F.
after the level of B had been lowered, which we observed in the
entrance to H.
The passage B^, cut through three lociili, and B B
even now of a very moderate height, could not have been made
until

the

left

the wall

is

the deepening of the ainbulacnun.

after

door we perceive

above

this

small

upper

From

gallery.

Immediately

in the roof the termination of the

the holes high up

in

the

left

it
would seem that \\\^ fossors began at the high level to
open a way into the gallery E, but never carried out their

wall,

design, probably because the wall was afterwards filled with

ioculi.

The entrance

into

was made

at the high level,

and then, B

D.

as at the other end, excavated so as to suit the reduced level

of B.

The

wall above this entrance

is

modern, and belonged

to the wine-stores constructed here in the last century.

opening into T^
the point where

is

also

modern.

B and C meet

is

It

is

The

worthy of notice that

not a sharp angle, as

is

usually B C.

Roma

368
the case

Sotterranea.

the meeting of

in

This pecuHarity

catacomb galleries, but a curve.

an additional work of antiquity, for it suggests

is

the thought that at the period when these galleries were

formed, the work of

Few

had not yet settled into a system.

i\'\Qfossors

appear to have been cut

locidi

first

in this corner,

and those

few at a later period, so that

Gallery

Which connects

13

not,

and did

this area with a

belong to the earlier periods of

not,

cemetery, even though

any

tion of

its

After a few steps

loculi.

when

it

we come upon

now

are

was perceived that

its

point where

Led

Gallery B

it fell

wall,

filled

modern

loculi^

was accordingly half

It

and then

with

B endangered

direct leading into

the discovery of the whole cemetery.

blocked up by a thick

describing.

have been formed and

to

of the

of St Sotere, excavated at a

ai'ea

we

higher level than that which

Appears hardly

this part

entrance did not occasion the demoli-

opening which leads into the

(iallery K^

neighbouring arenarhiui^ need

entirely closed at the

into T,.

and

and

and
being entered by the steps cut through the upper

into the aj-enaria through T,

Z, the latter

B^,

B^, into

part of the original flight B.

The

Avibitlacntiii
'

level

anibulacriim which unites

1863, and

is

wide and very

with

B was

The marks

lofty.

are not very apparent in the gallery

been proved

to the very

ends of

cleared out in
of a change of

itself,

but having

and B, the same change

must, necessarily have been effected in C.

The

loctdi in

this

and with numerous niches

Some of the large tiles, bearing the stamp of
for lamps, &c.
the manufactories of the emperors M. Aurelius and Commodus,

gallery are large, arranged in order,

49. 50.

remain

still

in the loadi.

l\vo large

be seen on

locidi are to

B and
These being

the right immediately after turning the corner out of

52.

further

on

near the

in the left wall

floor,

are

is

a sepolcro a viensa.

marked

in

Fig.

48 as having been con-

structed subsequently to the deepening of the gallery.

the sepolcro a mensa

is

an opening

in

Above

the wall near the roof

made by excavators of the last century, who were making their

way from a higher set of galleries in the area of St pAisebius,
and through

this

opening must have

fallen into X\\^

several fragments of inscriptions belonging to

differing entirely in character

here.

One

of these has the

ambulacrum

tliat ai'ca^

and

from the other inscriptions found

:?:,

of which no other instance

Analysis of the

of St Cailixtns.

Ce77ietery

369

occurs in this a?ra ; and of another the remainder has been

found

The entrance
later

of the area of St Eiisebius.

in a gallery

to C^

cut through

is

date than the ambulacrum

and unexplored

loculi,

and therefore of Gallery

the gallery

but above the entrance,

we

of earth,

full

is

C2

see in the section

on page 342 another passage which must have crossed C when

the latter was full of earth, and which is continued almost
until it meets D.
The passage is in direct communication
Eusebius, and

with the area of St

deepened considerably

modern excavators
See the section of

first

to

have been

construction, either

by graves having been made

or
it

after' its

appears

by

in its floor.

q^ in Fig. 48.

Another doorway leads into the gallery Ci, which apparently

belongs to the same system of passages as Q, and bears marks

C^.

The fragments

of having been formed about the same time.

of inscriptions found in these two galleries are of a character

ambulacrum

similar to those in the

D
first

is

itself.

we have

a lofty gallery, excavated, as

period

of the area, and

ambulacra A, B, which

it

Many

which was explored

was excavated,

as

never more than six

Many

feet high.

this

subsequently to the

seen,

depression of the level of A^, and throughout

is

in

of 1862-63.

in the winter

we have

like the

inscriptions, the

been found

majority of which are in Greek, have

gallery,

deepened

afterwards

connects.

seen, during the D.

of

its

E.

whole length

ils loculi

are closed

with tufa constructions.

F was opened

and then cut away to

which it enters B. The

at the high level of A,

F.

correspond to the depressed level at

little passage F^ was evidently excavated after the lowering of
the floor, for
It

it

carefully avoids breaking into E.

was afterwards demolished

part, in order to

in

for a well of ancient construction, but

well

is

make way
The

furnished with foot-holes, in order to admit of a

descending to clean

it,

as

may be

Well

^^

holding water.

stiil

seen in

all

man

other ancient

wells connected with the Catacombs.

G, on the contrary,

was continued so as

commenced from B
to fall

into

at the

after the

high level, and Gallery G.

had been

level

lowered.

H commenced

from

at the high level,

and

fell

into
2

after h.

Roma

370

Sotterranea.

the floor of that a?nbulacrum had been lowered.

The change

paved with marble.

B we

junction with

in its direction

near

its

was
con-

have already noticed, and careful observa-

shows that change to have been made

tion

Its floor

at the

same time

The pavement here is

Marcus Aurelius. The stair-

with the sinking of the staircase H,.

Staircase H^.

composed of
case H2 is at
is

tiles

of the date of

excavated

first

with loculi in the walls,

in tufa

then flanked with thick walls of tufa and brickwork, in

some

About half-way down

seen a doorway in the wall, with

have been scooped

loculi

the staircase, on the

left, is

an arch turned over

it

which

out.

but walled up, apparently a gallery

it,

On

commenced, and speedily abandoned.

the right

is

seen

a half-open loculus^ within which, instead of a skeleton, was

found a

an

little

The upper

infant.

not

flat,

terra-cotta sarcophagus containing the

body of

portions of the loculi in this place are

but somewhat arched, and the roof of the staircase

breaks into the gallery

I,

which

half blocked

is

up by the

masonry sustaining it. The staircase, after all, remained useless, for it was found impossible to use, for sepulchral purposes,
The tiles are in many cases
the gallery into which it leads.
stamped with the mark of the manufactory of M. Aurelius.
Ci(hiciilii)u IT

The

cubiculwn Hj, whose entrance

to H2, difl"ers

from

all

the chambers

in the very inferior plaster with

roof,

and especially

with for the

De

first

in the

double

it

immediately opposite

we have

which

time in this area.

Rossi in assigning to

is

hitherto described,

it is

lined, in the barrel

ai^cosolia,

which are here met

These circumstances

justify

a later date. than that of the

stair-

case H..
Gallery

I.

The

gallery

and

B, as

ambulacra.

was originally excavated at the high level of

we have seen from the openings into both those
It was afterwards cut away so as to correspond

new

and thus it is found at present, with its

floor sloping downwards from the middle each way towards
A and B, while the middle portion itself remains still at the
with the

higher

level.

level,

The

attempts to convert

and scarcely any

walls
it

are

much damaged by

inscriptions have

opening by which the majority of

from the crypt of
on,

on the

left

S.

the rude

into a wine cellar in the last century,

Cecilia

is

been found

in

it.

The

visitors pass into this gallery

quite modern, but a

little

farther

hand, we may, by climbing to the top of a heap

Analysis of the Cemetery of St

Callixtits.

of rubbish, penetrate into the Httle crooked gallery

here crossed this gallery

its

way from A^

when

to the crypt of S.

have terminated.

It

contains a

open, above one of which

is

ing two branches of this

to those

filled

Cecilia,

number

up with
where

it

which Small

I^,

Gallery

earth, in

seems

of small

to

loculi^ all

traced on the mortar the sign of

There are signs of an intention of excavat-

the cross thus +.

manner

was

it

371

gallery along

little

in a

I,

which we have noticed along

similar

and

B, but

the intention appears never to have been carried into effect.

The modern

constructions along the part of the gallery

I,

work of the Commission

of Sacred Archaeology, and were rendered necessary by the
rude staircase which had been made into the crypt at this
point, at the time when it was used as a cellar.
We now enter L, the first gallery which branches off from the
ambidac7'U7n A, and which still retains some traces of the fine
smooth plaster with which it was originally coated. We have
usually traversed by visitors, are the

already seen
into

how

rendered

now descend

it

Gallery L.

the construction of another flight of stairs

necessary to

into L.

make

we

the steps by which

At the bottom of these

steps,

we

notice,

on the right hand, traces of the original wall having been cut

away

in order'to

widen the passage

and

be observed beneath the Iwninare which

that

which originally formed the end of

that the crypt of S. Cecilia

Papal crypt.
this

was

similar traces

now

may

gives light to

this gallery,

proving

originally entered through the

Slight traces also appear of the deepening

which

passage must have undergone when the original level of

was lowered.

At the entrance

to L,

walls traces of the

higher than

it is

we

original level

at present.

pavement and on the

having been about a foot

see in the

The door

of this crypt, which

is

the central and most important in the Catacomb, as having

been the burial-place of the Popes of the third century,

feet wide,

covers

it

and constructed of brick-work.

is

covered with

graffiti,

The

plaster

is

five

which

the majority of which are at

a higher level than would naturally have been chosen by those

who wished to write on the wall, so that these graffiti would

seem to have been upon the plaster at the time when the
pavement was lowered. Others being cut off in the middle
must have been written previous to the widening of the door.

Papal Cry])t
'^'

Roma

3/2
and consequently
which

is

Sotterranea.

the construction of the arch above

to

it

covered with three coats of plaster, two of them

The crypt itself is now almost

with modern masonry, for the ruinous
was found when cleared of earth in

decorated with painting.

entirely reconstructed

condition in which

it

1854 rendered this absolutely necessary for its safety. It is

impossible to determine whether the original chamber has
locidi in its walls, or

what was the nature of

its

roof, so

many

successive works have succeeded each other in this important

See the description, pp. 130-150.

crypt.

The

earliest modification of this

been the

chamber appears

lowering of the level of the

slight

have

to

floor, the traces

of

and especially in
the large sepulchre at the end of the crypt, which had its parapet made in the best style of imperial lateritial work.
At the
same period with this parapet was formed the little passage
Avhich remain in the lowest range of lonili^

leading into the crypt of

shows, and as

S.

Cecilia, as the

form of the parapet

more convincingly by the

brickwork of the passage being of the same kind as that which
This was afterwards covered, first with
covers the parapet.
itself

proved

is

still

white plaster, then again with rough mortar, in order to attach

to

it

slabs of marble,

Above
loculo

and

the roof was lined with mosaic.

lastly,

the large sepulchre, which must originally have been a

?uciisa,

we cannot

see any traces either of other loeidi,

In front of

or even of plaster.

which has four holes,

in

it

are two steps, the lower of

order to receive the pillars that sup-

ported the mensa of the altar which here stood out, with the
episcopal

chair

behind

corner shows the

it.

chamber

A
to

fragment of marble in

the

have been once lined with

similar slabs.

The

right-hand wall,

nothing but

its

when

was

it

eight large loadi,

first

\.\no

discovered, contained

of which, close to the

had space for marble sarcophagi. Among the rubbish

was found the mensa of a tomb, with a vine sculptured on its
edge in very low relief; and on the edge of another was carved
Between the two sets of
the inscription OTPBANOCE.
loadi stood a pillar, of which the base is still in its position,
and a wall forming a sarcophagus jutting out into the chamber
floor,

in

front

a similar

makes a continuation of
arrangement on the left hand

of the loculus

Remains of

this

base.

wall justify


Analysis of tlte Cemetery of St Callixtus.
the restoration of

De

column, which

here in

is

Rossi, while in the roof above the broken

is

its

original position,

now blocked

a second luniinare^
entrance

373

up.

the shaft of

is

The

near the

wall

formed of masonry, with traces of an

inferior

kind

of plaster.
The base and mark in the wall of a small column
still remain at the left hand side as we enter, while above the

door

is

In the

the space for the oblong tablet of a large inscription.

on the other

wall,

side,

a niche for a lamp, or for

is

the vessel in which was burned the hallowed

Gregory the Great speaks.

the entrance in the

similar niche

right in front of

is

The papal

wall of the gallery L.

left

of which St

oil

crypt

had a barrel roof, greatly occupied by the large liiniinarc. The

pavement was of marble, and covered tombs made beneath it,
the inscription upon one of which is still in its place, AHMHTPIC
KAT T^ ir KAL lOTN Demetrius^ buried on the 20th of May.

See

De

XV.

Rossi's restoration of this crypt, Plate

The chamber L, has

its

three principal walls entirely covered Cuhicidum

with a thick wall of brickwork, which has considerably reduced

the size of the

much

The

ciibicidiim.

arches in these walls have been

destroyed, and the loculi of the primitive walls behind

them have

enough remains to show that

they were covered with fine white smooth plaster, that the
roof was vaulted in the cruciform manner, and, like the walls,
adorned with fresco. The central figure in the roof is that of
Orpheus, Plate XI. 2. All the characteristics of this chamber
suffered also.

Still,

are those of the very earliest portions of the area.

The

vestibule

is

constructed entirely of masonry, and

Rossi confesses himself unable to account for

covered

Its walls are lined with plaster

Here were found a number

all

its

De

Vestibule

M.

peculiar form.

over with

graffiti.

of polygonal paving-stones of basalt,

evidently having formed part of the pavement of the cross

road which we have called the Via Appio-Ardeatina.

The

portico to the crypt of

Cecilia

S.

is

The

excavated in the

tufa,

and sustained by brick arches.

loculi

found here apparently belong to the period of

At the end of
of

S.

Cecilia.

S.

N.

on the

Damasus.

a narrow passage runs close behind the crypt

That crypt

which are arches

inscriptions

I'ortico

in

wall of the entrance

itself is

brickwork.

we

entered by tv/o steps, above Crypt of

But behind the

see these loculi which

tion of the gallery Q, before the

right

mark

hand

the posi-

works of Pope Damasus had

^^' ^^

s.
'

Roma

374

completely transformed
ing the crypt,

we

Sottcrranea.

this portion of the

notice on the

Cecilia, a piece of

left,

Ij lost itself

opposite to the

This

which the

pit in

and the end of the

pit,

tomb

The chamber

itself,

little

of S.

circle,

gallery

gallery afterwards

incorporated into the crypt, were distinct from

constructed.

Enter-

brickwork forming the segment of a

when complete, was the

which,

Catacomb.

therefore,

it

when

first

must have been

of the restricted dimensions represented in the plans of the

third

and fourth periods of excavation

The chamber

Cith'uitliiin P^^

P^ has

its

in

pages 345, 349.

entrance almost blocked up by the

which has been already described, page 355.

walls of the chamber are in a very ruinous state, and the
staircase P,

The
loculi

not easy to determine whether the arcosoluun at

was made within a pre-existing recess, or whether
the brickwork and m^arble with which it has been adorned were

broken.

It is

the end of

later

it

additions

but

is

it

certain that before these portions

were added, with the inscription to Dasiunia Quirica which

occupies the lunette, there was a simple loculus, closed with a
slab of marble, w^hich these constructions afterwards covered.

Above
290

the doDr was found in 1854 the inscription of the year

:
VIBIV
Die

FIMVS R
ET
IIII

Vibiiis Fiiniis died {rcccssii)

VII

MAX

KA SEP

COS.

August 26th, when Diocletian

for the fourtli

time and Maximinus were Consuls.

The

most ruinous state the left wall

being quite broken away, and the left only sustained by
ciibiciiluin

in a

P,^ is

masonry, the plaster has nearly

this

chamber appears

to

all

fallen.

From

its

position

have been constructed about the same

time with the staircase P.

The passage

leading to

it

is

sus-

tained by masonry.

The

(iallerv O.

gallery

has

now been occupied by

the staircase P,

but formerly formed a communication between the gallery S

and the crypt of

in

its

floor

S. Cecilia.

The tombs

formerly excavated

have been destroyed by the constructions which

support the staircase

but within one of these tombs, near

the entrance to Q^, were found two p/umbatce, or leaden balls

covered with a shell of bronze, and each fastened to a bronze

chain.
It is possible that these might hav3 been weights for

Analysis of the Cemetery of St

instances of even

but history records

scales,

Callixttis.

375

these weights

being used as iinplcirxnts of torture, and the burial of these

tomb

in the Christian's

certainly favours the supposition that

The

they had been the instruments of his martyrdom.

walls

of this gallery are strengthened by masonry in order to sustain

On

the staircase P.

be seen traces of a

These

the

left wall,

among

this

masonry,

may

of broad steps in the tufa leading up

flight

7'^-

must have been demolished before the

entrance to Q3 could have been made, otherwise it would not
have been of sufficient height to have admitted any one into
that cliamber.
The entrance to S was afterwards closed with
to S.

when

a wall

steps

the staircase

P was made, although

of a door was traced on this wall, as

the outline

had been

if it

at

one time

contemplated to reopen that passage.

The

plaster near the entrance to Q^

most of them

Greek, and

was cleared out

gallery,

in the tufa,

large

in

The chamber

century.

is

now

graffiti, Cubiculuni

together with the others in this

in 1855.

Part of the

lociili.

covered with

apparently belonging to the third

itself,

ruins,

in

is

The

right

hand

wall of

it,

cut

but preserves the traces of rather

left

wall

is

in ruins,

another part

filled

with ancient masonry, and the remainder with the whole lower

end of the chamber

is

faced

vvitli

a solid wall of stone and brick-

work, with four pieces of marble jutting out like brackets about
seven and a half feet from the ground.
a solid arch, which
other half

is

fills

This brick-work forms

half the roof of the chamber.

The

taken up by the litminare, which together with

chamber when the substrucP had blocked up the original doorway, show that this
chamber was one of the important shrines of the Catacomb.
The graffiti and the inscriptions confirm this evidence.
the passage R, giving access to this

Passage R.

tions of

On

the opposite side of the gallery

is

another chamber Q. Cnbiculuin Q

with a barrel roof, the iii7ninare in which formerly received light

from that of Q^ but was blocked up by the. building of the staircase P.

Nevertheless, a window was opened over the door, in
order to compensate to some extent for this

and at the
plaster, which is consequently not of so fine a kind as that of which some remains
are to be seen in Q^.
The loculi are large, and those near the
ground are sunk below the floor. On the left side is an arcosoloss,

same time the chamber was coated with

Iiuni,

but

its

arch

is

of the

same construction

as the

masonry

Ro7na Sotterranea.

37^

at the door, so that its antiquity is not greater

staircase

than that of the

Some remarkable sarcophagi were found in

in Q^.
They are described in page 298.

P.

this

chamber, as also
CubicuhtniO^,

We

have seen that the entrance to Q3 was formed after the

demolition of the stairs 78, leading to S.
At the end of this

chamber

seen a large arcosoliuni once covered with marble.

is

The parapet

tomb

of this

is

would have been

an altar, if the priest had

so high that

impossible to have used the vicusa as

stood on the present pavement.

having been lowered

The

in fact,

This

remedied by a

7ne7isa

a proof of the floor

is

we descend

inconvenient height of the

it

a step on entering

step covered with a slab of giallo a?itico

little

A small passage

marble which now stands in front of the tomb.

in the left

it.

of the arcosoHiim was

hand corner leads

into another chamber, with a

gallery stretching out of it, in which

little

an arcosol'mm. so arranged

is

Q^ which must have been in existence

before these appendices to Q3 were made.
The chamber Q_^ has two arcosolia in its right hand wall, one
In
lined with marble, and the other with fine white plaster.
as to avoid falling into

Q_^.

the

left

wall are

staircase

fills

and the roof

Gallery S.

It

loculi.

massive wall for the support of the

up a considerable part of the chamber on the

left,

pierced by a large himinai-e.

is

appears from the marks of the pickaxes of the fossors in

the walls that the gallery S was

where

was united

it

first

commenced

to the gallery Q, although

it

is

at the

end

somewhat

higher than the level of that gallery, and corresponds to that

of the adjacent area, with which

passage

b.

ATTIKEIANOC. Some
in order to make an

THCCTPEEIC

of the

necting the two

^25 ^3?

'^^4

<:?;''^^.

lociili

its

road

is

MNHCGH ZHCH and

made

S^, S3, S^,

with barrel roofs, and contain arcosolia.

Ciibiculwn S the cross

which proves that the

b,

being

Th^ cnbicula

the plaster of the loatii

have been broken through

entrance to

gallery S existed previous to

Cubiada

On

(See plan on page 349.)

are graffiti in Greek, eg,

was connected by the

it

the
are

left

all

constucted

Immediately beneath

the entrance to the cnbiculum

construction, in the

means of con-

S.,

of similar

wall of which only one loculus appears,

evidently from a fear of weakening the rock beneath the stair-

case A, which must, therefore, have been in use

when

this

chamber was made. Opposite the entrance to S^ is the way

mto another gallery, Se, leading into the labyrinth, clearly of

Analysis of Ihe Cemelejy of Si

Callixliis.

^'j']

much later cii.te than the gallery from which it branches oft".
The ciibiculuni S^ is similar to the others along this gallery,
but

its

roof

broken into

MOTCIKIA

The

Still

a passage from the labyrinth having

In a loculus on the

it.

gallery

passage

wards

damaged by

is

is

a continuation of B3,

the inscription

and

much

and connects

that Gallery

roof

its

is

into

cut in steps,

and a half feet in a very short space.

The galleries Tj and T., and others which branch off* from it,
are narrow and low, as is also the chamber T^, which contains
The loculi in U are large, and cona large loculus a inensa.
tained several fine inscriptions in Greek and Latin, e.g., EICTEPKOPI KAI NATAAEfiC AGATEMERIS SPIRITVM TVVM
INTER SANCTOS. U, and U^ are branches of the arenasinking as

^q.^^^''^'^''^'"'"-

slopes continually

Its floor

level of the are/iariin?i,

tlie

is

in its place.

the arcnariuDi.

Avith

left

as nine

U.

rium, but contain a few

gallery

are

also in V^.

still

Some

loculi.

of the loculi in the

but most of them are destroyed, as V.

V^ leads into the arenarium, which

more ancient than

The

intact,

this gallery

is

which here opens into

vast gallery of the arenariujn, with

its

evidentlv

it.

branches X^,

X.^,Arciiarii(.m\.

no description, and the secret passage X^, leading x

into it, has already been described, page 347.
The gallery Y, with its dependencies, is low and narrow, y.
and at the level of the galleries excavated above the earth
which filled up the main ambulacra. Three cubicula Y^, Y^,
X3, needs

Y3, are of the rudest description

while

Z is merely

tion of the hypogeum entered through B^,

a continua-

and a portion of

it

breaks into the roof of the chamber Q,.

The
easily

who has had patience

perceive how fully it justifies
reader

given in the

last chapter,

and

will

magnitude of De Rossi's labours

tion of this vast necropolis.

in

\"

to study this analysis will

the account of this area

be able to estimate the

thus analysing every por-

Z.

PLAN OF FIRST ARA OF

Ia

Mdrts.'L
ee

C.

1
1

^=^

S.CALLISTO.

2S

APPENDIX
Note

The

(page

15).

tomb and body

Hyacinth by Father
showing how innocently
a false tradition may be created about the possession of such or
such a relic by any particular church.
discovery of the

Marchi deserves

On

to

the evening" of

employed

Roman

in

be told in

Good

digging in the

of St

detail, as

March 21,
Catacombs, came

Friday,

1845, o'^g of the

to F.

College, with a slip of paper in his hand,

" DP.

Marchi,

men Discovery

in the^^^^"^."

on which were

Idus Septebr Yacinthus, martyr,"

which he said he had just copied from a stone that was still inclosing a grave in a chapel of the Catacomb of St Hermes (or Sta.
This excited not a little surprise
Basilla, as it is sometimes called).
in the learned Father, who knew from ancient calendars, martyrologies, and other sources, that the two brothers, St Protus and
St Hyacinth, had suffered martyrdom together under the Emperor
Valerian, and that they had been buried in this Catacomb on the
th of September but he imagined that their bodies had been long
since removed to other churches. Arringhi* states that they were
translated from the church of San Salvatore, in Trastevere, to that
of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, under Clement VIII., in the year
However, when Father Marchi visited the spot on Monday
1592.
morning, in company with a painter and an architect to draw
illustrations of the chapel, he satisfied himself that it was indeed
a grave that had never been opened he observed also that the
chamber in which it was, was only one of five chambers, all connected together, receiving light from a very large liinimai'e^ and
having a double approach by staircases from two opposite sides,
just as he had before noticed in the principal churches in the
Catacombs of St Agnes, St Helen, and St Pra^textatus.
In a

these words,

1 1

in.

* Arringhi,

ii.

p.

235.

j^^^r

of

z^!^

Roma

8o

Sotteri'a7tea.

word, the place had every arrangement necessary for accommodating a large number of the faithful, just as one would expect at
the tombs of such famous saints as St Protus and St Hyacinth.
and of the
tombstone of
St Protus.

Moreover, turning over the heaps of earth which encumbered the

pavement, he found a fragment of marble, with the words, SepulCHRUM Proti '^\{artyris), and this placed it beyond a doubt that
here had certainly been the burial-place of those two glorious
martyrs, and that one of

But because

them

still

lay in his original tomb.

this discovery contradicted the

popular belief and

Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, F. Marchi

judged it advisable to proceed with unusual care and circumspection he therefore left the grave exactly as it was, and
spent the next three weeks in a diligent investigation of every
record he could discover which could throw light upon the history
of the two brothers paying frequent visits to the chapel, however,
in the meantime, accompanied by cardinals, bishops, prelates, and
the claims of the
rightly

others, wdiose devotion or curiosity led

result of his historical researches

them

was most

to the spot.

The

He

found
which

satisfactory.

that about a century after their martyrdom, the chapel in

History of
relics of

St Protus.

they had been buried was so blocked up with earth, that Pope

Damasus was

obliged to repair

it,

and

that,

according to his usual

same time of putting up an

epitaph of verses in their honour also that Pope Symmachus, in
the beginning of the sixth century, had again restored the chapel,
and that the bodies of the martyrs were still there at the end of the

habits, he took the opportunity at the

;

seventh century.

The next trace of them belongs

when it is recorded that Leo

tury,

to the

middle of the ninth cen-

IV. placed under the high altar

of the church of SS. Quattro Coronati, the heads of St Protus,

St Sebastian, Sta. Prassede, and others, together with the bodies
of fifty-seven martyrs, taken either from the cemeteries or from

other churches.

Now, we know

had translated the

the church dedicated to her honour, and
that Paschal

I.

body of Sta. Prassede to

that Gregory IV. had translated that of St Sebastian to the basilica
now known by his name, but before that time called after St Peter
and St Paul, whose bodies, as we have seen, once found a temporary
and although we do not know who had transresting-place there
of
St Protus, yet we are certain that it had been
lated the body
done at some time prior to this, for Leo would never have removed
the head only, and left the rest of his body in the Catacombs, since
the motives assigned by his predecessors for removing the martyrs
bodies from the Catacombs at all was, " ne rejnanerent neglediii^''
that they should not remain exposed to neglect and irreverence in
;

the midst of such a chaos of ruins.

Leo's act can only be ex-

Appendix.
plained by supposing that

381

some church was ah^eady

in possession

and that he did not choose to deprive them of

and this church can have been no other than
that already spoken of, the church of San Salvatore in Trastevere,
for from hence it was undoubtedly transferred to the church of the
of the whole body,

more than a

part

Florentines at the close of the sixteenth century.

The reader

no mention in this account

Pope Leo's proceedings, of either the whole or part of the body
of St Hyacinth
yet if this had been within his reach, it is impossible that he should have overlooked it, when he w^ent out of his
will

observe that there

is

of

way

so far as even to rob other churches, in order to enrich his

with

all

own

the precious relics he could find.

How

then could the Florentines assert that they had the bodies St Hyacinth's
of both the brothers? They were told so by the church of San ^"^^ics j-////^5tV
Salvatore, where an inscription in the
altar expressly said, "

Sub hoc

pavement under the high

lapide requiescimt sanctorum

p07'agloriosissimor2un Proti et Hyacbithi.^^

But

this inscription

co?'-

was

not older than the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and between this

and the eighth or ninth century there was abundance of time

to

confound the memory of the original translation of the relics.

Moreover, there was in the same church another inscription, or

by Pope Damasus,
and everyand in this Hyacinthus was named
body knew that both had suffered together, and that they had been
buried in the same chapel, and that the body of St Hyacinth was
It was but natural, therefore,
not to be heard of anywhere else.
that they should conclude that as they certainly had the body of
the one brother, so also they had that of the other.
But was not the mistake discovered when the relics were removed to San Giovanni ? Christopher Castelletti, who has left
us an account of the translation, says that they dug beneath the
that they opened
stone until they came to a large marble case
this, and found no entire bodies, for that other churches had been
but he adds
enriched at various times with some portions of them
There were legs, arms, ribs,
that there were a great many bones.
one jawbone with teeth, and several loose teeth. This account
exactly confirmed all that F. Marchi had been able to discover
from an examination of the history. Here is no mention of two
rather half of

it,*

half of the epitaph w^-itten

as well as Protus,

bodies.

On

the contrary, there

two bodies could not be found.

is

a conjectural explanation w^hy

Nor does

there appear to have

and F. Marchi
* The other half was, and is, in the church of the Quattro Coronati
conjectures that the inscription had been diviJed at the same time as the body. There
seems no other way of accounting for ha'f of it being in San Salvatore, and the other
;

half in the Quatiro Coronati.

/-o,
j^i^^

Protus.

Why?

Roma

382

Sotterranea.

been any head at all, only a single jawbone and some loose
teeth, which might have been accidentally left when Leo IV.
separated the head of St Protus from its body.

Why

they

were not

Still

the question remained,

did not those

who

originally

the body
also the body of St
But this, too, was soon answered, when F. Marchi
Hyacinth?
came on Saturday, the 19th of April, with the Pope's Sacristan
(an Augustinian bishop) and other dignitaries, and with two or
three of the excavators, to open the grave itself.
One of the
restorations effected by Pope Damasus, or by Pope Symmachus,
had been an entirely new pavement, made of tufa and Roman
cement, which in that damp place, under the open hii?imare, had
become as hard as any stone. St Hyacinth's grave had been ex-

extracted

those of St
Protus.

why

of St Protus, extract

cavated in the very lowest

tier

of graves in the wall.

Still

the

whole of it had been above the level of the ^r/}cr/V/^/ pavement, but
now it was half above, and half below, the upper and more modern
pavement, so that it was not until some portion of this had been
broken, that the excavators were able to remove the marble slab,
and expose the interior of the grave. Moreover, the crumbling, insecure nature of the soil was such, that it was manifest the whole
wall on that side would inevitably give way, now that its last stay

And

had been removed.

so

it

happened

not immediately, in-

deed, but within a few days, so that the whole chapel

Discovery of
relics of St

yacui

is

again a

and it was through a fear of this disaster that former

generations had left the grave undisturbed.
We must not omit to mention the interior of this grave, because
it brings to light two or three interesting features in the history of
^j^^ Catacombs, which we have not had a convenient opportunity
of mentioning elsewhere. At first sight it appeared to be full of
mud, and the uninitiated began to fear that after all their care they

mass

of ruins

were only to be rewarded with disappointment. F. Marchi, however,

soon explained to them, that where the rain-water came pouring
down a luminare^ it brought much of the soil of the Campagna
along with it but that though it penetrated the lower graves, and
;

them with mud,

unformed bones
man, such as St Hyacinth was.
He immediately began to divide the mud, therefore, with a piece of
only, instead
cane, and soon brought to light the bones of a man
filled

yet this only destroyed the

of infants, not those of a full-grown

of being
cinder,

We
dom

in their natural condition,

and

all

they were partly burnt to a

had manifestly been subjected

cannot account

for this, since the

to the action of

fire.

genuine Acts of the martyr-

are lost.

Lastly, when these bones were removed into broad daylight, and
were being examined by a professor of anatomy in the Pope's

Appendix.

383

Palace, F. Marchi observed several gold threads, crossing

and

re-

amid the earth and about the bones

and when these had been collected and submitted to a professor of
natural philosophy, he declared it certain that the body had been
wrapt up in some very precious material whether it was what we
call cloth of gold, or whether it had been stuff or silk embroidered
with gold, he could not say, as only these threads had survived.
This is a valuable confirmation of what we already knew, not only
from the testimony of Eusebius and others in individual historical
cases, but also from Bosio, Boldetti, and other collaborators^ who
had observed the same phenomena in many graves of martyrs
Boldetti especially mentions one, in
which they had opened.
which all the bones of the skeleton were perfect excepting a
broken skull, and the fragments of the cloth of gold only covered
The relics of St Hyacinth now
this one spot of the whole body.
rest under one of the altnrs in the newly- restored basilica of St
crossing one another, lying

Pauiy?/^;7

le iiiiira.

Whilst these pages are passing through the press, another histori- Discovery of
nistocal monument of early Church history has been recovered: and ^."1
^^ical monu,.
,,
although on this occasion we are not indebted to De Rossi for the dentin 1868
discovery, yet we certainly are for its identification, and the most
interesting commentaries by which he has illustrated it.
'

-iiiT^T-.-^,

month of August 1866, a tablet of the Acts of the Fi'atres

discovered in the vineyard of Signor Ceccarelli, about
was
Arvales
the same place where
five miles from Rome, on the Via Portuensis
the first large discovery of monuments of this heathen sodality had
been made in the sixteenth century. Further examination brought
to light, in the same place, about thirty more considerable fragand it was shrewdly noticed by Henzen, the learned
ments
Prussian antiquarian (under whose direction the excavations were
being made, at the joint expense of the court and the archaeological
In the

country), that these fragments were not mixed

promiscuously,
but that a certain chronological order
together
might be observed in their arrangement thereby showing clearly
societies of his

they must have originally belonged to some building on the

very spot where they were now found. The walls to which they

th;it

had been attached had perished and large portions of the tablets
but the fragments which
themselves had been carried away
for
centuries
lain
precisely
had
where they had fiillen.
remained
;

Several other fragments, however, were found on the top of the

and these were not arranged in any kind of order. More-

hill

were found amongst them fragments c.f Christian

This discovery was wholly unepitaphs of the fourth century.
over, there

3^4

Sotlerranea.

Ro77ict

had been no previous knowledge of the existence of a Catacomb in this neighbourhood. As the work of exca-

looked-for, as there

vation proceeded, small columns, bases, and capitals, were brought

which seemed to indicate the same age and style of

we were already familiar with in the ruins of the
Hospital of Pammachius at Porto, and other monuments of the
fourth century.
At last, a piece of marble was turned up, the fragment of an architrave, bearing only three letters complete, STI, but
to light, all of

architecture as

these of unquestionably

Christian

Damasine

monument was now

character.

certain

a Catacomb was detected, and

to

the staircase by which

form

d in

there

is

we descend

Fig. 27, represented in

lastly the

to

it,

we

page 230

Good Shepherd,

a painting of a

excepting that on the dress there

The presence

of a

and by and bye the entrance

Catacomb itself. On
monograms, of the

find

and

in the first gallery

quite of the usual kind,

a crux gavimata (see Fig.

is

page 230), such as we see on the tunic oi \}i\Q fossor Diogenes,

belonging to the age of Damasus.* On the wall of a small aibi27,

/',

culiini is

much

later painting, of our Blessed

midst of four saints, each holding a crown

the
Itlentihcalion

of Ccemeter'uun
Generoses ad
Philippi.

name

The

(Plate V.)

to decipher

De

{Ritfiniaims).

of these names it is impossible

we can only see SCA
TRIS
SCS
SCS + FAVSTINIANVS,
+ RVFININ
first

of the second,

others are plain,

^^^ ^^^^

sitting in the

hand, and having

written at the side, just as in the case of St Cornelius

and Cyprian

now

Lord

in the

Rossi at once conjectured that the obliterated

and -that he had before him

some memorial of Saints Simplicius and Faustinus, who were
drowned in the Tiber in the persecution of Diocletian, and buried
in the cemetery of Generosa super Filippi^ or, as it is somewhat differently expressed in the KoXs.juxta locum qui appellatur
Sextuni Philippi via Fortueusi, and of their martNred sister, St

name must have been

Beatrice,

who was

of simplicivs,

afterwards buried near them.

made some excavations under

and soon brought to light ruined walls of a small
Christian oratory, once adorned with mosaics, and two or three
more fragments of the Damasine inscription, which gave VSTINO
The owners

of the vineyard kindly

his directions,

VIATRICI.

This, of course, confirmed

truth of his

unusual

up, in the

first

Rossi's confidence in the

presented

many and

which he has only now succeeded

in clearing

conjecture

difficulties,

De

number

but

the

sul^ject

of the Bullettiuo for this year.

both the difficulties and their solution as briefly as

We
we can, for they are worth attending to, as illustrating various
First,
points whichhave been often insisted upon in this volume.
will state

how

could a Christian cemetery have been excavated under the

*

Iiiscr. Christ,

i.

594.

Appe7idix.

385

very temple and grove of a heathen sodality in the days of Diocle? and secondly, how can the position of this cemetery, so near

tian
to

Rome, be reconciled with the

description of the cemetery of

Generosa given above, jiixta Sextiitn Philippi ; since we have the

testimony of Ethicus, a Christian writer of the fifth century, that
the farm called Sextuin Philippi (which he tells us was -also called

pr(Edium viissale) was seven or eight miles further down the river,
near the island now called Isola sacra ?
As to the first difficulty, it is well known to all who have studied Sts.Simphcius,
the subject of the Fratres Arvales

so

important in

its

bearing

upon disputed questions of Roman chronology during the Imperial

period that when Marini published his great work upon them, all
the fragments of their tablets which had been discovered ranged
between the reigns of the first emperors and that of Gordian, about
A.D. 238.
Marini expressed an earnest hope that tablets of a later
date would one day be discovered, but that hope has never been

De

realised.

these Fratres
the

last

Pagan

Rossi
is

observing that the

Minucius

Felix, a

last writer

who mentions

cotemporary of Gordian, and

who enumerates the title cf Priest of

among his dignities, belongs to the very same

magistrate

college

conjectured, with

his usual sagacity, that the college

this

age,

must have

been either abolished or incorporated with some other, or, at

This he
least, fallen into disrepute and neglect, about that time.
announced in a paper published in the Aniiali deW Istituto di
Corrispoiideiiza Archeologica in 1858, and the recent discovery singularly confirms the statement, for the latest date which has been
found is of the year 225. There is nothing, therefore, strange or
improbable in the supposition that, at a time when entrance to the
usual Christian cemeteries was forbidden by the Emperor Diocletian, a new place of burial should have been provided here where
the bodies of the martyrs Simplicius and Faustinus had been recovered from the Tiber. This account of the origin of this cemetery

is

the

more

certain, because, although

it

is

singularly perfect

(never having been disturbed apparently at any time, excepting for

the translation of the relics of the Saints by Pope Leo

11."^),

yet

not a single Christian epitaph has been found more ancient than
the days of Diocletian, nor any vestige of the

more primitive signs

and symbols. On the other hand, the use of the monogram is
frequent, and there are several epitaphs with consular dates of the
age of Damasus. Moreover, it is important to observe that this
Catacomb is connected with an arcnariiiin, like those mentioned
and this we have pointed out (p. 88) as
in this volume at p. 332
;

* Lib. Pontif. in loc.

He

translated

them

to the

Church

of St Bibiana.

gg^^rice bif-"
under deserted grove of

j-ied

Roma

386

Sotterranea.

one of the characteristics of those parts of the Catacombs which

This discovery belong to the times of persecution.
The numerous openings of
conhrms our ^|^-g
the
the
hill
would have rendered the
arenarium on
side of
History of the
secret construction of a small cemetery here a matter of no great
Catacombs,
and the Acts difficulty, even in the days of Diocletian, and there is absolutely
o
lese
ai^^ reason to suppose that it was used extensively at any time. On
it is but a small Catacomb even now, and seems to
have had one central shrine, as it were the tombs of the martyrs
Over these. Pope Damasus raised a little
that have been named.
oratory or basilica, so arranged that through a window in the apse

the contrary,

upon the sacred graves. A small

excavated, which would lead them directly from

the worshippers could look in

gallery

was

also

the oratory to this aibiciduin^ whilst the adjacent galleries were

blocked up, as we have seen in the neighbourhood of the tomb of

St Eusebius (p. 168), to prevent the pilgrims from going astray
and losing the object of their pious search. For these saints were

was kept on the 29th

special lessons and prayers in their honour may be seen
of July
and
in the office-books of Gelasius and St Gregory the Great
their names even have a place in the Litanies in the most ancient
MSS. both of England and France.*
The second or topographical difficulty may be dismissed more
summarily. The Acts of Saints Simplicius and Faustinus, and the
inscription on the front of the old marble sarcophagus, wdiich may
once held

in great veneration

their festival

place of burial with some place

Mary Major's, connect their

known as Filippi, or Sexhim

Philippi ; and a geographer of the

fifth

be seen

still

in the precincts of St

as being several miles farther

however, of

tion,

all

dowm

century describes this spot

the river.

careful examina-

the passages in which this place

deriving

its

name from Philip is mentioned, had already led Bosio to suspect

that the name belonged to a considerable tract of country, viz.,
all

the low land which stretches out towards the sea, beyond the

height on which this cemetery has been excavated, and which

last

spur of Monte Verde and the whole range of

of the Tiber.

If

we accept

hills

is

the

on that side

this simple explanation of the term,

no longer any inconsistency between the locality of the

cemetery just discovered and the descriptions of it in ancient
monuments. On the contrary, there is a special fitness in the
word used in one of those descriptions, which speaks of the cemetery as being super Filippi,
This is a subject, however, which
need not further be discussed in this note. But the discovery of
another Catacomb, agreeing so exactly in all its phenomena with
there

is

* Mabillon, Aualei.tn,

App..

p. 65.

ii.

j).

670.

Martene

rle

Di\.

Off., p. 630.

Morlni de Poenit.

in

Appendix.

387

the general theory of their history, as laid

down by De Rossi and

explained in these pages, was too important a fact to be altogether

omitted.

Note B (page

22).

Martyrdom of St Cecilia," published by Bosio Two versions

and repubhshed by Laderchi in 1722, were taken from a ^!!^ -^.^^^
late MS. in the possession of her church in Trastevere. The Greek eompared.
version of Metaphrastes was made from an older MS., of which
Latin copies also are extant
and it will be worth while to set side
by side a passage of the Acts as it stands in each of these two
versions.
The additions in the later MS. which we have italicised

The

" Acts of the

in 1600,

are very significant.

Almachius ordered Cecilia to

be brought before him, and he
asked her, What is your name ?
She answered, Cecilia.

Almachius the Prefect orders

Saint Cecilia
is

swered,

your name

asked her.

She an-

amo7ig men ;
mucii more dis-

Cecilia,

what

but^

be brought be-

And he

fore him.

What

to

is

I am a CJiristian.
Of what condition are

tijio^uished,

A. said, Of what condition are

you

C. answered,

and

A. said.

you

?
I

am

free,

noble,

of senatorial descent {clar-

C. answered,

am

Roman

citizen, distinguished, [ilhisti'is)*

and noble.

issima).

A. said,

ask you about your

religion.

A. said,
religion,

ask you about your

for we

k?ioiv that

you

are noble by birth.

C.

answered. Your question-

ing then took a very foolish beginning, to expect two answers

to be included in

A. said.
great

one enquiry.

Whence have you

presumption

in

so

answer-

ing?
C.

said,

science,

From

and a

a good con-

faith unfeigned.

Saint Cecilia said. Your questioning took a very foolish exordium, to expect two answers to
be included in one enquiry.

The Prefect A. said. Whence

have you so great presumption
in answering ?
Saint C. said, From a good
conscience, and a faith unfeigned.

A.

said,

what power

Do
I

you not know

have ?

A,

said,

what power

Do
I

you not know

have ?

The vagueness of this word marks a later date than the exact specific words used
n the other version.

Roma

388

Sotterranea.
The Blessed

C. said,

And do

you not know whose spouse I

am

A.

Whose?

said,

Saint

C.

said,

Of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

A.

You know not what

C. said.

power you

have
for if you
question me about your power,
I
will manifest it to you by
most true assertions.
;

I know you

said,

wife of Valerian.
Saint C. said,

know

to be the

you

Prefect,

not yourself what power

you have

you question
me about your power, I will
manifest it to you by most true
for if

assertions.

me what

A. said to her, Tell

A.

tJie

Prefect said to her, If

you know anything,

you knoWi

tell

me.

shall be delighted to hear a discourse from

C. said to him.

man

It

is

is

as

when a

The poWef

Saint C.

of

bladder, &c.

your mouth.
said.

In proportion

you are delighted, so shall

Nevertheless,
you be judged.
The power of man is as
listen.
when a bladder, &c.
as

clear from the prologue to these Acts that their compiler

lived at a time subsequent to the

triumph of Christianity

yet

it is

he had not access to the genuine official

or at least faithful copies of them, when he

difficult to believe that

documents

of the trial,

wrote this detailed account of the examination, for in its older and
simpler form it has all the preciseness of the legal forms of a
criminal process.

Note C (page

68).

THE CHAIR OF ST PETER.

The term Cathedra Petri has, in the course of ages, gathered
''The Chair of
Feter "sed in ^-q^-^ j j^ go many associations of the
supreme authority in the
a double sensCi
t r-i
i
i
i
j
Catholic Churchy that we are apt to regard it solely
its moral and,
,

of course,

most important

signification,

and

to forget that within

the bronze seat supported by the colossal figures of the four Doctors

Church there is an ancient chair which Roman tradition asserts to have been actually used by the Apostle St Peter.
Among
the Essavs of the late Cardinal Wiseman is a learned and interest-

of the

Appendix.
ing paper which exposes the absurdity of

blunder in confusing this venerable

relic

,89

Lady Morgan's amusing

with an ancient chair at

Venice, and so pretending that on the Chair of St Peter was to

be found the Mussulman formula. The Cardinal, however, was

obliged to be content with descriptions and drawings of the true
chair, which were two hundred years old, as the relic had never
been seen by man since Alexander VII. had placed it in its present The real Chair
''^'
position.
Commendatore De Rossi has been more fortunate for, ^^^ ^"
ceiitly cxat the eighteen hundredth anniversary of the martyrdora of the posed,
;

Apostles, in 1867, Pope Pius IX.

commanded

this

venerable

relic

be exposed for the veneration of the faithful, and full opportunities were given for a close and scientific examination of it from

to

every point of view.

The

illustration given here

is

carefully copied

from a photograph taken during the exposition of the Chair, and

will assist our readers in following the description of it which we
proceed to give.
I. DESCRIPTION OF

THE CHAIR.
It is

The Chair has

four solid legs

horizontal bars of the

same

composed of yellow oak, united by

niaterial.

composed

of two kinds
In these legs are fixed the of wood.

Roma

390
iron rings

Ornamented
"

'

kinds.

Sotterranea.

which make the whole a

such as that in

sella gestatoria,

which the Sovereign Pontiff is now carried on state occasions, and

such as those which the Roman senators began to use in the time
of Claudius.
The four oak legs were evidently once square, but
they are much eaten away by age, and have also had pieces cut
from them as relics.
These time-worn portions have been
and
rendered
more ornamental by pieces of dark
strengthened
acacia wood, which form the whole interior part of the chair, and
which appear to have hardly suffered at all from the same causes
which have so altered the appearance of the oak legs. The panels
of the front and sides, and the row of arches with the tympanum
above them, which forms the back, are also composed of this wood.
But the most remarkable circumstance about these two different
kinds of material is, that all the ivory ornaments which cover the
front and bick of the chair are attached to the acacia portions
alone, and never to the parts composed of oak.
Thus the oak
framework, with its rings, appears to be of quite a distinct antiquity
from that of the acacia portions with their ivory decorations.
These ivory ornaments themselves, again, are of two distinct
kinds of workmanship. Those which cover the front panel of the
chair are square plates of ivory, disposed in three rows, six in a

row, and have the Labours of Hercules engraved upon them, with
thin lamincE of gold

them

let into

the lines of the engraving.

down, and their present use

which they were originally intended.

are put on upside

not that for

ivories,

on the contrary,

fit

is

Some

of

evidently

The

other

exactly the portions of acacia which

they cover, with the architecture of which they correspond, and

made on purpose, and never to have

been used for ornamenting any other article. They consist of
bands of ivory, not engraved, but sculptured in relief, and represent
combats of beasts, centaurs, and men, and in the middle of the
horizontal bar of the tympanum is a figure of a crowned emperor,
holding in his right hand a sceptre which is broken, and in his
he has a moustache, but no beard, and De Rossi
left a globe
conjectures he may be intended for Charlemagne or one of his
Two angels, one on either side, offer him crowns, and
successors.
two others bear palms. The style of the carving and of the arabesques corresponds to the age of Charlemagne. The Labours of
they appear to have been

Hercules are of a
think them

The

tradition

first

De

Rossi does not

century.

may be

more accurate
-nrdescription of the Chair of St Peter than Cardmal Wiseman was
able to obtain from the works of Torrigio and P>beo prevents our
^

difficulties.

old as the

ancient date, but

Before passing on to consider the historical notices of this vener-

ot Its antiquity
^^^^^ relic,
presents no

archcxoloirical

ac^

much more

it

-^

well to observe, that althouLdi a

^^

Appendix.

391

adopting his hypothesis that this was the ivory curule-chair of the
Consul Pudens, yet the most rigid criticism has nothing to object
against the traditional antiquity of the oak frame-work of this chair.

When
of

the inner part of acacia

iv'ory,

was added, and adorned with bands

the ancient ivories which cover the front appear to have

been put on, and

uncommon

meet with copies of

the gospels, reliquaries, and other valuable works of the early
medieval period, which are ornamented with ivories representing
subjects of Pagan mythology.
At that time Paganism was dead
in Europe, and its treasures of art were transferred to innocent
and often to sacred uses but when the struggle between the infant Church and the dominant power of heathen idolatry was still
raging, the Christians, as we have seen in our Chapter on Sculpture, were extremely cautious in their admission of scenes of Pagan
mythology, and would not have been likely to allow them to remain
undefaced on so sacred an object as the Chair of St Peter. On
it is

not at

all

to

the other hand,

all

that the Cardinal urges as to the introduction

of the use of the sella gestatoria by the senators, precisely in the

reign of Claudius,

is

most valuable, as showing what was regarded

days as a special honour, and therefore one antecedently

probable to have been conferred by a convert of senatorial rank
in those

upon the Chief Pastor of the Church, to whom, in the words of the
Liber Pontijicalis, " the chair was deli\ered or committed by our
Lord Jesus Christ.'-'*
2.

HISTORICAL NOTICES OF ST PETER'S CHAIR.

In order to prove satisfactorily from historical sources that the Cathedra Petri
relic

now venerated

was so regarded
from
^

as the Chair of St Peter

the earliest ages of the

Roman

Church,

it

be necessary not

will

only to trace a chain of testimonies up to apostolic or quasi-apostolic

times to the cathedra Petri^ but also to produce good evidence

that the expression cathedra or sedes Petri

is

to

be understood not

merely in a metaphorical and moral, but also in a literal and

physical sense.
For instance, when we read in the pages of Bede t
that Ceadwalla, king of the West Saxons, converted by St Wilfrid,

went to Rome to be baptized, and died there a.d. 689, and that
Pope Sergius I. put up in St Peter's an epitaph which stated
" King Ceadwalla, the powerful in war, for love of God left all, that he might visit
and see Peter and Peter's Chair, and humbly receive from his font the cleansing waters,"

we might reasonably think

for his successor
*

"Hie

[Clemens] ex prsecepto Beati Petri suscepit Ecclesiam, et Pontificatum guberDomino Jesu Christo cathedra tradita, vel commissa." Lib.

nandum,

sicut ei fuerat a

Pont.,

iv.

c.

that as "Peter" is put metaphorically

so " Peter's Chair" might not im-

Pope Sergius,

H. E.

v. 8.

sense

Roma

392

Sotterranea.

probably be a metaphorical expression for Rome, the seat of his

and hence we could not from such passages as this

jurisdiction

conclude that any certain reference was intended to a visible

we have given a description,

Our first authority, then, shall be one who leaves us in no doubt
upon this point. Ennodius of Pavia, who flourished at the end of

material chair, such as that of which

by Ennodius,
A.D. 500.

the

fifth

and beginning

rejoicing in having

following words

^''

of the sixth centuries, introduces

Rome

as

become Christian, and puts into her mouth the

Ecce mine ad gestatoj'iain sellam apostoliccp coti-

fessionis iida mittunt limina candidatos

actore^fletibus collata

Dei

benejieio

et tiberibus^

dona geininantiirr *

gaudio ex" See now

the dripping thresholds send forth the white-robed [neophytes] to

and amid floods

by the kindness of God are
doubled," i.e.^ in the two sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.
In this passage Ennodius brings vividly before us the scene presented by the Baptistery of the Vatican, when the newly baptized,
with joyful emotion, passed at once from the font to receive Confirmation from the Bishop seated in the sella gestatoria^ which
appears to have been then a conspicuous object at St Peter's
the se//a gestatoria of the Apostle's Confession

of joyous tears the gifts conferred

shrine.
Inscription in
Baptistery.

This passage

is

illustrated

by some

^^^^ ^ fragment of the fourth or

'
'

fifth

from the Codex of Vercentury

lines

Istic insontes calesti Jlutnine lotas

Pastoris Stnnmi dextera sigiiat oves.

tindis generate veni quo Sanctus ad luinvi
Spiritus ?et capias te sua dona vocat."

Hue

" In this place the right hand of the Chief Pastor seals the sheep

who have been

heavenly stream, O thou who hast been born again in the waters, come
that one place whither the Holy Ghost calls thee to receive His gifts."

washed
to

in the

The

lines preceding these in the

same Codex were

written at the

entrance of the Baptistery

" S^cinite perpettiam sajicto de gurgite vitain
Ctcrstis hie est Jidei, mors nbi sola perit.
Roborat hie aitiuios divino foiite lavacru7n,

Et duiJi

ine7nbra madejit, metis solidaticr aqins.

A nxit apostolicce geviitiattan

sedis

hojwrem

Christus et ad coelos hunc dedit esse viam :

Nam cui siderei commisii limina rigtii
Hie ha bet in templis altera claustrn poll"

" From this sacred font draw everlasting life for this is the stream of faith in which
Here the washing of the font of God gives strength to
death alone is destroyed.
Christ
souls, and while the limbs are moistened, the mind is made strong in the waters.
has added double honour to the Chair of the Apostle, and given him to be the way to
heaven for he to whom He committed the portals of the kingdom above, has here in
the churches another gate of heaven."
;

Apolog. pro Synodo, npiid Sismond. 0pp.

torn.

i.

p.

1647.

Appendix.
From

we gather

these lines

393

that the Baptistery of the Vatican in

which they were inscribed, was " an honour doubled by Christ to

Peter, and to the Chair of the Apostle," and that there was in that
Baptistery a distinct place where the neophytes were sealed and
enriched with the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the hand of the
Supreme Pastor. Now, comparing this with the passage of Ennodius, we perceive that the sedes apostolica is not mentioned only
in its moral, but also in its literal and material sense
and that in
the fifth century at least there was solemnly preserved in the Baptistery of the Vatican a sella gestatoria^ upon which, or in front of
which, the Pope used to sit when he conferred the Sacrament of
;

Confirmation.

A
to

remarkable testimony
in the inscription

it

which he had

tery

"

Una

same

to the

fact is the evident allusion

which St Damasus put up

in this Baptis-

By

St

Dama-

^^^^ ""* f^^^^th

built

Petri sedes

'

unum verumque lavacrum."

Again, in the inscription on the tomb of the immediate successor

of

Damasus, we read that Pope

"

Siricius

FONTE SACRO MAGNUS MERUIT SEDER E SACERDOS."

Now,

the usual place for the Bishop's throne was in the apse of

the basilica, and therefore

counted worthy to

sit

as

if

"was

recorded that Siricius

is

it

High

Priest at the Sacred Font,"

clear that " in the Sacred Font,"

i.e.,

in the Baptistery,

Rome owed

the chair to which the Bishop of

it

is

was placed

his pre-eminent

rank

as the Sacerdos Magnus., and, in fact, the magnificent Baptistery of

St Damasus is described by Prudentius as "the Apostolic Chair."

With these

authorities to guide us,

walla in an entirely

new

light,

" Chair of Peter" which he

is

fail

to visit

the epitaph of Cead-

described as leaving

was none other than the famous

king could not

we read

and we cannot doubt that the

home

to see,

which the Saxon

when he received the sacrament of resella gestatoria

generation in " Peter's Font."

Our
the

next authority shall be St Optatus of Milevis,

ficate

The

edition of his

Donatists boasted of having in

Optatus opposed

Damasus, and
the same Chair
atist

who published

work against the Donatists during the pontiof St Damasus, and the second during that of St Siricius.

first

to

them the

line of

Rome
Roman

a bishop of their sect.

pontiffs

to Siricius, "all occupiers," as

;

and proceeded" In

"

bishop) " be asked where he

Chair of Peter?"

(/;/
"

fact, if

sits in

10,

and

Macrobius " (the Don-

Rome, can he

cathedra Petri) " which

Gruter Inscr. pp. 1163,

from Peter to

he pointed out, "of

am

,1171,- 16.

say. In the

not aware that he

and St Op*^^^"^-

Roma

394

Sotterranea.

has ever seen with his eyes, and to whose shrine he, as a schismatic,
has not approached."* The Chair, therefore, on which Damasus,

and afterwards

Siricius, sat as pontiffs, was in the time of St

Optatus regarded not only morally, but materially, as the Chair

of St Peter,

ad Pet7'i
Now,

and was seen by the eyes of those who approached

7?ie?no?'ia?n,

it is

i.e.,

to his basilica

on the Vatican.

impossible that this Chair could have been so generally

regarded in the fourth century as having belonged to the Apostle

St Peter and his successors, unless there

ancient tradition to that

effect.

Baptistery of the Vatican,

perhaps

it

At any

at the

time an
in the

must have been preserved elsewhere,

in the very crypt of St Peter's

of Constantine.

had been

Damasus placed it

Before St

Tomb,

or in the Basilica

rate, before the Diocletian persecution,

and

in the course of the third century, Catholics professed, in the

presence of heretics who did not attempt to deny it, the same tra-

which St Optatus opposed to the Donatists concerning the

Chair in which the successors of St Peter presided over the Church.
This comes out with striking clearness in the Poem against Marcion,
usually appended to the works of Tertullian, and which from inTowards the
ternal evidence clearly belongs to the third century.
end of Book iii., this ancient author enumerates the Bishops of
Rome, and commences the list with these lines
dition

"

Hnc

cathedra, Petrus qita sederat

Maxiiua Roma
" In

this

Chair

in

ipse,

locatum

Litiicm primuju eonsidere jussit."

which Peter himself had

Oreat Rome."

sat,

he ordained Linus

fiist to sit

with him

[as bishopj estabHshed in

These words certainly suggest the idea of a material chair, and

becomes still more certain when we recall the
language of St Optatus and Ennodius. In fact, with the light
thrown upon the expression Cathedra Petri by the passages of
this literal sense

many

of

the works of the early Fathers in which that expression occurs,

its

those authors,

it is

impossible to avoid observing, that in

immensely increased if we suppose them to have used it

with a full knowledge that the very chair of the Apostle was preserved in Rome as the visible witness to, and symbol of, the
force

St Cyprian.

is

apostolic foundation of her line of Pontiffs.

Roman

wrote of the
Fabian, "

cwn

Thus, when St Cyprian

See being vacant by the martyrdom of St

locus Fabiani., id est locus Petri et gradus catliedrce

sacerdotalis vacaret^'' t the force of the expression

if

we understand him

to

which Peter himself had

to St Fabian,
*

have had
sat,"

in

is

greatly increased

view the venerable chair, " in

and on which

his successors,

were enthroned.
Si Optal. ad Parmcn.

ii.

4.

Epist. 59.

down

Appendix.
The
all its

celebrated passage of Tertullian,

significance

if

this venerable relic.

by the

we regard him

He

395
De

Pi'czscript. c. 36, loses Tertullian.

as ignorant of the existence of

invites all heretics to test their doctrines

living tradition of the Apostolic

Churches

" Peiairre eccle-

sias apostolicas^ apiid gims ipsa adhiic cathedrcs apostolortim suis

Si Italics adjaces^habes RoinauiP "Go through

the Apostolic Churches, where the very chairs of the Apostles still
preside in their places.
If you are near Italy, you have Rome."
locisprcBsident.

The Church

of Jerusalem preserved the ipsa cathedra of St

Alexandria venerated the ipsa cathedra of St

long residence

in

Rome must have

Mark

familiarised

James

;*

f and Tertullian's
him with the ipsa
;

cathedra " in which Peter himself had sat."

Another passage of the same work of Tertullian states " Romanorum [ecc/esia] Clemeiitem a Petro ordinatum editJ" " The Church of
the Romans proclaims Clement to have been ordained by Peter." J
Yet the ancient catalogues place both Linus and Cletus before
Clement.
At any rate, this passage of Tertullian shows the
:

antiquity of the account afterwards inserted in the Liber Poiitificalis,

that Linus

and Cletus had governed the Roman Church

while the Apostles were living, and that Clement had been ordained St Clement
by Peter himself as his successor, and had been enthroned by him "i"^lfinictl hy
.

own

This tradition forms the subject of one of the

frescoes recently brought to light by Father Mullooly in the subterranean Church of San Clemente.
It is true that a full account
of it is found in the apocryphal Clementines, but it does not therefore follow that the whole story is fabulous, for these pages abound
in his

in

St Peter,

Chair.

examples of valuable historical truths, having been buried under

a mass of doubtful and sometimes

fictitious stories.

We have now traced up the testimonies to this celebrated relic, Summary of

from the fifth century to the age when men were living who had evidence to the

conversed with the contemporaries of the Apostles themselves. !.i^"^ ^

All this time it was regarded by Christians in various parts of the
world as the very pledge and symbol of apostolic succession and of
It was the object of a festival, celebrated
true dogmatic teaching.
alike by St Ambrose at Milan and St Augustine in Africa
and
the relic itself was deposited by St Damasus in the Basilica of the
Vatican, where it remained throughout the fifth and at the begining of the sixth century and there is every probability that it is
;

Ceadwalla at the close of the

During the middle ages the mention of it becomes

directly alluded to in the epitaph of

seventh century.

merely incidental, principally in accounts of the enthronizations of

the Pope, and in liturgical books so that instead of this Chair of
;

St Peter

havmg been an

* Euscb. H. E.

vii.

invention of the credulity of the barbarous

19, y^.

Vales, in ibid.

c. 32.

Roma

39^

Sottei-rmiea.

it barely maintained during those ages the veneration paid to

from apostoHc times, and was never adduced, as in earher days,
as an important weapon for the confusion of heretics.
We learn
from incidental notices, that every year, on the 22d of February, it
used to be solemnly carried to the High Altar of St Peter's, and
that the Pope was then seated in it.
The historians of the Vatican
relate, that it was translated from one chapel of the Basilica to

ages,
it

another, until Alexander VII., two centuries ago,

the bronze

monument, where

of all until the

summer

least, in the highest

it

enclosed

it

in

remained concealed from the eyes

of 1867.

It

is

impossible, or, to say the

degree improbable, that a new chair could have

been surreptitiously substituted for that mentioned by Ennodius,

and placed by St Damasus in the Vatican Baptistery. The sella
gestatoria exposed for veneration in 1867 corresponds exactly with
Ennodius' description, for the rings which render it gestatnria are
fixed in a portion clearly distinguishable from the more modern
additions to the Chair; wherefore we conclude that from a historical
and archaeological point of view, we are justified in regarding as
true the venerable title which a living tradition has never failed to
give to the Chair of St Peter,

3.

ANOTHER CHAIR OF ST PETER IN THE CEMETERY

OF OSTRIANUS,

Where wis
Chair of St
th
at

Monza.

the

by no means

"the oil from the chair in which

enthroned" was taken by the Abbot
Johi"^ from the Vatican, where undoubtedly the venerable relic
which we have described was to be seen in the days of St Gregory
On the contrary, it appears among olea taken from
the Great.
various shrines on the Via Salaria Nova, and the care with which
the index of the oils at Monza is grouped on the papyrus MS.
makes us hesitate long before admitting that a mistake has been
made in this instance. Between the Via Salaria Nova and the
Via Nomentana there was a lane, beside which was situated a
crypt, where, according to Bede, the bodies of the martyrs Papias
It is

clear that

Peter the Apostle was

first

and Maurus, who had been baptized in prison by Pope Marcellus,

were buried, and the place was called " Ad Ny7nphas B. Petri, ubi
baptizabat^^ or, as

we read

in

cemetery of the Font of Peter."

the Abbot John are noted

down

the Mirabilia Ui'bis Ro7ncE, "the

Now,

since

all

the other olea of

in the precise order in

which he

must have collected them as he passed from one shrine to another,

we cannot avoid the conclusion that when he stopped to collect the
olea at " the Font of Peter" on his way from the Via Salaria to the
Via Nomentana, there must have been at that cemetery a Chair which
was venerated as the sedes ubi friiis sedit Petnts Aposfolnsr The
'"''

Appendix.

397

HieronymianMartyrology marks January i8 as

S. Petri apostoli, qua priiniim RonicE seditP

''''

Dedicatio cathedra'

This same day is

marked as the Feast of St Peter's Chair at Rome in the martyrologies of Ado and Bede, and in other ancient records, and it is never
said ubi prinuis or prior but always the adverb priiis or primuin^
^

so that the reference

of whom he was the

wards

is

evidently not to the line of

first,

Roman

Pontiffs

but to some other chair in which he after-

All ancient authors record two journeys of the Apostle

sat.

Rome, one in the time of Claudius, and another in the reign of

Nero and these two journeys afford an easy explanation of his
having had two well-remembered places of abode, and two chairs
to

treasured up with affection and veneration by his children in the

gospel.

The

shown

already,*

De

reads, as

antiquity of the cemetery of Ostrianus has been

and the description of one

spot in which this chair was venerated.

itself

of

crypts by Bosio

its

Rossi observes, extremely like an account of the very

But

all

trace of the chair

has disappeared, and no legend, or even fable,

The supposition
offered as the simplest way of accounting
tions which seem to have hung about
petuate

memory.

its

insignificant

in

size,

was

yet

of
for

its

is left

existence

many

only

strange associa-

though
and of
which the

this crypt, which,

styled cceineteriiun majiis

unravelling the otherwise inextricable

to peris

confusion in

history of the two Feasts of St Peter's Chair

is

involved.

4. THE TWO FEASTS OF ST PETER'S CHAIR.

The establishment

of the

Roman Church by

St Peter as the Feast of

perpetual seat of his divinely-received primacy was never disputed

until the

sixteenth century;

when

J^'^^i^.ry i8.

the straits to which the clear

Holy Scripture and the Fathers reduced Protestant

some of the more unscrupulous of them
boldly to assert that St Peter was never at Rome at all, that he
never made it the seat of his apostolic jurisdiction, and never

teaching of

controversialists, impelled

watered with his blood the foundations of that long

whose history

line of Pontiffs

" It was," says the

the history of Christianity.
Abbe Gueranger, " in order to nullify, by the authority of the
Liturgy, this strange pretension of Protestants, that Pope Paul IV,,
is

in 1558, restored the ancient Feast of St Peter's Chair at

Rome, and
on the i8th of January. For many centuries the Church Feast of
had not solemnised the mystery of the pontificate of the Prince of February
the Apostles on any distinct feast, but had made the single feast of
February 22 serve for both the Chair at Antioch and the Chair at
Rome. From that time forward the 22d of February has been kept
for the Chair at Antioch^ which was the first occupied by the
hxed

it

Pp. 67,

68.

22,

Roma

398
*

And

Sotterranea.

the martyrologies from the eighth

day as " cathedra Petri in Antiochia^''
or '''apiid A ntiochiam^' or qua sedit apiid A ntiochia7nr De Rossi,
however, observes that ancient documents anterior to the eighth
century make no allusion to Antioch in connexion with the feast of
February 22.
Thus the Gregorian Liturgy simply marks that
day as cathedra S. Petri f and in one MS. of that book it is expressly added in Roma.
In the times of St Leo the Great this day
was celebrated in the Vatican Basilica with a large concourse of
bishops, and was called ^^ dies Apostoii;" while in the Bucherian
Calendar, which marks the greater feasts of the Roman Church

Apostle."

in fact all

century downwards

mark

that
''

'''

'^

restored after the Diocletian persecution,

Petri de

cathedraJ'''

The sermon

makes no mention

festival

we

find

it

noted as " natale

attributed to St Augustine on this

" The institution

of Antioch, but states

of to-day's solemnity received from our forefathers the

Chair

{cathedj-ce).,

because Peter, the

first

name

of the Apostles,

is

of the
said to

have received on this day the chair of the episcopate. Rightly,

therefore, do the Churches venerate the feast of that see {sedis)
which the apostle undertook for the salvation of the Churches," +
St Ambrose in his sermon for this feast merely expounds the
gospel, without any allusion to the special object of the festival.
Ptolemaeus Silvius

in the fifth

century registers the Feast of St

Peter as on the 22d of February and the Gothic-Gallican sacramentary assigns to the same day a Mass, the collect of which
begins " O God, who on this day didst give blessed Peter to be
after Thyself the head of the Church,'' &c.
The same Mass
however, in the later edition of this sacramentary, reformed in the
eighth century, was transferred to the i8th of January.
We gather from these authorities that an ancient tradition existed in the Church that the famous words, " Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock," &c., were addressed by our Lord to his chief
Apostle in the month of February, and that the 22d of that month
;

||

February
St Peter's

Primacv.

22,

was especially dedicated to the celebration of the institution of the

primacy of St Peter, and that in Rome this festival was made still
more marked by the solemn enthronisation of the supreme Pontiff
in the very Chair which the Apostle himself had once used.
This
is confirmed by the words of the Gothic Liturgy, which declare
" God committed the keys of heaven to a man compacted of the
and set on high the throne of the supreme See. The
earth
:

* Littirgical

Year. Christmas, vol ii- p. 331. Jan. 18. Duffy, 1868.

Greg. Magn. 0pp. iii. p. 312, ed. Maur.
* S. Aug., Serm. 15, De Sanctis.
''
Deus qui hodierna die beatum Petrum
Mabillon, Litiirgia Gallicana, p. 226.
post te dedisti caput ecclesise, cum te ille vera confessus sit et a te digne prselatus
t

sit,"

S.

&c.

II

Ibid., p. 121.

Appendix.

599

episcopal Chair of blessed Peter, this day exposed, [for veneration]

It is equally clear that there is no mention of
is the witness." *

Antioch, as connected with this feast, until the eighth century. Two
difficulties, however, remain to be cleared up, viz., How did the
dea'of Antioch become connected with the feast of February 22 ?
and also. How did the Feast of St Peter's Chair in Rome, on the
i8th of January, find

and ninth centuries

its

way

into the martyrologies of the eighth

.'*

appears to be satisfactorily answered by the January 18,

we have shown, w^as venerated at coming to
Rome,
the cemetery of Ostrianus. This Chair did not, indeed, like that
in the Vatican, symbolise St Peter's primacy, but it did symbolise

The

latter question

his

supposition of the Chair, which,

coming to Rome, whatever may have determined the

The other
particular day on which that chair was venerated.
question it is impossible to determine with any certainty, but the

his

first

suggestion of

De

Rossi

copyists of the ancient

marked

as

''''

commends

Roman

itself

as probable,

why another

that the

Calendar, finding the 18th of January

catheih^a S. Petri qiia primtiin

understanding

viz.,

Romce

sedit^''

and not

Feast of St Peter's Chair at

Rome

should be kept on February 22, inserted the words "(7;2^?/<^y^;///^(r/^m7;2"

anomaly. The Feast of St Tecla, with the

Pauli Apostoli, who went to Antioch in Pisidia to
hear St Paul, and a certain St Gallus, a martyr of Antioch, being
celebrated on the same day, may have led to the insertion of the
word which has perplexed so many antiquarians, and which receives no explanation from any records of the Church of Antioch
which have come down to us.t
in order to explain the

title

o( discipula

N'ote

The

treatise of St Augustine,

written about a.d. 421.

saymg

to

102).

De Cura piv Mortuis

11.J
widow
hadJ pressed him
be buried in the Church of St Felix
^

Gei'e?tdd,

was

11

of beino^ buried

to allow her
;

son

and that he had

consented to her petition, thinking that these desires of pious souls

could not be altogether foolish

{71071

esse i7ia7ies 77iotus a7ii77ton(7!i

religioso7'ii77t et Jideliu77i p7'o siiis ista C7tra7itijti7i)

fact,

one mode of asking

* Mabillon,

1.

c,

Mr Wright

that

for the help of the saints, &c.

it

was, in

He

asks,

p. 298.

has lately published a valuable Syriac martyrology of the fourth century,

from a MS. of the year 412, in which the martyrdom "in the city of Rome, of Paul the
Apostle, and of Simon Peter, the Prince of the Apostles," is commemorated on the 28th of
December {Journal of Sacred LiteraUire and Biblical Records for January 1866).
St Gregory of Nyssa and St Sophronius of Jerusalem assign the same date to the festival
t

of the two Apostles.

St Augustine

St Paulinus of Nola had written to him, o" ^^^ benefit

that a certam

Cynegius

(page

^^g^j. ^|-,g

Saints.

Roma

400

Sotterranea.

however, for the opinion of St Austin

that his

some

body should be buried

saint

all,

prolit a

it

man's soul

death near to the shrine of

iapiid sancti alicujiis nievioriani.)

St Austin answers,
profit at

Does

after

viz.,

first,

that there are

many whom

it

does not

those whose lives were so good that they need

and those who were so bad that they cannot be

Next, he quotes 2 Macch. xii. 43, and adds, that
even if this had not been written in the Old Scriptures, the authority of the Church would have been of no small weight in this
matter, which always provides that the recommendation of the
faithful departed should have its place among the prayers which
no such

help,

benefited by

it.

the priest pours forth to

th.Q 7'ationale

of the thing,

God
and

at

His

altar.

Then he

says, quoting St Matt.

x.

enters into

28-30, that

even the absence of any burial at all cannot bring any real loss to
that all that concerns a funeral is more for the consolation
of the survivors than the good of the deceased nevertheless, that
it is a part of religion to respect the bodies of the dead, which have
been the instruments and temples of the Holy Ghost and that if
it be an act of religion to bury the dead, the choice of a place for
the burial can hardly be altogether indifferent.
He conceives the
benefit of being buried near the shrine of a saint to be this
that,
the soul

when we

call to

mind the

place of our friends' burial,

we may com-

mend them to the saints near whom they lie, that being received
by them as by patrons, they may be helped by their prayers with
God

but without those prayers of ours he does not think the

much use. {Adjuvat definicti spiritiun^ noil

mortui corporis locus sed ex loci vieinorid viuus Sjnatris^ affectus.)
The Church prays for all who have died in the communion of the
Catholic Church, under a general commemoration, without any
mention of names, that those who have no children or parents,
friends or relatives, to perform this work of piety in their behalf,
may receive it at the hands of the Church as the common mother
place would be of

of us

all.

"//^7/ the martyrs help

passes the powers of

do so

is

of their

ent

and

they are

my

men

is

a question," he says, "which

understanding.

Nevertheless, that they

Whether they themselves are present by

own power at one and the same time in so many

certain.

virtue

distant

places, either at their shrines, or wherever else

felt

to

be present

suited to their deserts, far

differ-

or whether they remain in a place

removed from

all

converse with mortal

things, yet praying in general for all the needs of their petitioners

we pray for the dead, to whom nevertheless we are not

and we neither know where they are nor what they do),
and Almighty God, who is everywhere present, neither confounded
(just as

present,

vD

Appendix.
and made one with

us,

40

nor yet removed to a distance from

whom

hearing their prayers, gives these consolations to those to

He

us,

bestow them amid the miseries of this life,

by means of the ministry of angels everywhere dispersed, and thus,
by His wonderful and ineffable power and goodness, commends
the merits of His martyrs wherever He pleases, when He pleases,
thinks

it

right to

and as He pleases, but especially by means of their shrines, because He knows it to be expedient to us for the building up of our
This is
^aith in Christ, for confessing Whom they have suffered
a matter higher than I can reach, more abstruse than 1 can penetrate
and therefore I dare not define which of these two it is, or
whether both perchance may be true, viz., that these things sometimes happen by means of the very presence of the martyrs themI
selves, sometimes by means of angels assuming their persons.
would rather inquire of those who know for some one perhaps
may know, though not he who seems to himself to know and is
really ignorant
for they are the gifts of God, who gives some
things to some men, and others to others, according to the testi-

mony

of the apostle

(i

Cor.

xii.

7-1

1)."

After this full and explicit discussion of the question by the great
Doctor of the West, it is hardly necessary to quote any other
witnesses.

The

reader, however, w^ho desires

it,

will find similar

testimony in St Ambrose's sermon on the death of his brother, and

in his epitaph

(Hom.

Ixxxi.)

upon him in a sermon of St Maximus of Turin

and in several epitaphs collected by Le Blant,
;

Insc7'iptions Clu'eticinies de la Gaule^ &c., tom.

ii.

i.

471

pp. 396,

p. 219.

Note

The

(page

184).

Felix, Pope about the Mass said over

year 270, the institution of the law that Mass should be celebrated ^^^^ ^^^'^^ ^^
on the sepulchres of the martyrs. Baronius, however, and others f^.^^
the earare of opinion that the practice had been universal and long estab- liest ages,

Libe7

Pontificalis attributes to St

lished, before there

mony

of the fourth

was any legislation on the

and fifth centuries is very

The

subject.
explicit

testi-

and abund-

St Ambrose speaks of the

martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in this way. He says that he
had intended to be buried there (under the altar) himself, because
it seemed to him fitting that the priest should rest where he was
wont to offer the holy sacrifice whilst alive but that he yields the

ant as to the practice of those days.

place to the martyrs to

whom

it is

victims ought to be where Christ

is

due, for that those triumphant

the victim

itibi Christtis

hostia

Roma

402
est); only

He who

died for

Sotterranea.

all

lies

the altar, they

iiPo?i

who were

redeemed by His passion lie below it * in which last words he

seems to intend a reference to the language of the Book of the Apocalypse, VI. 9-1 1. That which St Ambrose testifies about Milan,
;

Prudentius

testifies

about Spain

the sepulchres of St Eulalia at

we have seen,
of St Hippolytus in Rome.f
St Jerome J also, about the tombs of
Saints Peter and Paul, in the same city and he appeals at the same
Barcelona, and of St Vincent at Valenza

also, as

time to the practice of

or on altars

near their

We

the bishops throughout the world,

need not suppose, however, that the altar was always imme-

diately over the grave,

^*'^^'^'^'

all

though doubtless

this

was the more usual

Prudentius speaks as though, in the case of St Hippolythe altar was only ;/^rt;;' his tomb (" Pi'opter ubi apposita est ara

practice.
tus,

dicata Deo");

and both Bosio and Boldetti seem

have found

to

in-

stances in which the altar was placed in the middle of the chamber, not on a tomb in the walls, just as we have seen that it was, at
one period, in the Papal crypt.
Neither were the vienscE of these altar-tombs always fixed and
immovable. On the contrary, in three or four instances they have
been found with massive bronze rings inserted in them, by which
they could be lifted off, and a sight of the martyrs relics obtained.
St Martin of Tours is said to have been the first saint, not amartyr, whose tomb became an altar.
When altars were multiplied
in churches, it was a rule universally observed that the altar must
contain some relics, and there still remain many indications of the
ancient, practice in the prayers and ceremonies of the Liturgy.
The prayer in the mass immediately after the Conjiteor, when first
" We beseech
^|^g priest goes up to the altar, contains these words
|1

Tiaces of this
practice
the

'

j\fj];^.^f

Thee by the merits

te per

of the saints

merita sanctorum quo7iim

kisses the altar.

which these

Moreover, the

whose

"
relics are here

7'eliqui(B
little

hie sn??t^^

" Oramus

and the priest

recess in the altar-stone, in

relics are placed, is called the sepulcrtim^ in

manifest

would appear, to the ancient practice of which we

have been speaking and the act of depositing the relics in this
sepulcruni is so essential a part of the consecration of an altar,
that should they by any accident be removed or lost, it is not
sufficient to replace them by others,
the whole altar must be conallusion, as

it

secrated afresh,
ill the conThe details of the prayers and ceremonies appointed for the consecration of an secration of an altar,
and especially for this portion of it, recall in

and

the most striking

manner

* Epist. xxii. 15.

\

Adv. Vigilant.

ll-Greppo. Dissertations

siir

the burial of the saints

Peiisteph.

Rom.

Sott.

and martyrs of

Hymni
i.

III. V.

169, 285.

I'Histoire du'Culte des Reliques, p. 16.

Appendix.

403

The bodies of the dead were often carried to the cemetery

which they were to be deposited on the eve before the day of
burial
and so, in like manner, the relics about to be placed in the
sepidcrum of an altar are brought to the church on the previous
evening, in some vessel prepared and blest for the purpose. Three
old.

in

same

grains of incense are enclosed in the

vessel with them, like

the spices and perfumes with which the bodies of the saints were
so frequently buried

and

keep watch before them

ecclesiastics

night, reciting the office of the saint

whose

relics

all

Then,

they are.

in the office of Consecration the next day, these relics are carried in

solemn procession, and among the hymns and prayers used on the
occasion, the vision of St John, already referred to (Apoc.

the sepulchre,

vi. 10),

Finally, the consecrating bishop closes

holds a conspicuous place.

and secures

it

with mortar,

the very

same way

which the fossors formerly closed tombs in the Catacombs.

i'appj'ocheinent between these two functions cannot be accidental.
It is clearly the result of an unbroken tradition.
It
prevails in the Greek Church as well as the Roman.
It has been pretended by some writers that the doctrine of the Doctrine of the
Church underwent some change when the arcosolia. or tombs of P^'^!^'^^^".^^^^'^"
in

The

the martyrs,

11

became

11-

riTTi
Holy

also altars lor the celebration of the

has even been recently asserted that none of the

Fathers before St Cyprian knew anything of a sacrifice in which,
Eucharist.

It

or an altar on which, the

ger,

however, has shown

vieiia^ that

Body

gj-

tus,

j-jipp^K..

&c.

was offered. Dr Bollincommentary on the Philosophu-

of Christ

in his

St Hippolytus,

flCC Ul Wntllip-S

Qf

who

lived before St

Cyprian, clearly

taught this same doctrine, and that the same may be said also of
many Greek Fathers who lived immediately after St Cyprian, and
who certainly did not borrow their doctrine from the Latin wTitings of

The

Greek Fathers, indeed, avoided

Pagan altars.
They either spoke of " the holy table," or they used the word that
had been introduced to designate the Jewish altar, which also was
the Bishop of Carthage.

earlier

the expressions which were in use as designating

quite

but

unknown

dvaLaarrjpLov.

to the Greeks.
It

is

not

till

They did not use

Bw/xos or iaxo.pa,

a constitution of the Emperors

Theodosius II. and Valentinian in the fifth century, that the first of
The Christhese words is used in speaking of a Christian altar.
in
Church,
on
the
contrary,
hesitation
Latin
had
no
the
tians of
designating their altars by the names a7'a and a/tare, though they

had been hitherto used in a Pagan sense. In fact, the expression,

would have conveyed the same meaning to the Latinspeaking heathens as the word a7a. When the Christians were
reproached by the heathens for having no temples or altars like
other religions and nations, they admitted the charge in the sense
" holy table,"

Names
^^

used

^ altar.

Ro?)ia Sotteri'anca.

404
in

which the heathens used those terms, and with good reason.

Nevertheless, Origen speaks of the altars to be

tian

Churches

and although

Caecilius, in

met with

Minucius

in Chris-

Felix, speaks

of Christians having no public altars visible to the Pagans, yet St

Cyprian gives the Pagan Demetrius clearly to understand that

they had their altars in secret. Compare also the language of St
Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 10), " We have an altar

whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle."

Note F (page
Origin of the
Pallium.

The

oldest writers confess that

time immemorial, and

that

its

X\\q

310).

pallium had been in use from

was lost in antiquity. The

origin

most natural and probable account of it, however, is certainly that

which reference is made in the text, and which is supported with
great skill and learning in the treatise, De Pallii Origine, published in Rome in 1856 by Monsignore Vespasiani.
He observes that the scholars of the most famous heathen philoto

sophers used to adopt the dress, as well as the principles, of their

masters, and that the handing on of the mantle, or upper garment
of the master served to designate his legitimate successor.
easily

be shown that

among

It

may

the early Christians also, a certain

meaning and value was attached to the wearing tl^ie

mantle of any great saint or doctor, as though a more intimate
and immediate communion were thereby established with the original owner of the mantle. Thus, the great St Athanasius gave his
and when St Paul, the hermit of Egypt, prayed St
to St Antony
Antony to bring it to his cell, and to wrap his body in it for
burial, St Antony took the hermit's mantle from off his shoulders,
religious

and ever afterwards wore

When

it

on

all

great occasions of solemnity.

St Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was habited in the

episcopal vestments,

we read

that " they reverently put

on him the

venerable cloak of St James, the brother of our Lord, which had

lately been brought from Jerusalem, and which Ignatius received
with the same respect and veneration as though he had recognised in

it

its

former apostolic owner."

But other examples are

still

principle of succession to office

more important as involving the

by him to whom the mantle was

Thus, we read that Metrophanes, who occupied the

in the time of Constantine, took off his palliM^n^
Byzantium
see of
and laid it on the altar, charging that it should be preserved and
And still more distinctly, Liberatus
delivered to his successor.
Nestorian and Eutychian heresies,
the
history
of
in
his
Deacon,
the
transferred.

Appendix.

405

as an essential part of the

ceremony of consecrating and

eaihroning the Patriarchs of Alexandria.
"It is the custom at
testifies

Alexandria,'' he says, " for

him who succeeds

the deceased

to

bishop, to keep a vigil by the corpse of the deceased, to lay the

his own head, and then, having buried him
own hands, to take \\\^ pallium of St Mark and to place it
own neck, after which he is held legitimately to occupy his

dead man's head upon

with his

on

his

Thus, the pallium^ or mantle of St Mark, was religiously

handed on from one of his successors to another in the see of Alexandria, and its possession was accounted an important token of
the legitimate possession of that dignity and office.
The origin of the Roman pallium seems to have been precisely

place."

the same.

The

oldest writers agree in referring

immediate successor of St Peter, and say that

session of plenary jurisdiction,
tion enjoyed

and

is still

by St

Peter.

/>.,

its first
it

use to the

implied the pos-

of succession to the jurisdic-

Moreover,

it

has always been described,

described, as pallium de coipore S. Petri.

blessed on the feast of his martyrdom,

It is

alwa\

the very day, that

is,

on

was made, if not materially, yet morally,

and, when blest, it is laid upon the apostle's tomb.*
It is always assumed by each successive Pontiff at the altar
above that tomb, and used to be delivered to archbishops or their
procurators only at the same place. When it was conferred upon
any one, it was always given as to a person holding the place of
the Pope for the time being, acting as his deputy and representative within certain limits.
Thus, Pope Vigilius sends it to Auxanius, holding the see of Aries, as a fitting ornament to one " acting
Pelagius sends it to another occupant of the same
in our steadP
see, as "our vicar."
St Gregory the Great sends it to many, but
the same condition is always implied, and generally expressed.
This sculpture, then, of Elias giving his mantle to Eliseus, seems
really to typify, if it does not sometimes directly represent, our
Lord giving His commission to St Peter, and St Peter, not deeming himself worthy to receive it, holds forth his hands under the
cover of his cloak, just as it has been mentioned in the text that he
which

is

its first

transfer

always represented as receiving the Book of the

Law from

cur

Blessed Lord with the same outward token of reverence.

This note has been abridged from an

writer, to the

Rambler

article contributed

by the

oi ]\Ay 1856.

* It used to be laid upon his Chair, until that relic was inclosed
vated to the position described in Note C.

in

bronze, and ele-

4o6

RoDia Sotterranea.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ATLAS OR LARGE MAP,

AND PARTICULARLY OF AREA V.
The following notes upon some other portions of the cemetery of St Calmay be added to the short explanations given in the Atlas itself, as a
kind of supplement to the Analysis of Area HI. They are intended to
lixtus

explain the Section, Fig, 44, page 336, and also the Plan, Fig. 51? P^ge

349:
Area

The most

I.

ancient portion of Area

I is

the staircase

D^

P'ig.

44.

marked U,

leading to a

i,

gallery about 37 feet beneath the surface of the ground.

This gallery,

doorway X, which is the

entrance to the ctibiaihim duplex, the frescoes on whose walls have been
described as probably belonging to the first century.
The gallery was
originally continued at the same level, but the same reasons which we have

which

in Fig.

44

is

leads to the

noticed in page 343, led here also to that level being depressed, so that a
B.
J)h

I.

flight

of steps

now

leads from

to a lower level,

short gallery, G, at right angles to

Crypt of St
L,oineiius.

nelius, V>h 3.

to

The

be found at D//

notice

is

given in

nected with

^ in

be found

while another

springs from the foot of the

same

to I leads to the crypt of St Cor-

traces of another staircase, afterwards destroyed,

are

and ~Dh 4 is the vast ruined monument of which some

page 123. The long gallery of the third piano is con2,

Fig. 51.

Between Area

Paoan tombs

it,

and by an entrance opposite

staircase,
L)// 3.

B may

BGI.

in the Atlas as D/z i, a gallery leading to three ctibiaila,

and

the

cross-road

is

a small hypogeuni,

D/z

5,

apparently of the age of Alexander Severus, which marks the limits of the

On the other it is equally limited by another hypogeitm,

which does not appear to be more ancient than the end of the third
century.
Another small sepulchral cell, which may have been a Christian
chapel, and which stands immediately opposite the present entrance to the
Catacomb enclosure, is marked C/i i. A small Pagan cohnnbarhim may
be noticed near the Via Appio-Ardeatina, A^ i.
Areoe III. and IV. have been fully described in our Analysis.
It will
suffice to mention that B^ i is the staircase A, and B*? 3 the staircase B of
the Plan
B,? 2 is the staircase by which we now enter the crypt of St
Cecilia, which is marked Bd' 5, and that of the Popes, B^ 4.
B^ 6 is the
passage leading to the crypt B^ 7, or Q\ in which were discovered several
sarcophagi.
B/" i and B/ 2 are described in the Analysis as Q^ and Q**;

area on this side.

Ck

Area

III.

4,

Area IV.

and C^ 6 as A^ and A^; while A^ i, 2, is the secret passage

x'^, and of which an account is given, page 347.
enlarged
plan of Area V. is given in page 349, where its connexion
^^
with Area III. is explained and the three-apsed building above ground,
CV I, together with the square building Qe ^, are stated to be remains of
and Qe

described as

Area

ancient Cliristian oratories of the time of St Fal)ian.

<

4,

C!/'i,

C/2,

Appendix.
Cy

marked

are there

3,

407

gallery S^

<;.

letters,

It maybe worth Description

observing that the or tig- 5^-

represented in this Atlas as transgressing the limits of the

is

which

area,

and

respectively*?^, ', a,

while to describe that Area according to those

is

an error of the

artist.

The wide though irregular gallery a was originally entered by a staircase, now demolished, but of which the remains still exist in the long

may be

luininare which

now

seen on the Plan.

it

Along

this anibiilacriim are several arcosolia,

with frescoes, and on the right and

is

at

Cy

3,

breaks through loculi and passes the limits of the area.

v/here

terminated anciently

It

a,

left

some of which

are decorated

are the entrances to cubiciila.

a chamber containing three large arcosolia, formerly lined with

^^i-

marble, and having figures on the ceiling which represent classical personi-

without any distinctively Christian allusion.

fications of the seasons, &c.,

This ceiling

De

is

evidently

much more

Rossi's opinion that this

ancient than the arcosolia, and confirms

and the opposite chambers were origmally in-

tended simply for secular purposes.

3
still

a large chamber whose walls were once lined with marl)le, which

is

remains on the bench which goes round three of

the pavement, where

TVRIES

VI.

tained an

is

the inscription,

deep and wide recess

its sides,

'^z-

and also on

pavlvs p:xorcista dep. marend of the chamber once con-

at the

immense sarcophagus, probably

that of St Melchiades, the cover

of which, shaped like the roof of a house,

Its corners are

remains.

still

The remains of
a shepherd and sheep.
chamber resemble those of a^, in style and
subject, except that here we see the Good Shepherd and the Raising of
Lazarus.
Both cicbicula are well lighted by the same wide hiini7iare as in
decorated with bassi

relievi of

frescoes on the ceiling of the

Fig. 6, page 31.

The two chambers,

^i,

3, and each have

a^,

a-^^

in

are of a date posterior to the arcosolia in a^, a^.

one corner a small table of

l?(fa

to

suTiilar

that described in the crypt of St Cornelius, page 184.

long narrow chamber, on the principal arcosoliiini of which are two of

the graffiti to Sophronia mentioned page 132.

chamber are much

filled

cZc-

This and the opposite '^t

up by modern constructions deemed necessary

for

the safety of the hypogenvi.

gallery,

Area

III.

b,

It

unites a with the gallery S, connecting this hypogeiim with

contains several large

Plan as closed by a wall.

loculi,

Nearly opposite

one of which
this,

passes the limits of the area into the labyrinth,

is

marked on

and just betore the gallery

an arcosolium beautifully

is

painted, although the lunette has been almost destroyed by graves.

The

an orante, and on either side Daniel and Jonas are painted

separate compartments.
ceiling has

De
it

a subterranean piazza.

into a ctibiciihwi are to be seen the

Catacombs
d,

in

Over the door which leads from

names of the first visitors of the
Out of this piazza extends
the fifteenth century, see page 2,
a very ruined condition, and which falls into the anibulacriini

Rossi calls

b.

the

in

a gallery in

by a rapid descent near the point of junction.

seems

to

have been of a later period than the

This portion of r/, however,

rest of the gallery.

Only one

d-

Roma

4o8
dy. ctibicuhim

is

Sotterranea.

entered from this gallery, and this

elaborately painted

is

the

lower portion of the walls have a lattice-work pattern, and the upper por-

and piitti. A head of Oceanus is on the ceiling,

adorned with the bust of a man holding a book,
with his name in white letters below. His face seems to have been originally painted on canvas, which has been removed, so that now we have only
tion fruit, flowers, birds,

the liiminare of which

is

the faint outlines of his features.

The chamber was

originally designed for

a single orcoso/him, Mdiich was decorated with frescoes, and had above

Good Shepherd, which is now all

The galleries do d ^ and e are still unexcavated.

d^, d^, e

it, and contains a staircase leading

by the little staircase in A^.
Is an ambtdacrtim which extends throughout the w'hole length of Area
VI., taking its rise from the foot of the staircase, Ce 2.
It was afterwards
continued to meet the gallery d, and pushed forward until it fell into a.

\owev piano, which

The mbicida
a',

Is a small gallery with large londi in

to a

it

but gone.

painting of the

o^,

o^,

is

also reached

o^,

o'' ,

are poorly constructed, apparently after the

In o' are written on the walls the names of visitors of

time of Diocletian.

the fifteenth century, ^4.

Area VI.

^^^^ staircase Ci?2

is

remarkable

for its leading

both to the higher and

lower piano of the area, which were apparently excavated at nearly the

same period.
Turning to the left in the \o\\q.x piano we come at once to the crypt of
Eusebius.
St Eusebius, D^i, described page 167.
Further on still we come to tAvo
more ciibicnla on opposite sides of the gallery, of which the one marked
Calocerus and ^d i is the crypt of Calocei'us and Parthenius, mentioned page I75Parthenius.
Between these two crypts a gallery crosses the ambidacriim, which afterwards breaks through the wall of gallery C in Area III., as shown in Fig.
Crypt of St

Area VII.

46,^3.
Continuing our course along the ambidacrujn,
the centre of

was once

which

De

we

the principal staircase of this area,

and of the three others which

The

appear to have been constructed subsequently.

VIIT.) had afterwards a staircase of
of D<^4

Severus.

is

pass into Area VII.,

Rossi has discovered in the ciibicidum D^/4, which

its

own, Dr

2.

last of these

a gallery which leads us to the ciibiculutn duplex of the

See page 93.

The remaining

arese are

(Area

Opposite to the door

Deacon

not yet sufficiently

excavated to enable us to give a detailed account of them.

INDEX.
Abercius,

St, Epitaph of, 217.

Acts of Martyrs, their vakie, 21
(see Cecilia and Perpehid).

Authors on Catacombs, modern,

Ad

Autun, epitaph

meam

religionem

meaning

Aurelian, edicts

of, 54, 89.

i

ancient, 17.

pertinentes,

on Eucharist,

at,

218.

of, 61.

Agapitus, St, deacon and martyr,

144.

Agnes,

on

St,

286 (see

glasses,

Catacojuh)
Alaric, Rome taken by, 103.

Alexander,

and

St,

burial, 81

Pope, martyrdom
cemetery of, 81,

Baptism of
ment of,

Christ,

19,

265

264,

252 sacrasymbols of,

;

Noe, 240 ; Jonas, 243.

Baronius, Cardinal, 3, 156.
Basilicas over tombs of martyrs, 96.
Bishops, burial of, 138; in Rome,
140,

334.

Alexandria, Catacomb paintings

of,

Boldetti on Christian antiquities, 11.

221.
Allegorical (see Painfings).

Boniface IV. translates relics from

Almanac

Bosio, his

Catacombs,

(see Filocaliis).

in crypt
Altar in Papal crypt, 135
of St Cornelius, 184 ; over relics,
401 ; consecration of, 402 doc;

trine of,

unchanged, 403

words

used for, 403.

Anacletus, St, Pope, erected
inoria of St Peter, 64.
Antherus,

St,

vie-

Pope, his work, 18

his epitaph, 137, 142.

Apamea,

coins

of,

representing Noe,

Catacombs

in

107.

and labours, 5-8.

Brandea, a kind of

relic, 23.

Briittia Crispiua, 70.

Buonarrotti on gilded glasses, 12.

Burnet, his ignorant remarks on

Catacombs, 11, 318.

Burning of dead not Christian,
Caius,

59.

Pope, 145.
St,
deacon to Pope
Zephyrinus, 83-86 cemetery of,
St,

Callixtus,

241.
sculpApostles, paintings of, 237
tures of,
308 (see Peter and

Paul)

life

age

of,

63,

64, 74. 7 5-

83,

110-185,336-378;

117

maps
13O'

identified,
distinct arecc in, 120, 122 ;

121

of,

338-355

;
;

first

area

of,

126,

second area, 127,

third area, 127, 355.

348
Calocerus and Parthenius, tiieir epitaph and tomb, 145.
Canon of Council of Elvira on
;

Arcosolium, 30 age of, 350.

Arenariuni, sometimes connected
with Catacombs, 28, 323, 327,
329-331Aringhi, his edition of Bosio, 7.
Arvales, Fratres^ 385.
;

sacred pictures, 191,

Catacomb, the name, 109.

Catacomb of St Agnes, 27,

Asclepiodole, epitaph, 207.

Augustine, St, on cemeteries, 90

on milk as symbol of P^ucharist,
228; on fish and bread, 215 on
intercession of martyrs, 400.
;

St
St
St
St
St

29, 31.

Alexander, 81.
Balbina, 128, 129.
Callixtus (see Callix(i(s).

Commodilla,

65.

Domitilla, 69-74.

Roma

4IO

Sotter7^a7iea.

Catacomb of Generoses, 384-386.

St Hermes, 323.

St Hippolytus, 98.
Ostrianus, or Fons

Petri,

67, 396.
St Prgetextatus, 76-81.

Children, Three, in paintings, 245 ;

on glasses, 280, 290 ; in sculp-

112-

visits
of,

to,

25

of,

number and names

origin

early

of,

ix.

of,

28,

27;
56,

317-332 ; excavated on high

ground, 334; in tufa gran u la re,
319, 325 ; i various piani,T,T,^
;

within certain prescribed limits,

47, 120, 340 ; at first small, 61 ;
used for worship, 54, 348 ; for
hiding-places, 89, 346 ; martyr-

doms

of for
burial, 95, 103 ; frequented as
shrines, 31, 97, 104; described
by St Jerome, 97 ; by Prudentius,
98 ; damaged by indiscreet devotion, 96, 100, 102 ; repaired by
Popes, 97, 104, 105, 354 ; relics
translated from,
106 ; finally
in,

87,

abandoned,
covered, 33
Jewish, 58.
Cecilia,

St,

88

108,
;

359

history

redis-

63-109;

of,

her tomb,

151,

158,

164; her
her Acts veri-

160,
;

and corrected, 162

various
her body
;

versions of them, 387

translated by Paschal I., 154;
found incorrupt in sixteenth century, 154; statue of, 157
cr3'-pt
of,
151-166 ; its original form,
;

term of Christian
origin, 29 (see Catacomb)
gradual development of a, 338-359.
Cemeteries protected by Roman
law until the middle of third century, 45, 83 ; invaded by Pagans,
proscribed by Valerian,
54, 88
restored to Christians, 87
55
confiscated by Diocletian, 90 ;
the

restored, 90, 146

administration of,
all extramural, 56.
Cerealis et Sallnstia
fito,

ecclesiastical

91-93,

cum

loi

230.

Christians did not burn their dead,

Roman,

Cemeteries) ;
59 (see
legal position of, 34

at

first

regarded as a Jewish sect, 40

persecuted by Nero, &c., 42 ; their
;

cemeteries protected, 45 ; persons of noble rank, 35 ; even of

the imperial family, 36.

186-316

Cliristian art,

Glasses,

(see

Symbols) ;
antiquity of, 187, &c. ; can be
traced to Apostolic times, 188,
growth of, 190 ; checked
197

Faintiiigs,

Sculpture,

by persecution, 191 early history

of, 196
not formed entirely on
Pagan models, 198 classes of,
;

200.

Chrysanthus and Daria buried in

arenario, 328.

Pagan,

Colu??iba7'ia,

4.

57

Christian, 60.
Cornelius, St, Pope, his
the Roman clergy, 92 ;
177; his epitaph, 117,
in Latin,
177; his

never

account of
his family,

118;

why

sepulchre,

near an areuarium,
175-185
327 painting of, with St Cy;

prian, 181.
St,

Pope, 17

basilica of,

74-

Confraternities, burial, 49 ; some of

them Christian, 53.
Cross disguised, 127 ; various forms
of,

229, 230.

Crypt (see Catacomb,

nelius, Popes, &c.)

Cecilia, Corof St Lucina,

27, 122-126, 336, 337, 356.

261.

Cupid and Psyche,

Cyprian,

St,

painting

of,

182.

xxi., graf-

D'Agincourt, damage done to Catacombs by, 13 on Christian art,

;

186.

185.

Chairs of tufa in Catacombs,

128.

of,

Clement,

346, 37^-

Cemetery,

monogram

of,

e.g.,

of,

Ciacconio, his researches,

160; her family,

history, 152, 163
fied

disuse

the Good
the Fish,

252
119,
Orpheus, 199;
Shepherd, 199, 234
or 1X6X0, 207-212

paintings

symbols

2 ; general description
locality of,
25, 331 ;

Christian

ture, 313.

Christ,

117.
St Soteris, 128.

Catacombs, discovery

397-

St Priscilla, 66, 330.

St Sebastian,
108,

Chair of St Peter in Vatican, its

history,
description,
its
389
391 ; in cemetery of Ostrianus,
396 two Feasts of, explained,

31,

Damasus, St, Pope, his love for the

Catacombs, 96, 102; value of his

Index.
20, 97 ; his inscription to St Agnes, 286
his inscription in baptistery of Vatican,
390 ; his inscription in cemetery

inscriptions,

ad Cataaunbas,
tion at tomb of

14 ; his inscripSt Cornelius, 179,

180; his inscription at the tomb
of St Eusebius, 105, 167-174;
his inscription at tomb of St
Januarius, 80 ; his inscription at
tomb of St Marcellus, 174; his
inscription at tomb of St Peter
and St Paul, 334 ; his inscription
at tomb of Papal crypt, 118, 147 ;
his inscription at tomb of Six1

144; his labours, 354,

tus II.,

355.

Daniel in paintings,

73,

245

in

sculpture, 303, 307.

De Rossi, Gio. Battista, his method
of research, 15 ; his chief sources
of information,
16
his reconstruction of early history, 93.
De Rossi, Michel Stefano, brother
;

of the Commendatore, his success

in mapping the Catacombs, 121 ;
his analysis, 360.
De Winghe, his sketches in

combs, 4.
D, M., meaning

of,

Cata-

on Christian

epi-

Domitian, Emperor, his Christian

in,

284

sarcophagi

ECCLESIA Fratrum,

292

ing,

represented in sculp-

ture, 302, 305.

Eusebius, St, Pope,

incident in

167

of,

171

her ceme-

medal found
in,

295.

significance

of, 53-

Edict, first, against cemeteries by

Valerian, 54, 87 ; revoked by
Gallienus, 87 ; renewed by Aurelian, 89
by Diocletian, 90 ; of
;

Milan, 90, 95.

Eleutherius, St, Pope, 64, 163.
Elias taken up to heaven, in sculpture, 250, 310.
Ennodius of Pavia on St Peter's
Chair, 392.
Epitaphs of Popes, 137; episcopal,
very rare (see Eitsebhis and Damasus); of St Abercius, 217; of
Autun, 218.
Eucharist, Holy, symbolised by fish
and bread, 215-224; by milk,
225-229; doctrine of, illustrated
by paintings of second and third
centuries, 222, 266-271
constitution of .St Zephyrinus concern;

remarkable
172

of,

life

epitaph

broken and recopied,

interpretation, 172.

its

Eutychianus, St, Pope, his epitaph,

137, 143-

Evelyn, John, his

combs,

Fabian,

the Cata-

visit to

10.

St,

Pope,

142.

17, 137,

Fabretti on inscriptions, ii.

Faiistiiiianus,

an inscription,

Felix, St, Pope, 401.

Felicissimus, deacon
.144-.
Fideritibits

hi

and

82.

martyr,

Domino, significance

of, 62.

Filocalus,

almanac,
170.
Filippi

ad

Furius Dionysius, his

his inscriptions,
19
;

Sexhivi, cemetery

Clemens,

Flavins

37

of,

386.

Do-

(see

mitilla).

Flavius Sabinus, 37.

Fratres Aii'ales, the, 385.

Garrucci, Padre,
glasses, 12,

taphs, 59.
relatives, 39, 42.
Domitilla, St, 39, 69
tery, 69-74 > bronze

411

comb,

277

S.T., on gilded
on Jewish Cata-

58.

Glasses, gilded, found in Catacombs,

275-294 ; two recently found at

Cologne, 277, 289 date of, 279 ;

subjects on, 280 ; their probable
;

use, 283, 291, 293.

in paintings, 274,
234-238; in sculpture, 299;

Good Shepherd,
statues

of,

304

Pagan examples

261, 298, 299.

Graffiti of three kinds,
of,

Papal crypt, 130, 144

131
;

in

in crypt

of St Cecilia, 161 ; in crypt of St

Cornelius, 184.
Gregory the Great, Pope, on burial
of St Peter and St Paul, 115,

116 ; on relics, 23.

Gregory of Tours, St, on a martyrdom in Catacombs, 88,
Hippolytus, his cemetery, 98 ; his
festa

in fourth or fifth centuries,

99 his statue, 313 his Paschal

Canon, 314.
Hyacinth, St, his body discovered
by Padre Marchi, 15, 379.
;

Itineraries of seventh century,

22, 2^, III, 112.

Roma

412
Januarius,

St,

tomb

of,

Sotterranea.

79, 80.

St,

occupied Trastevere, 278.

Jewish Catacombs, 58.

John and Paul,

Saints, buried within

the walls, 106.

John

III., Pope, directs mass to be

said in Catacombs, 105.
Jonas, history of, in paintings, 243,

244

in glasses,

290

this practice denear to, 102

fended and accounted for by St
Augustine, 399.
Marlyi'ologmm,
Hiero7iymiannm,
Bedae, Adonis, &c., 21.
17
Alclchiades, St, Pope, recovered the
;

on Catacombs, 97 on
the ivy or gourd of Jonas, 243.
Jews protected by Roman laws, 41
Jerome,

sculp-

in

ture, 304, 305.

confiscated cemeteries, 90, 91 ;

the last Pope buried in Cata-

combs, 95, 146

to

(see Christ).

Monza, papyrus MS.

of St Hippolytus, 314.

tomb, 146,

his

Merivale, Mr, not correct as

early Christian burial, 59,
Misson, his rash assertions, 11.

Monogram

Kalendar

349-

at, 23.

Moses, in paintings, 247

taking off
his shoes, 248 ; when striking the
rock typifies St Peter, in paintings, 248, 265
in glasses, with
name Fetrus, 286 ; and in sculp;

Lamb,

a symbol of Christ, Figs. 37,

38; of Christians, 103, 225.
Lazarus, raising of, in paintings,
247, 271 ; in sculpture, 302, 304,
306, 313.
Leo III., Pope, his care for cemeteries,
107 ; his decorations in
crypt of St Cornelius, 183.
Leo IV., Pope, translated relics

A^inibzis,

from Catacombs, 107.

Liber Poiitificalis, account of, 20.
Linus, St, Pope, his sepulchre, 65.
Liturgical paintings, 262-274.
Lociilo a 77iensa, 30.
Lucius, St, Pope, his epitaph, 137,

Olea from

ture, 302.

Nicolas

St,

Graecina,

probably Pomponia
crypt of,
122,
124
;

126, 337; frescoes in, 103, 185,

201, 224, 225.
Liiniiuare, 31, 127, 129, 165, 348.

Pope,

I.,

use of, in determining

dates of pictures, 193.
Noe in the ark, in paintings,
240-242 ; in sculpture, 305 ; not
copied from Pagan coin, 241.
shrines taken

de

citUit

as

Optatus, St, fresco of, 166.

Ordo canaruni, its resemblance to
the Christian Kalendar, 53.
Oipheus, type of Christ, in painting, 199,

373

in sculpture, 300.
of, 67,

396,

sandornni iguo-

Pallium,

toriiin, 12.

Macarius, his Hagioglypta, 4.

Magi, adoration of, in paintings,
in sculpture, 301, 311.
246, 257
Malmesbury, William of, 22, 62.
Marangoni, his labours in Catacombs, 12.
;

Marcellus, St, Pope, 90.

Marcellinus, St, Pope, 90, 93, 279.
Marchi, Padre, S.J., his labours
and writings, 14
the first to
insist upon the Christian origin of
;

Catacombs, 318.
Mark, St, Pope, buried
bina, 95, 129.
]\Iartyr vindicatiis
canonizatiis, 143.

Martyrs, vast

away

23

Ostrianus, cemetery

Mabillon

Cata-

visited

combs, 108.

relics,

143-

Lucina,

number

in St Bal-

origin of, 310, 404.

Paintings, determination of date

192

by nimbus, 193

to

dress, 195

202-231.
Panvinius, Onophrius, on Christian
bolical,

cemeteries, 32.

Monza,

at

148

they

us by their prayers, 400

desire of Christians to be buried
assist

23.

Paschal I., St, Pope, his translation

of St Cecilia, 155.
of relics, 107
Paul, St, the Apostle, his tomb, 65.
Paul I., Pope, his translation of
;

of,

of,

letters

by choice of suband treatment, 195 Gnostic,

199; allegorical, 233-238 Biblical, 239-250; of Christ, 252, 253
Mary,
of the Blessed Virgin
254-260; of St Joseph, 260;
of Isaias, 258 (see Moses, Magi,
symliturgical, 262-274
&c.)
on

ject

Papyrus MS.
equivalent

by

relics,

106.

Iiidt '.r
Perpetua, St, Acts
Peter,

R.")man fcsta
281.

226.

of,

tomb, 64, 113, 116,

his

St,

139 (see Chair)

Roman

represented as

Moses, 286-289 (see Moses).

281

113-116

of,

Rome

Damasine

inscription

taken by Alaric,

by
103
by Vitiges, 104; by

Pagan ceremony,

Rosatio, a

285.

Sabinus, the deacon,

Catacombs,

testimony

its

cemetery of, 108,

St,
112-117.
Sentia Renata, epitaph of, 60.
Sergius I., Pope, his epitaph to

165.

sarcopha-

Cead walla,

311.

of,

Pomponio, Leto,

Sergius

352, 362.
Pontianus, St, Pope, 142.
Popes, early register of burial of,
at first buried in Vatican,
19
and then at San Callisto, 86
2,

in use in third cen-

PP.

Rom.., 183.
Prayers for dead, 131 ; to departed

93

saints,

132.

Catacomb

76-81
discovery of, 77 ; paintings in,
martyrdom of St Sixtus
78, 79

Prsetexiatus,

of,

II. in,

143.

Sfondrati, Cardinal, finds the body

of St Cecilia, 155.
Siricius, St, Pope, inscription by,
180.

Sixtus

Pope, his martyrdom,

inscription to, 144 ;

II., St,

77, 87, 143

prayers to, 132.

Sophronia, graffiti

66

of,

sepul-

chre of Pudens and his family, 66

ancient painting of Blessed Virgin in, 258.
;

Ptolomseus Silvius, 398.

32.

113,

128,

Stephen, St, Pope, confused with

St Sixtus II., 144.
Sylvester, St, Pope, buried in a
basilica, above ground, 95, 107,
146, 308.

Symbolism, 203

QuiRiNUS,

of,

Soter, St, Pope, 141.

Soteris, St, cemetery of,

355-

Catacomb

Priscilla,

relics,

93-

of,

Papa,

for

tury,

391.

Pope, translates

Severano, Padre, editor of Bosio, 7.

Severus the deacon, his cubiciilum,

137 ; officially known

to Pagan governors, 19; crypt of,

PP.

II.,

107.

epitaphs

epitaph,

Sebastian,

of,

Pomponia Graecina, 39.

Pomponius Bassus, 124
gus

his

129.

102.

to

83, 85.

Policamus, painting

Astolphus, 106.

to,

114; figured on glasses, 281;

symbolised the Roman Church,
Philosop/iu/ne7ia,

century, 98,

fifth

laws regarding burial, 44,

Totila, 105

feast of,

in

45-

Peter and Paul, Saints, burial and

translation

413

tomb

St,

of,

80.

rules

for

inter-

preting, 204.

Quirinus, a Bishop of Siscia, 165.

QuattroCoronati buried /;/ arenario^
325. 327-

Symbols, anchor, 204 sheep and

dove, 205
fish,
fish and
207
dove, 212
fish and bread, 213
Good Shepherd, 234 Noe, 240 ;
;

ancient, of Roma Sotterranea, 17.

Relics, different kinds of, 23 (see
Cecilia, Peter, &c.)

Records,

Restutiis

Roma

M. Ant.

inscription, 62.

Sotterra7iea, the

Bosio,

name,

of

7.

2.

confraternities, 48; their rules, 50.

Roman Church

symbolised by St
Paul, 285 (see

St

Christians).

Roman
92.

his testimony to the

condition of Christians at end of
second century, 19, 36, 37, 41,
43, 51, 84; on cemeteries, 52,
54 styles the Church Jerusalem,
explains symbols of dove
134
and ark, 242
milk, 226 ; the
rock, 247, 264; fish, 211; the
pai-alytic, 266 ;
the use of the
pallium by Christians, 267 ; the
custom of painting the Good
Shepherd on chalices, 291 ; "p in
Greek and Latin regarded as a
form of the Cross, 230.
;

adapted for
Christian cemeteries, 46
burial

and

Tertullian,

Roman Academy, the,

Roman burial-grounds

Peter

Jonas, 243.

clergy in time of St Cyprian,

Roma

414
Theodelinda, (^ueen,
23TiHcli or parishes of

Sotterranea.

relics sent to,

Vatican, Menioria of St Peter in,

Popes buried there, 64
64, 65
Christian museum of, 13, 275
;

Rome,

91.

Tiifa grauu/are, 319, 321 ; litoide,

319; chairs, &c., cut in, 32, 358.

(see Chair).
Vigilius, Pope, restored

Urban,

inscriptions, 105, 170.

Volcanic strata around Rome, 319.

St,

Pope,

141,

163,

164,

Damasine

182.

Zephyrinus,

Valerian,

his edicts against Christian cemeteries, 54, 87.

St, Pope, entrusted

public cemetery to Callixtus, 83, 85 ; buried there, T41.

the

first

Maderna's Statue of St

Cecilia.

N.B.-\t was

not observed until too late that in Fig.

17, page 157, the arti>t had supplied from his imagination a view of the features
of St Cecilia.
The present figure, by
the same artist, is a faithful representation
of Maderna's statue.

liALI.ANTVNE

AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

2 1 life
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