Part Second.

Part Second.CHAPTER I.THE PAPAL CRYPT.

We have now acquired a sufficient general idea of the Catacombs to enable us to understand what we see when we come to examine any one of them in detail; and we will, therefore, proceed to pay a visit to the famous Cemetery of Callixtus.

But first we must explain what is meant by this title. It may be used in two senses. When first the Catacombs were made, and as long as the true history of their origin and gradual development was remembered, “the Cemetery of Callixtus” was only a small and well-defined area, measuring 250 Roman feet by 100, and situated on a little cross-road which united the Via Appia with the Via Ardeatina. But as time went on, other areæ were joined to this, until at length a vast and intricate subterranean necropolis was formed, measuring several hundred feet both in length and breadth; and to the whole of this space, for convenience’ sake, we continue to give the nameof one of its most ancient and famous parts. In our visit we shall pass through some portions of several of these areæ; for we shall first descend into the original “Cemetery of Callixtus,” and we shall return to the upper world from the “Crypt of Lucina,” which in the old martyrologies is spoken of as “near” that cemetery, not as part of it.

Galleries in Cemetery of St. Callixtus breaking through graves.

The casual visitor cannot, of course, expect to be able to distinguish the limits of the several areæ which he traverses in his hurried subterranean walk; nevertheless, if he keeps his eyes open, he cannot fail to recognise occasional tokens of the transition; as, for instance, when he finds himself passing from a higher to a lower level, orvice versâ, or when the path which he is pursuing leads him through a wall of broken graves, so that it has been necessary perhaps to strengthen the points of connection by masonry. Any one who desires to study this branch of thesubject, will find it fully treated of, and made easily intelligible, by numerous plans and illustrations either in the original work of De Rossi, or in the English abridgment of it. The present popular manual proposes to itself a more humble task. We propose to describe the principal objects of interest which are shown to strangers, and to supply such historical or archæological information as will give them a greater interest in, and a keener appreciation of, the importance of what they see.

Entrance to the Cemetery of St. Callixtus.

Without further preface, then, let us set out on our walk. Let us proceed along the Via Appia till we come to a doorway on the right-hand side, over which we read the words “Cœmeterium S. Callixti.” On entering the vineyard our attention is first arrested by a ruined monument standing close beside us. We shall have already seen others more or less like it on both sides of the road since we came out of the city; and in answer to our inquiries we shall have learnt that they are the remains of what were once grand Pagan tombs, covered, probably, with marble and ornamented with sculpture. Without stopping then to inquire whether anything special is known about the history of this particular mausoleum, we will walk forward to another more modest building standing in the middle of the vineyard. It looks small and mean; and if we could enter it, we should find that it is used only as a convenient magazine for the stowing away of fragments of sarcophagi, or tombstones, extracted from the cemetery which underliesit. Yet its apsidal termination, and the other apses on either side of the building, naturally suggest to us that it must once have had something of an ecclesiastical character. In truth, it was one of the “numerous buildings constructed throughout the cemeteries” by Fabian, pope and martyr, in the middle of the third century (seepage 27), and was known to ancient pilgrims as thecella memoriæ, or chapel of St. Sixtus and of St. Cæcilia, being built immediately over the tombs of those martyrs. Originally, the end or fourth side of the building was unenclosed, that so larger numbers of the faithful might assist at the celebration of the holy mysteries: indeed the side-walls themselves were not at first continued totheir present length, but the building consisted of little else than the threeexedræor apses.

If we examine the ground round this ancient chapel, we shall see that it was once used as a place of burial. All round it, but not within it, nor yet quite close to its walls, but just at a sufficient distance from them to allow space for the channels which carried off the water from the roof (traces of which channels still remain), deep graves are dug, of various sizes, but all arranged according to a regular plan of orientation. These graves are made chiefly with blocks of tufa; but bricks also are used, and thick layers of mortar. Some of them were cased inside with marble, or at least had slabs of that material at the top and bottom, the upper surface of the one serving as the bottom of another; and it is worthy of remark that on several of these slabs were inscribed epitaphs of the usual kind, though their position would necessarily conceal them from every human eye. Some of the graves were made of sufficient depth to receive ten bodies, one over the other; some could only receive four; and occasionally only a single sarcophagus occupied the grave. The average, however, may be taken at four bodies in each grave, which would give a total of eight thousand persons buried over the first area of the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. Of course this cemetery, being in the open air, is no part of the catacomb—properly so called; it is of later date, having been made in the fourth and fifth centuries, but it observes precisely the same limits as the catacomb. Theboundary-wall may still be seen at no great distance from the chapel; and beyond it no graves are to be found either in the cemetery or in the catacomb; a fact which shows with what care the rights of private property were respected below ground as well as above.

But now let us no longer tarry in the open air, but go down at once into the catacomb. A staircase stands ready at our side, being in fact a mere restoration of the original entrance. When we get to the bottom, a keen eye may detect upon the plaster of the walls a certain number ofgraffiti, as they are called, or scribblings of names, ejaculations, &c., of very great antiquity. It is comparatively a 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; but of late years they have proved to be a most interesting subject of study, whether found on the tombs of Egyptian kings in Thebes, on the walls of the barracks and theatres in Pompeii, in the prisons and cellars of Pagan Rome, or, lastly, in the Christian Catacombs. Here especially they have proved to be of immense importance, being, as De Rossi justly calls them, “the faithful echo of history and infallible guides through the labyrinth of subterranean galleries;” for by means of them we can trace the path that was followed by pilgrims to subterranean Rome from the fourth to the seventh century, and identify the crypts or chapels which were most frequently visited. Probablythere is no group of ancientgraffitiin the world to be compared, either for number or intricacy, with those which cover the wall at the entrance of the crypt we are about to enter; and it must have been a work of infinite labour to disentangle and decipher them. Now that the work has been done for us, however, by the indefatigable De Rossi, we can see that they may be divided into three classes. They are either the mere names of persons, with the occasional adjunct of their titles; or they are good wishes, prayers, salutations, or acclamations, on behalf of friends and relatives, living or dead; or, lastly, they are invocations of the martyrs near whose tombs they are inscribed.

Of the names we find two kinds; one, the most ancient and most numerous, scribbled on the first coat of plaster, and in the most convenient and accessible parts of the wall, are names of the old classical type, such as Tychis, Elpidephorus, Polyneicus, Maximus, Nikasius, and the like; the other, belonging manifestly to a somewhat later period, because written on a later coat of plaster, and in more inaccessible places, high above the first, are such as Lupo, Ildebrand, Ethelrid, Bonizo, Joannes Presb., Prando Pr.,indignus peccator, &c., &c.

Prayers or acclamations for absent or departed friends are mixed among the most ancient names, and generally run in the same form as the earliest and most simple Christian epitaphs,e.g.,Vivas,Vivas in Deo Cristo,Vivas in eterno,ΖΗϹ ΕΝΘΕΩ,ΒΙΒΑϹ ΙΝ ΘΕΩ,Te in pace, &c. “Mayest thou live in God Christ, for ever, Thee in peace,” &c. The feeling which prompted the pilgrims who visited these shrines thus to inscribe in sacred places the names of those they loved and would fain benefit, is so natural to the human heart, that instances of it may be found even among the heathen themselves.

But besides mere names and short acclamations, there are also in the same place, and manifestly belonging to a very early age, prayers and invocations of the martyrs who lay buried in these chapels. Sometimes the holy souls of all the martyrs are addressed collectively, and petitioned to hold such or such an one in remembrance; and sometimes this prayer is addressed to one individually. The following may suffice as specimens:—Marcianum Successum Severum Spirita Sancta in mente havete, et omnes fratres nostros. Petite Spirita Sancta ut Verecundus cum suis bene naviget. Otia petite et pro parente et pro fratribus ejus; vibant cum bono. Sante Suste, in mente habeas in horationes Aureliu Repentinu.ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΝ ΕΙΣ ΜΝΙΑΝ ΕΧΕΤΑΙ(forΕΧΕΤΕ). “Holy souls, have in remembrance Marcianus Successus Severus and all our brethren. Holy souls, ask that Verecundus and his friends may have a prosperous voyage. Ask for rest both for my parent and his brethren; may they live with good Holy Sixtus, have in remembrance in your prayersAurelius Repentinus. Have ye in remembrance Dionysius.”

The inspection of thesegraffiti, then, is enough to warn us that we are on the threshold of a very special sanctuary of the ancient Church, and to excite our deepest interest in all that we may find it to contain. But our first impression on entering will probably be one of disappointment. We were led to expect that we were about to visit a Christian burial-place and place of worship of very great antiquity, but the greater part of the masonry we see around us is manifestly of quite recent construction. The truth is, that when this chamber was rediscovered in 1854, it was in a complete state of ruin; access was gained to it only through theluminare, which, as usual, had served for many centuries as a channel for pouring into it all the adjacent soil, fragments of grave-stones from the cemetery above-ground, decaying brickwork, and every kind of rubbish. When this was removed, the vault of the chamber, deprived of its usual support, soon gave way; so that, if any portion of it was to be preserved and put in a condition to be visited with safety, it was absolutely necessary to build fresh walls, and otherwise strengthen it. This has been done with the utmost care, and so as still to preserve, wherever it was possible, remains of the more ancient condition of the chapel and of its decoration in succeeding ages. Thus we are able to trace very clearly in the arch of the doorway three stages or conditions of ornamentation by means ofthree different coatings of plaster, each retaining some remnant of its original painting. We can trace also the remains of the marble slabs with which, at a later period, the whole chapel was faced; and even thislaterperiod takes us back to the earlier half of the fifth century, when, as theLiber Pontificalistells us, St. Sixtus III.platoniam fecit in Cœmeterio Callixti. The fragments of marble columns and other ornamental work, which lie scattered about on the pavement, belong probably to the same period, or they may have been the work of St. Leo III., the last pontiff of whom we read that he made restorations here before the translation of the relics by Pope Paschal I. Again, the raised step or dais of marble, which we see directly opposite to us at the further end of the chapel, having four holes or sockets in it, was of course found here as it now is, and it shows plainly where the altar once stood, supported on four pillars; but in the wall behind this platform we seem to detect traces of a yet older and more simple kind of altar—a sepulchre hewn out of the rock, the flat covering of which was probably the originalmensawhereon the holy mysteries were celebrated in this place.

Thus, spite of the ruin and the neglect of ages, and spite of the work of restoration which has been thereby made necessary in our own time, many clear traces still remain both of its original condition and of the reverent care with which successive generations of the ancient Church did their best to adornthis chamber. The cause of this extraordinary and long-continued veneration is revealed to us, in part, 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 thewallsin which they were first placed; in part also by an inscription of Pope Damasus, which, though broken into more than a hundred pieces, has yet been put together from the fragments discovered in this chamber, the few words or letters that have not been found being supplied in letters of a different colour; the whole, therefore, may now again be read just where our forefathers in the faith read it when it was first set up 1500 years ago. The tombstones are of St. Anteros and St. Fabian, who sat in the chair of Peter fromA.D.235 to 250; of St. Lucius,A.D.252; and of St. Eutychianus, who died nearly thirty years later. No one having an intimate acquaintance with Christian epigraphy doubts that these are the original grave-stones of the Popes whose names they bear; and it is certain that other Popes of the same century were buried here also; but as their tombstones are not before our eyes, we will say nothing about them in this place, but go on to speak of the inscription of Pope Damasus. It runs in this wise:—

Hic congesta jacet quæris si turba Piorum,Corpora Sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra,Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Cœli:Hic comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropæa;Hic numerus procerum servat qui altaria Christi;Hic positus longa vixit qui in pace Sacerdos;Hic Confessores sancti quos Græcia misit;Hic juvenes, puerique, senes castique nepotes,Quïs mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.Hic fateor Damasus volui mea condere membra,Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare Piorum.

Hic congesta jacet quæris si turba Piorum,

Corpora Sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra,

Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Cœli:

Hic comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropæa;

Hic numerus procerum servat qui altaria Christi;

Hic positus longa vixit qui in pace Sacerdos;

Hic Confessores sancti quos Græcia misit;

Hic juvenes, puerique, senes castique nepotes,

Quïs mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.

Hic fateor Damasus volui mea condere membra,

Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare Piorum.

“Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a whole crowd of saints.These honoured sepulchres enclose their bodies,Their noble souls the palace of Heaven has taken to itself.Here lie the companions of Xystus, who triumphed over the enemy;Here a number of rulers, who keep the altars of Christ;Here is buried the Bishop, who lived in a long peace;Here the holy Confessors whom Greece sent us;Here lie youths and boys, old men, and their chaste relatives,Who chose, as the better part, to keep their virgin chastity.Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my bones,But I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints.”

“Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a whole crowd of saints.

These honoured sepulchres enclose their bodies,

Their noble souls the palace of Heaven has taken to itself.

Here lie the companions of Xystus, who triumphed over the enemy;

Here a number of rulers, who keep the altars of Christ;

Here is buried the Bishop, who lived in a long peace;

Here the holy Confessors whom Greece sent us;

Here lie youths and boys, old men, and their chaste relatives,

Who chose, as the better part, to keep their virgin chastity.

Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my bones,

But I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints.”

The first lines of this inscription seem to allude to a number of martyrs laid together in one large tomb, such as we know from other witnesses were sometimes to be seen in the Roman Catacombs. The poet Prudentius, for instance, supposes a friend to ask him the names of those who have shed their blood for the faith in Rome, and the epitaphs inscribed on their tombs. He replies that it would be very difficult to tell this, for that “the relics of the saints in Rome are innumerable, since as long as the city continued to worship their Pagan gods, their wicked rage slew vast multitudes of the just. On many tombs, indeed,” he says, “you may read the name of the martyr, and some short inscription; butthere are many others which are silent as to the name, and only express the number. You can ascertain the number which lie heaped up together (congestis corpora acervis), but nothing more;” and he specifies one grave in particular, in which he learnt that the relics of sixty martyrs had been laid, but their names were known only to Christ. To some suchpolyandrium, then, the words of Pope Damasus would seem to allude, and the martyrologies and other ancient documents speak of three or four such tombs “near St. Cecilia’s;” and here in this very chamber, just where (as we shall presently see) it touches the crypt of St. Cecilia, we can still recognise a pit of unusual size and depth, intended apparently for the reception of many bodies, or perhaps only of the charred remains of many bodies; for, where the victims were numerous, the capital sentence was not unfrequently executed by fire.

Of the martyrdom of St. Sixtus we have already spoken as having taken place in the Catacomb of Pretextatus (page 31), but his body was brought here to be laid with those of his predecessors. Pope Damasus only mentions his deacons, and not St. Sixtus himself, because he had composed another set of verses in honour of the holy Pontiff alone, and had set them up in this same crypt. It is easy to see where they were placed, above and behind the altar, and a copy of them has been preserved to us by ancient pilgrims andscholars. Scarcely a dozen letters of them, however, were found when the chapel was cleared out in 1854; they have not, therefore, been restored to their place, and need not be reproduced in this manual.

Thenumerus procerumin the fifth line of our present inscription are, of course, the Popes whose epitaphs we have seen, and others who were buried here; nor can we fail to recognise in the Bishop who enjoyed a long life of peace Pope Melchiades, who lived when the persecutions had ended. Finally, we have heard the story of some at least of “the holy confessors who came from Greece,” Hippolytus Maria and Neo, Adrias and Paulina (page 37); and thearenariumin which these martyrs were buried was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Papal crypt which we are describing.

Back to Index Next