FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[27]"Praise be to Jesus and Mary".[28]"Praise be to Jesus and Mary".[29]"Now and for evermore".[30]Vid. quae in rem proferuntur in subjecta pagina.[31]Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide cum comperisset generalem inhibitionem quae continetur in superioribus Decretis non mediocri quandoque incommodo esse, praesertim quum Antistites ob adversam valetudinem ad ea peragenda quae Episcopalis sunt potestatis vicinum aliquem Praesulem accersere coguntur, in gen. conventu habito die 2 Augusti 1819, censuit supplicandum Sanctissimo pro eorumdem Decretorum moderatione, ita utquando rationabili causa vel urgente necessitate Episcopi seu Vicarii Apostolici ad alienas Dioeceses vel Vicariatus se conferunt, possint sibi invicem communicare facultatem Pontificalia exercendi, dummodo tamen semper accedat Episcopi seu Vicarii loci consensus, inviolatumque de cetero maneat residentiae praeceptum.Id autem Summus Pontifex Pius PP. VII. in Aud. diei 8 Augusti ejusdem anni ratum habuit ac probavit.

[27]"Praise be to Jesus and Mary".

[28]"Praise be to Jesus and Mary".

[29]"Now and for evermore".

[30]Vid. quae in rem proferuntur in subjecta pagina.

[31]Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide cum comperisset generalem inhibitionem quae continetur in superioribus Decretis non mediocri quandoque incommodo esse, praesertim quum Antistites ob adversam valetudinem ad ea peragenda quae Episcopalis sunt potestatis vicinum aliquem Praesulem accersere coguntur, in gen. conventu habito die 2 Augusti 1819, censuit supplicandum Sanctissimo pro eorumdem Decretorum moderatione, ita utquando rationabili causa vel urgente necessitate Episcopi seu Vicarii Apostolici ad alienas Dioeceses vel Vicariatus se conferunt, possint sibi invicem communicare facultatem Pontificalia exercendi, dummodo tamen semper accedat Episcopi seu Vicarii loci consensus, inviolatumque de cetero maneat residentiae praeceptum.Id autem Summus Pontifex Pius PP. VII. in Aud. diei 8 Augusti ejusdem anni ratum habuit ac probavit.

Imagini Scelte della B. Vergine Maria, tratte dalle Catacombe Romane.[Select pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the Roman Catacombs, with explanatory text by Cav. G. B. de Rossi.Rome, Salviucci, 1863.]

Imagini Scelte della B. Vergine Maria, tratte dalle Catacombe Romane.

[Select pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the Roman Catacombs, with explanatory text by Cav. G. B. de Rossi.Rome, Salviucci, 1863.]

The esteem in which the learned on both sides of the Alps and the sea have long held Cav. de Rossi, dispenses us from the duty which we would otherwise gladly discharge, of expressing in his regard our humble tribute of respect and admiration. But as great reputations can afford to do without small praise, we shall rather establish his claim to our readers' gratitude by availing ourselves of his remarks in the work under notice, to the end that we may show how unmistakably early Christian art bears witness to the veneration paid by the primitive Church to the ever gloriousMother of God. Living as we are in the midst of those who revile us for our devotion to our Blessed Lady, it will be most useful to have at hand, conducted with scientific accuracy, a proof of the antiquity of the sacred tradition we follow in this most cherished practice of our religion. Nor is it only among the vulgar herd of Protestants, or in the ranks of bigoted controversialists, that we meet assailants on this point. Even refined and graceful hands play at times, perhaps unconsciously, with weapons which are not the less dangerous because they come upon us by surprise, and wound us while we think but of taking our pleasure in the fair fields of art. Many causes which we will not here recite, have contributed of late years to diffuse among educated Catholics a knowledge of Christian art; but, among these causes, the late Mrs. Jameson's works have had a very wide range. From what table were her books absent? what library was considered complete without them? Who would think of visiting the Continental galleries without first making a preparatory course with the aid of Mrs. Jameson's pages? And upon the whole, all this is a great gain; but it has its disadvantages as well. We do not now speak of Mrs. Jameson as a critic, or of her judgments on points of art, or of the accuracy of her information on purely technical matters, or of some minor mistakes caused by her ignorance of Catholic usages, as when speaking of the Pax of Maso Finiguerra, so well known in the history of engraving, she takes the Pax to mean the Pix, or vessel for containing the Blessed Sacrament. But in the two subjoined passages there are errors of a more serious character, and in the latter especially there is much which needs the correction contained in De Rossi's observations.

"The early Christians had confounded in their horror of heathen idolatry all imitative art and all artists; they regarded with decided hostility all images, and those who wrought them as bound to the service of Satan and heathenism; and we find all visible representations of sacred personages and actions confined to mystic emblems. Thus, the cross signified Redemption; the fish, Baptism; the ship represented the Church; the serpent, sin or the spirit of evil. When, in the fourth century, the struggle between paganism and Christianity ended in the triumph and recognition of the latter, and art revived, it was, if not in a new form, in a new spirit, by which the old forms were to be gradually moulded and modified. The Christians found the shell of ancient art remaining; the traditionary handicraft still existed: certain models of figure and drapery, etc., handed down from antiquity, though degenerated and distorted, remained in use, and were applied to illustrate, by direct or symbolical representations, the tenets of a purer faith".[32]

"The most ancient representations of the Virgin Mary now remaining are the sculptures on the ancient Christian Sarcophagi, about the third and fourth centuries, and a mosaic in the chapel of San Venanzio at Rome, referred by antiquarians to the seventh century. Here she is represented as a colossal figure majestically draped, standing with arms outspread (the ancient attitude of prayer), and her eyes raised to heaven. Then after the seventh century succeeded her image in her maternal character, seated on a throne with the Infant Saviour in her arms. We must bear in mind, once for all, that from the earliest ages of Christianity the Virgin Mother of our Lord has been selected as the allegorical type ofReligionin the abstract sense, and to this, her symbolical character, must be referred those representations of later times in which she appears as trampling on the dragon, as folding her votaries within the skirts of her ample robes, as interceding for sinners, as crowned between Heaven and Earth by the Father and the Son".[33]

That these statements are very far from the truth, we now proceed to show.

That our Blessed Lady has been from the earliest ages selected as the type of the Church (not ofReligion in the abstract, whatever that may mean), is quite true. The most learned antiquarians recognize her in this character in the female figure in prayer, which in the very oldest portion of the catacombs is frequently a pendant to the group of the Good Shepherd. But this fact, which, though incidentally, yet clearly reveals the depth of the feelings of veneration towards Mary which suggested her as a fit type of the Spouse of Christ, is far from establishing her place in art to be purely symbolical, or her character as intercessor, etc., to belong to her only as inasmuch as she is a type of Religion in the abstract. A single glance at the chromolithographs to which De Rossi's text serves as a commentary, will convince every one that Mrs. Jameson's statements cannot be for a moment maintained. The subjects of these exquisite plates are representations of our Blessed Lady, six in number, selected from the many found in the Roman catacombs, and selected in such wise as that they constitute a series from the apostolic era down to the fourth century. The selection has been confined to works of one class. The Blessed Virgin is represented in ancient monuments, chiefly in two ways,—seated and with her Divine Son in her arms, or standing with outstretched hands in the attitude of prayer or intercession. Of the person represented in works of the first class there can be no doubt, especially when the other figures of the group show that it is Mary; the works of the second class are more obscure, although at times the name of Mary is written over the figure. Hence it would require a lengthened examination beforewe could safely say that a given specimen of this class undoubtedly represents the Blessed Virgin, and this consideration has recommended the selection of types of the first class only. In these monuments, Mary is represented with Jesus in her arms. The subject of the composition is determined by the Magi, who are generally present, though not in every case. When the Magi are absent, there are other marks to show that we look on the Mother of God with the Incarnate Word. Even when other signs are wanting, the very arrangement of the figures, identical with that employed in undoubted paintings of the Blessed Virgin, affords argument enough. The Magi appear standing before her in sculptures on sarcophagi, not only in Rome, but also in other cities of Italy and of France; in diptychs, and other ivories; in bronzes of the fourth and fifth centuries; in the mosaic placed at St. Mary Major's by Sixtus III. in 432. This composition came down from the earliest ages, and is first found in the paintings of the catacombs. From among these De Rossi has selected four specimens of various types, but all anterior to the days of Constantine. Our space will not allow us to describe more than one of these (tav. I.), but that one shall be the oldest, and under every respect the most interesting of them all.

On the Via Salaria Nuova, about two miles from Rome, the Irish College has its vineyard, formerly called the Vigna de Cuppis. In this vigna the excavation of the famous cemetery of Priscilla had its beginning, and from this it extended its intricate galleries in all directions, passing beneath the road, and far under the fields on the other side. The picture we are about to examine is found over a loculus or grave in this cemetery of Priscilla. In it is depicted a woman, seated and holding in her arms an infant, who has his face turned towards the spectator. She has on her head a scanty veil, and wears a tunic with short sleeves, and over the tunic apallium. The position of these figures and the whole composition are such as to convince any one who has had experience of this kind of paintings, that they are intended for the Virgin and Child. Indeed, all doubt of this has been removed by the painter himself. Near the top of the painting he has represented the star which is ever present when our Lady is described as presenting her Son to the Magi, or as seated by the manger. To the spectator's left, a man youthful in appearance, with a sparse beard, standing erect and robed only in thepallium, raises his right hand and points towards the Virgin and the star. In his left he holds a book. At the first sight of this figure it naturally occurs to the mind that it can be none other than Joseph, the chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin, who is represented at her side on various sarcophagi in Italy andFrance, in diptychs, and in the mosaics of St. Mary Major's. Generally speaking, he is described as of a youthful appearance, and rarely with a beard. But it is unusual to paint him with the pallium, and with a book in his hand. De Rossi is of opinion that the figure in question is that of a prophet, it being quite usual to unite the figure from the Old Testament with the reality in the New. Besides, in a monument of the ninth century two prophets attired like our figure stand one each side of our Blessed Lady. He believes it to be Isaias, who so often foretold the star and the light that was to shed its rays on the darkness of the pagan world (Isaias, ix. 2; lx. 2, 3, 19;cf.Luc., i. 78, 79). On one of the painted glasses explained by F. Garnieri, Isaias is represented as a young man. We have here, therefore, in the heart of the catacombs an undoubted representation of our Blessed Lady.

We now proceed to determine the age of this painting—a matter of the greatest importance to our present purpose. What canons of judgment ought to be followed in such an investigation? First, we should attend to the style of the painting, and the degree of artistic perfection it exhibits in conception and execution; secondly, we should confront the results of this first examination with such information as we may be able to collect from a close study of the history, topography, and inscriptions of each subterranean apartment, such a study being admirably calculated to assist us in fixing the date of the painting. To do all this in any given case, is not the work of a few pages, but of a bulky volume. As far as our painting is concerned, all the tests above mentioned serve to prove its extraordinary antiquity. "Any one can see", says our author (page15), "that the scene depicted in the cemetery of Priscilla is treated in a manner altogether classical, and is a work of the best period of art. The very costume employed therein suggests a very remote antiquity; that is to say thepallium, without any under garment, the right arm bared in the figure of the prophet, and still more the short-sleeved tunic on the Virgin. The beauty of the composition, the grace and dignity of the features, the freedom and skill of the drawing, stamp this fresco as belonging to a period of art so flourishing, that, when first I saw it, I thought I had before me one of the oldest specimens of Christian painting in the Catacombs. I spoke of it to my master, the late celebrated P. Marchi, who proceeded to examine it in company with the illustrious Professor Cav. Minardi, now member of the Commission, of Sacred Archaeology, and both pronounced it to be a wonderful specimen of the very earliest Christian art. The learned and the experts in the study of Greco-Roman monuments who have seen this fresco, have declaredit to be not later than the time of the first Antonines, and perhaps even prior to that epoch. It remains therefore to collect such proofs as may fix as closely as possible the age of this remarkable monument, which all admit to belong to the first years of Christianity. To this end I will first compare it with other paintings of more or less certain date, and then confront the results of the comparison with the history, topography, and inscriptions of the crypt". He then compares our fresco first with paintings in the cemetery of Callixtus, which it is admitted belong to the days of Popes Pontianus, Anteros, and Fabian, and finds that it is far superior to them in style and execution, and consequently belonging to an older and more classical school. He next compares them with the ornaments of the square crypt, discovered last year in the cemetery of Pretextatus, and belonging to about the year 162. These ornaments, better than the last mentioned, are still inferior to our fresco. Finally, in the cemetery of Domitilla, there is acubiculumadorned with the finest stucco, on which a pencil more skilled in pagan than in Christian painting has drawn landscapes and figures that remind you of the houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum, rather than of the paintings of the catacombs. Compared even with these, our fresco loses nothing, but, if anything, surpasses them in composition and design. "Hence", concludes our author, "the painting in the cemetery of Priscilla, compared with those paintings, the date of which is more or less determined, is found to be as beautiful and valuable as the very oldest of them, or even more so; and allowing that some portion of its merit belongs to the artist and not to the period, we must still conclude that it is cotemporary with the very origin of Christian painting, or at least very little distant from it. In a word, the painting belongs to the period of the Flavii and of the preaching of the Apostles, or to that immediately following, namely, the period of Trajan (a.d.98), of Hadrian (a.d.117), and at the latest of the first Antonines" (a.d.138). The truth of this result is confirmed on the application of the other tests mentioned above: by the style of the other ornaments of the place, which being in relief are never found in a crypt of the third century; by the history of the cemetery, which is clearly proved to have been the place of burial of the Christian family of Pudens, the first of whom were cotemporary with the Apostles; by the topography, for the spot where the painting exists was the very centre of the excavation; by the style of the inscriptions around it, which are of the most ancient form, and almost apostolical. All these arguments, taken together, are invincible, and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this beautiful painting of our Blessed Lady was traced almost beneath the eyes of the Apostles themselves.

FOOTNOTES:[32]Lives of the early Italian Painters.By Mrs. Jameson, p. 2.[33]Ibid., pag. 4.

[32]Lives of the early Italian Painters.By Mrs. Jameson, p. 2.

[33]Ibid., pag. 4.

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