CEMETERY
517
CEMETERY
where in Saint Priscilla is the oldest known liturgical
fresco of the early Christian Church, the virgo sacra
or Deo dicuta, i. e. a Christian virgin whose solemn
consecration to the service of God is quite dramati-
cally set forth by the artist (cf. Marucchi, II, 417-18,
and Wilpert, " Gottgeweihten Jungfrauen", in bibliog-
raphy). From a theological point of view not the least
important discovery in Saint Priscilla was the fresco in
which Our Lord is represented as giving the Christian
law to St. Peter with the inscription " Dominus legem
dat" (the Lord gives the law); De Rossi considered
it as confirmatory of the primacy of Peter; Monsignor
Duchesne saw in it a reference to the traditio symboli
or Apostles' Creed communicated to the neophytes at
the moment of baptism. It belonged to the fourth
century and was discovered in 1887, but has since
almost entirely perished (reproduced in De Rossi's
" Bullettino", 1887, 23 sqq.). The once rich and im-
posing basilica built by St. Sylvester over the scene
of so many early and valuable Christian memories has
long since perished. De Rossi published ("Bullet-
tino", 1890, plates VI-VII) a plan of its probable out-
lines; Marucchi suggests (ingeniously and with veri-
similitude) that in the apse of this basilica stood the
ancient Chair of Peter, the "sedes ubi prius sedit"
when he baptized in the suburban villa of Senator
Pudens, the true Ccemeterium Ostrianum in whose
venerable precincts Pope Liberius took refuge about
the middle of the fourth century, and confirmed the
faith of the Romans by baptizing regularly amid the
Apostolic memories yet fresh and influential at that
place. Some of the papal epitaphs in this basilica
h;<\ i- reached us by way of the various medieval epi-
graphic collections, among them ["Sylloge Corbeien-
sis , in 1) Rossi. " Inscript. Christ.", II (1) 83, 85]
an epitaph that tin' latter, with Marucchi (II, 4(39-70)
and others, believes to be the epitaph of Pope St. Li-
berius; if so it offers indisputable evidence of the con-
rthodoxyof that much maligned pope.
XI. Via Sai.aria Vetus, beyond the present Porta
l'inciana (see Marucchi, II, 437-74). 27. Cemetery
of St. PamphUus, an unknown martyr. It was dis-
covered by De Rossi in 1 865. Among some rude
charcoal sketches in one of its cubicula is one rep-
resenting the demolition of a pagan idol, an index
of the end of the fourth century. — 28. Cemetery of
St. Hermes (or Basilla), a little farther on, in a vine-
yard of the German College. Hermes seems to have
been a martyr of the early part of the second century
(c. 119). The fourth-century Liberian Catalogue
mentions him as buried in the cemetery of St. Basilla;
Padre March] and De Rossi had the good fortune to
discover the ancient fourth-cent ury basilica raised
above the martyr's tomb; it proves to be the largest
of the subterranean churches of Rome, and was prob-
ably built on the site of an older edifice. It was con-
structed in the tufa rock, lined with masonry, and
had quite a high vault. This basilica was a favourite
burial-place, for its floor was found covered with
sepulchres. The body of St. Hermes was removed
to the city by Adrian I (772-95). This cemetery
also held the bodies of Sts. Protus and Hyacint litis,
martyrs in the persecution of Valerian (257), and
mentioned in the Liberian Catalogue. Their mis-
trc--. Saint Basilla, suffered at the same time; the
Mart vnilngium Hicmnvmianum calls them "docto-
res sanctse legis". The body of St. Basilla has not
been found, but that of St. Ilyaeinthus now n
in the church of the Propaganda at Rome whither it
was transferred in 1846 after H discovery by Padre
Slarchi; thai of St. Protus, though once buried in the
neighbouring hn'iilu < ems to have been removed in the ninth century by Leo IV. Since 1894 excava- tions have been renewed in this cemetery, in conse- quence of which the crypt and stairs built by St. Darnasus, or about his time, have been found. The cemetery of Hermes has already yielded a number of
valuable dogmatic epitaphs now kept in the Kirehe-
rian Museum at Rome. — 29. Cemetery ad clivum
cucumeris. It was located in the vicinity of Aqua
Acetosa, and was the burial-place of several martyrs,
among them the Consul Liberalis, whose fin: metrical
epitaph has come down to us through the "Itiner-
aries '.
Martyris hie sancti Liberalis membra quiescunt Qui quondam in terris consul honore fuit (Here reposes the body of Saint Liberalis, who in life was honoured as a Consul). The exact site of this cemetery is unknown, though De Rossi believed for a while (1S92) that he had discovered it.
XII. Via Flaminia, outside of Porta del Popolo, the great northern highway, as the Via Appia was the great southern highway, of Rome. — 30. Cemetery <>j St. Valentinus. This martyr, according to his (late) Acts a priest and a physician, seems to have suffered under Claudius Gothicus (26S-70). He was buried on the site of his martyrdom by the pious matron Sabinilla at the first milestone on the Flaminian Way. In time a small cemetery grew up about the tomb of the martyr which in the Middle Ages was in charge of the Augustinians; one of them, the historian Onofrio Panvinio. wrote a description of it. Eventu- ally, however, the cemetery became a wine-cellar. In 1S77 Marucchi discovered the "historical crypt" of St. Valentinus, with its interesting Byzantine fres- coes of the seventh century, among them a Crucifix- ion, the only one found in the catacombs, and one of the oldest artistic representations of this scene. As in the ancient Crucifixion in Santa Maria Antiqua (Roman Forum), the figure of Christ is clothed in a colobium, or long mantle. An overground ceme- tery on the site is said to have been the most exten- sive of its kind. The epitaphs collected there yield only to the epigraphic collection in the Lateran Mu- seum for number and importance; many are dated, from 318 to 523, i. e. to the final period of the consular dignity. A fourth-century basilica built on this site has recently been discovered (lSSSi, showing, like so many others, the fenesteUa confessionis through which the tomb of the martyr could be seen. The cemetery was open and respected as late as the middle of the eleventh century. With the transfer of the martyr's body (fourteenth century) to Santa Prassede in the city began the decay of the catacomb; the basilica had fallen by the time of Bosio (1594), whose " Villa Bosia " was over the cemetery, and yet exists as Villa Trezza.
The best English introduction to the study of the catacombs is the work of Northcote and Brownlow (see below). The latest ami best literature is found in the works, quoted below, of Kaufmans:, Marucchi, and Lf.ci.f.i ■ ■- in the
exhaustive study of NxcHOLAa MuLL&R. art Koimeterien, in - / prof. Thrul. inn! Krrihr. X, 794-377. — The chief collections of materials are those of GIOVANNI Bathsta De Rossi, and in them are also seen on the largest scale the methods of investigation that have rendered such excellent results for theology and church history, also the history of ihr art-. Bodal life, etc. of Christian antiquity. For the life oi De Rossi, see that article. The titles of his writings number over 200, but &e epoch-making works are the following: 1. Roma
snttrrrnnra rri.-Hana (3 vols . Rome, 1864—7' \ large quarto with
maps and illustrations, ' imlv with the ceme-
tery of Saint Callistu rheinti onumental piece
of work. As these works are rare, even in public libraries, Dr.
Kaufmann gives (pp. 24 27 I full tabl f their content De
Rossi planned :t complete collection of the in
of the catacombs but only partially finished it. — 2. In- tcrivlvma Christiana urbu Roma septimo bgcuIo aniinuiorez folio I. Kome. 1861; II, ibid tn ...special peri-
n-.w vely rare) conducted by him be consigned many results of his sin. lies and iii\<
loaia cristiana (Rome. 1863 1894 , in fivi "iued as
its official record bv the Commission of Sacred Archaeology under the till.
i numen ro pecial I udie we may mention his ac- count of the earliest pictures of the Ble jed Virgin in the
mbs, Imagines mteterw
■ i 863l to 1 ■■ read now in con- nexion with the magisterial Malereien of Wii.i'f.rt). and his
. of the inscriptions of the t hristian Museum of the
Lateran, // mu-wo en 1 , Rome, ls77 ;
icnii, Guiila del muses r n .slw,in-I.n!rr nn m*r (Rome.
1898). Two fundamental studies of De Rossi, made at the
