Prudentius (Perist. i. 73) (end of fourth century) beautifully alludes to the veil of oblivion which has fallen over the hidden graves of these numberless nameless martyrs:
"O vetustatis silentis obsoleta oblivio
Invidentur ista nobis, fama et ipsa extinguitur."
And again (Perist. ii.):
"Vix Fama nota est, abditis
Quam plena sanctis Roma sit,
Quam dives urbanum solum
Sacri sepulchris floreat."
The martyrs traditionally interred in the various Catacombs of Rome, and whose graves were reverently and persistently visited by crowds of pilgrims to Rome from foreign lands after the Peace of the Church during the fourth, fifth, and following centuries, represent the victims of the various periods of persecution during the first three centuries.
It is by no means intended to press the traditional statements contained in the Pilgrim Itineraries quoted in this chapter respecting the vast number of martyrs interred in the Catacombs of Rome.
These statements are probably somewhat exaggerated, but the undisputed fact remains that a very great number of these victims of the various persecutions were certainly interred in this hallowed city of the dead; and the unvarying tradition of the number of martyrs so interred must be taken into account, and gravely reckoned with, wherever the question of the number of Christian victims is considered.
- [Footnote: les ámes sublimes." "Des polyandres, ou tombes consacrées à des centaines,
peut-être à des milliers de corps, s'ouvraient en plusieurs parties des catacombes. Ces tombes étaient toujours anonymes, remplies de martyrs—'quorum nomina scit Omnipotens' selon l'expression du Pope Pascal.". . . "M. De Rossi croit reconnaitre dans une fosse profonde qui s'ouvre sous la niche profonde à gauche de l'autel dans la chapelle Papale . . . le polyandre célèbre où reposaient, selon d'anciens documents, une multitude innombrable de martyrs enterrés 'ad sanctam Cæciliam.'" (See Allard, Rome Souteraine (Northcote & Brownlow), Cimetière de Calliste, 216-18; and see too note on p. 218.)]
