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 FOSSORS

155

FOSTER

certain date is Innocent, present at the synods of Pope Symmachus (504). Other noteworthy bishops were: Fulcuinus (1086), present at the Council of Salona as legate of Gregory VII to receive the oath of fidelity to the Holy See from Demetrius, King of Dalmatia; St. Aldebrando Faberi (1119), who died at the age of 118 years; Blessed Riccardo (date uncertain); Addo Ravieri (1379), poet and litterateur; Paul of Middel- burg (1494), of German origin, a skilful mathemati- cian, and author of a work on the computation of Easter; Giacomo Guidiccioni (1524), a famous poet and writer; Cardinal Nicolo Ardinghelli (1541), who left an important correspondence; Giulio Aloisini (1808), internuncio in Russia. The diocese has 20,050 inhabitants, 40 parishes, 1 educational institution, a Capuchin convent, and three religious houses of women.

Cappelletti, Lc Chiese d' Italia (Venice, 1844), III, 245-83; Vern\recci, Fossombrone dai tempi anlichissimi ai nostri (Fos- sombrone, 1907).

U. Benigni.

Fossors (Lat. fossores, fossarii from fodere, to dig), grave diggers in the Roman catacombs in the first three or four centuries of the Christian Era. The determination, from the first days of the Church, of the ecclesiastical authorities to inter the mortal re-

DrOGENES THE FoSSOR

Fourth Century, Catacomb of Domitilla

mains of the faithful in cemeteries reserved exclusively to Christians, brought into existence the class of work- men known as fossors. The duties of the Christian fossor corresponded in a general way with those of the pagan vespiltones, but whereas the latter were held in anything but esteem in pagan society, the fossors from an early date were ranked among the inferior clergy of the Church (Wieland, Ordines Minores, 1897), an ex- cellent example of the elevating influence of Christian- ity on the lowest orders of society. An interesting literary reference to fossors, in their character of one of the orders of the inferior clergy, is found in the " Gesta apud Zenophilum", an appendix to the work of St. Optatus of Mileve against the Donatists. Speaking of the "house in which Christians assembled" at Cirta in the year 303, during the persecution of Diocletian, this writer enumerates first the higher orders of the clergy present, from the bishop to the subdeacons, and then mentions by name the fossors Januarius, Heraclus, Fructuosus, et ceteris fossoribus ("Opp. S. Optati", ed. C. Ziwsa, in "Corpus Script. Eccl. Lat.", Vienna, 1893, XXVI, 187). St. Jerome also (Ep. xlix) alludes to fossors as clerici, and a sixth-century chronicle edited

by Cardinal Mai (Spicil. Rom., IX, 133) enumerates the orders of the clergy as ostiarius, fossorius, lector, etc. At first the fossors seem to have received no regu- lar salary, but were paid by individuals for the work accomplished; with the organization of the Church, however, they appear to have been paid from the com- mon treasury. In the fourth century the corporation of fossors were empowered to sell burial spaces, as we learn from inscriptions. For example, in the ceme- tery of St. Cyriacus two women bought from the fossor Quintus a bisomus, or double grave, retro sanctos (near a martyr's tomb), and there are several other refer- ences to this practice. The corporation of fossors, there is good reason to believe, did not consist merely of the labourers who excavated the galleries of the catacombs; it included also the artists who decorated the tombs, as appears from another allusion in the "Gesta Apud Zenophilum" already cited. Accord- ing to this authority two fossors were brought before the judge (inductis et adplicitis Victore Samsurici et Saturnino jossoribus); when interrogated as to their calling, one replied that he was a fossor, the other that he was an artifex. The latter term at that period in- cluded the professions of painter and sculptor. Thus it would seem that this person who is generically re- ferred to as a fossor is also an artist.

Among the representations of fossors in the cata- combs the one best known, through Wiseman's " Fabi- ola", is that of the fossor Diogenes, discovered by Boldetti. The picture, which was seriously injured in an attempt to remove it from the wall, represents Diogenes with his pick over his right shoulder and a sack, probably containing his midday meal, on his left shoulder, while in his left hand he carries a staff with a light attached. The inscription reads: Diogenes

FOSSOR, IN PACE DEPOSITVS, OCTABV KALENDAS OcTO-

Bnis (the fossor Diogenes, interred in peace, the eighth day before the calends of October). The oldest fresco of a fossor, or rather of two fossors, dating from the latter half of the second century, is in one of the so- called Sacrament Chapels in the catacomb of St. Cal- listus. The figures are represented pointing toward three Eucharistic scenes, probably to indicate another of their duties, which was to exclude unauthorized per- sons from taking part in the liturgical celebrations held occasionally in the cemeteries in commemoration of martyrs. Representations of fossors are usually near the entrance to the subterranean cemeteries.

Kraus in Rfal'Encilk. der christlichen Allerthiimer (Freiburg, 1882), s. v.; NoRTHCOTE AND Brownlow, Roma SoUerranea (London, 1878); Venables in Did. Christ. Antiq.^ s. v.; Kauf- MANN, Manuale di archeol. cristiana (Rome, 1907).

Maurice M. Hassett.

Foster, John Gray, soldier, convert, b. at Whit- field, New Hampshire, U.S. A., 27 May, 1823; d. at Nashua, New Hampshire, 2 September, 1874. After graduating at the West Point Military Academy in 1846, he served as a lieutenant in the Engineer Corps during the Mexican War, where he was wounded at the battle of Molino del Rey. A service on the Coast Sur- vey, 1852-54, brought him promotion to a first lieu- tenancy and assignment as assistant professor of en- gineering at West Point, where he was stationed from 1855 to 1857.

When the Civil War broke out Foster was in com- mand at Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbour, and dur- ing the night of 26 December, 1800, succeeded in transferring the garrison under his command to Fort Sumter, in the subsequent defence of which he took so conspicuous a part as to earn the brevet rank of major. He was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, 23 October, 1861, and assisted in Burn- side's North Carolina expedition. It was at this time that his conversion occurred, his baptism taking place in New York, 4 November, 1S61. He was commander of the Department of North Carolina, during 1862-3, with the rank of major-general. The combined De-