Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/372

* CATACOMBS. 316 CATACOMBS. from neighboring sand-pits {(irciiar!(c) . There was no lunger any need to restrict the eataconib limits, as there was no longer any legal protec- tion, so all the spaces between the various small catacombs were honeycombed with passages, and one immense catacomb was made out of many. Tlius all regularity of arrangement was lost, and the present intricate ty])e created. All the cata- combs in a single high ridge, up to the low- parts where excavation had to be stopped for fear of ilooding, were thus joined, and a few large groups created around the city. The bloody persecution of Diocletian multiplied burials of martyrs and made wholesale enlargement neces- sary. Then came, with Constantine, the end of persecution. Soon Bishop Damasus voiced the universal reverence by his monumental restora- tions, clearing jiassages, identifying tombs of martyrs, and placing conunemorating inscrij)- tions in verse, building or decorating under- ground chapels and basilicas at the entrances. During the whole of the Fourth Century, and until about a.d. 410, burials continued to be numerous in the catacombs, through the desire of the faithful to rest near the mai-tyrs; and then, finally, all burials were transferred to the surface cemeteries connected with elinrches. The cata- combs, however, jirovided with small basilicas and chapels at their new entrances, remained objects of sacred pilgrimages and anniversary services, not only for Komans, but for pilgrims from the ■whole Christian world, and several literary rec- ords of such pilgrimages remain, from the poems of Prudentius to the Itinerurn of Einsiedeln. Then came the disastrous invasions of the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, and Saracens, which involved the destruction, first or last, of all suburban buildings, the transporting to the city of the relics of the most noted martyrs from the cata- combs, the closing of their entrances, and the filling up of their galleries with earth to prevent desecration — especially at the time of the Sara- cen invasion in the Xinth Century. From that time until the Sixteenth Century llie catacombs were entirely lost sight of. After that they have been gradually reopened, and cxjdored by such men as Bosio ('l5n.'!-lU2!)), Boldetti, Marchi, and especially by De Rossi ; but their riches have by no means yet been exhausted. The following is a list of the principal cata- combs around Rome, arranged according to the Roman roads along which they are placed: Via Apijin, Catacomb of Calixtus, Catacomb of PrtE- textatus. Catacomb at Catacumbas: Via Ardca- tiiKi, Catacomb of Doniitilla ; Via Purliiciisis, Catacomb of Pontianus: Via linlnriii ^'rtus, Cata- comb of Basilla (= Saint Ilcrmes) : ^'ia iSoluria yovn, Catacomb of ilaximus ( = Saint Felicitas), Catacomb of Thraso, Catacomb of Priscilla ; Via yoriiciitana, Ostrian Catacomb, Catacomb of Saint Agnes; Via Tihurtiitu, Catacomb of Hip- polytus. Catacomb of Saint Laurentins ( = Cata- comb of Cyriaca) : Mn Lnhicana, Catacomb of Saint Peter and Marcellinus. Of all these, that of Calixtus is by far the most important, and has been the most fully illustrated. It contains the ianunis papal crypt, where the popes of the Third Centniy were buried, and an analysis of its com- ponent parts best illtistratx'S the growth of a large catacomb from the uniicina, the private burying-lot of that matron. Not only this and other parts of the catacomb date from the First Centurj' or early Second Century, but the same is true of parts of the catacombs of Domitilhi and Priscilla, which almost rival that of Ca- lixtus. The historic interest of the Roman catacombs is incalculable. All the churches behmging to the pre-Constantinian jieriod seem to have disap- peared without leaving a trace beliind; conse- quently, the cha])els of the catacombs are alone in showing how the early liturgical prescriptions — for example, those of the Apostolic Constitu- iiuiif: — were conformed to. The old theory that the catacombs had been really excavated as sand- ])its and for the extraction of tufa by the pagan Romans, and had been simply appropriated by the Christian-;, was first attacked by Marelii and toUilly disproved by De Rossi; they are entirely tile work of the Christians themselves, and were .sometimes connected with the sand-pits only as a matter of convenience in the Third Century, a^ already explained. Using ancient literature as a guide, De Rossi undertook a series of ex- cavations by which he laid bare a large part of ancient subterranean Rome, at the expense of the Papal Government, aided by [irivate subscrij)- tions. After the Italian Government had occupied the Papal States, in 1S70, Parliament decreed that not only should the Vatican, with Saint Peter's, Saint .lohn Laferan, the summer resi- dence of Castel (iandolfo, etc.. remain under the jurisdiction of the Pope, but also the catacombs, which the Government authorities cannot, there- fore, excavate. It is partly from lack of funds, partly from the opposition of private land- owners, that cxca'ations are so slow and spas- modic. About lo.OOO inscriptions have come to light, but this is only a fraction of Avliat remains xmdcrground. D(! Rossi believes they once num- bered over 100.000. After the catacombs were re- discovered, in 1578, they were recklessly despoiled, especially of inscribed stones, whicdi were col- lected as curiosities or used by hundreds as building material. In this way a large part of their epigraph ie riches was dispersed and de- stroyed, and no systematic collection of early Christian epigraphy was ever made, such as was the ease with classical inscriptions, ^'llatever could be done at so late a date was done by the late De Rossi, who grouped the available mate- rials in one of the galleries of the Vatican, ar- ranged according to their themes. In the Vatican Museum, also, arc many of the small objects rescued from the catacombs {Miixro Cristiaiio, etc.) ; others are in the Kircherian Museum, over the Biblioteca Xazionale. The Lateran Museum has the greatest collection of sarcophagi, as well as some facsimiles of frescoes and many inscriptions — a collection made under Marchi and De Rossi. The catacombs themselves can be visited with ease in all importjint parts, and though most of the inscriptions, iHnli. and small objects have been removed, enough remain in silii to show what the original condition must have been. It was natural that the data furnished by the catacombs for the earliest Cliristian history should give food for heated partisan controver- sies between Roman Catholic and Protestant archa-ologists, the latter denying the post-apos- tolic age claimed by De Rossi for the earliest monuments, and disputing many interpretations