Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/374

* CATACOMBS. 318 CATAFALQUE. resenting the Church, stands, not Noah, but the soul of the deceased, toward which the dove is living with the olive branch. Another series of symbols is that embodying the cardinal Christian Iwliefs — the anchor is hope and the cross; tho fish is the divine food and Christ, as well as the believer; the peacocks are immortality; the phc3- 11 iv is resurrection; llovicrs are ])aradise. The regeneration by baptism and by partaking of the Kucharist are also themes represented Irora first to last, beginning in the sacramental cham- ber of the Catacomb of Uomitilla. The sepulchral inscriptions or epitaphs dis- covered in the catacombs belong to every stage of their history and to every variety of technique. Some are beautifully engraved, others irregular- ly; some are scratched rather than cut on tho marble slab; some of the earliest are not cut, but painted in red or black; while others are traced on the fresh mortar. At times the front of the locus is closed by a single inscribed slab, and the lettering is inclosed in a frame ; at times the tdhella is made up of two or three pieces, or is even of terra-cotta. It is extremely interest- ing to note that the majority of the earliest in- scriptions, before the middle of the Third Cen- tury, are not in Latin, but in Greek — a sign ot the preponderance of Greeks among the early converts, and of Greek as the sacred tongue. The earliest are the simplest: they also are least often dated. Often the bare names of the de- ceased are given, without mention of age, day of death, or the relative who set up the memorial — ^facts that are very common in the Third and Fourth centuries. A'ery usual, in these earliest cases, are the exclamations of simple faith and prayer, which later go out of fashion. One feels that the early formulas were more personal; the later ground out by an official registry mill. In Northcote's selected specimens (page 3.3) are examples where the one name stands alone as the whole inscription — 'Honorata'; or the usual triple name — 'C. Munatius Octavianus'; a sim- ple acclamation, '"O Eusebius, mayest thou live." Other acclamations added to the name are: "Jlay God refresh thy spirit;" or "Pray for thy husband;" "Sweet soul, mayest thou live;" "Live in Christ and pray for us." We obtain from these inscriptions the clearest conception of simple Cliristian faith and constancy. The early liturgies, when they say, "Gather them, Lord, in a green pasture, by waters of rest, in a paradise of joy, whence all trouble, all sadness, and sighs are banished," and the like, give a picture of vhich these inscriptions are the counterpart, and which find a nnif illustration in some catacomb frescoes which depict the elect in paradise. Such is a fresco in the catacomb of Saint Soter. The ancient authorities that hclji in identify- ing the catacombs, in tracing their historic stages and connecting them with different martyrs are: the Acta Mnrtijriim. or reports on martrydoms, more or less contemporary, which often relate where the bodies were placed; the Lihcr Ponti- fcalis, early lives of the popes, which mention transformations and Papal burials in the crypts: the inscriptions of the catacombs themselves; the early literature, such as the poems of Pruden- tius, the poetic inscriptions of Pope Damasus; the descriptions of pilgrims, such as the itiiicr- iiries of the Seventh and Eighth centuries ; the topographical monographs on Rome of the later Middle Ages, such as the ilirabiUa Urhis Uomcr. The fundamental modern books on the cata- combs are those of Giovanni Battista de Rossi, who not only published descriptions of the most important catacombs and their contents, but established the correct method for studying and identif.ving them, determining their dates and his- tory. He fotinded the science of early Christian archa'olog^' by his Ronxa tSotterronca Cristiaiia {'3 vols., Rome, 1801-77) ; his hiscri/jlioiics Clirii- lt(jnw iirbia Iloniw (2 vols., Rome, 1801-88) ; his Bulletins ill Archcologia Crhtiami. published (piarterly since 1803, and his jiart of the Corjius liiscriiitionum Latinarum that refers to Christian inscriptions. The English manual of Northcote and Brownlow, Itonut Hotlcrmnca (2 vols., Lon- don, 1870), the French of Allard, l.cs Cutacombcs (le Home (Paris, ISOfl), and De Richeniont, Xou- velles Etudes sur Ics Catarouibcs Ji'diniiines (Paris, 1870), the German of Kraus, lioma ,S'o/- teranea (Freiburg, 1870), are all of them sum- maries of T)e Rossi's results for those who can- not consult the expensive and jionderoiis works of the master. Each language has also had a Dictionary of Christian Antiquities which em- bodies the same materials, though it also treats of the later period: Martigny, Dictiouuaire des antiquitcs clircticinics (Paris, 1877) ; Smith and Cheeth.am, Dictioiinry of Cliristian .iH/iV/uidcs (London, 187.5-SO) ; Kraus, llcalEnciiklopUdie der christliclieii Altcrthiiiucr (Freiburg, 1880- 80). Still later handbooks have been issued, some more systematic, others more detailed, and tisually showing some independence of judgment. Such are: Perate, L'A rchcologic chrcticiiiie (Paris, 1802) (in the Quantin Series) ; Schultze, Die Katakotnbcn (Leipzig, 1882) ; Wilpert, Pri»- cipioifraficii dcr christliclicn Archuolofiie (Frei- burg, 1802) ; and lastly Marucchi's three small volumes, of which two have appeared and which give the fullest and ablest modern statement : O. ilarucchi. Elements d'archiologie chretienne (Paris-Rome, 1800-1001). A brief and very jiopular account is given in Boissier's Prome- nades areheolofiiqucs (Paris, 1880). To these should be added Garrucci's colossal work, f>toria dell' arte cristiana (Prato, 1881), wliose .second volume contains outlines of most of the known catacomb frescoes. Both Garrucci and De Rossi rely on the early work of Bosio. Ilomn flotter- ranea, published in Rome (10.50), which de- scribed and gave plates of manv works since then lu.-t. CATACOMBS OF PABIS. V:ist excava- tions extending under the citv of Paris, fonnerly subterranean quarries which furnislu'd the build- ing material for the cit.v. In the latter part of the Eighteenth Century some portions of the city began to sink and it was necessary to strengthen the roof of the (juarries with masonrv. In 1787 ihe catacombs were arranged to contain the bodies removed from other biirying-grounds. and it is estimated that ujiward'of 0.000.000 bodies are now preserved in them. The bones are arranged in varied designs along the sides of the galleries. CAT'AFALQUE (Fr., OF, r«f/r/.<HM, or CAT- AFALCO. ka'ta-fal'kA (It., from It. dial, calar, to find, O.S]). eatar, to see, Lat. captare. to tri' to seize, to watch, frmn eiipere. to hold -f- "falco for bitico, stage, Ger. Ihiike, .S. bnlca. beam). A teniporar.v structure of carpentry, with hangings, and de<orated with sculptures and paintings, intended to represent a tomb or cenotaph. It