Christian History Institute Presents Pastwords #126: The Church in the Catacombs by Charles Maitland ©2007

Maitland, Charles. Church in the Catacombs; a Description of the Primitive Church of Rome. Illustrated by its Sepulchral Remains. Quotes from Althnous "A most interesting and valuable book, complete with information which is a great degree new to the English reader." English Review. "Dr. Maitland has established a claim on the gratitude of every member of our church by the production of these relics in a form not only accessible but inviting." London Guardian.

he great increase which took place in the extent and magnificence of ancient Rome, during the latter times of the republic, led to the formation of quarries in the immediate neighborhood, from which were obtained the materials necessary for building. In this respect, the city of the Caesars resembles many others, of which it is sufficient to name Paris, Naples, Syracuse, and Alexandria, all more or less surrounded or undermined by long tortuous excavations. Their size and shape differ according to the firmness of the substratum: those of Naples being large and lofty; while those round Rome, from the crumbling nature of the soil, are narrow and low. Several of these catacombs, as they are called, are represented in the work of D'Agincourt, where it is easy to trace a connection between the solidity of the ground and the regularity of the galleries. The materials quarried in the Campagna of Rome consisted of tufa and puzzolana, a volcanic sandy rock, which from its texture was well adapted to the excavation of long galleries. It is affirmed by D'Agincourt, that they follow the direction of the veins of puzzolana; but on this point it is difficult to decide.

These subterranean works first attracted general notice during the time of Augustus, when their extent rendered them dangerous. They then obtained celebrity as the scene of a domestic tragedy referred to by Cicero in his oration for Cluentius. The riches of Asinius, a young Roman citizen, had excited the avarice of Oppianicus, who employed an accomplice to personate Asinius, and to execute a will in his name. The pretended Asinius having bequeathed the property to Oppianicus, and obtained the signatures of some strangers, the true Asinius was inveigled to the gardens of the Esquiline, and precipitated into one of the sandpits (in arenarias quasdam extra Portam Esquilinam). It was in similar caverns that Nero was afterwards advised to conceal himself, when terrified by the sentence of an enraged senate: on which occasion he made answer to his freedom Phaon, that he would not go under ground while living. The circumstance is related by Suetonius.

The sand obtained from the Esquiline pits was much used for making cement: it was recommended for this purpose by Vitruvius as preferable to all other.

The custom of digging sand from these crypts or galleries being established, the whole subsoil on one side of Rome was in course of time perforated by a network of excavations, spreading ultimately to a distance of fifteen miles. But while this was taking place, the original quarries, exhausted of their stores, were appropriated to other uses. We must bear in mind that at this time, that is, about the close of the republic, the Romans were accustomed to burn their dead, excepting a few families of distinction, who preferred burying them, and the lowest orders of the people, who were not able to procure the honours of a funeral pile. Certain classes of persons, as those who had made away with themselves, or perished by the hand of the law, were forbidden to receive the rites of cremation. The prohibition was also extended to such as had been struck by lightning: a circumstance seized upon by Tertullian, as illustrative of the Christian's salvation from hell: "He who has been touched by heavenly fire is safe from being consumed by any other flame."

For these persons the pits left by the sand diggers on the Esquiline hill afforded a convenient burial place; and their bodies were thrown in to putrefy, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants of that part of Rome. The puticulce, puticuli, or culince, as these pits were called, took their name either from their resemblances to a well, in Latin puteus, or from the verb putesco, to putrefy. Both derivations are supported by Festus, a grammarian of the sixth century: whereas Varro, who lived nearer the time, having served as a lieutenant under Pompey, mentions only the verb, and limits the designation puticulce to the pits without the Esquiline gate. Culince is said to be a further diminutive of puticulince, a supposition which perfectly accords with the idiom of modern Italian.

The Esquiline hill, infested by banditti, and rendered almost impassable by the pestilential atmosphere generated in the common receptacles for the dead, was suffered to remain in that loathsome condition until it was reclaimed by Maccenas, and converted into gardens. This fact, of great importance to our history, is alluded to by Horace, who compliments his patron upon the benefit thus conferred on the public. The scarecrow deity set up in the garden is represented as congratulating himself upon the change: "A reed stuck upon the top of my head keeps off the troublesome birds, and prevents them from settling in the newly made gardens. Before, the cast-out bodies of slaves were brought here by their fellow-servants, to be deposited in ill-made coffins, in narrow cells. This place was a common sepulcher for the dregs of the people; for the buffoon Pantolabus, and the spendthrift Nomentanus-- Now, it is possible to live on the wholesome Esquilline, and bask on its sunny banks: where lately the ground covered with whitening bones was enough to produce melancholy." The scholiast commenting upon this passage remarks, "Here were formerly brought the bodies (cadavera) of plebeians or of slaves, for there were then public sepulchers existing there." From these quotations it appears that the place of burial was common, that is, not appropriated to a family or tribe, the only community of sepulture known to the Romans in general; and also that the unburnt bodies, not their ashes, were thrown into those receptacles. According to Raoul Rochette, who has paid particular attention to this subject, there were in other parts of Rome similar places reserved for the common burial of the lower orders. The term puticulce, however, according to Varro, seems to have been confined to the caves outside the Esquiline gate.

When it is asserted by some that the pits in the garden of Maecenas are no other than a part of the catacombs occupied by the Christians in common with the Pagans, the statement is made in defiance of all probability. The death of Maecenas preceded the introduction of Christianity into Rome, so that none but heathen could have been buried on the ground enclosed by him: and no signs of Christian occupation occur anywhere near the spot. It needs but the most cursory examination of the Christian catacombs, as well as of the Pagan sepulchers, to prove that both classes of Romans carefully preserved a separation between their respective dead. Cyprian accuses Martialis of burying his sons in profane sepulchers, and thus exposing them to the contact of heathen bodies.

Besides the persons forced by poverty or by law to bury their dead unburnt, the higher ranks gradually adopted the same custom. We are told by historians that the Cornelia family, followed by a few others, introduced the practice, and the tomb of the Scipios (a branch of that family) confirms their report. This mausoleum is contained in an excavated gallery, in a vineyard on the Appian way, within the gate of St. Sebastian. Over the entrance is inscribed Sepulchra Scipionum, and on sarcophagi formerly found within, but now deposited in the Vatican Museum, are the names of individuals belonging to that house. In the Columbarium, or common tomb of the freedmen of Livia, according to Gori, sarcophagi for unburnt bodies are found together with urns containing ashes. The same is seen in the tomb of the Aruntii, described by Piranesi. (Raoul Rochette)

The Christians of the second and third centuries, though still employing the heathen appellation arenarice, had other means of designating the Catacombs. Cyprian calls them cemeteries; besides which, the term new crypts was applied to subsequent additions made by Christian hands.

From various reasons, the caves near the present Basilica of St. Sebastian are considered by antiquarians as having been the first occupied by the Christians. To these in particular were applied the expressions ad arenas, cryptoe arenarice, and cryptce, to which the Christians added the Greek form ad catacumbas. The term Catacombs, therefore, signified originally the pits about that part of the Appian way; and we find the phrases in catecumpas, of the seventh century, and juxta catacumbas of the thirteenth, limited to a space extending from the church of St. Sebastian to the circus of Romulus, and the tomb of Cecilia Metella. Anastasius, in the Liber Pontificalis, must have used the words n cemeterio catacumbarum to designate this particular spot, as some manuscripts read in cemeterio Callisti. Lastly, the phrase, locus qui dicitur catacumbas is used by Gregory, in the thirtieth epistle of the fourth book, as indicating a spot two miles distant from Rome, that is, the Sebastian catacombs. To sum up the history of the word, which though of Greek form claims no early origin, it is nowhere found in inscriptions belonging to the ancient cemeteries, nor does it occur in history before the time of Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, from which to the thirteenth, it generally signified a part of the country near Rome. Still later it was applied, in a limited sense, to a chapel underneath the Basilica of St. Sebastian, as observed by Raoul Rochette; and in our own times it has become a generic term for all subterranean passages of a certain length and tortuosity, whether they lie beneath the pyramids of the desert, or undermine the site of a modern metropolis.

In the great work of D'Agincourt, "The History of Art, drawn from its Monuments," is the description of a subterranean labyrinth in France, which strongly resembles the Roman catacombs. The inhabitants of Quesnel, driven from their homes by an invasion of the Normans, sought refuge in the quarries from which the materials of their houses had been extracted. Finding the caves narrow and incommodious, they enlarged them to the width and height of ten or twelve feet, and vaulted them above like an oven. Here they concealed themselves, their furniture, and their cattle; and even at the present time these retreats serve for the meetings of the young people of the district, who work together there during the winter evenings.

It being proved by historical evidence that the catacombs were originally dug by the Pagans as sand-pits and quarries, it remains to be shown in what manner the Christians became connected with them. The arenarii or sand-diggers were persons of the lowest grade, and from the nature of their occupation probably formed a distinct class. There is reason to suppose that Christianity spread very early among them, for in time of persecution, the converts employed in the subterranean passages not only took refuge there themselves, but also put the whole church in possession of these otherwise inaccessible retreats. When we reflect upon the trials which awaited the Church, and the combined powers of earth and hell which menaced its earliest years, it is impossible not to recognize the fostering care of a heavenly Hand, in thus providing a cradle for the infant community. Perhaps to the protection afforded by the Catacombs, as an impregnable fortress from which persecution always failed to dislodge it, the Church in Rome owed much of the rapidity of its triumph; and to the preservation of its earliest sanctuaries, its ancient superiority in discipline and manners. The customs of the first ages, stamped indelibly on the walls of the Catacombs, must have contributed to check the spirit of innovation soon observable throughout Christendom: the elements of a pure faith were written "with an iron pen, in the rock, for ever;" and if the Church of after-times had looked back to her subterranean home, "to the hole of the pit whence she was digged," she would there have sought in vain for traces of forced celibacy, the invocation of saints, and the representation of Deity in painting or sculpture. Whatever dates may be attributed to other remains, this fact is certain, that the Lapidarian Gallery, arranged by the hands of the modern Romanists, contains no support whatever for the dogmas of the Council of Trent. Resting upon this distinction, virtually drawn by themselves, between what belongs to a pure age, and what to the times of innovation, we may safely refer to the latter a number of inscriptions of doubtful date, preserved in the vaults of St. Peter's, which contain prayers to the Virgin Mary, and other peculiarities of Romanist theology.

It appears from a number of testimonies, not perhaps of any great value individually, though of some weight when combined, that the early confessors were at times sentenced to work in the sand-pits. This species of punishment is referred to in many Acts of the Martyrs, and especially in those of Marcellus, where we are told that the Emperor Maximillian "condemned all the Roman soldiers who were Christians to hard labour; and in various places set them to work, some to dig stones, others sand." He also ordered Ciriacus and Sisinnus to be strictly guarded, condemning them to dig sand, and to carry it on their shoulders. Marius and his companions were sentenced to the same employment. There is also a tradition in Rome that the baths of Diocletian were built from the materials procured by the Christians. That the Catacombs were throughout well known to them is evident; for every part was completely taken possession of by them, and furnished with tombs or chapels: paintings and inscriptions belonging to our religion are to be seen every where; and for three hundred years the entire Christian population of Rome found sepulture in those recesses.

The fact that the Catacombs were employed as a refuge from persecution rests upon good evidence, notwithstanding objections that have been made, founded upon the narrowness of the passages, the difficulty of supporting life, and the risk of discovery incurred by seeking concealment in an asylum so will known to their enemies. These objections scarcely apply to a temporary residence below ground in times of danger; and it is not pretended that the Catacombs were inhabited under other circumstances. In the excavations at Quesnel, not only persons, but cattle, contrived to support existence: added to which we have, as will be seen presently, the direct testimony of several writers. Had the intricacies of the Catacombs been well known to the heathen authorities, or the entrances limited in number to two or three, they would doubtless have afforded an insecure asylum. But the entrances were numberless, scattered over the Campagna for miles; and the labyrinth below so occupied by the Christians, and so blocked up in various places by them, that pursuit must have been almost useless. The Acts of the Martyrs relate some attempts made to overwhelm the galleries with mounds of earth, in order to destroy those who were concealed within: but setting aside these legends, we are credibly informed that not only did the Christians take refuge there, but that they were also occasionally overtaken by their pursuers. The Catacombs have become illustrious by the actual martyrdom of some noble witnesses to the truth. Xystus, Bishop of Rome, together with Quartus, one of his clergy, suffered below ground in the time of Cyprian. Stephen the First, another Bishop of Rome, was traced by heathen soldiers to his subterranean chapel: on the conclusion of divine service, he was thrust back into his episcopal chair, and beheaded. The letters of Christians then living refer to such scenes with a simplicity that dispels all idea of exaggeration; while their expectation of sharing the same fate affords a vivid picture of those dreadful times.

An authentic history of Stephen during his long residence in the Catacombs, would be surpassed in interest by few narratives in the ecclesiastical archives. A few incidents have been handed down to us. From time to time he was consulted by his clergy, who resorted to him for advice and exhortation. On one occasion, a layman named Hippolytus, himself a refugee, sought the Bishop's cell to receive instruction regarding a circumstance that preyed upon his mind. Paulina, his heathen sister, together with her husband Adrian, were in the habit of sending provisions by their two children to Hippolytus and his companions. The unconverted state of these relations, by whom his bodily life was supported, weighed heavily upon him, and by the advice of Stephen a plan was laid for detaining the children, so that the parents were forced to seek them in the cavern. Every argument was used by Stephen and Hippolytus to induce their benefactors to embrace the faith, and though for the time ineffectual, the desired end was at length accomplished. Tradition adds that they all suffered martyrdom, and were buried in the Catacombs.

In the time of Diocletian, the Christian Caius is said to have lived eight years in the Catacombs, and to have terminated this long period of confession by undergoing martyrdom. Even as late as the year 352, Liberius, Bishop of Rome, took up his abode in the cemetery of St. Agnes during the Arian persecution.

The discovery of wells and springs in various parts of the corridors assists us in understanding how life could be supported in those dismal regions: although there is no evidence to prove that the wells were sunk for that purpose. One of them has been named the Font of St. Peter, and however apocryphal may be the tradition which refers it to apostolic times, the fact of its having been long used for baptism is not to be disputed. Some of the wells are supposed to have been dug with the intention of draining parts of the Catacombs.

St. Chrysostom, who lived not long after the days of persecution, alludes to the concealment of a lady of rank below ground. In an indignant remonstrance against the festivities held over the graves of martyrs in his dissipated city, he compares with the luxurious revels into which the Agape had degenerated, the actual condition of those whose sufferings were celebrated in so befitting a manner. "What connection," he asks, "is there between your feasts, and the hardships of a lady unaccustomed to privation, trembling in a vault, apprehensive of the capture of her maid, upon whom she depends for her daily food?"

These circumstances prove sufficiently the general habit of taking refuge in the cemeteries on any sudden emergency; and it is not difficult to understand how the concealment became practicable. On the outbreak of a persecution, the elders of the Church, heads of families, and others particularly obnoxious to the Pagans, would be the first to suffer; perhaps the only individuals whose death or exile was intended by the imperial officers. Aware of their danger, and probably well versed in the signs of impending persecution, they might easily betake themselves to the Catacombs, where they could be supported by those whose obscure condition left them at liberty.

The importance of the Catacombs as a retreat was not unknown to the heathen: every effort was made at the beginning of a persecution to prevent the Christians from escaping by a subterranean flight; and several edicts begin with a prohibition against entering the cemeteries. Valerian and Gallienus decreed death as the punishment of disobedience; a sentence which was carried into execution in the case of Cyprian.

The limitation applied to a residence in the Catacombs must be extended in nearly an equal degree to the custom of worshipping in them. It is a well-known fact, that before the time of Constantine there were in Rome many rooms or halls employed for divine worship, though perhaps no edifices built expressly for that purpose. Besides this, the extreme smallness of the catacomb chapels, and their distance from the usual dwellings of the Christians, oppose serious objections to the supposition that they served for regular meetings. Yet nothing is better attested in history than the fact that, throughout the fourth century, the Church met there for the celebration of the Eucharist, for prayer at the graves of the martyrs, and for the love feasts or Agape. Prudentius affirms that he had often prayed before the tomb of Hippolytus, and describes at length the subterranean sepulchre of that saint. After narrating the care of the Church shown in gathering the mangled remains for the martyr, he proceeds to a minute description of the catacomb in which they were deposited:-"Among the cultivated grounds, not far outside the walls, lies a deep cavern with dark recesses. A descending path, with winding steps, leads through the dim turnings; and the daylight entering by the mouth of the cavern, somewhat illumines the first part of the way. But the darkness grows deeper as we advance, till we meet with openings cut in the roof of the passages, admitting light from above™.there have I often prayed prostrate, sick with the corruptions of soul and body, and obtained relief." The discovery of chapels, altars, Episcopal chairs, and fonts, indicates the existence of a subterranean worship at some time or other: but it is difficult to prove that all the religious ceremonies were performed in the Catacombs at a very early period.

The edicts of Roman emperors often noticed the cemeteries as a place of worship: among them may be specified that of Maximin, issued on the renewal of the Diocletian persecution, forbidding any meeting of the Christians in the catacombs. The same prohibition is mentioned in the Proconsular Acts, where Emilianus, a prefect of Egypt during the persecution under Valerian, is represented as saying to the Christians, "I see you are an ungrateful people, and have no proper sense of the goodness of the emperors: I shall therefore banish you from Alexandria, and send you to Lybia. Moreover, it shall be no longer lawful for you or for others to hold assemblies, nor to enter the cemeteries, as they are called."

Tertullian relates that on one occasion, under the government of Hilario, the Pagans raised an outcry against the cemeteries of the Christians, and demanded that they should be destroyed. This suggestion was never carried into effect: indeed at the close of the Valerian persecution, Gallienus gave formal permission to the bishops to return to the catacombs.

The monogram of our Saviour's name, rudely expressed in the annexed facsimile, is composed of x and p, the first letters of Xpiorog. We preserve a vestige of this figure by writing Xmas, and Xtian, which can only be explained by supposing the first letter to stand for the Greek X, chi. The above inscription is to be read-Tasaris, in Christ the First and the Last.

The alpha and omega, reversed in this epitaph, refer to the well-known passage in the Apocalypse: their continual use proves the general reception of that book as a part of the inspired canon.

The a and w are mentioned by Tertullian, as well as by Prudentius. From the ignorance of the sculptor, the entire symbol was sometimes inverted, as in the next. The circle is supposed to imply the eternity of Christ.

A change was afterwards made by the decussation (as it is technically termed) of the X: by which the figure of a cross was produced. Having once arrived at this happy coincidence, the monogram remained stationary. Its simple outline, thus chiseled on a grave-stone.

The specimen contained in the Lapidamrian Gallery is here given: the jewels are only in marble, but they represent the real gems often lavished upon the ancient cross.

It has been said, that the monogram was not invented before the time of Constantine, and that it was first seen by him in his miraculous vision. An epitaph, such as the subjoined, discovered by Bosio, may will be assigned to that time, when the motto "In hoc vinces" might have become common:

The only resemblance to the monogram used by heathen, was the ceraunium or symbol of lightning. The Egyptian cross appears to be an abbreviation of the Nilometer.

There is no authority for the statement that the monogram was a symbol of martyrdom, and signified "for Christ."

According to Prudentius, the name of Christ "written in jeweled gold marked the purple Labarum, and sparkled from the helmets' of the army of Constantine; but this is probably a poetical fiction.

The fish was a symbol expressive of the name of Christ; and remarkable as affording a combination of every thing desirable in a tessera, or mystic sign. The Greek for fish, contains the initials of; Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour: a sentence which had been adopted from the Sibylline verses. Moreover, the phonetic sign of this word, the actual fish, was an emblem whose meaning was entirely concealed from the uninitiated: an important point with those who were surrounded by foes ready to ridicule and blaspheme whatever of Christianity they could detect. Nor did the appropriateness of the symbol stop here. "The fish," observed Tertullian, "seems a fit emblem of Him whose spiritual children are, like the offspring of fishes, born in the water of baptism."

Sometimes the word, was expressed at length, as in the two following:

The first contains the mistake of "x" for "X." At other times the fish itself was figured, as recommended by Clement of Alexandria. The specimen here given is from the Lapidarian Gallery:

The dove, also specified by Clement, signifies undoubtedly, peace with God. In the annexed facsimile the word peace is added.

The olive branch which it bears, is borrowed from the history of Noah: it was sometimes carried in the claws of the bird, as in the accompanying, copied from the Vatican library.

The substitution of botis and birgini, for votis and virgini, is an unusual instance: the b and v are sometimes as absurdly reversed.

The anchor noticed by Clement of Alexandria, is understood to signify the close of a well-spent life: the conclusion of a successful voyage, when the anchor is cast.

This supposition is strengthened by the fact, that the Church was often represented by a ship sailing heavenward: in later times steered by Sts. Peter and Paul. One of the figures is here copied:

This symbol may help to explain the expression used by St. Peter, "so shall an entrance be ministered unto you abundantly:" generally referred to the prosperous entrance of a vessel into port. The ignorance displayed by the sculptor is scarcely to be accounted for, excepting by the circumstance, that the traffic on the Tiber was confined to barges, unprovided with masts and sails, and towed by horses. The last four are from the Lapidarian Gallery.