Other historic crypts have been ascertained to have existed in this little catacomb—namely, those of SS. Felicissimus, Agapetus, and Quirinus, with his daughter Balbina—of whom Felicissimus and Agapitus were deacons in attendance upon Pope Sixtus. They suffered martyrdom under Valerian, A.D. 258. Quirinus was a tribune who was put to death at an earlier period under the Emperor Hadrian.
A yet more famous confessor than any of these, S. Januarius, the eldest of the seven martyr-sons of S. Felicitas, was buried in this sacred second-century catacomb of Prætextatus. The number of graffiti, the work of pilgrim visitors in the neighbourhood of the tomb of this Januarius, bears witness to the great veneration in which this martyr was held.
The ceiling of the tomb, which has been identified as that of S. Januarius, is beautifully decorated with paintings of the second century—representing the four seasons: the spring by flowers, the summer by ears of corn, the autumn by a vine, the winter by laurels; birds and little winged figures are artistically mingled in this very early decorative work. On the wall below a painting, representing the Good Shepherd with a sheep on His shoulder, has been almost destroyed by a grave excavated in the fourth century. The grave held the body of some devout Christian whose friends were anxious to lay their loved dead as near as possible to the sacred remains of the famous martyr S. Januarius. Not a few of the more striking of the catacomb paintings are thus unhappily disfigured by the mistaken piety of subsequent generations.[128]
The personality of Prætextatus, after whom this cemetery is named, is unknown.
VI
The Via Latina
The ancient Via Latina branches off from the Via Appia near the Baths of Caracalla. It is soon, however, lost among the vineyards, but reappears and leads eventually to the Alban Hills.
The Pilgrim Itineraries mention three cemeteries here. They give a certain number of names of martyrs buried in these catacombs—none, however, apparently well known. They also allude to “many martyrs” interred in these catacombs.
The names of the three catacombs in question are (1) Apronienus—perhaps the name of the original donor; (2) SS. Gordianus and Epimachus; and (3) S. Tertullinus. These cemeteries have never been carefully examined, and even the site of the third has not yet been identified.