The Early Christians in Rome

by H. D. M. Spence-Jones

Into S. Sylvester, too, were brought the remains of the two martyr Popes, Marcellus and Marcellinus. There also Pope Sylvester, the builder of the basilica after whom it has been named, was interred; and at his feet Pope Siricius, the successor of Pope Damasus. Three more of the occupants of the papal dignity have been interred in this honoured sanctuary, namely, Liberius, A.D. 353–5; Celestinus, A.D. 422–32; and at a somewhat later date Pope Vigilius, A.D. 538–55; in all the remains of seven of the Bishops of Rome rested in S. Sylvester.

Indeed, this little basilica ranks as the third of the sacred places of interment of the Bishops of Rome. The first is on the Vatican Hill—in the immediate neighbourhood of the grave of S. Peter—where ten or eleven of the first occupants of the See of Rome lie. The second is the famous so-called Papal Crypt in the Cemetery of S. Callistus on the Appian Way. The third is the Basilica of S. Sylvester over the Cemetery of Priscilla. The fourth is once more on the Vatican Hill, near the grave of S. Peter, in the stately church erected by the Emperor Constantine on the site of the little Memoria chapel of Linus.

CHAPEL OF THE TOMBS OF THE III CENTURY BISHOPS OF ROME—PARTLY RESTORED—CATACOMB OF S. CALLISTUS

It has been well suggested that in each instance the selection of the spot for the formal creation of an official papal burying-place was influenced by some direct memory of S. Peter which was attached to the spot in question. In the case of the first and fourth this is obvious.

In the case of the first was the little Memoria over the sacred tomb. In the case of the fourth—the place selected was on the Vatican Hill—under the shadow of the house of God erected by Constantine over the first Memoria.

Round the grave of S. Peter it was natural and fitting that the first Bishops of Rome should lie. When the space was entirely filled up, as was the case at the close of the second century, and a fresh official burying-place for the Bishops had to be found, Zephyrinus and Callistus were, with great probability, directed to that great cemetery which at a very early date bore the name of Callistus, on account of the memories of S. Peter and S. Paul, which were connected with the adjacent cemetery “ad Catacombas” (S. Sebastian); and Marucchi thinks some treasured memory of the great apostle connected with the beautiful legend of the “Quo vadis”—a spot not far from the Callistus Cemetery—hung round the God’s acre selected for the site of the Papal Crypt.

The third choice of a spot for the burying-place of the Popes, the basilica on the S. Priscilla Catacomb, has been attributed to the many memories of S. Peter associated with the Catacomb in question, which are now identified with the scenes of S. Peter’s teaching and baptizing.

There in the Basilica of S. Sylvester, until the great translation of the Catacomb saints in the pontificates of Paul I and Paschal I was carried out, the remains of the seven Popes, the two sons of Felicitas, and of many other famous and heroic martyrs rested. When, however, the precious treasure of these saints’ remains was removed to the securer shelter of the metropolis hard by, S. Priscilla’s Catacomb and Basilica were soon forgotten.

There is, alas! little left of the basilica of S. Sylvester; its very existence was unknown until De Rossi discovered its ruins in 1889. The subterranean crypt and corridors and baptisteries have fared better than the basilica built above them, and have already provided an almost inexhaustible mine of riches for the antiquarian, the theologian, and the historian; and in coming years, when further investigations in this vast historical cemetery are carried out, discoveries of a yet greater interest may be looked for—discoveries, to use the words of the latest toiler in S. Priscilla, which may tell us more of the “passing by” of S. Peter in this venerable home of so many and such varied sacred memories.