[125] Marucchi, Itinéraire des Catacombes, A.D. 1903.
[126] The story of the tomb of S. Cecilia and her crypt is told in detail in the section immediately succeeding this general sketch of the catacombs, pp. [289–97].
[127] Further details respecting S. Zeno will be found below, p. [276].
[128] Further details respecting the identification of this once famous shrine will be found below on pp. [301–2].
[129] The Church of S. Suzanna has a striking history. It was rebuilt by Maderno for Sixtus V, on the site of an ancient church or oratory erected by Pope Caius, A.D. 283, in the house of his brother, who suffered martyrdom with his daughter, Suzanna, because she refused to break her vow of perpetual virginity by a marriage with the adopted son of the Emperor Diocletian. The bodies of these two martyrs still rest beneath the high altar.
[130] In two of the MSS. of the second edition or Recension of the Liber Pontificalis under the account of Pope Pius I (A.D. 142–57), we find the following note, which contains much of the substance of the above extract from the “Acts” of SS. Pudentianæ et Praxedis above quoted: “Hic (Pius) ex rogatu beate Praxedis dedicavit ecclesiam thermas Novati, in vico Patricii, in honore sororis sue sanctæ Potentianæ (Pudentianæ), ubi et multa dona obtulit; ubi sepius sacrificium Domino offerens ministrabat. Immo et fontem baptismi construi fecit, manus suas benedixit et consecravit, et multos venientes ad fidem baptizavit in nomine Trinitatis.”
[131] See on p. [272], where details are given of the translation of these confessors and of certain of the bishops of Rome originally interred in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, into the basilica of S. Sylvester, erected over the Priscilla Catacomb by Pope Sylvester, and named after both. The basilica in question was discovered by De Rossi in A.D. 1889, in the course of his investigations at S. Priscilla.
[132] The important and interesting details which follow here have been largely taken from the chapter which treats of Ubaldi’s Memoir by Mr. Barnes in his admirable and massive work entitled S. Peter at Rome (1st edit. 1900). The writer of this book can hardly find terms to express his deep admiration for the learning and information contained in Mr. Barnes’ work on the subject. It is by far the most exhaustive and scholarly work on the subject in our language.
[133] The text of the Liber Pontificalis mentions the Cemetery of Prætextatus as the site of the lost tomb. It was there where her husband Valerian and his brother and the officer Maximus had been buried. Duchesne, the learned editor of the Liber Pontificalis, suggests that the body of S. Cecilia had been removed from its original resting-place in the Crypt of S. Callistus, and had been secretly placed for safety’s sake in the Cemetery of Prætextatus. De Rossi, however, and later Marucchi, believe that the Cemetery of Prætextatus, through an error in the Liber Pontificalis, had been written for “Cemetery of Callistus.”
[134] The writer of this book simply tells the story as it has been handed down and often repeated. From the clear testimony of the responsible and eminent witnesses above referred to—such men as Baronius, Bosio, and Maderno—there seems little doubt but that they had looked upon the hallowed remains resting as Maderno in his marble portrait has depicted her. De Rossi and others seem to represent the state of the body as though it had been miraculously preserved; the truth probably is that the body of Cecilia had been carefully and skilfully embalmed owing to the loving care of her friends, and laid in the peculiar position in which she breathed her last. The high rank and great wealth of her family, and the usual gentle and humane practice of the Roman Government in the case of those who had been judicially put to death, would bear out this explanation. No expense would have been deemed too great by the powerful family of Cecilia to do honour to her precious remains.