Fabiola; Or, The Church of the Catacombs

by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman

ΖΗCΑΙC ENKῶ KAI
EPωTA ΥΠΕΡΗΜωΝ

“Live in the Lord, and pray for us.”

Another fragment is as follows:

.....N. IVN-
......IVIBAS-
IN PACE ET PETE
PRO NOBIS

“Nones of June ... Live in peace, and pray for us.”

This is a third:

VICTORIA. REFRIGERER [ET]
ISSPIRITVS. TVS IN BONO

“Victoria, be refreshed, and may thy spirit be in enjoyment” (good).

This last reminds us of a most peculiar inscription found scratched in the mortar beside a grave in the cemetery of Prætextatus, not many yards from that of Callistus. It is remarkable, first, for being in Latin written with Greek letters; then, for containing a testimony of the Divinity of our Lord; lastly, for expressing a prayer for the refreshment of the departed. We fill up the portions of words wanting, from the falling out of part of the plaster.