Ruins of the basilica of St. Alexander, on the Nomentan Way. From Roller’s “Catacombes de Rome.”
Often these subterranean churches were not devoid of architectural decoration. The walls, especially near the altar, were plastered and painted, and half columns, with their bases and capitals, not ungracefully cut out of the sandstone, divided
Confirmation, in the Early Ages of the Church.
the different parts or ornamented the entrances. In one instance, indeed in the chief basilica yet discovered in the cemetery of Callistus, there is a chamber without any altar, communicating with the church by means of a funnel-shaped opening, piercing the earthen wall, here some twelve feet thick, and entering the chamber, which is at a lower level, at the height of five or six feet, in a slanting direction; so that all that was spoken in the church could be heard, yet nothing that was done there could be seen, by those assembled in the chamber. This is very naturally supposed to have been the place reserved for the class of public penitents called audientes or hearers, and for the catechumens, not yet initiated by baptism.
Plan of subterranean Church in the Cemetery of St. Agnes.
A. Choir, or chancel, with episcopal chair (a) and benches for the clergy (b b).