[158] The penitentiary system of the early Church will be better described in any volume that embodies the antiquity of the second period of ecclesiastical history, that of The Church of the Basilicas. It is well known, especially from the writings of St. Cyprian, that those who proved weak in persecution, and were subjected to public penance, obtained a shortening of its term,—that is, an indulgence,—through the intercession of confessors, or of persons imprisoned for the faith.
[159] This is related in the Acts just referred to.
[160] See Piazza, on the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in his work on the Stations of Rome.
[161] The last cardinal of the extinct title of St. Cyriacus’s, formed out of a part of these Baths, was Cardinal Bembo.
[162] Michelangelo. The noble and beautiful church of Sta. Maria degli Angeli was made by him out of the central hall and circular vestibule, described in the text. The floor was afterwards raised, and thus the pillars were shortened, and the height of the building diminished by several feet.
[163] See the account of St. Pothinus, Ruinart, i. p. 145.
[164] Ruinart, p. 145.
[165] “Si dignus fueris, cognosces.” Ib.
[166] Acts of St. Justin. Ruinart, p. 129.
[167] This is mentioned as the extreme possible extension.