MONG the early Christians the sincerest respect for the memory of their dead was paid; for most of them, in the first centuries of the Church, were either martyrs or near connections of such as had suffered for the faith. The Catacombs are covered with inscriptions recording the deaths of martyrs; and many of these memorials are exceedingly pathetic, testifying to the fortitude with which the first Christians endured any manner of torture rather than deny the new faith which had been imparted to them by Divine revelation. The remains of the martyrs, however mangled they might be, were gathered together with the greatest reverence, and their blood placed in little phials of glass, which were considered relics of a most precious nature. The Catacombs, which served the first Christians as churches as well as places of burial, are called after the most distinguished martyrs who were buried therein. In that of St. Calixtus, for instance—where that early and martyred Pope was interred—about two centuries ago was found the body of Saint Cecilia, "the sweet patroness of music." With such precaution had her remains been transported to their place of interment, that Bernini, the most eminent sculptor of the 17th Century, was able to take a cast of them, which he subsequently worked into a lovely statue, representing the saint in the graceful and modest attitude in which it is said her body was found after the lapse of a thousand years. This exquisite work of art is to be seen in the church which bears Saint Cecilia's name, in the Trastevere; and a fine replica of it is in the chapel of St. Cecilia, in the Oratory, Brompton.
Fig. 8.—Divine Service in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, A.D. 50.
The Catacombs are subterraneous chambers and passages usually formed in the rock, which is soft and easily excavated, and are to be found in almost every country in which such rocks exist. In most cases, probably, they originated in mere quarries, which afterwards came to be used either as places of sepulchre for the dead, or as hiding-places for the persecuted living. The most celebrated Catacombs in existence are those on the Via Appia, at a short distance from Rome. To these dreary crypts the early Christians were in the habit of retiring, in order to celebrate Divine worship in times of persecution, and in them were buried many of the saints, the early Popes, and martyrs. They consist of long narrow galleries, usually about eight feet high and five wide, which twist and turn in all directions. The graves were constructed by hollowing out a portion of the rock, at the side of the gallery, large enough to contain the body. The entrance was then built up with stones, on which usually the letters D. M. (Deo Maximo), or ΧΡ, the first two letters of the Greek name of Christ, were inscribed. Though latterly devoted to purposes of Christian interment exclusively, it is believed that the Catacombs were at one time used as burying-places for Pagans also, and there are one or two which were evidently entirely devoted to the Jews. At irregular intervals, these galleries expand into wide and lofty vaulted chambers, in which the service of the Church was no doubt celebrated, and which still have the appearance of chapels. The original extent of the Catacombs is uncertain, the guides maintaining that they have a length of twenty miles, whereas about six only can now be ascertained to exist, and of these, many portions have either fallen in or become dangerous. When Rome was besieged by the Lombards in the 8th Century, several of the Catacombs were destroyed, and the Popes afterwards caused the remains of many of the saints and martyrs to be removed and buried in the churches. The Catacombs at Naples, cut into the Capo di Monte, resemble those at Rome, and evidently were used for the same purposes, being partially covered with remarkable Christian symbols. At Palermo and Syracuse, there are similar Catacombs, and they are also to be found in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, and Egypt. At Milo, one of the Cyclades, there is a hill which is honeycombed with a labyrinth of tombs running in every direction. In these, bassorilievi and figures in terra-cotta have been found, which prove them to be long anterior to the Christian era. In Peru and other parts of South America, ancient Catacombs still exist. The Catacombs of Paris are a species of charnel-house, into which the contents of such burying-places as were found to be pestilential, and the bodies of some of the victims of the Revolution, were cast by a decree of the Government. The skulls are arranged in curious forms, and a visit to these weird galleries is one of the sights of Paris, which few strangers, however, are privileged to study. The Capuchin monks have frequently attached to their monasteries, a cloister filled with earth brought from the Holy Land. In this the monks are buried for a time, until their bones are quite fleshless, when they are arranged in surprising groups in the long corridors of a series of galleries, and produce sometimes the reverse of a solemn effect.
Fig. 9.—Crypt of a Chapel in the Catacomb of St. Agnes, without the walls of Rome (restored), showing the manner in which the bodies of the early Christians were arranged one above the other. The front of each tomb was of course walled up.—From the work on the Catacombs of Rome, by M. Perret.