At the southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and just under the Palatine hill—where the noble babes, who, miraculously preserved, became the founders of a state that was to command the world, were exposed—stands the church of St. Theodore.

This temple was built in honor of Romulus, and the brazen wolf—commemorating the curious manner in which the founders of Rome were nurtured—occupied a place here till the sixteenth century. And, as the Roman matrons of old used to carry their children, when ill, to the temple of Romulus, so too, the women still carry their children to St. Theodore on the same occasions.

In Christianizing these Pagan temples, free use was made of the sculptured and painted stones of heathen monuments. In some cases they evidently painted over one name, and inserted another. This may be seen from the following

Inscriptions Formerly in Pagan Temples.andInscriptions now in Christian Churches.
1.
To Mercury and Minerva, Tutelary Gods.		 1.
To St. Mary and St. Francis, My Tutelaries.
2.
To the Gods who preside over this Temple.		 2.
To the Divine Eustrogius, who presides over this Temple.
3.
To the Divinity of Mercury the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered.		 3.
To the Divinity of St. George the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered.
4.
Sacred to the Gods and Goddesses, with Jove the best and greatest.		 4.
Sacred to the presiding helpers, St. George and St. Stephen, with God the best and greatest.
5.
Venus' Pigeon.		 5.
The Holy Ghost represented as a Pigeon.
6.
The Mystical Letters I. H. S.[397:1]		 6.
The Mystical Letters I. H. S.[397:2]

In many cases the Images of the Pagan gods were allowed to remain in these temples, and, after being Christianized, continued to receive divine honors.[397:3]

"In St. Peter's, Rome, is a statue of Jupiter, deprived of his thunderbolt, which is replaced by the emblematic keys. In like manner, much of the religion of the lower orders, which we regard as essentially Christian, is ancient heathenism, refitted with Christian symbols."[397:4] We find that as early as the time of St. Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Cesarea (A. D. 243), the "simple" and "unskilled" multitudes of Christians were allowed to pay divine honors to these images, hoping that in the process of time they would learn better.[398:1] In fact, as Prof. Draper says:

"Olympus was restored, but the divinities passed under other names. The more powerful provinces insisted upon the adoption of their time-honored conceptions. . . . Not only was the adoration of ISIS under a new name restored, but even her image, standing on the crescent moon, reappeared. The well-known effigy of that goddess with the infant Horus in her arms, has descended to our days in the beautiful, artistic creations of the Madonna and child. Such restorations of old conceptions under novel forms were everywhere received with delight. When it was announced to the Ephesians, that the Council of that place, headed by Cyril, had declared that the Virgin (Mary) should be called the 'Mother of God,' with tears of joy they embraced the knees of their bishop; it was the old instinct cropping out; their ancestors would have done the same for Diana."[398:2]

"O bright goddess; once again
Fix on earth thy heav'nly reign;
Be thy sacred name ador'd,
Altars rais'd, and rites restor'd."

Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople from 428 A. D., refused to call Mary "the mother of God," on the ground that she could be the mother of the human nature only, which the divine Logos used as its organ. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, did all in his power to stir up the minds of the people against Nestorius; the consequence was that, both at Rome and at Alexandria, Nestorius was accused of heresy. The dispute grew more bitter, and Theodosius II. thought it necessary to convoke an Œcumenical Council at Ephesus in 431. On this, as on former occasions, the affirmative party overruled the negative. The person of Mary began to rise in the new empyrean. The paradoxical name of "Mother of God" pleased the popular piety. Nestorius was condemned, and died in exile.