“the ceremonial of the heathen introduced into the churches under the guise of religion—piles of candles lighted while the sun is shining.... Great honour do such persons as do this,” he adds, “render to the blessed martyrs, thinking with miserable tapers to illumine those whom the Lamb in the midst of the throne shines upon with the splendour of his glory.”[643] In the fifth century, however, the custom of thus striving to do “vain honour to the Father of lights” had become established.
Numerous terra cotta vases of varying size and shape have been found in the Catacombs. Some of these were quite large, and were probably used for holding water or wine for the fossors, or perhaps for the refugees from persecution. The first vase in the engraving on the following page, which is exactly the shape of the classic amphora,[644] is over three feet high. The acute termination at the bottom was set in a stand or stuck in the ground, so that the vessel stood upright. Many amphoræ have been found in this position in the cellars of Pompeii. The upper right hand object is furnished with a spout, and an opening for replenishing the vessel. That in the lower right hand corner is a lamp with a handle for carrying it, ornamented by medallion heads of St. Peter and St. Paul. The small flasks in the centre of the engraving are of enamel and purple glass, about an inch high, probably for holding precious unguents. These miniature vases were sometimes made of agate, and were occasionally in the shape of a bee-hive,
probably emblematic of the milk and honey given at baptism, to signify the sincere milk of the word and the sweets of salvation imparted to new-born babes of Christ.[645]
Fig. 114.—Earthen Vessels from the Catacombs.
Some of these vessels are shallow basins rather than vases, (see above, and also [Fig. 116],) which have been interpreted by Roman Catholic writers as benitiers, or holy-water vessels employed in the services of the
Romish ritual. They were more probably ablutionary basins for the use of the fossors, summoned from their grimy labour to assist in the funeral solemnities; or, possibly, for the symbolical washing of the hands by the primitive bishops and presbyters before the consecration of the eucharist, which is mentioned by several of the Fathers as a fulfilment of that Scripture, “I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.”[646] They have also been regarded as baptismal vases.
