[618] Rom. Sott., p. 283.
[619] Ibid.
[620] “Unde dignationem sumeret.”—Conf., vi, 2. Compare with the expression DIGNITAS in the previous inscription.
[621] Pastor quem in calice depingis.—De Pudicit., c. 7. Ipsæ picturæ calicum vestrorum, si vel in illis perlucebit interpretatio,... et ego ejus pastoris scripturam haurio qui non potest frangi.—Ibid., 10.
[622] Glass chalices are common, indeed it is said universal, at the present day in the Coptic churches of Egypt. The San Greal, or reputed vessel of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, preserved in the Cathedral of Genoa, is, curiously enough, of glass, of a hexagonal form.
[623] P. 16, first foot note. Both Christ and Mary have the nimbus. The legend Christus et Istafanus on one example, indicating a transition into modern Italian, implies a late date.
[624] Rock’s Hierurgia, p. 269.
[625] See the epitaphs of Lannus and Gordianus, [p. 98].
[626] Muratori gives the epitaph of a girl of the age of two years and twenty days, on whose tombstone this cup was found, and feeling the absurdity of this theory, but unwilling to controvert the decree of the Congregation of Relics, he adds ironically, “In these sacred cemeteries you especially wonder at two things, namely, that when so many glass or figured vases occur no mention is made in the inscriptions of martyrdom; and especially that infants suffered death on account of faith in Christ”—In sacris iis cœmeteriis duo potissimum mireris, Nempe quum tot Vasa vitrea aut figulina occurrant, nullam tamen in ipsis inscriptionibus mortis pro Christo toleratæ mentionem haberi, et praeterea Infantes ob Fidem Christi morti datos fuisse.—Nov. Thesaur. Vet. Inscrip., p. 1958, No. 8.
[627] Mornings with the Jesuits, p. 222.