adorned with gems, and even the earliest examples of the Madonna is bedizened in Byzantine style with a necklace of pearls.[810] The following engraving from D’Agincourt illustrates the tasteless drapery and coiffure which awakened such intense patristic indignation.
Fig. 129.—Bellicia fedelissima virgo qve vixit annos xviii, (sic.)
Belicia, a most faithful virgin who lived eighteen years.
The simplicity of the funeral rites of the primitive Christians is indicated by the character of the sepulchral monuments of the Catacombs. No “storied urn or animated bust,” nor costly mausolea, were employed to commemorate those who slept in Christ. A narrow grave, undistinguished from the multitude around save by the name of the deceased, or by the emblem of his calling, or symbol of his faith, and most frequently not
even by these, sufficed, in the earlier and purer days of the church, for the last resting-place of the saints. As wealth increased and faith grew cold, more attention was given to the external expression of grief or regard for the departed; and the chambers, at first rudely hewn from the tufa, became ornamented with stucco and
frescoes, and lined with marble slabs, and the inscriptions became more turgid and artificial. The superstitious veneration paid to the relics of the saints in later days led to the adornment of their sepulchres; and during the period of the temporal supremacy of Christianity, the posthumous ostentation of the rich was manifested in their costly sarcophagi and funeral monuments.[811]
All immoderate grief for the departed was regarded as inconsistent with Christian faith and hope. “Our brethren are not to be lamented who are freed from the world by the summons of the Lord,” says Cyprian, “for we know they are not lost, but sent before us. We may not wear the black robes of mourning while they are already clothed with the white raiment of joy. Nor may we grieve for those as lost whom we know to be living with God.”[812] Nay, the day of their death was celebrated as their Natalitia, or their true birthday—their entrance into the undying life of heaven. The primitive believers were not, however, insensible to natural affection, as many of the inscriptions already given fully prove; but they were sustained by a lofty hope and serene confidence in God.
The early Christian burial rites were entirely different from the pomp and pageantry of grief which characterized pagan funerals. When the spirit had departed, the body was washed with water and robed for the grave in spotless white, to represent, Chrysostom suggests, the soul’s putting on the garment of incorruption. In later