X
1 Parts of this hymn are used in the Moz. Brev. in the Office of the
Dead, being ll. 1-16, 45-48, 57-68, 157-168.
The burial rites of the primitive Church were simple, and marked by
an absence of the ostentatious expression of grief which the pagan
peoples displayed. The general practice of cremation was rejected,
partly owing to the new belief in the resurrection of the body, and
partly from a desire to imitate the burial of the Lord. At Rome,
during the first three centuries, the dead were laid in the
Catacombs, in which Prudentius took conspicuous interest (see
Translator's Note), but after 338 A.D. this practice became less
frequent, and was completely abandoned after 410 A.D. Elsewhere,
from the earliest times, the Christians purchased special enclosures
(_areae_), which were often attacked and rifled by angry mobs in the
days of persecution. The body was frequently embalmed (_cf._ ll. 51,
52), swathed in white linen (l. 49), and placed in a coffin; vigils
and hymns continued for three or four days, but hired mourners were
forbidden (l. 113), and instead of the dirges of the heathens,
chants expressive of triumphant faith were sung as the body was
carried to the grave, where a simple service was held, and evergreens
and flowers were strewn about the tomb (ll. 169, 170). The earliest
inscriptions are often roughly scratched on plaster, and consist
merely of a name and age, or simple words like--