The excavations were evidently under one directorate, so symmetrical

and uniform is their character. A considerable degree of architectural

skill is exhibited in the construction and adornment of the

subterranean chapels, many of which are of quite ornamental design,

and in the excavation of the multitude of galleries and different

levels of this vast city of the dead, proving that the fossors were no

mean civil engineers. They were also probably the artists of the rude

inscriptions. The office seems sometimes to have been hereditary, as

we find as many as three generations of fossors in the same family. We

have seen examples of the numerous frescoes representing these lowly

diggers at work, often like miners, by the light of a lamp, or

surrounded by the implements of their calling.[864] The following are

characteristic epitaphs of this class: MAIO FOSSORI--“To Maius, the

fossor;” FELIX FOSSOR VIXIT ANNIS LXII--“Felix, the fossor. He

lived seventy-two years;” DIOGENES · FOSSOR · IN · PACE ·

DEPOSITVS--“Diogenes, the fossor, buried in peace.”

With these were probably confounded in the earlier ages the ostiarii,

or door-keepers. Their office was one of great trust and

responsibility in times of persecution, when the Christian worship had

often to be celebrated in secret, and protected from the intrusion of

spies or of the profanely curious heathen. It was their duty to

distinguish between the faithful and scoffers and traitors, and to

give private notice of the secret assemblies of the Christians. The

following inscription of the sixth century, as restored by De Rossi, 521

commemorates a similar office in the basilica: LOC · DECI ·

CVBICVLARI · HVIVS · BASILICAE--“The place of Decius, custodian

of this basilica.” We have also the epitaph of a _mansionarius_,

a similar officer.[865]

An exaggerated commendation of the supposed superior sanctity of 522

single life has long been a prominent characteristic of Romanism. A

natural corollary of this notion was the enforced celibacy of the

clergy.[866] Upon the Procrustean bed of this iron rule Rome has not

scrupled to bind the tenderest and most sacred affections of the human

soul. This cherished, but, as all history proves, most pernicious

practice, has been the secret of much of the marvellous power of the

priesthood and of the religious orders. The suppression of the

domestic affections but intensified their devotion to the cause of the

church, which took the place of both wife and child, and engrossed all

their thoughts and all their energies. They became a priestly caste,

animated by a strong _esprit de corps_ superior to the claims of

kindred or of country. But, as might have been anticipated, this

anti-natural system led to frightful abuses and corruptions, and to

the most flagrant innovations.

The notion of the greater sanctity of celibacy was derived, not from

the teachings of our Lord or the apostles, who recognized the

essential purity of marriage; but probably, as Milman suggests, from

the early heresy of the Gnostics, of which this doctrine was a

prominent characteristic.[867] “There was no enforced celibacy during

the first three centuries,” says the judicious Bingham.[868] Indeed, 523

marriage was regarded as enjoined on bishops, elders, and deacons, by

the counsel of St. Paul.[869] The occasional passages of Scripture, in

which for temporary and special reasons a single life is recommended,

were in course of time wrested from their obvious meaning to a more

general application; and in the writings of some of the Fathers,

marriage was regarded as a necessary evil, only to be tolerated for

the perpetuation of the race, and on account of the infirmity of the

weak. It was not till the fourth century that the church adopted the

doctrine of devils spoken of by St. Paul as “forbidding to marry.” The

earliest ecclesiastical legislation on the subject was at the Spanish

council of Elvira, A. D. 305, which commanded ecclesiastics who were

married to separate from their wives--_abstinere se a conjugibus

suis_--thus ruthlessly putting asunder those whom God had joined.

The synods of Ancyra and Neo Cæsarea, held ten years later, and also

one of the so-called apostolic canons of the same date, reversed this

decree, and forbade any ecclesiastic to put away his wife on the plea

of religion, under penalty of excommunication, which action was

confirmed by the great council of Nice.[870] Successive attempts to

extirpate the tenderest human instincts only led to their illicit

gratification, and to the scandals arising from the admission of

_mulieres subintroductæ_, or, in other words, of concubines. So 524

demoralized did the clergy thereby become, that during the Middle

Ages, as Mr. Lea remarks, “though, the ancient canons were

still theoretically in force, they were practically obsolete

every-where.”[871] At length Luther led the great emancipation of the

clergy from this burden, so unutterably grievous to many a tender

conscience; and removed the stigma of disgrace from those domestic

relations which God, who setteth the solitary in families, so signally

blesses.

There is no trace of the ascetic spirit or celibate clergy of the

Church of Rome in the inscriptions of the Catacombs. On the contrary,

numerous epitaphs commemorate the honourable marriage of members of

every ecclesiastical grade. Thus, in the highest rank, Gruter[872]

gives the following, which is thought to be that of Liberius, bishop

of Rome, who died A. D. 366, and who was sometimes known by the name

of Leo:

HVNC MIHI COMPOSVIT TVMVLVM LAVRENTIA CONIVX

MORIBVS APTA MEIS SEMPER VENERANDA FIDELIS

INVIDIA INFELIX TANDEM COMPRESSA QVIESCIT 525

OCTOGINTA LEO TRANSCENDIT EPISCOPVS ANNOS.

My wife Laurentia made me this tomb; she was ever suited to my

disposition, venerable and faithful. At length disappointed envy

lies crushed; the bishop Leo survived his eightieth year.

De Rossi gives the following, of a bishop’s son, of date A. D. 404.

The relationship is boldly acknowledged, and not yet disguised under

the phrase _nepos_ or nephew: VICTOR IN PACE FILIVS EPISCOPI VICTORIS

CIVITATIS VCRENSIVM--“Victor, in peace, son of Bishop Victor, of the

city of the Ucrenses.” The following, of date A. D. 445, was found at

Narbonne: RVSTICVS · |EPIS| · |EPI| · BONOSI · FILIVS.... “Bishop

Rusticus, son of Bishop Bonosus.”

There are also numerous inscriptions in which presbyters and deacons

lament the death of their wives, “chaste, just, and holy.” “Would to

God,” exclaims a writer in the _Revue Chrétienne_, “that all their

successors had such.” The following are examples: GAVDENTIVS ·

PRESBYTER · SIBI ET CONIVGI SVAE SEVERAE CASTAE HAC (_sic_)

SANCTISSIMAE FEMINAE--“Gaudentius the presbyter, for himself and his

wife Severa, a chaste and most holy woman;” LOCVS BASILI PRESB ET

FELICITATI EIVS.... “The place of Basil the presbyter, and of

Felicitas, his (wife).” Observe also the tender recognition of family

ties in the following: OLIM PRESBYTERI GABINI FILIA FELIX HIC SVSANNA

IACET IN PACE PATRI SOCIATA--“Once the happy daughter of the presbyter

Gabinus, here lies Susanna, joined to her father in peace.”

We have already seen the epitaph of “Petronia, the wife of a deacon,

the type of modesty,” with whom were buried two of her children.[873]

The following, of similar character, is accompanied by the epitaph of 526

a deacon on the same stone, probably the husband who so tenderly

lamented the loss of his faithful consort.

LEVITAE CONIVX SEMPER MIHI GRATA MARIA

EXITVS ISTE TVVS PROSTRAVIT CORDA TVORVM

PERPETVAS NOBIS LACRIMAS LVCTVMQVE RELINQVENS

CASTA GRAVIS SAPIENS SIMPLEX VENERANDA FIDELIS

COMPLEVIT TVA VOTA DEVS TE NAMQVE MARITVS

TE NATI DEFLENT NEC MORS TIBI SVSTVLIT VLLVM.

Maria, the wife of a deacon, ever well-pleasing to me. That

departure of thine prostrated the hearts of thy friends, leaving

perpetual tears and grief to us. Chaste, grave, wise, simple,

venerable, faithful. God fulfilled thy wishes; for thee thy

husband, thee thy children bewail, nor did death bear any away

from thee. (A. D. 451.)

Epitaphs are also found indicating the prevalence of marriage in the

inferior ecclesiastical ranks, as in the following examples: CLAVDIVS

ATTICANVS LECTOR ET CLAVDIA FELICISSIMA CONIVX--“Claudius Atticanus,

the reader, and Claudia Felicissima, his wife;”[874] IANVARIVS

EXORCISTA · SIBI · ET · CONIVGI · FECIT--“Januarius, the exorcist,

made this for himself and his wife;” TERENTIVS · FOSOR · (_sic_) ·

PRIMITIVE (_sic_) · CONIVGI · ET · SIBI · --“Terentius, the fossor, for

Primitiva, his wife and himself.”

The primitive church early availed itself of the services of godly

women, a sort of female diaconate, for the administration of charity,

the care of the sick, the instruction of the young, and of their own

sex, and to carry the light and consolations of the gospel into the

most private and delicate relations of life, for which these gentle

ministrants possessed facilities denied to the other sex. They are 527

frequently mentioned in the writings of the Fathers under the names of

διάκονοι,[875] deaconesses, _viduæ_, widows, or _ancillæ Dei_,

handmaids of God. In apostolic times they were required to be of the

mature age of sixty years;[876] but widows, and even the unmarried,

were subsequently admitted into this class as early as forty,[877] or

even twenty,[878] years of age. The unmarried, however, assumed no vow

of perpetual celibacy,[879] nor of conventual life, but lived

privately in their own homes, employed in offices of piety and mercy.

The growing esteem of celibacy, however, in the fourth and fifth

centuries, invoked ecclesiastical censure for the abandonment of the

lofty vantage ground of virginhood;[880] but the Imperial law granted

liberty of marriage, if the order had been entered before the age of 528

forty. How different the practice of Rome in binding young girls, in

the first outburst of religious enthusiasm, or the first bitterness of

disappointed hope, by irrevocable vows to a death-in-life, and

indissolubly riveting those bonds, no matter how the chafed soul may

repudiate the rash vow, and writhe beneath the galling yoke. The

consecrated virgin of the early church, instead of the ghastly

robings, like the cerements of the grave, in which the youthful nun is

swathed, the symbol of her social death, wore a _sacrum velamen_, or

veil, differing but little from that of Christian matrons, and a

fillet of gold around her hair. The custom, now part of the Romish

ritual, of despoiling the head of its natural adorning, was especially

denounced by some of the ancient councils.

There are several of the early Christian inscriptions illustrative of

these various classes of consecrated women, of which the following are

examples: OC · TA · VI · AE · MA · TRO · NAE · VI · DV · AE · DE ·

I.--“To the matron Octavia, a widow of God;” HIC QVIESCIT GAVDIOSA

|CF| ANCILLA DEI QVAE VIXIT ANNOS |XL| ET MEN V--“Here rests Gaudiosa,

a most distinguished woman, a handmaid of God, who lived forty years

and five months,” (A. D. 447); IN HOC SEPVLCHRO REQVIESCIT PVELLA

VIRGO SACRA B · M · ALEXANDRA--“In this tomb rests a girl, a sacred

virgin, Alexandra, well deserving;” HOC EST SEPVLCRVM SANCTAE LVCINAE

VIRGINIS--“This is the sepulchre of the holy virgin Lucina”--this,

however, may not indicate a special class. AESTONIA VIRGO PEREGRINA

QVAE VIXIT ANNOS XLI; ET · DS · VIII (_sic_)--“Æstonia, a travelling 529

virgin, who lived forty-one years and eight days”--she was probably a

member of a distant church, received on a letter of recommendation,

FVRIA HELPHIS (_sic_) VIRGO DEVOTA--“Furia Elpis, a consecrated

virgin.” In the fifth century this consecration sometimes took place

at an early age, as the following example, of date A. D. 401: PRIE

(_sic_) IVNIAS PAVSABET (_sic_) PRAETIOSA ANNORVM PVLLA (_sic_) VIRGO

XII TANTVM ANCILLA DEI ET CHRISTI--“On the day before (the Calends of)

June Prætiosa went to her rest, a young maiden of only twelve years of

age, a handmaid of God and of Christ.”[881]

There is no trace in the inscriptions of the Catacombs of that ascetic

spirit from which, in the fourth and following centuries, sprang the

strange phenomena of monachism, with its important influence for

blended good and evil on the future of Christendom. _That_ was rather

the result of the decay and corruption of primitive Christianity, and

of the despair of mankind as to its regenerative power upon the world.

Hence, multitudes fled from the immedicable evils of society to the

solitude of the desert or the mountain.[882] Primitive Christianity,

on the contrary, was eminently cheerful and social in its character.

It consecrated the family life, and developed, to a degree before

unknown, the domestic virtues.

The care of the primitive church for the religious teaching of the

young and of heathen converts is abundantly exemplified in the 530

inscriptions of the Catacombs. The catechumens, or learners, as the

word signifies--the “Cadets of Christianity”--were a distinctly

recognized class for whose instruction especial provision was made. It

consisted of the children of believers born in the church, and

therefore peculiarly under its care; and also of converts from

paganism, who needed to be weaned from their errors, and taught the

doctrines of Christianity before admission to the sacraments of

baptism and the holy eucharist. For the latter, as a safeguard against

the rash assumption of the Christian vows and the danger of subsequent

apostacy, a certain probation was prescribed.[883] The candidates were

taught the Holy Scriptures, and a formal confession of faith, probably

similar to the ancient creed in which the Christian belief of the

church has for so many centuries been expressed. These instructions

were given by the bishop himself as chief catechist; and also by the

presbyters, deacons, lectors, and other members of the inferior

ministry. Deaconesses and aged women acted as instructresses of their

own sex; and one of these was always present during the questioning of

the female catechumens by the male catechists.

The following engraving represents a chamber in the Catacomb of St.

Agnes, which, it is conjectured, was employed for the instruction of

the female catechumens. On either side of the doorway are seats or

chairs hewn out of the solid tufa, which were probably occupied by the

catechist and the presiding deaconess. The low stone bench running

around the remaining walls of the chamber would conveniently 531

accommodate the _audientes_, or hearers, as they were called.

[Illustration: Fig. 130.--Chamber in the Catacomb of St. Agnes,

with seats for Catechists and Catechumens.]

Some Roman Catholic writers have asserted that these chambers were

confessionals: but the chairs are too far apart if one was for the

confessor and the other for the penitent, especially with an open door

between; and too near, from the liability of the confessions being

overheard, if each was a confessional; and in either case the

necessity for the stone bench cannot be conceived. In some chambers,

probably for the male catechumens, there is only one tufa chair, no

deaconess being present.

Another curious chamber in the Catacomb of St. Agnes communicates with

the one adjacent to it by a circular opening cut through the tufa wall 532

about breast-high. It is conjectured that this was for the purpose of

allowing the catechumens to hear the public instructions of the

faithful without witnessing the celebration of the sacraments. The

zeal of the candidates would thus be the more inflamed,[884] that they

might be found worthy of admission to the fulness of Christian

privilege and to the sacred mysteries hidden from the uninitiate and

the unworthy. The following epitaph from the Lapidarian Gallery

commemorates a youthful catechumen: VCILIANVS BACIO VALERIO QVE BISET

· (_sic_) ANN VIIII · MEN · VIII · DIES XXII CATECVM--“Ucilianus to

Bacius Valerius, a catechumen, who lived nine years, eight months and

twenty-two days.”

The ordinance of baptism receives several illustrations from the

monumental evidences of the Catacombs. There are numerous epitaphs of

neophytes--a term applied only to newly baptized persons--which

indicate that this Christian rite was administered at all ages from

tender infancy to adult years; in the latter case the subjects being

probably recent converts from heathenism. The following are examples

of this class: TEG · CANDIDIS NEOF Q · VXT · M · XXI--“The tile of

Candidus, a neophyte, who lived twenty-one months;” FL · IOVINA · QVAE

· VIX · ANNIS · TRIBVS · D · XXX · NEOFITA · IN PACE--“Flavia Jovina,

who lived three years and thirty days, a neophyte, in peace;” MIRAE

INDVSTRIAE ADQVE BONITATIS ... INNOCENTIA PREDITVS FL · AVR · LEONI.

NEOFITO QVI VIXIT ANN VI · MENS · VIII DIES XI....--“Innocentia

Preditus to Flavius Aurelius Leo, a neophyte of wonderful industry and

goodness, who lived six years, eight months, eleven days;” ROMANO

NEOFITO BENE MERENTI QVI VIXIT · ANNOS · VIII · D · XV · REQVIESCIT 533

IN PACE--“To the well-deserving neophyte Romanus, who lived eight

years and fifteen days; he rests in peace.” We have already seen the

epitaph of Junius Bassus, who died a neophyte at the age of forty-one,

and shall presently observe other instances of adult baptism.[885] We

find also the epitaph of “two innocent brothers, one a neophyte, the

other, one of the faithful.”

In course of time the rite of baptism degenerated into a superstitious 534

charm, and was regarded as a mystical lustration which washed away all

sin and was essential to salvation.[886] This change probably resulted

from a reaction against the Pelagian heresy, which denied the

necessity of baptism, and from the rhetorical exaggeration by the

Fathers of the spiritual efficacy of this sacrament.[887] The church

of the Catacombs, while duly administering the rite of baptism, did

not, after the manner of the Church of Rome and other modern extreme

sacramentalists, invest it with regenerative power, nor regard its

involuntary omission as excluding the body from consecrated ground and 535

the soul from heaven.[888]

Sometimes, by a beautiful metonyme derived from its spiritual

significance, baptism is indicated as the palingenesis, or new birth,

of which it is the appropriate symbol. The following is a

characteristic example of this usage: ... CAELESTE RENATVS AQVA

(_sic_)--... “Born again of heavenly water,” (A. D. 377.)[889] We read

also of a certain Mercurius, who is described as a boy born and dying

in the same year, aged twenty-four. The allusion is to the spiritual

regeneration symbolized by baptism. With reference to this he was but

a boy--_puer_--at the time of his death.[890] This rite was also

called illumination, and we find in the Catacombs the epitaphs of

persons said to be thus “newly illuminated.”

The testimony of the Catacombs respecting the mode of baptism, as far

as it extends, is strongly in favour of aspersion or affusion. All

their pictured representations of the rite indicate this mode, for

which alone the early fonts seem adapted; nor is there any early art

evidence of baptismal immersion. It seems incredible, if the latter

were the original and exclusive mode, of apostolic and even Divine

authority, that it should have left no trace in the earliest and most

unconscious art-record, and have been supplanted therein by a new,

unscriptural, and unhistoric method. It is apparent, indeed, from the

writings of the fourth and fifth century, that many corrupt and

unwarranted usages were introduced in connection with this Christian

ordinance that greatly marred its beauty and simplicity. It is 536

unquestionable that at that time baptism by immersion was practised

with many superstitious and unseemly rites. The subjects, both men and

women, were divested of their clothing, to represent the putting off

the body of sin; which, notwithstanding the greatest efforts to avoid

it, inevitably provoked scandal. They then received trien immersion,

to imitate, says Gregory Nyssen,[891] the three days’ burial of

Christ; or, according to others, as a symbol of the Trinity. The rite

was accompanied by exorcism, insufflation, unction, confirmation, the

gift of milk and honey, the administration of the eucharist even to

infants, the clothing in white garments, and carrying of lighted

tapers, to all of which a mystical meaning was attached.

But in the evidences of the Catacombs, which are the testimony of an

earlier and purer period, there is no indication of this mode of

baptism, nor of these dramatic accompaniments.[892] The marble font

represented in the accompanying engraving, now in the crypts of St.

Prisca within the walls, is said to have come from the Catacombs, and

to have been used for baptismal purposes by St. Peter, himself; in 537

corroboration of which legend it bears the somewhat apocryphal

inscription--|SCI| · PET · BAPTISMV · (_sic._) The tradition at least

attests its extreme antiquity; and its basin is quite too small for

even infant immersion. Other fonts have been found in several of the

subterranean chapels, among which is one in the Catacomb of Pontianus,

hewn out of the solid tufa and fed by a living stream. It is 1·45

metres long, ·92 metres wide, and 1·11 metres deep, but is seldom near

full of water. It is obviously too small for immersion, and was

evidently designed for administering the rite as shown in the fresco

which accompanies it. (See Fig. 132.) The following inscription, from

the Lapidarian Gallery, seems to have come from some such font, and

perhaps contains a reference to the scripture, “Arise and be baptized,

and wash away thy sins:” CORPORIS ET CORDIS MACVLAS VITALIS PVRGAT ET

OMNE SIMVL ABLVIT VNDA--“The living stream cleanses the spots of the

body as well as the heart, and at the same time washes away all

(sins).”[893]

[Illustration: Fig. 131.--Baptismal Font.]

[Illustration: Fig. 132.--The Baptism of Our Lord.] 538

Immediately over the font in the Catacomb of Pontianus is the

elaborate fresco of the baptism of Our Lord, figured above. He is

represented standing in the river Jordan, while John pours water upon 539

his head, and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. An angel

stands by as witness of the rite, and in the foreground a stag, the

emblem of a fervent Christian, is drinking at the pure stream.[894]

[Illustration: Fig. 133.--Baptismal Scene.]

In a very ancient crypt of St. Lucina is another partially defaced

baptism of Christ, attributed to the second century, in which St. John

stands on the shore and our Saviour in a shallow stream, while the

Holy Spirit descends as a dove. On the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

Christ is also symbolically represented as baptized by affusion. The

annexed rude example from the Catacomb of Callixtus, probably of the

third century, also clearly exhibits the administration of the rite by

pouring.[895] It is accompanied by a representation of Peter striking

water from the rock, an emblem, according to De Rossi, of the waters

of baptism sprinkling the sinful souls that come thereto. A similar 540

example also occurs in the cemetery of St. Prætextatus.

In ancient sarcophagal reliefs in the Vatican are representations of

small detached baptisteries of circular form, crowned with the

Constantinian monogram. These were necessarily of sufficient size to

accommodate the number of persons who were baptized at one time,

generally at Easter,[896] and were placed outside of the basilica to

indicate the initiatory character of baptism as the entrance to the

church of Christ.[897] In the early mosaics representing baptismal

scenes, the rite is invariably administered by affusion, as in the

baptistery of San Giovanni at Ravenna, in the beginning of the fifth

century, in Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, at Ravenna, in the beginning, and

in the ivory relief on the episcopal chair of Maximinus, at the end,

of the sixth century.[898] So, also, a later example in the Lateran 541

basilica represents Constantine kneeling naked in a laver, and

Sylvester pouring water on his head.[899] This is also the method

indicated in several medals, bas reliefs, frescoes, and mosaics, in

almost every century from the fourth, through the Middle Ages,

indicating a continuous tradition, even when immersion may have been

practised, of a different mode of baptism.

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was the most sacred and consoling

rite of the primitive church. It was at once the emblem of the

Christian’s highest hopes, and the sublime commemoration of the

ineffable sacrifice on which those hopes depend. It was the focus in

which concentrated all their holiest thoughts, kindling the whole soul

into a flame of adoring love.[900] It was the central act of worship,

around which all their solemn devotions gathered, and to which they

all looked. The sublime thought of the atonement of Christ and of

salvation through his death, shone ever star-like over their souls,

illumining even the sepulchral gloom of these subterranean crypts.

Daily,[901] or as often as the vigilance of their foes in times of

persecution would permit, the faithful met in the silent halls of 542

death, far from the “madding crowd’s ignoble strife,” to nourish and

strengthen their souls for fiery trial, and often for the red baptism

of martyrdom, by meditation on the passion of their Lord and partaking

of the emblems of his death.

Therefore, in ever-recurring and appropriate symbolism, was this holy

rite set forth upon the walls of the Catacombs. Its direct

representation, however, was carefully avoided; and its sacred meaning

was hidden from the profane gaze of the heathen under a veil of

allegory and emblem, which was, nevertheless, instinct with

profoundest significance to the initiated. Thus, we find

representations of seven men eating bread and fish, which are

interpreted as the repast of the disciples by the sea-shore when Our

Lord manifested himself in the breaking of bread, and, indirectly, as

symbols of the holy eucharist.[902] They are not at all analogous to

the pictures of pagan funeral banquets, to which they have been

compared, but which are entirely foreign to Christian thought. The

miracles of turning water into wine, and of the multiplication of the

loaves, were also regarded as types of the eucharist, which was,

doubtless, frequently symbolized under these figures. We have seen a

copy of the remarkable fresco, twice repeated in the Catacomb of St.

Lucina, of a fish bearing a basket of bread on its back, and in the

midst what seems to be a chalice of wine.[903] This is considered one

of the most ancient emblems of this sacred rite. This view derives

singular corroboration from a passage in Jerome, which speaks of

carrying the body of Christ in a basket made of twigs, and his blood 543

in a chalice of glass.[904] The eucharist is also evidently symbolized

in the representations of fish and sheep carrying small loaves of

bread in their mouths. These are sometimes marked with a decussate

cross, as was done to facilitate fracture during administration.

The first Christian altars were tables of wood, which, in times of

persecution, could be easily removed from house to house in which

worship was celebrated. The entire absence of any thing corresponding

to the pagan sacrificial altar was made the subject of heathen

reproach.[905] In a painting found in the Catacomb of Callixtus, which

Dr. Northcote describes as “the sacrifice of the Mass, symbolically

depicted,” a man stands with hands outstretched, as if in act of

consecration, over a three-legged table, on which are bread and a

fish, while opposite stands a female figure in the attitude of prayer.

In an adjoining chamber a precisely similar table is represented, but

without the accompanying figures.[906] These tables were placed, not

against the wall like a Romish altar, but set out from it, so that the

ministrant could stand behind it looking toward the congregation.

In the “papal crypt” of the Callixtan Catacomb the sockets for the 544

four feet of the table thus set out from the wall are distinctly

visible, and Bosio and Boldetti both found examples of altars standing

in the middle of the _cubicula_. This was also their position in

the oldest basilicas of Rome.

In the sixth century a general council decreed that the altars should

be of stone. This transition had already taken place in the Catacombs,

and arose from the employment of the slab covering the grave in an

_arcosolium_ for the administration of the eucharist. This practice

led to an increased veneration for the relics of the saints; and soon

the presence of these relics became essential to the idea of an

altar.[907] To this custom Prudentius refers in his hymn for

Hippolytus’ day.

“Illa sacramenti donatrix mensa, eademque

Custos fida sui martyris apposita:

Servat ad æterni spem Judicis ossa sepulchro

Pascit item sanctis Tibricolas dapibus.

Mira loci pietas, et prompta precantibus ara.”

“That slab gives the sacrament, and at the same time faithfully

guards the martyr’s remains; it preserves his bones in the

sepulchre in hope of the Eternal Judge, and feeds the dwellers by

the Tiber with sacred food. Great is the sanctity of the place,

and it offers a ready altar for those who pray.”

After the consecration of the elements by the presbyter or bishop, the

communion in both kinds was administered to the faithful by the

deacons in the formula of its institution which we still use.[908] The

consecrated elements[909] were sent to any who were sick, by the hands 545

of deacons or acolytes, as is still the practice in the Greek and

Armenian churches. In the Acts of St. Stephen, we read of a young

martyr who chose to be beaten to death by a Roman mob, rather than

disclose the sacred treasure entrusted to his care. This practice in

time degenerated into the superstitious administration of the

_viaticum_ as a preparation for the soul’s journey to the

spirit-world. Some of the gilt glasses, before described, are thought

to have been used as patens and chalices for the celebration of the

eucharist. With the increasing wealth and more gorgeous ritual of the

church, gold and silver vessels, adorned with costly gems and rarest

workmanship, took the place of the humbler material of the primitive

ages.[910]

Another beautiful institution generally associated with the

celebration of the eucharist in primitive times is that of the

_agape_, or love-feast. In a subterranean chapel in the Catacomb

of Marcellinus and Peter is an exceedingly interesting representation 546

of the observance of this custom, shown in the following engraving.

[Illustration: Fig. 134.--Ancient Agape.]

Three guests, it will be perceived, sit at the semicircular table, at

the ends of which preside two matrons personifying peace and love,

with their names written above their heads. An attendant supplies them

with food from a small table in front, on which are a cup, platters,

and a lamb. The inscriptions, according to Dr. Maitland, should be

expanded thus: IRENE DA CALDA[M AQVAM]--“Peace, give hot water;” and

AGAPE MISCE MI [VINVM CVM AQVA]--“Love, mix me wine with water;” the

allusion being to the ancient custom of tempering wine with water, hot

or cold.

Numerous other representations of this devout feast at which Love and

Peace preside attest its general observance. It would be a touching

symbol of Christian unity to the persecuted saints, and would unite

still closer hearts bound together by common dangers and a common

hope. All the distinctions of rank were then forgotten. Gathering by 547

stealth in these subterranean crypts from the imperial palace and the

lowly abode of poverty, they break bread together in the solemn

presence of the dead in token of their common brotherhood in Christ.

The slave of a Roman master, but the freedman of Christ, and the

patrician convert, the intellectual Greek and the once bigoted Jew,

together

Celebrate the feast of love,

Antedate the joys above.

This beautiful institution, first mentioned by Jude as the “feasts of

charity,”[911] was usually observed in connexion with the eucharist,

though not necessarily a part of it. It dates from the earliest period

of the church,[912] and its corruptions among the Corinthians called

forth the sharp rebuke of the Apostle Paul.[913]

Tertullian thus describes its character in the second century: “Our

supper, which you accuse of luxury, shows its reason by its very name;

for it is called _agape_, which, among the Greeks, signifies

love. It admits of nothing vile or immodest. We eat and drink only as

much as hunger and thirst demand, mindful that the evening is to be

spent in the worship of God. We so speak as knowing that God hears.

After washing our hands and bringing lights, each is asked to sing to

God according to his ability, either from Scripture or from his own

mind. Prayer also concludes the feast.”[914] He calls it also a supper

of philosophy and discipline, rather than a corporeal feast. At the

close collections were made for widows and orphans and for the poor,

many of whom would be thrown out of employment by their renunciation

of idolatrous trades; also for prisoners and for persons who had 548

suffered shipwreck.[915] It is doubtless the _agape_ which Pliny

describes as “the common and harmless meal”[916] of the Christians,

and at which, according to Lucian, their “sacred conversations”[917]

were held. Clement of Alexandria calls the _agape_ “the banquet of

reason, a celestial food, and the supper of love; the pledge and proof

of mutual affection.”[918]

The primitive church carefully guarded the celebration of the

eucharist and _agape_ from the pryings of idle curiosity or the

perfidy of heathen malevolence, lest the name of God should be

blasphemed, or the goodly pearls of salvation be trampled beneath

swinish feet. But this very secresy and mystery became the occasion of

the vilest slanders and aspersions. The Christians were accused of

celebrating these rites with the most abominable orgies--feasting on

human flesh and infants’ blood, and committing nameless crimes of

still deeper dye. “They charge us,” say the martyrs of Lyons, “with

feasts of Thyestes, and the crimes of Oedipus, and such abominations

as are neither lawful for us to speak nor think.” The blameless

believers were denounced as the very dregs of society, a skulking and

darkness-loving race, meeting by night for profane conjuration and

unhallowed banquets, as despisers of the gods, haters of mankind, and

mockers at holy things,[919] and were confounded with pestilent 549

sorcerers who in midnight caves practiced their foul incantations

against human life.[920] These accusations arose partly, it is

probable, from distorted accounts of the holy communion of the body

and the blood of Christ, interpreted as a literal partaking of the

corporeal substance; partly from the vile practices of the

Carpocratians and other heretics; but chiefly from the malice of the

heathen themselves, judging the character of the Christian mysteries

from the obscene orgies of Venus and Bacchus.

Tertullian indignantly resents the vile calumnies, and shows them to

be monstrous and absurd. “We are daily beset by foes,” he exclaims,

“we are daily betrayed, we are often surprised in our secret

congregations; yet who ever came upon a half-consumed corpse among us,

or any other corroborations of the accusations against us?”[921] He

retorts upon the heathen the charge of infanticide, human sacrifice,

and unnatural crimes, and contrasts therewith the purity of the

Christian character. Minucius Felix also attests the modest and sober

character of the Christian feasts, which they celebrated with chaste

discourse and chaster bodies.[922]

In course of time the _agapæ_ lost in great measure their religious

character, and were employed for the anniversaries of the martyrs,

and for marriage and funeral occasions.[923] They were still 550

further desecrated by their substitution for pagan festivals, in

order, as St. Augustine remarks, “that the heathen might feast with

their former luxury, though without their former sacrilege.”[924]

These “pious hilarities” thus degenerated, in the fourth and fifth

centuries, into convivial banquets and wanton revelry--a scandal and

disgrace to Christendom, and provoked the indignant censure of the

Fathers. “It is absurd,” says St. Jerome, “to honour with feasting the

saints who pleased God with their fasts.” St. Augustine vehemently

condemns those “who inebriate themselves in honour of the martyrs, and

place even their gluttony and drunkenness to the account of

religion.”[925] “These drunkards persecute the saints as much with

their cups,” he says, “as the furious pagans did with stones.”[926]

The good bishop of Nola, greatly scandalized at these semi-pagan

revelries, painted with holy pictures the church of St. Felix, that as

the ignorant peasants gazed more they might drink the less. It has

been suggested that probably the pious figures in the gilt glasses of

the Catacombs were designed for the same purpose; but many of their

mottoes were of a highly convivial character, calculated rather to

promote the revelry in which they were doubtlessly employed. Both the

_natalitia_ and the _agapæ_ at length became so obnoxious in

character as to excite the taunts of the pagans and the condemnation 551

of the more devout and thoughtful Christians. The abuse of the latter

beautiful institution became so intolerable that it became the object

of repressive decrees of successive councils till it was finally

abolished. The council of Elvira (A. D. 305) prudently forbade the

presence of females at these nocturnal meetings in the Catacombs.[927]

That of Laodicea (A. D. 361) enacted that the _agapæ_ should not

be celebrated in churches. The council of Carthage (A. D. 397) forbade

the clergy attending them, and the council of Trullo (A. D. 706)

prohibited their celebration at all, under penalty of excommunication.

This beautiful symbol of Christian unity was revived in spirit by the

founder of Methodism; but, to guard against the corruptions into which

it had previously fallen, the elements of its celebration were

restricted to bread and water. A similar custom is also observed among

the Moravian brethren, from whom, probably, Wesley borrowed it. It has

also been transmitted from primitive times by the Nestorian Christians

of the Malabar coast.[928]

We have thus endeavoured to give a faithful transcript of the

testimony of the Catacombs relative to primitive Christianity. We have

seen how consonant it is with the teachings of Holy Scripture, how

opposed to all the institutions and dogmas of Rome. We have only to

compare the buried relics of the past with the living present above

ground to see at a glance the infinite contrast between the church of 552

Christ and that of Antichrist. Could the simple bishops of the

primitive ages behold the more than regal state and oriental pomp in

which, surrounded by armed halberdiers, amid the blare of martial

music and thunder of the guns of St. Angelo, their successor of to-day

rides in his golden chariot from his stately palace to the majestic

fane of St. Peter--the grandest temple in the world--they would feel

it difficult to perceive therein any resemblance to their own humble

and often persecuted estate, or to the pure and spiritual religion of

the meek and lowly Nazarene. Could they witness the almost idolatrous

homage which he receives, throned in state, tiaraed with a triple

crown, presenting his foot for the humiliating osculation of bishops,

cardinals, ambassadors, and pilgrims from every land; could they

behold him summoning from the ends of the earth the prelates of Roman

Catholic Christendom to record a decree of his personal infallibility

and freedom from human error; they would regard as blasphemous these

unhallowed assumptions, and denounce, as the prophetic Antichrist, him

who laid claim to these awful attributes.[929]

Above the lowly sleepers in the crypts of the Vatican swells the

mighty dome which Michael Angelo hung high in air; lofty chant and

pealing anthem thrill through the vast expanse; polished shafts of

porphyry, jasper, and costliest marble gleam around; priceless 553

paintings and rarest sculpture by the hand of genius afford a still

richer adorning; at an altar blazing with gold and gems a human priest

in many-coloured vestments daily repeats, as he dares assert, the

ineffable sacrifice of Christ; from four hundred cross-crowned

campaniles baptized and consecrated bells ring forth the hours of

prayer; at a thousand shrines the multitude adore, they vainly think,

the real presence of the Redeemer; and perfumed incense evermore

ascends, not to the many gods of the Pantheon, but to the still more

numerous saints of the Roman calendar. But we feel that all the

kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them, were a poor

compensation for the loss of the primitive simplicity, purity, and

spiritual power of the humble service of the Catacombs. We turn away

from the gorgeous ritual and hollow pomp to those lowly crypts where

the Christian hymn of a persecuted remnant of the saints ascended from

beside the martyr’s grave, as the truer type of Christ’s spiritual

temple upon earth. In these chambers of silence and gloom we find the

evidences of that undying life of Christianity which we seek in vain

amid the living death of that city of churches and of priests--the

Apostolic See of Christendom--the vaunted seat of Christ’s vicegerent

upon earth. With a deeper significance than that with which it was

first uttered, we adopt the language of Tertullian, and exclaim,

ID ESSE VERUM, QUODCUNQUE PRIMUM; ID ESSE ADULTERUM, QUODCUNQUE

POSTERIUS.[930]

[822] Northcote’s _Catacombs_, p. 140.

[823] Euseb., _Hist. Eccles._, vi, 43. The hierarchical

subdivisions in the Greek church are vastly more elaborate. Thus

we have the patriarch, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop,

proto-presbyter, super-dean, dean, presbyter, proto-deacon,

deacon, sub-deacon, and common priest, besides a host of inferior

grades.

[824] _Strom._, vi, 13. “The succession of the early Roman

bishops,” says Stillingfleet, “is as muddy as the Tiber

itself.”--_Irenicum_, ii, 7. It is an historical riddle of

which it is difficult or impossible to find the solution.

[825] Eusebius gives this very title, ποιμήν, to Cyprian, (vii,

3.) They were also called πρόεδροι, προεστώς, and _præsides_, or

presidents.

[826] Hippolytus, bishop of Portus, only fifteen miles from Rome,

and a saint of the Roman calendar, strongly opposed both

Zephyrinus and Callixtus, bishops of Rome. In the fifth century

Milan took precedence of Rome, and many other places were of

equal dignity. The episcopal office was very different from what

is now implied by the name, and its functions varied little from

those of the presbyter, save in the general oversight of a

comparatively limited diocese. Thus in Northern Africa alone were

four hundred and sixty-six bishops, beside sixty-six vacant sees.

Clement, bishop of Rome, (_Ep. ad Cor._, 74,) Justin Martyr, and

other early writers, seem to imply that the terms bishop and

presbyter were at first permutable. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage,

addresses his clergy as his co-presbyters--_compresbyteros_.

Jerome, jealous for his order, asserts the original identity of

the offices (_idem est presbyter qui et episcopus_) and the

gradual development of episcopal dignity, from custom rather than

from primitive appointment, (_Comment. in Titum._) Chrysostom

asserts the original convertibility of the titles of bishop and

presbyter--οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τὸ παλαιὸν ἐκαλοῦντο ἐπίσκοποι, καὶ οἱ

ἐπίσκοποι πρεσβύτεροι.--_Homil._ i, _in Phil._, i. Lord King

compares the two to the offices of rector and curate, (_Prim.

Ch._, c. 4,) but Bingham’s High Church notions led him to magnify

the essential difference between the two, (_Orig. Eccl._, ii, 3.)

The bishops were elected by the presbyters and the laity jointly.

Eusebius states that Fabian was indicated for the office by the

divine portent of a dove descending upon him, (_H. E._, vi, 29.)

They generally attained this dignity not _per saltum_, but having

passed through the inferior grades. Cyprian, however, was but a

neophyte, Eusebius a catechumen, and Ambrose a layman, when

appointed to the office of bishop. In the course of time, in the

East the emperors, in the West the kings, usurped the power of

appointment, a relic of which is seen in the royal _congé

d’élire_ in Great Britain, so strongly satirized by Carlyle,

(_Latter-day Pamphlets_.)

[827] See _ante_, p. 95.

[828] We have already seen that the inscription of date A. D.

392, regarded as the epitaph of a “most holy Pope Felix,” was in

reality that of a foster-father. See _ante_, p. 471. The phrase

“Apostolic See,” now restricted to Rome, was originally applied

to every bishop’s seat.--_Bingham_, ii, 2, § 3.

[829] He speaks of his predecessor in office as “our father,

(πάπα,) the blessed Hereclas.”--Eu., _H. E._, vii, 7. In like

manner an epitaph of an African bishop, of date A. D. 475,

designates him “our father of holy memory”--_Sanctæ memoriæ pater

noster_.

[830] Ep. 8. _Cler. Rom. ad Cler. Carth._

[831] _De Pudicit._, c. 13.

[832] Ep. 17, 18, 30, etc.

[833] The synonymous title of abbot is still used in this sense.

It was applied to the hermit monks of the Orkneys and Iceland,

and gave the name Papa Strona and Papa Westra to islands of the

Orkney group.

[834] Optatus says there were forty churches in Rome in the third

century. Ammianus describes the almost regal pomp of the bishops

in the latter part of the fourth century, and records the

sanguinary struggle for the episcopal dignity between Damasus and

Ursicinus. The streets were strewn with the slain, and one

hundred and thirty-seven corpses polluted the sacred precincts of

a Christian basilica. The primitive church stigmatized simony as

χριστεμπορείαν, or “selling Christ.”

[835] Ego autem fidenter dico quia quisque se universalem

sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione suâ

Antichristum præcurrit.--_Greg. Max._, Epis. vii, 7-33.

[836] Gregory III. (731-741) styles himself “the most holy and

blessed Apostolic Pope”--Sanctissimus ac Beatissimus Apostolicus

Papa. Boniface VIII. adopted the triple-crowned tiara, to

indicate the Pope’s dominion over heaven, earth, and hell.

Dante represents the pope as an all-powerful griffin, symbolical

of his spiritual and temporal functions, drawing the triumphal

car of the church.--_Purgatorio, Can._ xxix. Yet in a fresco

of the seventh or eighth century, of Cornelius, bishop of Rome,

he is in no way distinguished by costume, insignia, or title from

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who stands beside him.

[837] The name was not always indicative of age, but of office,

like the Jewish זְקֻנִים or elders, the Latin _senatores_,

and the Saxon aldermen.

Rheinwal, Geisler, Neander, and other eminent German scholars,

agree that the term bishop originally was merely the official

title of the presbyter who was chosen to rule or oversee the

church; and that the latter sat in consistory with the bishop,

forming the ecclesiastical senate, in which the bishop was simply

the presiding officer--_primus inter pares_.

It is worthy of note that the word ἱερεύς, “priest,” that is,

one who offers sacrifice, is nowhere applied to any

ecclesiastical rank in the Catacombs, or in the writings of the

primitive Fathers. It has been left for Romanism, and a

Romanizing sacerdotalism, to apply to the Christian minister this

phrase, so opposed to the genius of the New Testament.

[838] The letters _Pbb._, according to De Rossi, stand for

_Presbyter benedictus_.

[839] Felix was probably presbyter of the basilica of St. Paul,

founded by Constantine A. D. 324, rebuilt by Theodosius and

Honorius, A. D. 388-395, restored by Leo I., A. D. 440, and again

by the present Pope, in its ancient dimensions, (four hundred and

eleven feet by two hundred and seventy-nine.) It is one of the

noblest basilicas of Rome.

[840] According to Bingham, _Pontifex maximus_ was a title

common to all bishops in primitive times.--_Orig. Eccl._,

ii, § 6.

There is here possibly a paronomasia on the word “Leo,” lion of

the pontiffs. There were sometimes several presbyters attached to

one church. See De Rossi, _Inscr. Christ._, No. 975.

[841] Adleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices

idolorum.--_De Idol._, vii.

[842] _Hist. Eccles._, c. vii, 29.

[843] _Sozomen_, i, 27, and vii, 28.

[844] Clericus quantumlibet verbo Dei eruditus, artificio victum

quærat.--_Conc. Carth._, 4, can. 51. The example of Paul, the

tentmaker, who, though asserting the right of the ministry to a

support, yet “wrought with labour and travail night and day,”

that he might not be chargeable to the church, will occur to the

reader. Chrysostom, speaking of the rural bishops of Antioch,

says: “These men you may see sometimes yoking the oxen and

driving the plough, and again ascending the pulpit and

cultivating the souls under their care; now uprooting the thorns

from the earth with a hook, and now purging out the sins of the

soul by the word.”--_Hom. ad Pop. Antioch._, xix. “How glorious

to see the gray-haired pastor approach, like Abraham, his loins

girt, digging the ground and working with his own hands.”--_Hom.

in Act._, xviii.

[845] A similar office obtained in the Jewish synagogue, the

פַרְנַסִים.

[846] This was especially the case in verse, as the word

_diaconus_ was unsuitable for hexameters.

[847] In Constantinople there were more than one hundred deacons,

and more than ninety sub-deacons.--Justin., _Nov._, iii, 1.

[848] This was probably a memorial of a later period than the

times of persecution. The epithet _sanctus_ was not applied

till comparatively late. The office of deacon, however, was

particularly obnoxious to persecuting greed. Witness the

martyrdom of Lawrence the deacon, _antea_.

[849] Rome was divided into seven ecclesiastical districts

corresponding to its seven deacons.

[850] John III., bishop of Rome.

[851] They are mentioned by Tertullian (_De Præscrip._, c. 41)

and Cyprian, (_Ep._, 24, 33,) and by many later writers. The

office was possibly derived from the Synagogue.

[852] _Socrat._, iii, 1. _Sozom._, v. 2.

[853] cxxiii, c. 54.

[854] Leo X. was a priest at seven and a cardinal at ten. Among

the five hundred clergy destroyed by the Vandal persecution in

Carthage were many infant readers--quam plurimi erant lectores

infantuli.--Victor _de Persec. Vandal._, lib. iii.

[855] On the tomb of a youth of fourteen occurs the words,

VOTVS DEO, “Dedicated to God.”

[856] Ἀκόλουθος, “A servant.”

[857] Cornelius, bishop of Rome in the third century, says there

were in that church forty-two acolytes, (Euseb., _H.E._, vi, 43;)

and, according to Eusebius, a great number attended the bishops

at the council of Nice.

[858] See the vagabond Jew exorcists of Acts xix, 13. They were

probably also magicians and soothsayers. Exorcism was common also

among the pagan soothsayers, with whom the Christians were

sometimes confounded. It is probable against them that a law of

Ulpian was directed, condemning those who used incantations,

imprecations, or, to use the common word of impostors,

exorcisms--Si incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo

impostorum utar) exorcisavit.

[859] _Apol._, 23.

[860] _Cont. Cels._, vii. Gregory Thaumaturgus, the

Wonder-worker, won especial fame by his exploits of this

nature.--_Socrates_, iv, 27. Antony, of Egypt, could detect

dæmons by the sense of smell!

[861] A somewhat analogous practice to the ancient exorcism was

that of touching for king’s evil, for which there was a

recognized form in the prayer-book of the time of George

II.--_De Strumosis Attrectandis_. Charles II. “touched” one

hundred thousand persons.

[862] See _ante_, p. 132.

[863] Primus in clericis fossariorum ordo est, etc.--_De Sept.

Ord. Eccles._ They were also called _lecticarii_, from their

carrying the corpse on a lectica or bier, and _copiatæ_, a word

of uncertain origin. Constantine organized the _copiatæ_ into a

corporation at Constantinople, where they numbered four hundred.

Compare the _Parabolani_ of Alexandria.

[864] See Figs. 23, 24.

[865] With the increase of wealth and the progress of learning in

the Christian community, the number and variety of clerical

offices was greatly multiplied, and all the paraphernalia of pomp

and gorgeous ritual were added. A multitude of inferior

ecclesiastical dependants hung upon the church, absorbing its

strength, corrupting its virtue, and degrading its character. The

knowledge of their very names and offices has become a difficult

task. Thus we have _sacristarii_, or keepers of the sacred

vestments and vessels; _cappellani_, or attendants on the altar;

_matricularii_, or marshals of the public processions;

_staurophori_, or cross bearers; _ceroferarii_ and

_thuriferarii_, the bearers of tapers and incense; and

_parafrenarii_, or coachmen of the higher ecclesiastics--the

latter, according to Mabillon, being themselves reckoned among

the clergy. There were also _oeconomi_, or stewards of church

lands; _thesaurii_, or treasurers of ecclesiastical funds;

_notarii_, or secretaries; _apocrisiarii_, or legates;

_cancellarii_, or chancellors; _syndici_, or syndics; and

_hermeneutai_, or interpreters, chiefly in the Syrian and African

churches, where the congregation used different

languages--speaking to the people in an unknown tongue is a

Romish innovation. Even the offices of highest dignity were

indefinitely multiplied. There were several orders of

bishops:--metropolitans, archbishops, patriarchs, primates, and

exarchs; bishops diocesan, bishops _quiescentes_, that is,

without charges, and titular bishops with charges _in partibus

infidelium_; suffragan bishops and _chorepiscopi_; cardinals and

vicars general; and many other officers of lordly titles,

princely wealth, and vast political power. But of these we find

no examples, no prototypes in the epitaphs of the Catacombs, nor

in the lowly pastors of the persecuted flock of Christ in the

primitive ages of the church. The application of the title of

pope with its present signification to the early bishops is a

ludicrous anachronism and misnomer, as nothing could be further

from the reality than the idea which it now suggests.

Like the vine, which, twining round some noble elm, seems to

enhance its beauty, but in time completely stifles its strength

in its strangling embrace, so the rank growth of human

institutions has strangled the life of the goodly tree of Roman

Christianity, and blighted the promise of its early years. Forms

of ritual should be but the trellis for the support of a

spiritual worship; else, better that, like the brazen serpent,

they be broken in pieces, and, like the body of Moses, buried in

an unknown sepulchre, than become the objects of idolatrous

homage or of superstitious veneration.

[866] It was a primitive and probably correct opinion that all

the apostles were married except Paul and John--Omnes apostoli,

exceptis Johanne et Paulo, uxores habuerunt.--Ambros., _ad

Hilar._; Clem. Alex., _Strom._, iii; Euseb., _H. E._, iii, 30;

Orig., _Com. in Rom._

[867] It was probably derived by them from the Essenes and other

ascetic communities of the East.

[868] _Orig. Eccles._, iv, 4.

[869] 1 Tim. ii, 2, 12; Titus i, 6. So the Greek Church still

understands him, requiring the marriage of its clergy.

Tertullian, Cyprian, Gregory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poitiers,

Spyridon, Synesius, and many other distinguished ecclesiastics of

early times, are recorded to have been married.

[870] _Socrat._, i, 11; _Sozom._, i, 23. “Marriage is the true

chastity,” exclaimed the aged bishop Paphnutius.

[871] _Sacerdotal Celibacy_, p. 162. The satirical songs, tales,

and scandalous anecdotes concerning the celibate clergy, and the

denunciations of their vice by successive councils, attest the

social depravity caused by this system. The ascetic depreciation

of woman led also inevitably to her moral degradation. She was

described by some of the monkish writers, who thus slandered the

memory of their own mothers, as a noxious animal, the very

essence of evil and gate of hell, whose beauty was a lure of the

devil and perpetual temptation to sin, and her very presence a

contamination. The tenderest family ties were severed at the

fancied call of duty. In Roman Catholic countries woman is still

immured with almost oriental jealousy, and is denied the

intellectual emancipation her sex elsewhere enjoys. She may not

enter the most sacred places of Rome, nor visit the pope, except

in mourning. There is no music for the female voice in the

service of the papal chapel.

[872] _Inscrip. Antiq._, p. 1173.

[873] See _ante_, p. 428. The following is from Salonæ: FL ·

IVLIVS DIACONVS ET AVRELIA MERIA CONIVX EIVS HOC SARCOFAGVM

(_sic_) SIBI VIVI POSVERVNT--“Flavius Julius, a deacon, and

Aurelia Meria, his wife, while living, erected this sarcophagus

for themselves.” See, also, the epitaph of Tettius Felicissimus,

p. 474.

[874] The following is from the island of Salamis: Οἶκος αἰώνιος

Ἀγάθωνος ἀναγνώστου καὶ Εὐφημίας.... “The everlasting dwelling

of Agatho, a reader, and Euphemia....” She was probably his wife.

[875] Thus, St. Paul calls Phoebe a διάκονος, translated

“servant,” of the church at Cenchria.--_Rom._, xvi, 1. The

Christian _ancillæ quæ ministræ dicebantur_, whom Pliny tortured,

were probably of this class.

[876] 1 Tim. v, 9.

[877] _Concil. Chalcedon_, c. 14.

[878] Tertul., _de Veland. Virgin._, c, 9. Olympias, a Christian

matron of Constantinople, of noble rank, widowed at eighteen,

became a deaconess, and devoted her immense fortune to charity.

She was long the devoted patroness of the persecuted Chrysostom.

[879] Cypr., _Ep._, 62.

[880] The Fathers are enthusiastic in the praise of perpetual

virginity. “It has the higher dignity, as vessels of gold and

silver compared to earthenware,” says Jerome.--_Adv. Jovin._ “The

thirty-fold increase of Scripture,” he asserts, “refers to

marriage, the sixty-fold to widowhood, but the hundred-fold to

virginity.”--_Ad Ageruchiam._ “Marriage replenishes earth,” he

adds; “but virginity, heaven”--Nuptiæ terram replent, virginitas

paradisum. “These sacred virgins are the necklace of the church,”

says Prudentius, “and with these gems she is adorned”--Hoc est

monile ecclesiæ! His illa gemmis comitur!--_Peristeph., H._, 3.

They became in a mystical sense the spouses of Christ, and Jerome

blasphemously addresses the mother of Eustochium as the

mother-in-law of God--Socrus Dei esse coepisti--_Ad Eustoch._

Both Jerome and Chrysostom, however, acknowledged, and

unsparingly lashed, the evils to which the celibate system in

their time had led. “She is the true virgin,” says the latter,

“who careth for the things that belong to the Lord.”

[881] In one example, of date A. D. 525, we find the phrase

NONNAE ANCILLAE DEI, in which we see, perhaps, the origin of our

word nun. Jerome had previously applied the word _nonnæ_ to

either widows or virgins professing chastity.--_Ad Eustoch._,

c. 6.

[882] See article on “The Rise of Monachism,” by the present

writer, in _London Quarterly Review_, October, 1873.

[883] This was not of uniform duration. The Council of Elvira,

(c. 24,) indeed, prescribed two years, but the length of the

period varied in different places.

[884] “Tanto ardentius concupiscantur, quanto honorabilius

occultantur,” says Augustine, of this very practice.--_In

Johan._, 96.

[885] The following _resumé_ of the principal patristic evidence

on the practice of infant baptism is corroborated by the

testimony of the Catacombs. We omit the passages from Clement and

Hermes Pastor, which imply its prevalence in the first century,

as being rather vague. Justin Martyr, about A. D. 148, speaks of

persons sixty and seventy years old who had been made disciples

of Christ (ἐμαθητεύθησαν, the very word employed in Matt.

xxviii, 19,) in their infancy, (_Apol._, 2,) and compares the

rite of baptism to that of circumcision.--_Dial. c. Tryph._

Irenæus expressly speaks of “infants, little ones, children,

youth, and the aged, as regenerated unto God,” which phrase he

elsewhere applies to baptism--_Infantes_ et parvulos, et pueros,

et juvenes, et seniores.--_Lib._ ii, c. 39. Tertullian, indeed,

in the third century, recommends the delay of baptism, especially

in the case of infants--Cunctatio baptismi utilior est, præcipue

tamen circa parvulos--an indication of the Montanist heresy,

into which he fell, which regarded post-baptismal sins as

inexpiable.--_De Baptis._, c. 18. The practice, however,

continued, and Origen expressly asserts that little children were

baptized for the remission of sins (Parvuli baptizantur in

remissionem peccatorum--_Hom._, 14, _in Luc._,) which custom, he

says, the church handed down from the apostles--Ecclesia ab

apostolis traditionem suscepit.--_Id., in Rom._, v. 6. When the

question arose, in the third century, not whether baptism should

be administered to infants, but whether it should be administered

before the eighth day, Cyprian and a council of sixty-six African

bishops unanimously decreed that the rite should be denied to

none, even in earliest infancy--Universi potius judicavimus,

nulli hominum nato misericordiam Dei et gratiam denegandam.--_Cypr.

Ep._ 59, _ad Fidum_. “And this,” says Augustine, “is no new

doctrine, but of apostolic authority”--Nec omnino credenda, nisi

apostolica esse traditio.--_De Genesi ad Literam._, x. The later

Fathers abound in similar testimonies. The infant children of

heathen converts were baptized _immediately_, and the older ones

when instructed.--_Cod. Justin._, i, 11, _Leg._ 10. Orphans,

foundlings, and even the children of heathens, received this

sacred rite. At an early period the eucharist was administered to

infants, which was of necessity preceded by baptism.

[886] Hence, when a person died unbaptized, a living substitute

sometimes received the rite in his stead. Fulgentius indeed

asserts, that unbaptized children, even if they die “in uteris

matrum,” are punished with everlasting punishment in eternal

fire--ignis æterni sempiterno supplicio puniendos.--_De Fide ad

Petr._, 27. But he alone of the Fathers expresses this

abominable opinion. Augustine and Ambrose, though insisting

on the importance of baptism, admit that the faith and

repentance--fidem conversionemque cordis--of those who die while

piously preparing therefor may suffice in its stead.--_Aug., de

Bap._, iv, 22.

[887] In bold and unwarrantable metaphor some of the Fathers

speak of the waters of baptism as changed in mystical

transubstantiation into the very cleansing blood of Christ.

The prevalence of the Montanist heresy, which regarded as

inexpiable all sins committed after baptism, led many to postpone

its reception, although this practice was strongly censured by

the church. Thus, Constantine remained a catechumen till his

sixty-fifth year, and received baptism--“ἐμυήθη,” says Sozomen,

(ii, 34,) literally, “was initiated,”--just before his death. An

inscription at St. John’s Lateran asserts his baptism by

Sylvester many years previously: CONSTANTINVS PER CRVCEM VICTOR A

S. SILVESTRO BAPTIZATVS CRVCIS GLORIAM PROPAGAVIT: but Dr.

Döllinger has shown the entirely mythical character of the

legend.--_Fables respecting the Popes_, etc., by Jn. G. Ign. von

Döllinger. 1872.

[888] See the epitaph of an unbaptized catechumen already given.

[889] In a Christian epitaph from Aquileia, of date A. D. 734, we

find the scriptural formula--ex aqua et |Spu| renatus--“born

again of water and the Spirit.”--Muratori, _Nov. Thesaur._,

p. 1849.

[890] See McCaul, _Christian Epitaphs_, p. 64.

[891] _De Bapt. Christ._

[892] Cyprian argues for the validity of baptism by sprinkling,

when immersion is inconvenient, as in the case of the sick,

prisoners, etc., as follows: “In baptism the spots of sin are

otherwise washed away than is the filth of the body in a secular

and carnal washing, in which is need of a bath, soap, and the

like. The heart of the believer is otherwise washed; the mind of

man is cleansed by the merit of faith”--Neque enim sic in

sacramento salutari delictorum contagia, ut in lavacro carnali et

seculari sordes cutis et corporis abluuntur, etc.--_Ep. ad

Magnum._

Thus, we read that St. Lawrence baptized with only a pitcher of

water--urceum afferens cum aqua--and by pouring water on the head

of the subject--fundit aquam super caput.--_Acta Laurentii._

Tertullian also speaks of the “aspersion of water” in

baptism--asperginem aquae.--_De Poenitent._, 6.

[893] The so-called _benitiers_, or holy water vessels of

the Catacombs, were, it is likely, in some cases at least,

baptismal vases. The Romish “holy water” is probably copied from

the _aqua lustralis_ of the pagans, which stood at the door

of the temples, and into which the worshipper on entering and

leaving dipped his fingers. In striking analogy to Romish usage,

the pagan priest sprinkled the multitude with the holy dew by

means of an aspergillum, or light brush--

Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda

Spargens rore levi.

[894] The nimbus and other characteristics indicate the

comparatively late date of this picture. De Rossi thinks it not

earlier than the seventh or eighth century. The ravages of time

since the above was copied by Bosio have defaced part of the

angel figure. In a similar group in a Latin MS., of the ninth

century, the river Jordan flows from two vessels held by two

boys. In another group at Monza, of the seventh century, the

baptismal water pours from a vase held in the beak of the divine

dove upon the head of Christ.

[895] The figures are a light umber, the falling water a pale

blue.

[896] The neophytes laid aside their white baptismal robes, or

albs, on the Sunday after Easter, hence called _Dominica in

albis_. In the following inscription Pascasius, a neophyte of

six years, is said to have received baptism on Easter eve, and to

have laid aside his albs one week thereafter in the tomb:

PERCEPIT XI KAL. MAIAS ET ALBAS SVAS OCTABAS (_sic_) PASCAE

(_sic_) AD SEPVLCHRVM DEPOSVIT. (A. D. 463.)

Dr. McCaul notes a striking analogy to Christian forms of

expression in an epitaph describing pagan initiation: ARCANIS

PERFVSIONIBVS IN AETERNVM RENATVS--“Born eternally by secret

sprinklings.” The sprinkling was that of the blood of a bull or

ram, dripping on the bodies of the recipients of the lustration

through perforations in a platform beneath which they

stood.--_Christian Epitaphs_, p. 57.

[897] Although these in after times became vast buildings, with

ample provision for baptismal immersion, in the earlier ages they

were quite small; and, according to Smith’s Classical Dictionary,

the _baptisterium_ was “not a bath sufficiently large to immerse

the whole body, but a vessel or labrum containing cold water for

pouring on the head.”--Art., _Baths_. Eusebius speaks of

baptisteries without the church “for those who require yet the

purification and the _sprinklings_ (περιῤῥαντήριον) of water and

the Holy Spirit.”--_E. H._, x, 4.

[898] I am indebted for these references to the Rev. Prof.

Bennett, D.D., of Syracuse University, late of Berlin, Prussia.

[899] _Ciampini_, Tab. ii, Figs. 3, 4.

[900] In later times the devout Bernard of Clairvaux thus

eulogizes the eucharist: “It is,” he exclaims, “the medicine of

the sick, the way of the wandering; it comforts the feeble and

delights the strong; it cures disease and preserves health; it

makes man more submissive to correction, stronger to labour, more

ardent to love, wiser in foresight, prompter in obedience, more

devout in thanksgiving. It absolves from sin, destroys the power

of Satan, gives strength for martyrdom, and, in fine, brings

every good.”--_Costeri. Institut. Chr._, lib. i, c. 6. It was

also described as “the bread of angels, spiritual food, the life

of the soul, the perpetual health of the mind, the antidote of

sin, and pledge of future glory.”

[901] Alicubi quotidie alicubi certis intervallis dierum.--Aug.,

_Tr._, 26, _in Johan._ It was, in a special sense, the “daily

bread of the soul.”

[902] “Christ who suffered is the fish which was broiled,” says

St. Augustine--Piscis assus, Christus passus.

[903] See Fig. 54.

[904] Nihil illo ditius, qui corpus Domini canistro vimineo,

sanguinem portat in vitro.--_Ep._ 4, _ad Rustic._ The

communion was thus conveyed to those who through sickness were

absent from its public celebration.

[905] Cur nullas aras habent?--Minuc., _Octav._ Non altaria

fabricemus, non aras.--Arnob., _Contr. Gentes_. The Christian

altars were called indifferently, _Altare_, _ara Dei_, _mensa

Domini_.

[906] In the Lateran basilica, which is claimed as the head and

mother of all the churches of Rome--_caput et mater omnium

ecclesiarum_--is an altar which tradition asserts St. Peter

made with his own hands, and employed for the administration of

the Holy Sacrament. The legend attests at least an ancient

opinion as to primitive usage. Originally only one altar was

permissible in a church, but under Romish influence the number

increased to as many as twenty-five, as at St. Peter’s.

[907] In three or four instances bronze rings are attached to the

slab, as if to allow its removal for a second interment, or

perhaps to give a view of the relics of the saint.

[908] Tertullian carefully guards against the literal

interpretation of the words of Christ, “This is my body,” by the

addition, “that is, a figure of my body”--figura corporis

mei.--_Adv. Marc._, iv, 40. Augustine and others of the Fathers

also discriminate between Christ’s spiritual and corporeal

presence.

[909] They were called _eulogia_, that is, blessing or

benediction. In the Jewish cemetery is a representation of sacred

loaves, probably passover cakes, marked ΕΥΛΟΓΙΑ. The Christian

representation of a cup doubtless frequently refers to the “cup

of blessing”--Τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας--mentioned by St. Paul.--1

Cor. x, 16.

[910] There is not in the whole range of early Christian

epigraphy the slightest indication of the Romish doctrine of

Transubstantiation; which, indeed, as Dr. Maitland remarks, “was

not distinctly broached till the ninth century.” Some of the

earlier poets, however, and the more rhetorical of the Fathers,

allude to a mystical presence of Christ in the eucharist,

bordering on the modern Romish conception.

The council of Elvira forbade the acceptance of any gift for the

administration of the sacraments. How different from Rome’s

mercenary tariff for the celebration of masses for the dead!

[911] Ταῖς ἀγάπαις.--Jude, 12.

[912] Acts ii, 46; vi, 2.

[913] 1 Cor. xi, 16-34.

[914] Ita saturantur, ut qui meminerunt etiam per noctem

adorandum sibi esse; ita fabulantur, ut qui sciunt Dominum

audire.--_Apol._, 39.

[915] Jus. Mar., _Apol._, ii; Socrat., _Eccl. Hist._, v, 22;

Orig., in _Ep. ad Rom._, xvi, 16.

[916] Cibum promiscuum et innoxium.--_Ep._, lib. x, _ad Traj._

[917] ἱεροὶ λόγοι.--_Peregrinus._

[918] _Pædag._, ii.

[919] Qui de ultima fæce collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus

credulis sexus sui facilitate labentibus, plebem profanæ

conjurationis instituunt: quæ nocturnis congregationibus et

jejuniis solennibus et inhumanis cibis non sacro quodam sed

piaculo foederantur, latebrosa et lucifugax natio ... deos

despuunt, rident sacra.--Minuc. Felix, _Octav._ Odio humani

generis convicti sunt.--Tac., _Ann._, xv. 44.

[920] Malifica superstitio.--Suet., _Neron._, 16. Comp. Hor.,

_Sat._, i, 8.

[921] Quotidie obsidemur, quotidie prodimur, in ipsis plurimum

coetibus congregationibus nostris opprimimur. Quis unquam

taliter vagienti infanti supervenit?--_Apol._, c. 7; comp.

_ad Nat._, i, 10-15.

[922] Casto sermone, corpore castiore.--Minuc., _Octav._; comp.

Orig. _Cont. Cels._, vi., Jus. Mar., _Apol._, i, 2.

[923] Agapæ natalitiæ, agapæ connubiales, and agapæ funerales.

The pagans, not unnaturally, regarded the latter, like their own

funeral banquets, as designed to appease the manes of the dead.

They would doubtless think the same of the modern mortuary masses.

[924] Non simili sacrilegio, quamvis simili luxu

celebrarentur.--Aug., _Ep._, 29.

[925] Qui se in memoriis martyrum inebriant.--Aug., _Cont.

Faust._, xx, 21. Voracitates ebrietatesque suas deputant

religioni.--_De Morib. Eccl._, i, 34.

[926] _Enarr._, in Psa. lix.

[927] Placuit prohiberi, ne foeminæ in coemeteriis pervigilent,

eo quod sæpè sub obtentu religionis latenter scelera committunt.

[928] Among other traces of primitive Christianity among the

latter are their married clergy and abhorrence of images. “We are

Christians, not idolaters,” they said to the Jesuit missionaries,

who presented for their homage images of the Virgin Mary.

[929] The name of Pius is substituted for Deus in one well-known

Latin hymn. Another pentecostal hymn to the Holy Spirit is

addressed directly to the present pontiff. The growth of this

dogma of infallibility, the distinguished French ecclesiastic,

Père Gratry, asserts, “was utterly gangrened with imposture.” The

stultification of the human intellect was never more strikingly

exemplified than in the dictum of Bellarmine: Vera sunt vera et

falsa sunt falsa; sed si ecclesia dixit vera esse falsa et falsa

esse vera, falsa sunt vera et vera sunt falsa.

[930] _Adv. Praxean._

554

INDEX. 555

Abraham, frescoes of, 289.

Acclamations to the departed, 441-443;

pagan do., 444.

Acolytes, 517.

Adam, fall of, 224;

receiving sentence, 225.

Adornment, female, 497, 498.

Agape, the, 545;

abuse of, 550;

suppressed, 551.

Agnes, St., Catacomb of, 192-197;

legend of, 192, 193.

Altar, 543, 544;

altar lights, origin of, 378, 379.

Amphitheatre, games of, 488;

suppressed, 489.

Ampullæ, or blood cups (?), 369.

Anchor, symbolical, 234.

Anthropomorphism, 352-361.

Appian Way, 164-166.

Arcosolia, 25, 30.

Areas, sepulchral, 37, 56, note [45], 168-171, 183;

pagan do., 59, 60.

Arenaria, 38-44, 197, 199.

Art, early Christian, 203, _et seq._;

compared with pagan do., 205, 209-213, 391, 392, 480;

first employment of, 206, 208;

sprang out of pagan do., 206-208;

character of, 210, 211;

pagan influence in, 210-214, 240-243, 303, 364, 388, 391, 480,

505;

becomes florid, 220;

avoidance of passion of Christ or martyrs, 227, 273, 274;

joyous character of, 228;

symbolism in, 325, _et seq._, see “Symbols”;

Virgin Mary in, see “Mary”;

Christ in, see “Christ”;

God and Holy Ghost in, see “Anthropomorphism”;

domestic art, 364-366.

Autun, ichthyic inscription at, 257-259.

Baptism, 532-541;

subjects of, 532;

patristic evidence concerning, 533, note [885];

mode of, 535, _et seq._

Biblical Cycle, 282, _et seq._;

subjects of, see Figs. 62-103;

grouping of subjects, 283, 339, 340;

relative frequency of occurrence, 341, note [566].

Bishops, 507-511, 524, 525;

compared with presbyters, 508, note [826], 511, note [837];

see “Martyr Bishops,” and “Pope.”

Bosio, 152-155.

Burial clubs, pagan, 66-68;

Christian, 68-70.

Burial near martyrs, supposed efficacy of, 128-132.

Burial, subterranean, why adopted, 50, 54;

discontinued, 122;

temporary return to, 122, 123.

Cain and Abel, 285.

Callixtus, Catacomb of, 167-183;

history of, 173.

Carpenter, implements of, 231.

Catacombs, origin of word, 11, note [1];

described by Prudentius, 11, 124;

by Jerome, 34;

present appearance of, 12, _et seq._, 37, 44, 45, 195;

associations of, 13, 14, 45, 46, 201;

extent of, 14, and note [5], 15;

entrances to, 15, 16, 170, 189, 191, 195;

structure of, 11, _et seq._, 168, _et seq._;

galleries, 16-19;

loculi, 19-24;

cubicula, 24-31;

different levels of, 31-33;

luminari, 34, 35;

origin of, 37, 38, 49, and note [31], 55, 56, note [44], 58, 200;

not pagan arenaria, 38-44;

geology of, 16, 39;

perils of exploring, 46-48;

Jewish, 49-53, 188;

not offspring of fear, 58; 556

protected by law, 62, 63;

those of first century, 73;

reflect history of the church, 99-104, 124, 136, 137;

a refuge from persecution, 84, 87, note [118], 100-104;

secret stairway in, 101, 174;

disuse and abandonment of, 150, _et seq._;

restoration and adornment of, 124, 136, 137;

spoliation of, 137, 154;

destruction of, 145-147;

Mediæval employment of, 146, 147;

pilgrimages to, 136, 148, 175, 176;

re-discovery and exploration of, 150, _et seq._;

literature of, 151-163;

present control of, 161;

principal ones, account of, 164, _et seq._;

of Callixtus, 167-183;

of Prætextatus, 183;

of Sebastian, 184;

of Domitilla, 189;

of Nereus and Achilles, _ib._;

of St. Helena, 190;

of St. Cyriaca, 191;

of St. Agnes, 194-197;

of Alexander, 197;

of St. Priscilla, 198;

art of, 203, _et seq._, see “Art”;

Mithraic tomb in, 214-218;

symbolism of, 225, _et seq._;

Biblical Cycle of, 282, _et seq._;

gilt glasses, etc., of, 362, _et seq._;

inscriptions of, 395, _et seq._;

doctrinal teachings of, 415, _et seq._;

evidences concerning Christian life and character, 453, _et seq._;

(for last six see _in verbis_);

summary of testimony, 551-553.

Catechists, 530-532.

Catechumens, _ib._

Cecilia, St., crypt of, 178;

legend of, 179-181.

Celibacy of clergy, not a primitive practice, 522-524;

praise of, 527, 528;

practice of, 529.

Character of early Christians, 461-463, 481, 482;

of pagans, 464, 479-481;

see “Persecutions.”

Charity, early Christian, 483-485, 504.

Christ, youthful aspect of, in art, 342, and note [570];

traditional appearance of, 343-345;

patristic testimony concerning, 343-345;

early images of, 345, and note [584], 346-348;

miraculous images of, 345, note [585];

degradation in art-representations of, 347-352.

Christians, early, rank of, 56, 57, and note [46], 89, 169, 417,

458-460, 480;

calumnies against, 548, 549.

Christianity, spread of, 57, 116-119;

persecutions of, 70, _et seq._, see _in verbo_;

triumph of, _ibid._, 496;

purifies morals, 480;

cultivates charity, 483-485;

protects life, 485;

elevates slaves, 486, 487;

suppresses games, 488, 489;

raises woman, 491-493;

moral triumphs of, 504.

Clement of Alexandria, quoted, 384, 385, 497, 498, and note [809].

Clergy, orders of, 507;

in Greek church, _ib._, note [823];

bishops, 507-511, 524, 525;

presbyters, 511-513, 525;

deacons, 514;

subdeacons, 515;

lectors, 515, 516;

acolytes, 517;

exorcists, 517-519;

multiplication of, 521, note [865];

non-celibate, 522-526.

Confessional, reputed, 531.

Conjugal affections, early Christian, 471-474;

pagan do., 475, 476.

Constantine, 92, 120, 121.

Constantinian monogram, 465;

genesis of, 466-468;

various forms of, 267-269;

becomes cross, 270-273, see “Cross.”

Cornelius, tomb of, 169.

Cross, true, relics of, 139, note [240], 140, notes [243], [244];

legend of, 271, 272, and note [456];

rare in Catacombs, 260;

pagan abhorrence of, _ib._;

caricature of, 261, and note [429];

recognition of in nature, etc., 235, 262, 263;

supposed mysterious power of, 263, 264;

pre-Christian, 281, note.

Crucifixion, not represented in early Christian art, 273;

symbolically indicated, 274;

first example of, 275;

art development of, 275-281.

Crucifix, genesis of, 279, 280. 557

Cubicula, 24-29, 339, 531.

Cyprian, quoted, 82, 434;

death of, 84, note [108].

Damasus, 123, 175, 406.

Daniel in the lions’ den, 298, 299.

Dates of Catacombs, 73;

of inscriptions, 408-410, 416, _et seq._

David and Goliath, 394.

Deacons, 514;

wives of, 474, 526.

Deaconesses, 526-530.

Deaths of persecutors, 93, note [135].

Decius, persecution under, 81.

De Rossi, 159, 160, 399, 400, 406.

Diocletian, persecution under, 89, and note [126], 90.

Diptychs, 393, 394.

Divinity of Christ, taught, 449, 450.

Doctrinal teachings of Catacombs, 415, _et seq._;

see “Purgatory,” “Resurrection,” “Trinity,” etc.

Dolls, etc., found in Catacombs, 387.

Domestic relations, evidence concerning, 465, _et seq._;

parental relations, 466-468;

pagan, do., 468-470;

filial do., 470;

conjugal do., 471-474;

pagan do., 475, 476;

fraternal do., 476;

friendly do., 476.

Domine Quo Vadis, legend of, 107, note [160].

Domitilla, Catacomb of, 55-57, and 57, note [46], 189.

Doves, symbolical, 236-239, 404.

Elijah, 294.

Energumens, 519.

Epigraphy, Christian, literature of, 399, 400;

examples of, 401, _et seq._;

see “Inscriptions.”

Eucharist, symbols of, 250, 252, 542;

celebration of, 541-545.

Filial affection, early Christian, 470.

Fish, symbolical, 252-260, 378;

the word a sacred anagram, 252;

an allusion to baptism, 253;

a tessara, 255, 389;

a eucharistic symbol, 256;

Autun icththyic inscription, 257-259.

Fonts, baptismal, 537, 538.

Fossors, 132-135, 519, 526.

Fraternal affections, early Christian, 476.

Funeral rites, Christian, 499-502;

pagan do., 503.

Future state, doctrine concerning, 417-431;

pagan do., 436-444.

Galerius, 91.

Galleries of Catacombs, 16, _et seq._

Gallienus, 86.

Gaume, Abbé, on the Catacombs, 201.

Gilt glasses, early Christian, 362;

subjects represented in, 364-367;

convivial inscriptions of, 367, 368;

some sacramental, 368;

dates of, 369.

God in art, 352-361;

alleged sarcophagal example of, 354-356;

symbolized in Catacombs by hand, 290, 356.

Good Shepherd, the, symbol of Christ, 245-248;

statue of, 390.

Graffiti, pagan, 59, 60;

Christian, 130, 148, 174, 175.

Graves, see “Loculi.”

Greek language, use of at Rome, 406, 407.

Hand as symbol of God, 293, 356.

Hebrew children, the three, 298, 299.

Helena, St., Catacomb of, 196.

Heresy, growth of, 119, note [194].

Hippolytus, statue of, 392;

character of, 393.

Horse, symbolical, 382.

Iconoclasm, early, 222.

Ichthyic inscription, 257-259.

Ichthyic symbol, see “Fish.”

Ignatius, martyrdom of, 74, note [83], 125.

Image worship, 222-224.

Imprecations, pagan, 61;

Christian, 64, 65.

Inscriptions, early Christian, general character of, 395, _et seq._;

associations of, 398;

collection and classification of, 398-400; 558

literature of, _ib._;

rude examples of, 66, 98, 238, 267, 268, 401, _et seq._;

barbarous Latinity of, 403, and note [675], 407, 422, 426;

inverted, 404;

reversed, _ib._;

brief, 238, 401-405;

Greek, 406, 407;

dates of, 408-410, 416, _et seq._;

notes of time in, 410-412, 508;

doctrinal teachings of, 415, _et seq._, see “Purgatory,” etc.;

concerning future state, 417, _et seq._;

pagan do., 436-444;

cheerful character of, 427, 430, 443, 452;

concerning the doctrine of the resurrection, 431;

concerning Christian life and character, 453, _et seq._;

names, expressive, 454-457;

pagan do., 455, note [742], 457;

puritan do., 455, note [743];

evidence of early Christian character, 461-463;

of pagan do., 464;

of domestic relations, 465, _et seq._;

of parental do., 466-468;

of pagan do., 468-470;

of filial do., 470;

of conjugal do., 471-474;

of pagan do., 475, 476;

age of marriage, 473, note [756];

fraternal relations, 476;

friendly do., 476;

evidence concerning clerical orders, 506, _et seq._, see “Clergy”;

concerning Christian rites and institutions, 432, _et seq._, see

“Rites.”

Invocation of saints, first examples of, 426, 446-449.

Isaac, sacrifice of, 288, 289.

Jerome, quoted, 36, 450, 498, 502.

Jews at Rome, 49;

their Catacomb, 50-54, 188;

epitaphs of, 53.

Job, fresco of, 293.

Jonah, story of, 299-304.

Joseph, 290.

Justin Martyr, 76.

Kip, Bishop, on the Catacombs, 162.

Labarum, legend of the, 268.

Lactantius, _De Mort. Persec._, 93, note [135].

Lamb, symbol of Christ, 249, 250.

Lamps, early Christian, 376-379.

Lapidarian Gallery, 395.

Lawrence, St., martyrdom of, 86, note [112];

tomb of, 192.

Lazarus, raising of, 329-331.

Lectors, 515, 516, 526.

Literature of the Catacombs, 151-163.

Loculi, 19-21;

number of, 21;

how closed, 22, 23;

contents of, 23, 24;

made during life, 65;

sale of, 132.

Love-feast, see “Agape.”

Luminari, 34, 35.

MacFarlane, on the Catacombs, 45, 161.

Magi, adoration of, 305, 306.

Maitland, on the Catacombs, 161.

Marcus Aurelius, character of, 75, 76.

Mariolatry, no trace of in Catacombs, 305, 306, 310, 316, 323;

development of, 312-323.

Marriage, references to, 304, 305, 471-474, 494-496;

pagan do., 475, 476, 492, 493;

age of, 473, note [756].

Marriott, on the Catacombs, 162.

Martyr bishops of Rome, 81-87, 94-96.

Martyrdom of Ignatius, 74, note [83];

of Polycarp, 76;

of Perpetua, 79, note [94];

of Lawrence, 86, note [112];

(see _antea_ and _postea_);

the passion for, 112-115;

effects of, _ib._;

references to, 372;

symbols of, 17, 369-375.

Martyr epitaphs:--of Marius, 75;

of Alexander, 77, note [89];

of Sixtus, 85;

of Marcellus, 94;

of Eusebius, 95;

of Sebastian, 96;

of Lannus, 98;

see 106, _et seq._;

of St. Agnes, 193.

Martyrologies, 110-112.

Martyrs, number of, 105-108, 178;

sufferings of, 108-112;

festivals in honour of, 127;

adornment of tombs of, 123, 124;

spoliation of do., 128, 137, 145;

reverence for, 123-128;

burial near, 128-132;

pilgrimages to tombs of, 136, 148; 559

veneration of martyr relics, 124-128;

translation of, 137, 142, 143, note [246], 144, notes [247], [248].

Mary, Virgin, legends of, 307;

in art, 305-314;

miraculous images of, 317, note [522];

assumption of, 318, and note [526];

hymns to, 320.

Maximin, persecution of, 81.

McCaul, Dr., on early Christian epigraphy, 162, note [289], 163,

414, 421, 541.

Mithraic monument in Catacombs, 214-218.

Mosaic, 223.

Moses on Horeb, 290;

on Sinai, _ib._;

striking rock, 291, 292.

Ministry, rites, and institutions of primitive church, 506, _et seq._,

see “Clergy,” and “Rites.”

Names, early Christian, expressive character of, 454, 455;

pagan do., 455, note [742], 457.

Neophytes, 322, 323, 540.

Nimbus in art, 208, note [333].

Noah, story of, 286-288.

Northcote, on the Catacombs, 161.

Objects found in Catacombs, 362, _et seq._;

see “Gilt Glasses,” etc.

Opisthographæ, 268, 413.

Oranti, 308-310.

Pagan epitaphs, 59-62, 396, 397, 413, 414, 434-441, 460, note [750],

469, 475-478.

Pagan influence in art, see “Art.”

Paganism, decadence of, 117;

social condition of, 479-481.

Paintings, see “Art,” “Symbolism,” and different subjects of.

Palm and crown, symbolical, 230;

reputed sign of martyrdom, 372.

“Papal Crypt,” 170-178.

Parental affection, early Christian, 466-468;

pagan do., 468-470.

Paul, St., martyrdom of, 200;

in art, 336-337, and notes [557], [559], [560], [561];

see “Peter and Paul.”

Paulinus of Nola, quoted, 221.

Peacock, symbolical, 240.

Perpetua, martyrdom of, 79, note [94].

Perret, his great work on the Catacombs, 158, 159.

Persecutions, early, cause of, 70, 71;

Neronian, 71;

Domitian, 72;

Aurelian, 76;

of Commodus, 78;

of Severus, 79;

of Maximin, 81;

Decian, 81, 82;

Valerian, 83, 84;

Diocletian, 88-91;

extent of, 105-108;

virulence of, 108-113.

Peter, St., at Rome (?), 53, and note [39];

denying Christ, 332;

apprehension of, 335;

in art, 337;

cultus of, 338, and note [562];

relics of, 53, note [39];

font of, 537.

Peter and Paul, crypt of, 186-188;

in art, 336, 337, 365, 367.

Piani, of Catacombs, 31-33.

Pilate, 333, 334.

Polycarp, martyrdom of, 76.

Pope, the, 509, 511, and notes [835], [836].

Prayers for dead, unknown in earliest times, 421;

first example of, 442, 443;

prayers to the dead, 446-449.

Prætextatus, Catacomb of, 183.

Presbyters, 511-513;

sometimes had secular employment, 513, and note [844];

married, 525.

Prudentius, quoted, 11, 110, 115, 124.

Purgatory, unknown to early Christians, 420, 423, 424, 445, 446.

Relics, worship of, 124-126, 138-143, 544;

traffic in, 138, 139;

supposed efficacy of, 140;

grotesque Mediæval do., _ib._, notes [243], [244], [245];

reputed martyr do., 369;

misinterpretation of, 141-143, 370.

Resurrection, doctrine of, 430-433.

Rings from Catacombs, 284.

Rites and institutions of primitive church:--marriage, 471-474;

funeral, 499-503;

baptism, 532-541;

eucharist, 541-545;

Agape, 545-551;

see _in verbis_.

Romanism, unsupported by early Christian epigraphy, 416-418, 560

422-424;

first trace of, 425, 426, 442, 445, 446, 521-524;

compared with primitive Christianity, 551-553.

Rome, fall of, 134, 135.

Romish misinterpretation of relics, 141-143;

of leaf points, 227;

of blood cup (?), 370.

San Greal, the, 141-142, note [245].

Sarcophagi, 334, 340-342, and 342, note [569].

Seals, early Christian, 266, 270, 384-386.

Sebastian, Catacomb and legend of, 184, 185.

Sepulchral areas, 56, note [44], 59, 60.

Sepulchres, pagan, 13, note [2], 58;

sacredness of, 58-63, 69;

Christian, sacredness of, 63-65, 69;

violation of, see _in verbo_.

Sepulture, pagan, 13, note [2], 49, 58-61, 66-68, 169, 389, 390,

503;

Jewish, 49-54;

Christian, 499-503.

Ship, symbolical, 230, 235, 377.

Slaves and slavery, 486, 487.

Soldiers, 489, 490.

Stag, symbolical, 441, 538.

Stanley, Dean, on the Catacombs, 415.

Symbolism, 204, 225, _et seq._;

interpretation of, 220.

Symbols, phonetic, 229, 230;

trade do., 231-233, 374;

symbolical anchor, 234, 235;

ship, 235, 377;

crown and palm, 236;

dove, 236-239;

peacock, 240;

phoenix, cock, _ib._;

stag, 241;

horse, _ib._, and 382;

lion, hare, 241;

vine, balance, 242;

Good Shepherd, 243-248, 390;

lamb, 249-251;

fish, 252-260, see _in verbo_;

cross, 263-281, see _in verbo_;

God symbolized by hand, 290, 356.

Tertullian, quoted, 79, 235, 451, 489, 494, 497, 547.

Time, notation of, 410-412.

Thundering Legion, 78, note [90].

Toilet articles from Catacombs, 385, 386.

Tombs, violation of, see _in verbo_;

sacredness of, 58-63, 69.

Toys from Catacombs, 387.

Trades, symbols of, 231-234, 274;

recorded in epitaphs, 459, 460;

pagan do., 460, note [750].

Trinity, alleged representation of, 354-360;

doctrine of, 449-452.

Valerian, persecution of, 83.

Vases, early Christian, 380;

baptismal, 382.

Veronica, the, 346, note [585].

Violation of tombs, 59, 61, 64, and note [59], 65, and note [60].

Virginity, praise of, 527, 528, and notes [880].

Virgin Mary, see “Mary.”

Virgins, epitaphs of, 528.

Wiseman, his “Fabiola,” 158.

Woman, pagan degradation of, 490-493;

Christian elevation of, 493-495, and notes [797], [801], [802];

apparel of, 497, 498.

Young, the, care of primitive church for, 529, 530.

THE END.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:

Missing periods were added to abbreviations and ends of sentences;

commas were changed to periods in abbreviations; italics were added to

citations in footnotes, where missing in the original; and spacing

between words was adjusted, where necessary. In the index, commas,

semicolons and periods were adjusted so that they were used

consistently.

Hebrew characters and Greek letters with accents may not display

properly in some e-book readers. Missing accents were added to words

in French.

The “Chi Rho” symbol is indicated with ☧. Words or letters with an

overline are surrounded by pipes, |like this|. Words and phrases in

italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. In the inscription

in Footnote [60], ‘T/Y’ represents the letter ‘T’ above the letter ‘Y.’

Page numbers are displayed in the right margin.

Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and moved to the end of the

chapter in which the anchors occur. Footnotes [48] and [52a] are

missing in the original. There are two anchors for Footnote [61], page

66. Missing anchor for Footnote [756] was added. In the Index,

footnote numbers replaced symbols to entries marked ‘note’ or ‘notes.’

Anomalies noted, and left unchanged:

There are many misspelled words and abbreviations in English, Latin,

Greek, French, Italian, and German. Some quotations from other

sources, often in footnotes, do not match the original source.

Only words that appear to be printer’s errors were adjusted, as

noted below.

Occasionally, Greek letters were used to spell words in Latin.

Hyphenation and spelling are not consistent, e.g. ‘lifetime’ vs.

‘life-time,’ ‘Shakespeare’ vs. ‘Shakspeare,’ and ‘ae’ vs ‘æ.’

On page 147, the reference to ‘Colonna di Rienzi, (1347 - 1354)’ may

refer to Cola di Rienzi, ca. 1313 - 1354.

Prices of items quoted in contemporary dollars do not use decimals

between the dollars and cents, e.g. page 132 and footnote [288].

There is no illustration on the title page, even though, on page 267,

a vignette is mentioned as being there.

On page 520, Roman number ‘LXII’ is identified as ‘seventy-two.’

The Hebrew in Footnote [845] may be a mistake for פַּרְנָסִים.

Changes to text:

Page

52 ‘foling’ to ‘following’ ... The following examples ...

129 ‘ΠΑΤΛΕΙΝΑ’ to ‘ΠΑΥΛΕΙΝΑ’ ... ΕΝΘΑΔΕ ΠΑΥΛΕΙΝΑ ...

234 ‘ΕΛΠΙΛΙΟϹ’ to ‘ΕΛΠΙΔΙΟϹ’ ... ΕΛΠΙϹ, ΕΛΠΙΔΙΟϹ, SPES ...

276 duplicate ‘and’ removed ... darkened sun and moon look ...

414 ‘enentirely’ to ‘entirely’ ... are entirely gratuitous ...

559 ‘218’ to ‘318’ index entry under ‘Mary, Virgin, assumption of’

Footnote [107] ‘ποιεῖθαι’ to ‘ποιεῖσθαι’

and ‘κοινητήρια εἰσιέμαι’ to ‘κοιμητήρια εἰσιέναι’

Footnote [247] added ‘a’ to ‘lorsqu’on les a exposés’

Footnote [455] ‘e’l’ to ‘e l’’ ... La croce e l’ crocifisso ...

Footnote [738] ‘ἀνεσκολοπισμένὴν’ to ‘ἀνεσκολοπισμένον’ and

‘κύπιος’ to ‘κύριος’

Footnote [754] ‘GAYKYTATOs’ to ‘GLYKYTATOS’

End of Project Gutenberg's The Catacombs of Rome, by William Henry Withrow