CEMETERY
516
CEMETERY
cemetery fell into ruins. As in the cemetery of St.
Laurence and in that of St. Symphorosa, there arose
here two basilicas, one built by Constantine (ad
corpus), rediscovered in 1S55, another in the fifth
century; there remain yet some important relics of
the former, an altar with its marble cancellns, or
front, in which was opened a fenestella eonfessionis
through which could be seen the bodies of the mar-
tyrs, the site of the schola cantorum in front of the
altar, and in the apse the episcopal chair.
X. Via Salaria Nova. — 24. Cemetery of St. Felici- tas. This famous Roman matron and her seven sons were put to death for the Christian Faith, under Mar- cus Aurelius. The very ancient Acts of their martyr- dom are extant in a Latin translation from the Greek, and are probably based on the original court records. The place of burial of the mother and Silanus, her youngest son, not given in the Acts, is learned from the fourth-century Liberian Catalogue and from sixth- and seventh-century itineraries, as the cemetery of Maximus (otherwise unknown) on the Via Salaria. A basilica, built there in the fourth century, was ornamented with a fine epitaph by St. Damasus (Verdun MS.). Early in the fifth century it served Boniface I (418) as a place of refuge from the adherents of the Antipope Eulalius; Boniface was also buried there, according to the " Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Gregory the Great preached there one of his homilies "Ad martyres". The two bodies were transferred to the city in the ninth cen- tury, and the cemetery was lost sight of until De Rossi discovered it in 1S58, almost simultaneously with his discovery of the crypt of St. Januarius in the ceme- tery of Praetextatus. In 1S84 the "historic crypt" was discovered, beneath a basilica of the fourth cen- tury; it is surmised that this must have been the site of the house of Felicitas, or at least of the trial 25. Cemetery of Tkraso, Cccmeteriiim Jordanorum. The cemetery of Thraso, a rich and aged martyr in the persecution of Diocletian, was discovered in 1578 by Bosio. It once contained a fine Damasan epitaph; its chief oratory or crypt was restored in 326 and was open until the end of the thirteenth century. The body of St. Thraso was at some unknown time taken to Sts. John and Paul in the city. In this cemetery excellent third- or fourth-century frescoes are still visible, among them an interesting one symbolic of the Eucharist. A little farther on, to the right of the road, is the Caem.eteri.um Jordanorum, possibly, says Marucchi (II, 369), the deepest of the Roman cata- combs; it has four stories, but the groups of galleries are separated by sand-pits (arenaricc). The name, says the aforesaid writer, may be a corruption of Germanorum, i. e. the other sons of St. Felicitas. Here, too, it seems, ought some day to be found the on naria, or sand-pit, in which Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria were buried during the persecution of Valerian (257), and in which it heir Acts tell us) some Chris- tians who came there to pray were stoned to death and walled up by the heathen : Via Salaria in arenaria illic viventes terra et lapidibus obrui). In the sixth century this venerable sanctuary was still visited. and through its fenesteUa the bones of the martyrs scattered on the ground within could still be seen (Marucchi, op. cit., II, 371). Many important and interesting epitaphs have been found here. 26. Ceme- tery of Pnacilla. This is the oldest general cemetery of Early christian Rome (Kaufmann) and in several respects the most important. It takes its name from
Priscilla, the mother of the Senator I'udens in whose hou e Si . l'ei, ]-, according to ancient tradition, found refuge. The sepulchral plot (area) of Pudens on the
New Salarian \\ ay became the burial-place of Aquila and Prisca (Ram., xvi, 3), and of Sts. Pudentiana and
Praxedes, daughters of I'udens. In this manner the history Of the \ tv ancient Unman churches of Santa Pudentiana ami Santa Prassede, also that of Santa
Prisca on the Aventine, being originally the meeting-
places (domesticw ecclesice, Rom., xvi, 5), of the little
Christian community, became intimately connected
with the burial-site of the family to which they orig-
inally belonged. In this catacomb were buried Sts.
Felix and Philip (two of the seven martyr sons of St.
Felicitas), also Popes St. Marcellinus (d.~304) and St.
Marcellus (d. 309), both victims of the persecution of
Diocletian. In the basilica (see below) that was soon
raised on this site were buried several popes, St. Syl-
vester (d. 335), St. Liberius (d. 366), St. Siricius (d.
399), St. Celestine (d. 432), and Vigilius (d. 555).
Their "fine group of sarcophagi remained intact",
says Marucchi (II, 385) until the ninth century, when
the transfer of their bodies to various city churches
brought about the usual neglect and final decay of
the cemetery, above and below ground. Marucchi
maintains that here and not at St. Agnes' is the true
Caemeteriuin Ostrianum mentioned in ancient Roman
Acts of martyrs as containing a reservoir where St.
Peter was wont to baptize, also the chair in which he
first sat (ad nymphas ubi Petrus baptizaverat, sedes
ubi prius sedit Sanctus Petrus, etc.) when he began his
Roman ministry. With much erudition and acumen
he develops this thesis in his oft quoted work (Ele-
ments d'arcWologie chretienne, II, 432 sqq.), his
principal arguments being based on a detailed study
of two ancient reservoirs in this cemetery, according
to him the original Petrine baptisteries, through deep
veneration for which holy places came about the later
development of the cemetery of Priscilla, the burial
there of several fourth- and fifth-century popes, the
overground basilica of St. Sylvester, etc. It was only
in 1S63 that earnest and continuous efforts were made
to explore in a scientific way this vast necropolis; in
1887 the finding of the burial-crypts of the Acilii
Glabriones amply repaid the efforts of the Sacred
Commission of Archaeology. The corridors and
cubicula of this portion of the cemetery of Priscilla
offer numerous evidences of Apostolic antiquity, and
there is sufficient reason to believe (a) that the afore-
said Acilii Glabriones were closely related to the fam-
ily of Senator Pudens, and (b) that their Christian
family epitaphs of the second century began with the
(not yet found) epitaph of Manius Acilius Glabrio,
consul in 91, and put to death by Domitian for charges
(Suetonius, Domit., 15; Dio Cassius. LXVII, 13) now
recognized as equivalent to the profession of the
Christian religion. Not far from the modern entrance
to the cemetery is the elegant subterranean chapel or
crypt known as the Capella Greca, from two Greek
epitaphs found there; this crypt is ornamented with
very ancient symbolic frescoes, the most important of
which is the celebrated Eucharistic painting in the
apse, known as the Fraetio Panis, because in it a fig-
ure (the priest) is breaking bread and giving it to
persons seated at the same table (Wilpert, Fraetio
Panis, la plus ancienne representation du sacrifice
eucharistique, Paris, 1896). In the vicinity was found
in 1820 the epitaph of St. Philomena (.facsimile in
Christian Museum of the Lateran); according to
Marucchi the current legend of St. Philomena is a
nineteenth-century invention. The three tiles of
this epitaph were removed at some early dale from
their original place and used to close another grave,
so that the body found in 1820 was not that of Philo-
mena, nor are the tracings on the epitaph those of
instruments of martyrdom but anchors, palms, etc.
(op. cit., II, 409-10; cf. do Waal, "Die Grabschrift
der heiligen Philumena", in "R6m. Quartalschrift",
IS'.isi, There is also here a very ancient fresco of the Blessed Virgin holding to her breast the Infant Jesus, while a prophet (Isaias?; cf. is., ix. 2; \lii. 6) points
to a star above her head. It is a clear evidence of the
sentiments of Christian veneration for the Mother of God in the second century, to which period the best archaeologists refer this fresco (see Mary). Else-
