# Archaeological Journal/Volume 3/Notices of New Publications: The Church in the Catacombs

The Church in the Catacombs. A Description of the Primitive Church of Rome, Illustrated by its Sepulchral Remains. By Charles Maitland, D.M. 8vo. pp. 312.
Amongst the innumerable treasures of the Vatican, where the highest works of art in painting and sculpture are, in their respective departments, congregated, a series of inscribed sepulchral slabs, collected together and arranged in a long corridor at the entrance to the museum, many bearing upon them the impress of a rudely incised or sculptured symbol or figure, hardly seem to invite attention. They rather urge the visitor onwards, the more leisurely to view and examine the choicest sculptures of ancient pagan art, the Apollo and the Laocoon, or those wonderful productions of the Renaissance school, the frescoes of Buonaroti, besides a multitude of objects of every style of art and of all ages, with the endless repetition of which the mind and eye are sated and bewildered.
But the simple tablets which fill the Lapidarian Gallery, for such is this corridor called, possess a deeper and more enduring interest than at first sight is readily apparent. They comprise numerous monuments illustrative of the early Christian Church at Rome, memorials of many who sought a refuge from persecution in the subterranean labyrinths beneath or near that city, and who, having suffered much for the faith, at length 'rested in peace,' and were buried in the sepulchral recesses of the catacombs, simply commemorated, as the inscriptions or symbols on the tablets in some way or other indicate, in conjunction with their names, as members of the Christian Church.
The interesting volume Dr. Maitland has published, treats of these remains as bearing upon the history and practices of the early Church at Rome, especially during the third and fourth centuries. Our limits do not allow us to give that full notice which this work deserves, and to the merits of which our cursory extracts are insufficient to do justice. We shall proceed with a few passages we have selected, but we strongly recommend our readers to peruse the work itself.
The subterranean galleries which penetrate the soil surrounding the city of Rome, after having for four centuries served as a refuge and a sanctuary to the ancient Church, were nearly lost sight of during the disorder occasioned by barbarian invasions. As the knowledge of their windings could be preserved only by constant use, the principal entrances alone remained accessible; and even these were gradually neglected and blocked up by rubbish, with the exception of two or three, which were still resorted to, and decorated afresh from time to time. In the sixteenth century the whole range of catacombs was re-opened, and the entire contents, which had remained absolutely untouched, during more than a thousand years, were restored to the world at a time when the recent revival of letters enabled the learned to profit by the discovery.
The history of the catacombs, since their recovery from the oblivion in which they had remained during the dark ages, consists principally in a succession of controversies, provoked by the indiscriminate veneration paid to every object found in them. During the reign of Sextus the Fifth, who ascended the pontifical throne in 1585, some discussions having occurred respecting relics, the attention of antiquarians was strongly directed to the subject, and a diligent examination of the catacombs, then recently discovered, was undertaken. Foremost in this investigation was Bosio, whose posthumous works were edited by Severano, in the year 1632, under the title of Roma Sotterranea, including an original chapter by the editor. The same work translated into Latin, and still further enlarged, was republished by Aringhi.
The elaborate and valuable work of Aringhi, contains, amongst the numerous illustrations, plans of several of these catacombs. These evince them to consist of innumerable tortuous passages.
The number of graves contained in the catacombs is very great. In order to form a general estimate of them, we must remember that from the year A.D. 98, to some time after the year 400, (of both which periods, consular dates have been found in the cemeteries,) the whole Christian population of Rome was interred there.
Prudentius, the Christian poet, of the fourth century, whilst describing these cemeteries, observes:—
Many sepulchres marked with letters, display the name of the martyr, or else some anagram.
The consular epitaphs are our principal means of fixing the dates of graves and cemeteries. That belonging to A.D. 102, is the earliest that we possess, with the exception of one found by Boldetti, in St. Lucina's cemetery, of the year 98.
D M P. LIBERIO VICXIT ANI N. II. MENSES N. III DIES N. VIII R ANICIO FAVSTO ET VIRIO GALLO COSS.
Publius Liberio lived two years, three months, and eight days. Anicius Faustus and Virius Gallus being consuls.
The following consulates have been copied without selection from the Christian inscriptions contained in the Vatican Library and Lapidarian Gallery; they shew the usual dates of the consular epitaphs.
​The mode of thus indicating a date has proved extremely valuable. We find also that palimpsest monuments are more ancient than is generally considered.
The employment of old pagan tombstones was common after the time of Constantine: but the usual custom in such cases was to reverse the marble and to engrave the Christian epitaph upon the opposite side. According to antiquarians, many stones have been discovered with unequivocal marks of paganism on one side, and of Christianity on the other: but of this there is now no opportunity left us of judging, as every catacomb tablet has been carefully plastered upon some wall or pillar.
The principal symbols found on these tablets are the ancient Christian monogram, the palm branch, the dove, and the fish. The expression in Pace is of frequent occurrence, often the only ostensible indication of the faith of the person commemorated.
Lamps of terra cotta are found abundantly in the catacombs; they are generally marked with the cross, with the likenesses of Peter and Paul, or with some other Christian symbol.
At p. 127, we are presented with the fac-simile of an inscription commemorative of a martyr, at the head of which appears the symbol of the cross.
Lannus, the martyr of Christ, rests here. He suffered under Dioclesian. (The sepulchre is) also for his successors (Boldetti). This fac-simile represents one of the very few epitaphs actually inscribed on the grave of a martyr, specifying him to be such. Its chief value lies in the letters E.P.S., shewing that the tomb had been legally appropriated to Lannus and his family after him—et posteris suis.
Dr. Maitland endeavours to disprove the notion suggested by Aringhi, that the implements marked upon the grave stones, or inclosed in the tombs, were the instruments by which the deceased had suffered martyrdom, and states that whilst "we have no historical evidence that it was the custom of the Church to bury instruments of torture or of death with the martyrs, the habit of designing the emblems of a trade or profession upon the tombstone, was, on the contrary, extremely common." The usage of representing ​on tombs the symbols of profession and trade, was common in this country, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In Wales it lingered down to the seventeenth century.
As to the cups so often found inclosed in the tomb, or cemented to the rock outside, Dr. Maitland observes:—
The custom of depositing small vessels with the bodies of the dead, was common among pagans as well as Christians. Vessels of terra cotta, glass, alabaster, and ivory found in Christian tombs, have generally been considered as receptacles for blood, whilst those belonging to pagans, though exactly similar, have been termed lachrymatories. Two important questions here present themselves:—1st. Were these vessels used by the Christians to contain blood? and 2ndly. Were they exclusively affixed to martyrs' graves?
He then proceeds somewhat at length to combat the notion commonly entertained, and to decide the questions raised, in the negative. Representations are given of two of these cups copied from Boldetti. The inscription on one of these is usually read Sanguis Saturnini, Dr. Maitland suggests it might be read Sanctus Saturninus. On this point the reader may form his own judgment from the representation.
In treating of ancient symbolism, Dr. M. thus writes:—
Perhaps the cause which most powerfully contributed to the adoption of Christian symbols was the ignorance of reading and writing then prevalent. . . . . The symbols employed in the catacombs, exclusive of those supposed to belong to martyrdom, are of three kinds: the larger proportion of them refer to the profession of Christianity, its doctrines, and its graces: a second class, of a purely secular description, only indicate the trade of the deceased: and the remainder represent proper names. Of the first class, the cross, as the most generally met with, claims our early consideration.
It would be difficult to find a more complete revolution of feeling among mankind, than that which has taken place concerning the instrument of crucifixion: once the object of horror and a symbol of disgrace, it is now the blessed emblem of our faith; the sign of admission by baptism to all the benefits of Christian fellowship. . . . The change from cross to crucifix, in ancient monuments, is gradual: first occurs the simple cross; afterwards a lamb appears at the foot of it. In a third stage there is Christ clothed, on the cross with hands uplifted in prayer, but not nailed to it; in the fourth, Christ fastened ​to the cross with four nails, still living, and with open eyes. He was not represented as dead till the tenth or eleventh century.
The lamb appearing at the foot of the cross is mentioned by Paulinus, who wrote about the year 400. Beneath the ensanguined cross stands Christ in the form of a snow-white lamb: as an innocent victim is the lamb consigned to unmerited death.
From the 82nd canon of the Quinisextan council, held A.D. 706, we learn at what time the change from the lamb to the victim in human form was generally adopted. "We ordain that the representation in human form of Christ our God, who takes away the sin of the world, be henceforward set up, and painted in the place of the ancient lamb."
In the medieval monuments in this country, the different symbols of faith thus enumerated are also to be found. Of sepulchral slabs, impressed with the cross, in a variety of forms, from the plain Greek or Calvary cross to the floriated cross of the most ornate description, we have innumerable examples. The 'Agnus Dei' occurs but seldom on our ancient sepulchral monuments, still more rarely does the crucifix appear on such. We have met with two instances only, the one in Bredon church, Worcestershire, of which an illustration is given in a former number of the Journal; the other in the priory church at Brecon. Both these are sculptured monuments of the fourteenth century.
The fish was a symbol expressive of the name of Christ; . . . . the phonetic sign of this word, the actual fish, was an emblem whose meaning was entirely concealed from the uninitiated Sometimes the word Ιχθυς was expressed at length, . . . . at other times the fish itself was figured, as recommended by Clement of Alexandria. The specimen here given is from the Lapidarian Gallery.
The symbols of trade, figured upon grave-stones, were long regarded by antiquarians as indicating the instrument by which the deceased had suffered martyrdom The dates of some contradict the supposition. The tomb-stone of Adeodatus (Lap. Gall.), expresses tolerably well the implements of a wool-comber. They consist of a pair of shears, a comb, and a plate of metal, with a rounded handle.
The author has great pleasure in being able to contribute, to the small number of phonetics already published, the annexed, from the Lapidarian Gallery. A fragment only has been copied, the entire inscription being long—
PONTIVS $^•$ LEO $^•$ S $^•$ EBIV ET PONTIA $^•$ M FECERVNT $^•$ FI
—Pontius Leo, and Pontia Maxima his wife. The former while living, bought this tomb. Their sons set up this.
Two well-known instances are those of Doliens and Porcella.
IVLIO FILIO PATER DOLIENS.
Doliens the father, to Julius his son.
Dolium is the Latin for cask; Porcella signifies a little pig, as in the next:
PORCELLA HIC DORMIT IN P QVIXIT ANN. III. M.X. D. XIII.
Here sleeps Porcella in peace. She lived three years ten months, and thirteen days.
Anciently the symbolic manner in which the Almighty Father was indicated, was by the image of a hand issuing from a cloud, and two instances of this appear among the catacomb sculptures, of which Dr. M. gives illustrations. In the Vetera Monimenta of Ciampini more early examples from mosaics are given of this symbol. It occurs in this country over the sculptured rood, a work of the twelfth century, on the south side of Romsey abbey church, but it was not till the fifteenth century that the usage of representing the first person of the Holy Trinity in human form became at all prevalent: we then find it on sculptured bosses, in painted glass, on ecclesiastical seals, and, as at Chacombe, Northamptonshire, and Great Tew, Oxfordshire, on sepulchral brasses. Milman attributes to the French the introduction of this representation, so early as the ninth century, an illuminated bible, supposed of that age, being his authority; but M. De Caumont, the learned antiquary of Normandy, was unable to find sculptured representations of the Trinity, with the Almighty Father thus personified, of an earlier era than the fifteenth century.
Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the theological tone in which Dr. Maitland's remarks are written, and on this we offer no comment, his work is well worthy of a careful perusal, and possesses more than a mere transient interest. He has undoubtedly done much service in affording to many—few of whom have ever heard of the thirty years labours of Bosio, or of the folio tomes of Aringhi—a full, descriptive, and critical account, bearing evident marks of much labour and learning, of the ​catacombs of Rome and their sepulchral deposits, and we cannot do better than conclude our notice with the remarks which finish his introductory chapter.
Perhaps it may safely be asserted that the ancient Church appears in the Lapidarian Gallery in a somewhat more favourable light than in the writings of the fathers and historians. It may be that the sepulchral tablet is more congenial to the display of pious feeling than the controversial epistle, or even the much-needed episcopal rebuke. Besides the gentle and amiable spirit every where breathed, the distinctive character of these remains is essentially Christian: the name of Christ is repeated in an endless variety of forms, and the actions of His life are figured in every degree of rudeness of execution. The second Person of the Trinity is neither viewed in the Jewish light of a temporal Messiah, nor degraded to the Socinian estimate of a mere example, but is invested with all the honours of a Redeemer. On this subject there is no reserve, no heathenish suppression of the distinguishing feature of our religion: on stones innumerable appears the Good Shepherd, bearing on His shoulders the recovered sheep, by which many an illiterate believer expressed his sense of personal salvation. One, according to his epitaph, "sleeps in Christ;" another is buried with a prayer that "she may live in the Lord Jesus." But most of all, the cross, in its simplest form, is employed to testify the faith of the deceased: and whatever ignorance may have prevailed regarding the letter of Holy Writ, or the more mysterious doctrines contained in it, there seems to have been no want of apprehension of that sacrifice, "whereby alone we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven."