The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-16

From a new work on the Roman Cata-
combs, compiled from the works of Commeu-
datore de Rossi, and just published in Lon
don, we are furnished with the following
curious information about the bishops of the
early Christian Church,
1t is a remarkable fact, the full signifi-
cance Of which has only lately been appre-
ciated, that neither Bosio, Fabretti, Boldetti,
nor any other Of the ancient explorers of sub
tewanean Rome, ever found an inscription
bearing the title of bishop. 1t is true, in
deed, that in the first age this title had not
acquired that deterninate ecclesiastical sense
which it subsequently received The word
had been in use among the Pagans in a wider
and more general signiication. Among the
Greeks, for example, it was used for the pre-
sldent of the athletic sports and public games,
and this may have been a sufficient reason,
perhaps for emitting the title ON
the grave-stones Of the first bishops.
BY the middle of the third century,
however, its ecclesiastical sense was
well defined, and accordingly we find it here
on three out of these four grave-stOnes of
the Popes The tomb-stones of ST. Corne-
lius, also, and of st. Eusebius, popes and
martyrs, which we shall presently see in this
cemetery, are similarly marked; and in the
cemetery OF ST. Alexander, discovered fifteen
or twenty years ago on the Via Nomentana,
The fact that so many have been found in the
same place, whereas they have not been
found elsewhere might suggest to an inteli
gent student of archaeology that perhaps it
was the practice in the ancient church to re-
serve some special place of burial for those
who had filed the highest rank in her hier-
archy. And this conjecture receives
strong continuation from the fact.
which we learn from various sources, that
.fs,,.1 g. T.
very few exceptions, which can generally
be accounted for) lay buried each in his own
sepulchre, near the body of blessed Peter in
the Vatican, just as the bishops of Alexandria
were buried near the body Of St. Mark. More
over, 1t was an object of great jealousy to the
several churches that their bishops should be
buried in the midst of them: their tombs
were appealed to as a testimony to the apos-
tolic tradition and doctrine having come to
them through a Legitimate succession of
bishops. Thus POlycrates, Bishop of Epha-
sus, writing to St. Victor, carefully enume-
rates the burial places in different cities of
Asia OF the several bishops, great pillars of
the Church as he calls them, whom he alleges
as witnesses i'll his behalf. Caius, in like
manner, disputing against the Cataphrygians
at the end of the second century, appeals to
the tombs OF SITS. Peter and Paul; so, also,
Optatus IN his controversy with the Donatist5
..o4ANN' - pApIl'p htppeLleu 10 ole az Il
distance from his own see, his BODY
was ordinarily brought home, even at a con-
siderable inconvenience; t. g., the body of st.
Eusebius from Sicily; of st. Cornelius from
Clvlta Vecchia; and of st. Pontianus from the
island of Sardinia. The bodies of all these
Popes were brought back to Rome, though
two of them at least had died in exile; for the
| law distinctly allowed the bodies of exles to
be brought home for intement, provided the
Emperor's leave had been first obtained. and
in the instances here alleged the translation
was not made until change in the imperial
policy towards the Church made it possible to
obtain such leave. Nor was this translation
an honor peculiar to the bodies of deceased
Roman pontiffs. On the contrary, the relics
of st. Ignatius were restored to Antioch; the
body of Dionysius, Bishop of Milan, was re-
covered 10y st. Ambrose, and that of st. Felix,
Bishop of Tiburtium, martyred at Venosa.
was returned to Africa Perhaps, also, this
practice furnishes the best explanation which
can be given of the attempt made by the
Christians of the East to recover the bodies of
Sts. Peter and Paul