The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-03-22
ORRESPO PONDENCE.
Letter on Italy.

h0CC0I OH lCd1y.
MeSSrS. Editors, s,~-Above ground Rome
is curious and wonderful city, but sub
terranean Rome is yet more astonishing
Below her ancient streets, in obscure
vaults whose darkness is now lighted by
naught save the phosphorescent fires
the product of decaying bones-we peer
about for the tokens of the primitive
Christians who burrowed in these humid
and gloomy caves of the earth and kept
the faith which gave vitality to the hui
man conscience and enlightenment to the
world. There remains only a memory of
that upper population whose power once
governed the world. OF the institutions
they organized we see but faint traces.
Broken walls, a few arches, some columns
half legible inscriptions, autilated statues
things looking like the spoil of ter
rible tempest-these are all that remain
of the Caesars who conquered so many
provinces. But beneath all the splendor
and power of Pagan Rome lay
The Catacombs,
the only temple permitted to Christian
worship, entered like the dens of wild
animals and peopled by some humble sec
tarlans, who were pursued by despotic
nrnalty and who Possessed rU1 Ulloir only
power-prayer! for their only victory
martyrdom. Often tortured in the drunk
en- orgies of the capital, cast among the
wild beasts of the Coliseum when appre-
hended--burlesqued by Lucian-ridi-
culed by the most admired writers-with
the whole power of Rome arrayed against
them, who could have dreamed of the
final victory of these believers in the
crucifed Jesus. For arms they had the
glad tidings of "peace on earth and good
will to men for riches, their faith-for
power, their esignation-for legions, the
legions of martyrs-for property, the
tombs. The Roman law protected before
all, the places sacred to sepulture. The
same emperors who persecuted the Chris
tlans as believers, respected them as pro-
prietors. By means of this superstitious
respect of Pagans for property, the Chris
tians obtained home for their worship
and a resting place for their dead. The
Romans cremated their dead and depos-
tied their ashes in vases Of marble or pote
phyry. But the Christians, believing not
only in the Immortality of the soul, but
also in the resurrection of the body, buried
their dead entire in the sepulchres. Thus
the cities of the dead assumed proportions
as colossal as the living, and beneath the
palaces of Rome there soon extended
a City of Tombs,
with streets, crossways, squares stretch
ing toward the four points of the horizon
"a city of the dead which, notwithstand-
ing, quickened the new spirit destined to
destroy Rome and to build upon her
ruins another civilization
About four miles eastward of Rome,
between the via Appia and the via Ar
deatina, under heaps of all sorts of debris,
and close to cypress groves which deepen
the melancholy of the landscape, we de-
scended into the Catacombs of San Sebas-
tiano. Who could contemplate without
emotion these immense labyrinths in
which the Christian foreelders hid them
selves-these sepulchral burrows in which
were planted the first germs of the Chris
tian religion? Instinctively our imagi-
nation transported us to the ages Of Chris
tian persecution. In the dark caverns
we seemed to hear the religious psalmody
half repTessed by terror-and to behold
the arrival Of those who brought the re-
mains Of the martyrs collected from the
refuse of the circus, to deposit them in
their tombs, and raise the altar whereon
burned the mystic lamp.
We took but slight interest in the
artistic controversies which the Cata-
combs have excited among those learned
in Archaeology. We could not deter
mine with NJ Paul Rochette that these
paintings we're the inspirations Of ancient
art, or with Cavaliere Bossi that they
sprung spontaneously from the new faith.
We did not see the heaven Ozonam saw
in the eyes Of the worshippers. We did
not perceive the spirituality Of the mid