Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-09-10
The Catacombs.

The Roman catacombS are subterra-
mean excavations which served as pla-
ces of refuge and of worship to the
earliest followers of faith during the
prosecutions they had to suffe, under
the predecessors of Constantine, AMI OF
repose to so many thousands, from the
earliest period of Christianity to The
sixth century of our era. Ii Is not easy
to assign reason for the name of cata-
combs now generally applied to all
these excavations. 1t appears to have
been first employed in the seventh CEN
tury to designate limited space or
yault beneath the basilica of ST. Sc
bastian, on the Appian Way, al Cdtd-
clunbds, where the remains OF 81. Peter
and st. Paul were deposited when re-
covered from certain Greeks who were
CARVING them off by stealth to Their
country. Its general application, how
ever. TO these Christian sepulchres onlJ
came into use at much later period,
for we find them universally designated,
i'm the Acts of the Martyrs and early
fathers of the Church, as Cemeteries,
or Places of Repose. The catacombs
are distributed in considerable numbers
--about sixty in all-in every direction
outside the walls of the city.
1t is very doubtful whether any exist
within the precinct of modern Rome,
even inside the Aurelian wall, much
less of the ancient precinct of Serylus
Tullius, circumstance easily account
ed for by strict observance OF the
enactment of the Twelve Tables, which
forbade intramural interment, and by
the secrecy which the early Christians
were compelled to observe in reSortlng
when alive, aud conveying the remains
of their brethren when dead, to these
places of retirement and repose. The
catacombs consist of an immense net
work of SubteTranean passages or galle-
ries, generally intersectlng each other
at right angles, sometimes tortuous,
more rarely dIYerging from a centre, as
NAV be seen in those near st. Lorenzo
fuori lie Mura. These galleries vary in
length and height; In general they may
be stated to be eight feet high by three
to five feet wide; the roof is either hori-
zontai or slightly yaulted, and seldom
requires any other support than the
sides in which are eXcavated the Sepul-
chral lOctti or graves. forming tiers
above each other. These graves are
irregular III size, persons OF all ages
being inferred close to each, as well as
in depth, sometimes being destined TO
contain a single corpse III other cases,
two or three. The average number of
graves in each tier Is about five, and
their length eight feet. When undls-
fnV,,Ad aiAlQ1 uyif III
Bile slabs or tiles, on which inscriptions
and Christian emblems are often cut or
painted.
Beside these loculi, confined to the
the walls of the galleries, wider spaces
called Arcisolia, consisting of an arch
over a grave, or a sarcOphagus followed
in the tufa, are frequent, forming a
kind of small apse over the place where
the body was deposited. A third class,
in the shape of sepulchral chambers,
surrounded with lOculi and arcisolia,
occur at intervals, and these have often
also been converted into family vaults
and places Of worship; to these the
name of Cubicula has been applied. \
fourth description of crypts or chapels
of larger dimensions were evidently
destined Tor places OF meeting anu WoI-
ship. 1t was only after the conversion
of the Emperor Constantine to Christi
anity that its rites were permitted to be
celebrated in public, but long after
wards these crypts continued TO tie
Tesorted to for devotional purposes. 1t
was not until later in time that Orato-
ries and churches were erected over the
entrance of the principal cemeteries
with more convenient means of access
in the form of stars. Several of these
churches have since been reckoned
amongst the most celebrated in and
about Rome. st. PeterS's was erected
over the cemetery of the Vatican, st.
Paufs over that of Santa Lucina, San
Lorenzo over those of st. Hypolltus
and st. Cyriaca, and the beautiful bas-
ilica of St. Agnes over the catacOmb in
which that virgin martyr was inferred.