The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-13


a realistic depletion Of baptism and
symbolic representation of the Last
supper The fish, which typifys in q
sort OF acrostic manner the belief in the
Savior Is very faVorite symbol Sin
gularly enough, the initial letters form
ing the Greek word fish stand for
words meaning Jesus, Christ, Son of
God, Savior Probably the fish which
is seen so often in England as a wind
vane on churches had it's origin in the
Catacombs,
Christian symbols are many and in
tricate, but have no time to mention
them here-they are an ine&haustble
study. The Catacombs OF st. CollXtus
contain the tombs of many popes and
martyrs. Here we behold the remark
able chamber in which the tomb of st.
Caeoelia was discovered. The story of
the martyrdom of this goodly woman
is most pathetic. She was put to death
in her bathroom during the reign CT
Alexander Severus in q most barbarous
manner and the very bathroom, with
its leaden pipes, is still to be seen In
the church of St Caecelia, in Trauste
we're, built right over the abode of the
sainted woman. In the st. CaliXtus
Catacombs are many tombs of bishops,
presbyters and pastors, and many noble
Roman men and women We're inferred
here. The Roman law forbade the bur-
ial of dead within the city limits, so
the Catacombs were eXcavated between
the first and third milestones beyond
the Aurelian wall Not only do we
see here the Catacombs of ST. ColiXtus,
but also those of st. Pretextatus, St.
Domitilla and st. Sebastiano Then
there are the Jewish Catacombs Of the
third century, where we see frequent
representations of the seven branched
candelabrum which was taken from the
Temple of Jerusalem. We also notice
many interesting symbols painted on
the walls, which remind us of singu-
larry peculiar people.
There are still other Catacombs, but
to describe them would be a tedious
task. Visitors to the Catacombs should
keep close together and near their
guide. A few years since a party of
twenty entered the ST. CaliXtus Cata-
combs, and, owing perhaps to the sud-
den death of their guide or for some I'M
accountable reason, they We're lost,
their tapers having burned out, and
what became of this unfortunate party
no one ever knew. Father Paul took
us in and brought us safely out, having
interested us intensely with his de-
scriptionS. After pleasant talk about
New Haven and some of its citizens,
we took our leave Of the good old man.
He is a German priest, and has been at
the Catacombs for seven years. He has
visited Rome but once, although 1t is
but mile to the city gate. He told me
that during the summer months ma
laria rayages this whole district, and
the religious institutions are then closed
for four months. He has been pros
trated often, but has always stuck to
his post No doubt his life work is a
votive one. / can see him now, as we
drove off, waving his hand kindly to-
ward us, blessing us just as we lost
sight of him, as we drpve down the hill
and turned directly into the Appian
Way sometimes feel that friendships
suddenly formed and as suddenly sew
cred may in some distant aeon of eter-
nifty become firmly e-estabished-at
least hope SO.
We drove out little distance on the
Via Appia, which was begun in 312 y. c,
and extended to Capua. and later to
Brundusinn, on the Adriatic. We stop
ped at the Basilica OF st. Sebastiano, q
most interesting church with extensive
catacombs. We continued driving past
very grand old tombs and stopped at
the magnificent tomb of Caecilia Metel-
la, the wife of the great Croesus.
',tEhstsss much slleie knew-aA1etellla
died
The wealthfest Rofhsffi's wife: behold
his love and pride
This is one of the grandest ton1bs on
the Appian Way 1t Is circular in form,
sixty feet in diameter and eighty feet
high 1t has a wonderful marble frieze
of wreaths of flowers and skulls of
oxen. In the Middle Ages this edifice
was converted into a very strong fort.
On our return to the city we stopped
to visit the Columbaria previously al
luded TO- A Columbarium is a cubcal
vault built beneath the surface of the
earth; the arched stone roof is held
up by a central pillar. This pillar and
the four sides of the vault are perfor-
ated with inches for urns; thousands
of these, filled with human ashes are
seen here and many busts and statues
are still Sin stu" These vaults were
built in the year 10 A. p. We see here
an urn containing the ashes of the
keeper of the armchair" "the caretaker
of the lap dog" 1.-THE protector of the
family portraits "the lady's maid,
'the household barber "the dumb
buffoon of Tiberius, etc.
A very valuable lapis laZuli was once
discovered here. and it is now to be
seen in the Vatican. If the wretched
agriculturalist could plough his field
with a deep steel plough he might
discover beneath his grass windrows
more Columbria, with their ashy con-
tents safely preserved in marble vases.
These singular chambers of death are
securely hidden in the earth, but some-
times they will be accidentally discover
ed, just as the glories of Pompeii were
exhibited to the world by the labor of
a poor italian well digger.
What wonder this
The earth, with faithful watch, has
boarded all?''
VIATOR.
Note.-I regret I have not the space
or time to mention some of the symbols
seen in the Catacombs. such as the
sheep, the phoenix, the ship on the
back of fish, bread, a vine, an olive
branch, palm branch and others.
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