The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-13
THE CATAC0MBS OF ROM +
LONG TUNNELS EXTEND IN EVERY
DIRECTION BELOW m SURFACE.

On the Sides of the walk are Ncavations
for Bodies and These Extend In Tier
Like Bunks in Great Shp--Eariy
Christians Assembled There to Worship
thousands of Dead Bodies Have Been
Carried Away,
Dresden, Feb. 4, 1896.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND Cou RIER
The treatment of the bodies of the
dead as seen in the singular customs
of different nations of antiquity has al
ways been subject of great interest
to those who have looked into this re-
narkably absorbing study. The Par
sees in India have from remotest ages
exposed their dead to the ravages oil
goulish vultures others in that wide
Indian land, where no less than thirty
two different dialects were once spok-
en-, where many tribes. varied Win
very many divergent customs OF liVihs,
cast the bodies of their departed
friends into quickly flowing rivers TO
be conveyed into the all-absorping
ocean--fit and true emblem of eternity
itself. Some exposed their dead 70
wild beasts, While others covered thehi
with thorns hoping thus to Keep the
favenous animals away. Some cut W
their dead and deyoured them. Inc
singular jewellers in Central ana SCUM
America preserved the dead in great
sacks and jars filled with salt ana
pitch; many tribes of North American
Indians kept their departed TRENDS
suspended on platforms fastened 70
poles which were sunken In the earln.
Those ancient jewellers in the mystic
land of Egypt preserved dead bodies
by means of tar, pitch, bitunen ana
salt, wound about with countless
shawls and wrappings of linen; to
such an extent was this custom car
ried that in the great desolate sand
mountains opposite Thebe in upper
Egypt there are no less than twenty
five millions of mummied bodies of
human beings. 1 once went deep into
these pits and saw countless thousands
Of preserved bodies; if not disturbed
withered, shrunken form for centuries
to come. The old Romans had no de-
sire to preserve the dead in any tangi-
bic form which could remind them of
the former life, so, strange to relate
(and much to their good sense and APP
probation of the fitness of things) they
burned dead bodies and gathered the
ashes which they sacredly guarded in
urns and vases, handing them down to
their posterity as something to be kept
holy and sacred forever.
The early Christians following the
example of their divine leader (who
was laid in new tomb which was
'.hewn out in the rocky buried their
dead in stone collins, and to this day
most nations inter the dead in the
earth.
The use Of the coffin, however, is no
sure test of culture, for while some of
the rudest peoples place the dead in
trunks of trees and wooden collins, the
Mahommedan nations use nothing of
the kind.
The Russians placed in the hands Of
their departed a passport to be shown
to Saint Peter at the gate of heaven, so
the Greeks used to place in the mouth
an ''obolus' to be given to Charon
and Egyptians put on the tongue an
emblem to be shown to the grim ferry
man as ticket across the dark, silent
river into Paradise,
The Christians of the first and sec
+
the name of Coemeteria Ga Greek
word signifying sleeping on resting
places)-thus indicating that those
who slept or rested in the cemetery
We're placed there in full hope of resur-
rection. "Cataeemb" is comparatively
modern term.
On a lovely October morning we
drove in our carriages from the Via
Sistina through crowded streets down
past the wonderful fountain of Trevi,
which was erected by Pope Clement
XII. 1t possesses a magnificent facade
of white marble, stolen (?) from the
famous tomb of Caecilia Metella out
on the Appian Way; then driving
through the city we skirted along the
upper edge of the Roman Forum,
passing below the hill upon which is
built the church of tSt. Pietro in Vim
culo," which was founded 100 A. d.,
where are still preserved the iron
chains with which st. Peter was once
bound (here is also seen the marvel
GUS Moses of Michael Angelo, one of
the most famous marbles in the worldly
We drove by the Colosseum or Flavian
amphitheater, and continuing along
the Via Triumphalis, we passed be-
meath the sublime Arch of Constan-
tine, the best preserved structure of it's
kind in Rome; this was erected in 312
A. D., when the Emperor Constantine
first protested Christianity. AS we
drive quietly along we notice directly
on our right the grand old church of
ST. Magno, most interesting church.
dedicated in 575 by st. Gregory; it is
4IxA 81 "a Of 10 6f
Gregory's father, and next to it is the
ancient garden where st. Gregory
played when a child; close by is the
historicsc church of SITS. Giovanni e Pao-
10, which was built nearly sixteen hum
dred years since. This was erected to
the memory, of two officers in the
household of Constantia, daughter Of
Constantine, who were beheaded dur
ing the reign of Julian the Apostate;
we entered and visited the very house
where the two saints dwelt; there are
fifteen rooms and the kitchen where
the smoke stains are still to be seen in
the walls; (these have been there for
sixteen centuries); the church is built
right above and over the house. and in
the house cellar are still seen the am
phorsa which once were filled With
wine. The frescoes and paintings on
the walls are said to be the oldest
Christian paintings to be found outside