The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-22

embraced nearly all the famous monuments
with which the republic and the empire had
adorned IL.
The fundamental point estsblishe cd by rocen,
arch@ologists with regard to the Catscomb,
Is that these are the places where the first
Christians buried their dead. By some scholars
In the last century IL was held that tho place
might have served as common cemeteries for
the poor of all Religions. This Ia an opinion which
1t is no longer possible TO maintain. For thirty
i've years past the work Of excavation has been
pushed on with vigor, and very many Thousands
of tombs have been discovered. yet in not q
single instance was . pagan tomb encountered
1t must now, therefore, be regarded as estab-
lished that the Cataoombs were reserved for
Christians alone. The Cbristians, as 1t is we'll
known. attached tho utmost importance to
sepulture. as contradistinguisheL from cre-
nation. The body being believed to DO des-
tined TO come to life again, and to share tho
souls immortality, they thought that It
should be cared for after death and receive an
honorable asylum while waiting for the great
awakening. No one being excluded from tho
hope of the resurrection, the Christians took
equal care for the interment of all their people.
They would have been Mortified to initiate the
pagans. who. while they burned the bodies Of the
rich, flung the bodies OF poor people into COM
mon graves to rot Among tho Christians, It
was forbidden to place two bodies one above
the other. Each was to have its own place
wherein to repose alone and until the last day.
The treasury Of the church was spent in helping
the poor to live and in properly burying thom.
St Ambrose agreed that II was rightful to melt
and sell sven the sacred vessels for the interment
of the faithful. Such texts explain the con-
struction Of the Catacombs- Knowing the re-
spect shown by the first Christians for their
dead, we are less astonished at the gigantic
works which they undertook for their burial.
But arc the Catacombs entirely the work of the
Christians. or were they merely Appropriated to
their use? The majority of scholars maintained.
until their theory was toppled down IN our own
time by Signor Rossi, that the Catacombs wero
originally ancient quarries, whence the Romans
had. for a long time, dug the frieble stone known
as pozzolana. The Christians. 1t was assumed,
had found them deserted. and, in order to con-
vert them into cemeteries, only needed to hol-
low out horizontal inches for tho reception of
the dead. There is no doubt that the Chris
tians occasionally appropriated to their use
abandoned Quarries, but the researches of late
years hAvo proved that they did this only In OK
ceptional cases. In tho twenty-five or thirty
cemeteries thus far explored only i've such
ancient quarries have been recognized. All the
rest were made by the hands Of tho Christians.
Drawings of diggers at work are often encoun-
tered In the Cstacombs. The diggers are repre-
sented, pick In hand. attacking the overhanging
rocks. They are depicted as advancing boldly,
making themselves a way through the strata of
granular tufA, OF which the soil OF the Roman
Campagna is composed; year after year they
dug tho rock before them. sustained by their
faith, and these interminable galleries. said to
contain 6.0O0,O 600 tombs, are almost entirely
their work.
Where did tho Christians first learn this mode
Of sepulture which required such terrible labor ?
The answer was long since given; they learned
It from the Jews. Herein the Jews themselves
but followed the custom of most Of the peoples
Of the East. There was no other mode of inter-
ment In Syria. Wherever tho Syrians pene-
trated, In Malta, in Sicily, In Sardinia, similar
burial places are found. They occur even among
the Etruscans, to whom an Oriental origin is
sometimes attributed. BY the beginning of the
empire, Rome was, in Q manner. invaded by
tho nations of tho East, who brought
with them their own fashion of interment.
NJ. Boissier opines that, from the end of
the second century. A.. d., tho Roman Cam
pagna must have been dug In every direction.
Tho Jewa the Phenicians, the worshippers Of
Mithra and Sabazius. and, above all, the Chris
tians, who were becoming SO numerous. hol-
lowed out the ground for their sepulchres.
Many Romans took to burying their dead in the
manner of the Orientals; from the time of tho
Antonines tho custom of burying the dead be-
came less and less frequent. Signor Rossi
shows that, more than once, the Christian gal
leries were abruptly turned aside in order not
to touch some hypogeum, or subterranean
burial place OF another cult. Sometimes, On
the other hand, such q crypt would be en-
cysted. In tho heart of tho Ca~tacombs, q cave
Is found where a priest Of SAbaxius and some OF
his disciples rest The Christian workmen
dauhtleaa cama uDOn IL auddanlV- and IL noW