The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-02-17
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ed by wealthy Christians for their own
families, and later, when extended,
the bodies of their poorer brothers
and sisters in the faith were admit
ted. The extent of the labyrinths
which undermine the suburbs of
Rome rivals their complexity. In four
centuries $50 miles of corridors were
cut from the rock, some of the pas
sages being Is feet below the surface
The passages themselves are only
wide enough for a procession to
march in single file. On either hand
are the sealed inches containing the
bodies of the first Christians, and oc-
casionally an arched doorway leads
into one of the larger crypts, which
were used as chapels in times of per-
secution, in which Easter was GER
tainly celebrated, when the insane
wrath of the emperor drove the Chris
tians to cover.
These chambers which were used
for worship were small and the num-
bers who assembled in them were
limited. There was a raised seat for
the bishop, lower seat for the pres
byters and bench about, the wall to
accommodate the worshipers. Frescoes
and inscriptions indicate that the
Easter feast was celebrated with the
eucharist in these vaults.
The doors and stairways were some
times blocked, with Roman soldiers
on guard. Then the airholes were
used, and the worshipers were lower
ed into the charnel recesses by ropes
1t was here that the embryo of mod
ern civilization was nurtured and kept
and stress. Had Nero's soldiers
known the catacombs as the Chris
tians knew them, the world might still
be laboring along under some silly
pagan creed The life of Christianity
at one time depended upon the dark
and seclusion of tomb.
In the faint, red light of torches
which illumined the sepulchral cham
bers the venerable and courageous
leaders of the little fiocks administer
ed the Easter sacraments to fearful
yet resolute Romans, in whose veins
was all the spartanism of Rome, made
holier by an ardor and faith which
the presence of men who had seen
and spoken the Master inspired.
st. Peter may have stood in one OF
these very cubicula and told of the
truth and beauty of His life and words
while the distant clank and rattle of
bronze and steel bore witness to the
soldiery on the search for more prov
ender for Nero's lions.
The beautiful pagentry of our Eas-
ter, with its flowers, song, incense,
music and accompaniment of sunshine
and the warmth of spring, contrasts
strangely with the setting Of the Eas-
ter in the catacombs. There all was
sad and somber, damp and morbid.
The walls, covered with their fun
eral inscriptions, were cold and moist,
the torches Pickering fitfully in the
heavy atmosphere of the sepulcher.
The Christians, hunted, prosecuted,
many of them without home, were a
forlorn and jaded spectacle. Only the
undying, invincible spirit of their
cause upheld them.
The preacher had to dwell upon the
joys of the future and the Masters
promise to dispel the heavy gloom.
There was no rich organ music; no
display of color; no sound of mirth
and gladness from without The
spring song of birds did not reach
them, only the deep roar of Infatuated
animals and the tramp of the legion
aries penetrated to mingle with their
voices in the service.
So was Christianity kept alive and
our modern civilization born.