The Washington herald., 1922-09-10
By AMY ID. PUTNAM.

The monastery building stands
uponss wooded hill and is delight
faily- secluded in It's own large
grounds. But II can be seen from
fzr.sway and forms the most con-
spfcueus object in Brookland and
that section of the city generally.
The general plan OF the building
is Byzantine. somewhat modified by
the Halian renaissance in the de-
tsfls>~ The whole Is simplified to
SUIT the Franciscan tradition. Since
the hve-fold cross was the coat Of
arms of the Latin kingdom of Je-
rusalem this form has been used for
the shape of the monastery build
ing. The main body OF the church
is formed by the large cross and the
smaller crosses form the chapels.
The whole style OF architecture may
be called Romano-Byzantine.
Roman Catacombs.
The most unique form Of art to
be found here is the reproduction
OF the Roman Catacombs- On en-
tering the catacombs we see long.
very dimly-lit passages on either
side Of which are oblong inches for
burial OF the dead. These inches
are only two deep here. but in the
original they are from six to eight
high. The light is given by little
electric light bulbs placed In the
spout of old Roman lamps, rudely
made of dark gray plaster. and
closely resembling in form the
older Greek lamps. In the old
times a small wick came through
this spout, and the lamp was filled
with oil. which was drawn UP to
the top of the wick by capillarity.
as is the case with the modern
kerosene lamp.
OF course only q very small part
of the catacombs Is represented
here. The original passages are
from 500 to 800 miles long. and but
400 miles Of them have been ex-
plored. They are estimated to
contain the bodies of 100000 peo-
pie. all of them Christians. and
many of them martyrs to the faith.
They used to meet here at night.
and worship. at a time when as
sembling of Christians was very
strictly forbidden in Rome. A
rarely beautiful description of such
a secret meeting of the faithful Is
given in Walter Peters "Marius
the Epicurean which gives a very
fine idea of the life of this time,
very much idealized. to be sure.
but must not life have been on a
high plane then to have produced
so many martyrs? Cardinal Wise
man has also given a fine descrip-
tion of the catacombs, and of the
life and faith of these early Chris
tions.
Directly under the center altar
in the church above Is the Martyrs
Crypt. or Tomb of st. Benignus.
He was one OF the first Christian
martyrs.
Tomb of st. Benignus.
Beneath an altar lies a war figure
representing this old Roman court
officer in his uniform, which is
plentifully decorated with gold
lace and is very snowy and hand
some. Inside the breast Of this wax
figure, inclosed in a metal case, are
the relics OF this saint, brought
from the cathedral at Narni to this
spot. where it receives much ven
Grafton. This chapel is a type of
numerous little chapels in the vast
naZes Of original catacombs. The
figure directly in front Of you. IN
the niche, Is our Lord raising His
hand in blessing to His people
everywhere, and the figures to
either side are ST. Stephen. a Bibli-
cal martyr. and st. Benignus.
In the circular frame around our
Lord are symbols copied from the
frescoes in the original niche. Each
figure here is a symbol. and we shall
find some of these repeated in the
other chapels and beside the tombs.
Let us take them in order. begin
ming at the lower left-hand corner.
First we have the peacock. or Phoe-
nix. which typifies the resurrection
of the body. Next we have the
Greek letters Alpha and Omega the
first letter and the last one Of the
Greek alphabet.
Then comes the anchor. symbol Of
hope. fruit-bearing tree shelter
Ing a lamb represents the church
The white dove stands for inno-
cence. The dove bearing the olive
branch Is also much used in these
catacombs, taken from the story of
the Ark. The central monogram
shows the Greek letters and Y in
tertwined and wreaths and SPRAYS
around them. These letters are the
abbreviation Of the name of Christ.
Then we have the dove with the
olive branch. for peace The ban
ner OF Christ Is overcoming the
evil one. represented by the SER
pent. and around this is an inscrip-
tion. IN this sign thou shalt con-
quer." A hand comes next, holding
an inscription which reads. Thou
shalt live Then we have the nsh.
which is symbol for Christ.
Tombs of Faithful.
Turning to the right, We conn.
10 more spaces for bodies this time
reproductions Of those in which bo-
dies were placed. Along the sides
are symbolic drawings and inscrip-
tions in Latin. Here Is one that
SAYS, Rest in Peace. Amelia"
As we enter this passage we see
another one branching off from 1t,
and on this Is painted Bible
scene by a present-day American
artist. Along this same passage
We come to the Purgatory Chapel.
On one side the paintings repre-
sent Death. and on the other Res
direction and Eternal Life. To our
left Is a picture of Tobias Buryinc
the Dead, an apocryphal story from
the Old Testament. These figures
are taken from a monument in
Rome, as the figure of Ezekiel is
in the picture on the right wall
The Valley Of Dry Bones" Next
on the left is a copy of Hoffman's
Burial OF Christ" The body is
being wrapped for burial.
On the left side Of the exit. bear
ing the words. Through Death" IL
skeleton emerging from behind a
all Death may be. In the midst
nf ~