The Catacomb which is known as St. Calixtus, is composed of a number of catacombs, once distinct, but now joined together. Such were those of Sta. Lucina; of Anatolia, daughter of the consul aemilianus; and of Sta.

Soteris, "a virgin of the family to which St. Ambrose belonged in a later generation," and who was buried "in cmeterio suo," A.D. 304.

The passages of these catacombs were gradually united with those which originally belonged to the cemetery of Calixtus.

The high mass of ruin which meets our eyes on first entering the vineyard of St. Calixtus, is a remnant of the tomb of the Caecilii, of which family a number of epitaphs have been found. Beyond this is another ruin, supposed by Marangoni to have been the basilica which St.

Damasus provided for his own burial and that of his mother and sister; which Padre Marchi believed to be the church of St. Mark and St.

Marcellinus;--but which De Rossi identifies with the _cella memoriae_, sometimes called of St. Sistus, sometimes of St. Cecilia (because built immediately over the graves of those martyrs), by St. Fabian in the third century.[204]

Descending into the Catacomb by an ancient staircase restored, we reach (passing a sepulchral cubiculum on the right) the _Chapel of the Popes_, a place of burial and of worship of the third or fourth century, (as it was restored after its discovery in 1854) but still retaining remains of the marble slabs with which it was faced by Sixtus III. in the fifth century, and of marble columns, &c. with which it was adorned by St. Leo III. (795--816). The walls are lined with graves of the earliest popes, many of them martyrs--viz. St. Zephyrinus, (202--211); St Pontianus, who died in banishment in Sardinia, (231--236); St. Anteros, martyred under Maximian in the second month of his pontificate, (236); St. Fabian, martyred under Decius, (236--250); St. Lucius, martyred under Valerian, (253--255); St. Stephen I., martyred in his episcopal chair under Valerian, (255--257); St. Sixtus II., martyred in the catacombs of St.

Pretextatus, (257--260); St. Dionysius, (260--271); St. Eutychianus, martyr, (275--283); and St. Caius, (284--296). Of these, the gravestones of Anteros, Fabian, Lucius, and Eutychianus, have been discovered, with inscriptions in Greek, which is acknowledged to have been the earliest language of the Church,--in which St. Paul and St. James wrote, and in which the proceedings of the first twelve Councils were carried on.[205]

Though no inscriptions have been found relating to the other popes mentioned, they are known to have been buried here from the earliest authorities.

Over the site of the altar is one of the beautifully-cut inscriptions of Pope St. Damasus (366--384), "whose labour of love it was to rediscover the tombs which had been blocked up for concealment under Diocletian, to remove the earth, widen the passages, adorn the sepulchral chambers with marble, and support the friable tufa walls with arches of brick and stone."[206]

"Hic congesta jacet quaeris si turba Piorum Corpora Sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra, Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia Cli: Hic comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropaea; Hic numerus procerum servat qui altaria Christi; Hic positus longa vixit qui in pace Sacerdos; Hic Confessores sancti quos Graecia misit; Hic juvenes, puerique, senes, castique nepotes, Quis mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.

Hic fateor Damasus volui mea condere membra, Sed cineres timui sanctos vexare Piorum.

"Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a number of the holy, These honoured sepulchres inclose the bodies of the saints, Their lofty souls the palace of heaven has received.

Here lie the companions of Xystus, who bear away the trophies from the enemy; Here a tribe of the elders which guards the altars of Christ; Here is buried the priest who lived long in peace;[207]

Here the holy confessors who came from Greece;[208]

Here lie youths and boys, old men and their chaste descendants, Who kept their virginity undefiled.

Here I Damasus wished to have laid my limbs, But feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints."[209]

From this chapel we enter the _Cubiculum of Sta. Cecilia_, where the body of the saint was buried by her friend Urban after her martyrdom in her own house in the Trastevere (see Chap. XVII.) A.D. 224, and where it was discovered in 820 by Pope Paschal I. (to whom its resting-place had been revealed in a dream), "fresh and perfect as when it was first laid in the tomb, and clad in rich garments mixed with gold, with linen cloths stained with blood rolled up at her feet, lying in a cypress coffin."[210]

Close to the entrance of the cubiculum, upon the wall, is a painting of Cecilia, "a woman richly attired, and adorned with bracelets and necklaces." Near it is a niche for the lamp which burnt before the shrine, at the back of which is a large head of Our Saviour, "of the Byzantine type, and with rays of glory behind it in the form of a Greek cross. Side by side with this, but on the flat surface of the wall, is a figure of St. Urban (the friend of Cecilia, who laid her body here) in full pontifical robes, with his name inscribed." Higher on the wall are figures of three saints, "executed apparently in the fourth, or perhaps even the fifth century"--Polycamus, an unknown martyr, with a palm branch; Sebastianus; and Curinus, a bishop (Quirinus bishop of Siscia--buried at St. Sebastian). In the pavement is a gravestone of Septimus Pretextatus Caecilianus, "a servant of God, who lived worthy for three-and-thirty years;"--considered important as suggesting a connection between the family of Cecilia and that of St. Praetextatus, in whose catacomb on the other side of the Appian Way her husband and brother-in-law were buried, and where her friend St. Urban was concealed.

These two chapels are the only ones which it is necessary to dwell upon here in detail. The rest of the catacomb is shown in varying order, and explained in different ways. Three points are of historic interest. 1.

The roof-shaped tomb of Pope St. Melchiades, who lived long in peace and died A.D. 313. 2. The Cubiculum of Pope St. Eusebius, in the middle of which is placed an inscription, pagan on one side, on the other a restoration of the fifth century of one of the beautiful inscriptions of Pope Damasus, which is thus translated:--

"Heraclius forbade the lapsed to grieve for their sins. Eusebius taught those unhappy ones to weep for their crimes. The people were rent into parties, and with increasing fury began sedition, slaughter, fighting, discord, and strife. Straightway both (the pope and the heretic) were banished by the cruelty of the tyrant, although the pope was preserving the bonds of peace inviolate. He bore his exile with joy, looking to the Lord as his judge, and on the shore of Sicily gave up the world and his life."

At the top and bottom of the tablet is the following title:--

"Damasus Episcopus fecit Eusebio episcopo et martyri,"

and on either side a single file of letters which hands down to us the name of the sculptor who executed the Damasine inscriptions.

"Furius Dionysius Filocalus scripsit Damasis pappae cultor atque amatot."

3. Near the exit, properly in the catacomb of Sta. Lucina, connected with that of Calixtus by a labyrinth of galleries, is the tomb of Pope St. Cornelius (251, 252) the only Roman bishop down to the time of St.

Sylvester (314) who bore the name of any noble Roman family, and whose epitaph, (perhaps in consequence) is in Latin, while those of the other popes are in Greek. The tomb has no chapel of its own, but is a mere grave in a gallery, with a rectangular instead of a circular space above, as in the cubicula. Near the tomb are fragments of one of the commemorative inscriptions of St. Damasus, which has been ingeniously restored by De Rossi thus:--

"Aspice, descensu extructo tenebrisque fugatis Corneli monumenta vides tumulumque sacratum Hoc opus aegroti Damasi praestantia fecit, Esset ut accessus melior, populisque paratum Auxilium sancti, et valeas si fundere puro Corde preces, Damasus melior consurgere posset, Quem non lucis amor, tenuit mage cura laboris."

"Behold! a way down has been constructed, and the darkness dispelled; you see the monuments of Cornelius, and his sacred tomb.

This work the zeal of Damasus has accomplished, sick as he is, in order that the approach might be better, and the aid of the saint might be made convenient for the people; and that, if you will pour forth your prayers from a pure heart, Damasus may rise up better in health, though it has not been love of life, but care for work, that has kept him (here below)."[211]

St. Cornelius was banished under Gallus to Centumcellae--now Civita Vecchia, and was brought back thence to Rome for martyrdom Sept. 14, A.D. 252. On the same day of the month, in 258, died his friend and correspondent St. Cyprian, archbishop of Carthage,[212] who is consequently commemorated by the Church on the same day with St.

Cornelius. Therefore also, on the right of the grave, are two figures of bishops with inscriptions declaring them to be St. Cornelius and St.

Cyprian. Each holds the book of the Gospels in his hands and is clothed in pontifical robes, "including the pallium, which had not yet been confined as a mark of distinction to metropolitans."[213] Beneath the picture stands a pillar which held one of the vases of oil which were always kept burning before the shrines of the martyr. Beyond the tomb, at the end of the gallery, is another painting of two bishops, St.

Sistus II., martyred in the catacomb of Pretextatus, and St. Optatus who was buried near him.

In going round this catacomb, and in most of the others, the visitor will be shown a number of rude paintings, which will be explained to him in various ways, according to the tendencies of his guide. The paintings may be considered to consist of three classes, symbolical; allegorical and biblical; and liturgical. There is little variety of subject,--the same are introduced over and over again.

The symbols most frequently introduced on and over the graves are:--

_The Anchor_, expressive of hope. Heb. vi. 19.

_The Dove_, symbolical of the Christian soul released from its earthly tabernacle. Ps. lv. 6.

_The Sheep_, symbolical of the soul still wandering amid the pastures and deserts of earthly life. Ps. cxix. 176. Isaiah liii.

6. John x. 14; xxi. 15, 16, 17.

_The Phnix_, "the palm bird," emblematical of eternity and the resurrection.

_The Fish_--typical of Our Saviour--from the word ?????, formed by the initial letters of the titles of Our Lord--??s??? ???st??

?e?? ???? S?t??--"Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour."

_The Ship_--representing the Church militant, sometimes seen carried on the back of the fish.

_Bread_, represented with fish, sometimes carried in a basket on its back, sometimes with it on a table--in allusion to the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

_A Female Figure Praying_, an "Orante"--in allusion to the Church.

_A Vine_--also in allusion to the Church. Ps. lxxx. 8. Isaiah v. 1.

_An Olive branch_, as a sign of peace.

_A Palm branch_, as a sign of victory and martyrdom. Rev. vii. 9.

_Allegorical and Biblical Representations._

Of these _The Good Shepherd_ requires an especial notice from the importance which is given to it and its frequent introduction in catacomb art, both in sculpture and painting.

"By far the most interesting of the early Christian paintings is that of Our Saviour as the Good Shepherd, which is almost invariably painted on the central space of the dome or cupola, subjects of minor interest being disposed around it in compartments, precisely in the style, as regards both the arrangement and execution, of the heathen catacombs.

"He is represented as a youth in a shepherd's frock and sandals, carrying the 'lost sheep' on his shoulders, or leaning on his staff (the symbol, according to St. Augustine, of the Christian hierarchy), while the sheep feed around, or look up at him.

Sometimes he is represented seated in the midst of the flock, playing on a shepherd's pipe,--in a few instances, in the oldest catacombs, he is introduced in the character of Orpheus, surrounded by wild beasts enrapt by the melody of his lyre,--Orpheus being then supposed to have been a prophet or precursor of the Messiah.

The background usually exhibits a landscape or meadow, sometimes planted with olive-trees, doves resting on their branches, symbolical of the peace of the faithful; in others, as in a fresco preserved in the Museum Christianum, the palm of victory is introduced, --but such combinations are endless. In one or two instances the surrounding compartments are filled with personifications of the Seasons, apt emblems of human life, whether natural or spiritual.

"The subject of the Good Shepherd, I am sorry to add, is not of Roman but Greek origin, and was adapted from a statue of Mercury carrying a goat, at Tanagra, mentioned by Pausanias. The Christian composition approximates to its original more nearly in the few instances where Our Saviour is represented carrying a goat, emblematical of the scapegoat of the wilderness. Singularly enough, though of Greek parentage, and recommended to the Byzantines by Constantine, who erected a statue of the Good Shepherd in the forum of Constantinople, the subject did not become popular among them; they seem, at least, to have tacitly abandoned it to Rome."--_Lord Lindsay's Christian Art._

"The Good Shepherd seems to have been quite the favourite subject.

We cannot go through any part of the Catacombs, or turn over any collection of ancient Christian monuments, without coming across it again and again. We know from Tertullian that it was often designed upon chalices. We find it ourselves painted in fresco upon the roofs and walls of the sepulchral chambers; rudely scratched upon gravestones, or more carefully sculptured on sarcophagi; traced in gold upon glass, moulded on lamps, engraved on rings; and, in a word, represented on every species of Christian monument that has come down to us. Of course, amid such a multitude of examples, there is considerable variety of treatment. We cannot, however, appreciate the suggestion of Kugler, that this frequent repetition of the subject is probably to be attributed to the capabilities which it possessed in an artistic point of view. Rather, it was selected because it expressed the whole sum and substance of the Christian dispensation. In the language even of the Old Testament, the action of Divine Providence upon the world is frequently expressed by images and allegories borrowed from pastoral life; God is the Shepherd, and men are His sheep. But in a still more special way our Divine Redeemer offers Himself to our regards as the Good Shepherd. He came down from His eternal throne into this wilderness of the world to seek the lost sheep of the whole human race, and having brought them together into one fold on earth, thence to transport them into the ever-verdant pastures of Paradise."--_Roma Sotterranea._

Other biblical subjects are:--from the _Old Testament_ (those of Noah, Moses, Daniel, and Jonah being the only ones at all common)--

1. The Fall. Adam and Eve on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, round which the serpent is coiled. Sometimes, instead of this, "Our Saviour (as the representative of the Deity) stands between them, condemning them, and offering a lamb to Eve and a sheaf of corn to Adam, to signify the doom of themselves and their posterity to delve and to spin through all future ages."