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THE WESTMINSTER LIBRARY
A SERIES OF MANUALS FOR CATHOLIC
PRIESTS AND STUDENTS
EDITED BY
The Right Rev. Mgr. BERNARD WARD
PRESIDENT OF ST. EDMUND'S COLLEGK
AND
The Rev. HERBERT THURSTON, S.J.
From a Sarcophagus, perhaps representing the Statue of
OUR Lord at Baneas
From Marucchis "I Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Laieranense'*
(Milan : Ulrica Hoepli)
THE EARLY CHURCH
IN THE
LIGHT OF THE MONUMENTS
A STUDY IN CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGY
BY
ARTHUR STAPYLTON BARNES, M.A.
UKIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
CHAMBERLAIN OF HONOUR TO H.H. PIUS X.
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OP THE SOCIET^ ARCHBOLOGIQUE DE FRANCE
AND OF THE ARCADIA OF ROME
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA
1913
EDITORS' PREFACE.
This series of Handbooks is designed to meet
a need, which, the Editors believe, has been
widely felt, and which results in great measure
from the predominant importance attached to
Dogmatic and Moral Theology in the studies
preliminary to the Priesthood. That the first
place must of necessity be given to these
subjects will not be disputed. But there re-
mains a large outlying field of professional
knowledge which is always in danger of being
crowded out in the years before ordination, and
the practical utility of which may not be fully
realised until some experience of the ministry
has been gained. It will be the aim of the
present series to offer the sort of help which is
dictated by such experience, and its develop-
ments will be largely guided by the suggestions,
past and future, of the Clergy themselves. To
provide Textbooks for Dogmatic Treatises is
not contemplated — ^at any rate not at the outset.
On the other hand, the pastoral work of the
missionary priest will be kept constantly in
view, and the series will also deal with those
historical and liturgical aspects of Catholic
vi EDITORS' PREFACE
belief and practice which are every day being
brought more into prominence.
That the needs of English-speaking countries
are, in these respects, exceptional, must be
manifest to all. In point of treatment it seems
desirable that the volumes should be popular
rather than scholastic, but the Editors hope
that by the selection of writers, fully competent
in their special subjects, the information given
may always be accurate and abreast of modern
research.
The kind approval of this scheme by His
Grace the Archbishop of Westminster, in whose
Diocese these manuals are edited, has suggested
that the series should be introduced to the
public under the general title of The West-
minster Library. It is hoped, however, that
contributors may also be found among the
distinguished Clergy of Ireland and America,
and that the Westminster Library will be repre-
sentative of Catholic scholarship in all English-
speaking countries.
CONTENTS.
Introductory
PAGK
xiii
PART I.
THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST THREE
CENTURIES.
CHAP.
I. The Apostles at Rome ....
II. The Earliest Converts to Christianity
III. The Blood of the Martyrs .
IV. The Collegia and the Catacombs
V. The Christianising of Rome
I
19
34
53
67
PART II.
THE WITNESS OF THE MONUMENTS TO CHRISTIAN
DOGMA.
I. The Symbolism of the Early Church ... 81
II. The Witness of the Monuments to the Primacy
of the Holy See 92
III. The Witness of the Monuments with regard to
Holy Baptism iii
IV. The Witness of the Monuments to the Doctrine
OF the Holy Eucharist 126
viii CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
V. The Witness of the Monuments as to other Rites
AND Ceremonies of the Church .... 138
VI. The Witness of the Monuments to the Communion
OF Saints 149
VII. Portraits and Representations 165
PART III.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHURCH BUILDINGS.
I. Christian Edifices before Constantine . . . 181
IL Thb Basilicas and the Development of Church
Architecture 203
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
From a Sarcophagus, perhaps representing the Statue
or our Lord at Baneas. {From Marucchi's "/ Monti-
menti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense ". Milan :
Ulrica Hoepli) Frontispiece
Labarum of Constantine. {From Bayliss' "Rex Regum,''
S.P.C.K.)
Coin of Brutus. {From Bayliss' "Rex Regum" S.P.C.K.)
Inscription at Aquileia, showing the Baptism of a
Young Girl. {From MarzicchVs " Elements cTArchiolo-
gie " : Desclee, De Bronwer et Cie) . . . Facing^
Chair of St. Peter ii
St. Peter as the Good Shepherd. From examples in the
Lateran Museum. {From Marucchi's "/ Monumenti del
Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense". Milan : Ulrico Hoepli)
Facing i8
Graffito of the Crucifixion. {From Marucchi's " Elements
d'Archeologie" : Desclee, De Bronwer et Cie) ... 22
Noe in the Ark and the Three Children in the Furnace.
From a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum. {From
Marucchi's " / Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateran-
ense ". Milan : Ulrico Hoepli) .... Fcuing 30
Virgin and Child. From the Catacomb of St. Priscilla.
{From Marucchi's " Elements d'Archeologie " ; Desclee, De
Brouwer et Cie) V 52
Epitaph of St. Fabian. From Marucchi's " Christian Epi
graphy " : Cambridge University Press . . Facing^
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Arch of Constantine at Rome. From a Photo by Anderson
Facing 68
Restoration of the Old Basilica of St. Peter's at Rome.
From the drawing by the late H. W. Brewer . Facing 72
Jonas and the Whale. From a sarcophagus in the Lateran
Museum. {From MarucchVs " / Monumenti del Museo
Cristiano Pio-Lateranense". Milan: Ulrica Hoepli)
Facing 83
Portion of the Stela of Abercius. (From Cabrol's " Dic-
HoHHoire d^Archeologie Chretienne". Paris: Letouzey et
Ane) Facing 96
Christ gives the Law to St. Peter. From a sarcophagus
in the Lateran Museum. {From MarucchVs " / Monumenti
del Museo Cristiano Pio-Laterancnse ". Milan : Ulrico
Hoepli) Facing 102
St. Peter as Moses and Arrest of St. Peter. From a
sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum. {From MarucchVs " /
Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense ". Milan :
Ulrico Hoepli) Facing 103
Vase Found at Podgoritza. {From MarucchVs •' Elements
d'Archeologie" : Desclee, De Brouwer et Cie) . . . 104
Tombstone (Fourth Century) of St. Paul the Apostle
Facing 108
Baptism of Christ, from the Crypt of Lucina. {From Rogers'
" Baptism and Christian Archaology " ; Oxford University
Press)
114
Baptism, in the Gallerj' of the Sacraments, in the Catacomb of
St. Callixtus. {From Rogers' " Baptism and Christian
Archaology ": Oxford University Press) .
Baptism, in the Gallery of the Sacraments, in the Catacomb of
St. Callixtus 115
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Moses Striking the Rock. From a sarcophagus in the
Lateran Museum. {From ManicchVs " / Monumenti del
Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateratiense ". Milati : Ulrica Hoepli)
Facing 121
Portion of the Inscription of Pectorius at Autun. (From
CabroVs " Dictionnaire d' Archeologie Chretienne ". Paris :
Letouzey et Am) Facing 133
Baptism of Christ and Eucharistic Feast. Prom a
sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum. {From Marucchi's '* /
Monumenti del Museo Cristiajw Pio-Lateranense ". Milan :
Ulrica Hoepli) Facing 148
Epitaph of a Boy. {From Marucchi's " / Monumenti del Museo
Cristiano Pio-Lateranense." Milan ; Ulrica Hoepli) . , 151
Epitaph of a Virgin named Belucia. {From Marucchi's
" / Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense ".
Milan : Ulrica Hoepli) 153
Graffiti in the Papal Crypt at St. Callixtus. {From
MarucchVs "Elements d'Archealagie"; Desclee, De Brouwer
et Cie)
Christ and St. Peter. From a sarcopliagus in the Lateran
Museum. {From Marucchi's "/ Monumenti del Museo
Cristiano Pio-Lateranense". Milan: Ulrica Hoepli)
Earliest Representation of the Trinity. Froin a sar-
cophagus in the Lateran Museum. {From Marucchi's " I
Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense".
Milan : Ulrica Hoepli) Facing,
Face of Christ. From a jiegative photograph of the Holy
Shroud. {From Vignon's " Le Linceul du Christ ". Masson
et Cie) Facing 172
The Christ of the Catacombs. From a fresco in the-
Catacomb of St. Callixtus
Virgin and Child. In the Ostrian Cemetery at Rome, r '74
{From Marucchi's "Elements d'Archealagie" : Desclee, De
Brouwer et Cie) , . ... Facing
160
166
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
St. Peter and St. Paul. From a medallion of the Seconds
Century in the Vatican I
Daniel in the Lions' Den. From a sarcophagus in they j-g
Lateran Museum. (From Marucchi's "/ Monumenti del
Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense ". Milan : Ulrica
HoepU) Facing
Roman Houses as Shown on the Capitoline Plan. (From
Sir W. Smith's "Greek and Roman Antiquities'': John
Murray) 183
Typical Plan of a Roman House ^84
Typical Plan of an Ancient English Church . . . 185
Typical Forms of Roman Scholae 188
Cella of St. Sixtus 189
Cblla of St. Soteris 190
Chapel at the Ostrian Cemetery 192
Plan of the Basilica Julia, on the Palatine at Rome . . 194
Plan of St. Paul's, illustrating the relation of the earlier and
later churches 207
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury. Conjectural plan
by Mr. G. G. Scott. This shows the church as it was before
the fire of a.d. 1067 211
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
ON THE STUDY OF ARCHEOLOGY.
Archeology has for its domain the study of ancient
monuments in the light of history and with the object
of assisting historical knowledge. There cannot be,
therefore, any real and essential distinction between
the two sciences. It makes no difference whether our
knowledge of the past is drawn from parchments or
papyri covered with characters written by the hand of
some ancient scribe, or from stones or medals engraved
with monumental inscriptions and bearing pictorial
representations of historical events. Both alike, the
written manuscript and the pictured stone, are sources
of history, while the stone has the added advantage
that it is not liable to alteration or even falsification
at the hands of an ignorant or a fraudulent copyist.
The function of the archaeologist is, then, to prepare
the material for the historian. He has a vast field be-
fore him, to a great extent even now left unexplored,
which it is his duty to investigate and to survey.
There are thousands upon thousands of objects ready
for him, the rich heritage which the past has handed
down, and it is his duty to sort these out into their
due divisions, to compare one with another, and so to
make them tell their stories, and add each its little
piece to the great work of the reconstruction of the past.
For the historian cannot do without this assistance if
he is to give a true picture of the period with which
he is dealing. Manuscripts and written material are
xiv INTRO D UCTOR V CHAPTER
often quite inadequate to establish facts which are yet
of the first importance for any real understanding of
the politics and thought of the past.
Let us take a concrete instance. History, to use the
word in the sense of written records, is able to give us
only the most inadequate information on the subject
of the political economies of the Roman Empire. It
is from the study of numismatics that we are made
aware of the perilous state to which the finances of the
Empire were reduced through almost the whole of the
third century, when a debased coinage of scarcely any
intrinsic value, put forth in immense quantities, took
the place for commercial purposes of the sound money
of silver and gold which had hitherto been in use.
The position, in fact, was identical with that which
we have seen in more modern times, when some state
whose financial position has been insecure has tried to
bolster up its falling credit by the forced issue of a paper
currency which is not convertible to real value. The
usual inevitable consequences immediately followed.
We can at once explain the enormous taxation and
the constant vexatious acts of legislation which were
the means of involving the municipal governments in
hopeless debt, and in the end were no small factor in
bringing about the dissolution of the imperial power.
The barbarians indeed gave the final blow which
brought down the tottering Empire to its knees, but
the Empire would never have been in danger from the
attacks of such a foe, were it not that it was already
weakened by the loss of power which followed as a
disastrous but inevitable consequence from a policy
financially and commercially rotten.^
Other similar instances in which history, unassisted
by archaeology, would be unable to give a true picture
of past events, will readily occur to the mind of every
* I owe this illustration, as well as others in this chapter, to the
late Commendatore Stevenson.
Coin of Brutus
Coin of Brutus
(reverse)
LaBARUM Ol- CO.NSTAMINE
sjpaps^
i'X{
^^^^:
3*-^-iitSp-^
Inscription ai Aquileia, showing the Baptism of a Young Girl
From Marucchi's "Elements (V Archdoloqie" (DescUe, De Brouwer et Cie)
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xv
student. The impression formed by the study of the
records of history on the subject of the assassination
of Caesar may well be that Brutus was indeed, as
partisans of the French Revolution loved to represent
him, a true patriot, who sacrificed his friend to the
dictates of his conscience, and would allow no human
affection to stand in the way of what he saw to be his
duty. But when one has once seen the famous medal
of the Ides of March, a medal which bears the Q^^y
of Brutus himself stamped on its surface, one cannot
help realising that it was personal spite and envy
against Caesar himself, and not against the monarchical
principle, which was the motive which led to the
assassination. For in the Roman State to place one's
likeness on the public money was precisely to claim, in
the most formal manner possible, sovereign power and
dominion over all. That was the very point, it will
be remembered, of our Saviour's argument, when He
bade them bring Him the coin in which the tribute
had to be paid, and argued from the head of Tiberius
stamped upon it, that it was the duty of a subject to
pay to his sovereign the tribute that was levied upon
him. The use of money bearing Caesar's &^^ implied
the acceptance of Caesar's authority. No other Roman
at the time of Caesar's assassination, but only the great
Julius himself, had ever in his own lifetime seen his
own head stamped upon a coin. How then, if Brutus
had his own d^<gy stamped upon the coinage, could he
possibly have been a genuine opponent of the principle
of kingship and of the concentration of all authority
in the hands of a single individual ? One feels, as one
looks at this most important piece of evidence, that
there is something at least to be said for the vehemence
of Dante, who, far from extolling Brutus as a lofty pat-
riot, puts him along with Judas Iscariot in the lowest
depths of hell, as one who betrayed his sovereign and
did his best, for selfish motives, to ruin and destroy
xvi INTROD UCTOR Y CHAPTER
the country to which he owed allegiance and faithful
service.
That Brutus was himself responsible for the issue
of the coin, and that it was not merely the rash act of
some unwise admirer, is shown by the words of Dion
Cassius. " On the coins which he caused to be struck
he exhibited a likeness of himself, and a cap and two
daggers ; intimating by this design and by the legend
that, conjointly with Cassius, he had restored his
country to liberty."^ The inscription EID. MAR. de-
clares the fatal day, the Ides of March, on which the
bloody deed was done.
These illustrations are taken from secular history,
but it would be easy to give others in closer connection
with the domain of Christian Archaeology. Where
could we find, for instance, so convincing a testimony
to the Catholic faith and practice of the Christians of
Phrygia in the second century as is afforded by the
discovery of the Stele of Abercius, to which frequent
appeal is made in succeeding chapters. Or, again,
how much valuable light is thrown upon the position
at Rome and in the Empire after the changes wrought
by the Edict of Milan, and upon the character and
beliefs of Constantine himself, by a careful study of
the coinage issued both at Rome and Constantinople
during the twenty-five years of that Emperor's reign.
" He was at best only half Pagan, half Christian, who
could seek to combine the worship of Christ with the
worship of Apollo, having the name of one with the
figure of the other impressed upon his coins, and
ordaining the observance of Sunday under the name
oi Dies Soils in his celebrated decree of March, 321." ^
It is easy to exaggerate the force of such evidence, but
the least that it can be said to demonstrate is that the
Emperor was keenly alive to the value of compromise,
J Dion Cassius, xlvii. 25. ' Encycl. Brit. art. Constantine.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xvii
and, while by no means indifferent to the vital truths
of Christianity, eager to go as far as possible in the
direction of propitiating the adherents of the older
religion.
These are instances of the help given to the his-
torian by the study of isolated objects of antiquity,
like monuments or coins. But it is often the case
that conclusions of the greatest importance can be
drawn from whole series of facts considered in their
mutual bearing on one another. It is often asserted,
for instance, that the Christian community of Rome
in the age of persecution was neither large nor wealthy.
The reader will have grounds laid before him in a
later chapter from which he will be able to judge for
himself how entirely opposite to the real fact such as-
sertions actually are. But, without going any farther
for proof, we can settle the question for ourselves by
a mere inspection of a map of the country immedi-
ately round the city of Rome. Note the tracks of the
ancient roads which ran in every direction frorn the
gates of the city into the surrounding country. Land
on the sides of those roads must inevitably, from the
advantage of its accessibility, have commanded the
highest prices in ancient times. Of all these roads the
Via Appia, leading out to the Alban Hills, was by
common consent the mistress and the Queen. Land
immediately abutting on that great thoroughfare must
have been the most costly of all in the neighbourhood
of Rome. Yet we find that the cemeteries of the
Church, and especially that great burial ground which
was the official property of the Church as such, the
Cemetery of St. Callixtus, were constructed under the
very best of the land which occupied this specially
favoured position. Since these Catacombs are wholly
excavated under the surface of land which was private
property, so much so that to this day we can trace
out the boundaries of the various properties by simply
xviii INTRO D UCTOR V CHAPTER
noting where the galleries come to an end, it follows
necessarily that vast quantities of this most valuable
land was in the hands of Christian owners. No
poverty-stricken body of uneducated slaves, such as
some are fond of imagining the early Roman Christ-
ians to have been, could possibly have owned land in
such a district, or, owning it, would have dedicated it
to a use which, by taking away the possibility of
selling it, inevitably destroyed its value in the open
market. The hills on the right and the left of this
great thoroughfare, right up to the second milestone,
with the exception only of a few limited strips, are all
honeycombed beneath with galleries and given over
to the final disposition of the bodies of the faithful.
When we reflect on the enormous value of landed
property in a district so much sought after, does it
not open out before us a new and unexpected vision
of the power and the riches of the Christian commun-
ity even before the persecutions came to an end ?
If we turn to the Via Salaria, another road of al-
most equal importance, the case is even more striking.
A fairly large district along the Via Appia lies low and
is unsuitable for the purposes of burial in Catacombs.
But the Via Salaria runs almost wholly on high
ground, and here the whole soil is undermined by
Christian galleries. The Christians, then, even before
Constantine, were in possession of the best lands near
Rome, on the borders of the main roads which gave
access to the city. Wherever we turn we find the
same story. The whole city seems to have been sur-
rounded with similar hypogea, the last resting-places
of primitive Christians. So vast a property in land
in the most favoured spots in close proximity to the
city, can scarcely have any other meaning than that
all Rome was surrounded by Christian estates, covered,
no doubt, with splendid villas and beautiful gardens,
the property of the noble classes of Roman citizens.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xix
We begin to understand that had not Christianity
been a religion which preached humility and incul-
cated submission to existing powers, Christians might
have possessed themselves of supreme authority in the
city a long while before the Edict of Milan. The
peace of Constantine was not so much an unexpected
boon, as a necessity forced on by the political needs
of the moment. No other choice was possible at the '
beginning of the fourth century except that between
civil war if Christianity was to be destroyed, and
the attainment of peace by permitting to Christians a
legal and unmolested existence. Even if Constantine
had not been drawn to the latter alternative by his
sincere admiration for Christians and his belief in the
religion they professed, he would have been driven
sooner or later to grant the boon because of the num-
bers and importance to which the Christians had
attained in the very capital of the Empire, and of the
world. And all this we should know for certain,
even if every historical document of the period had
perished, from the mere study of the extent and posi-
tion of the Catacombs which encircle Rome.
The field of research which is open to a student of
Archaeology, since it includes the whole study of the
remains of past ages, is so vast that he will be well
advised, if he desires to attain to any kind of emin-
ence, to limit himself strictly to a single branch. Even
Christian Archaeology, strictly so-called, is too ex-
tended a study to allow of any detailed knowledge of
all its many sub-divisions by any one who is unable
to give up his whole life to this single object. Even
here some definite limits must be placed by most
students to the extent of their interests and their
aims. It is better, for instance, to be a real authority
on numismatics or on palaeography than to try to
cover a much wider field with less accuracy and real
knowledge. Such studies as those of Mgr. Wilpert
3CX
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
on the pictures of the Catacombs, or of M. Muntz on
the Mosaics of Rome, far exceed in value the labours
of hundreds of less specialised workers. At the same
time it is not possible to do good work in any one
department without at least a general knowledge of
the whole field.
A student who is beginning a new subject like that
of Archaeology will do well in the first place to read a
generalised sketch which covers a wide area, and con-
sists of conclusions rather than of facts. At this early
stage of his knowledge, he will be apt to be confused
by too large a number of facts and details, and to fail
in consequence to obtain any clear ideas of what the
facts point to. He will find himself, in effect, in the
position of the countryman of the story, who com-
plained when they brought him up to visit the capital
that he was wholly unable to see the town because it
was always hidden by the houses. His knowledge
will very likely be accurate and extensive enough, but
he will be unable to make proper use of it because his
view will be circumscribed and limited by his want of
any clear conception of the greater whole which lies
beneath and beyond the immediate series of facts of
which he has obtained cognisance.
Such a general sketch it has been the object of this
book to supply. It is intended to arouse interest and
to lead on to further and deeper study, the materials for
which will be found indicated in the Bibliographical
notes at the end of the volume.
The author's thanks are especially due to his friend,
Prof. Marucchi, for his kind interest, and for permission
to reproduce many illustrations from his monumental
work on the Lateran Museum. He would also thank
others who have given similar permissions which are
acknowledged on the various plates.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
The Apostles at Rome.
In the sixteenth century and for some time afterwards
it came to be the fashion among Protestant contro-
versialists, while they were ready enough to acknow-
ledge the truth of the story which told how St. Paul
had preached and died in Rome, to deny that the
same was also true of St. Peter. Such a position
was rendered possible by the paucity of the literary
evidence available. In the New Testament itself it
is admitted that no clear and undoubted proof of the
fact is to be found, and to those whose watchword
of religion was " the Bible and the Bible only," this
seemed, no doubt, a strong and almost irrefragable
argument. But, at any rate in dealing with historical
facts, there can be no possible reason for confining
ourselves to the evidence contained in Holy Scripture ;
and once we look outside its covers, we find that evi-
dence exists in plenty. No other place than Rome ever
claimed to be the scene of St. Peter's last labours and
of his martyrdom, and when we realize how absolutely
unanimous all antiquity is upon this point, the wonder
comes to be that any scholars should have been found
*' so hardily sceptical," as Bishop Ellicott of Gloucester
phrased it, as to deny a fact based upon evidence " as
I
2 THE EARL Y CHURCH
strong, early, and wide as that on which we believe
that Hannibal invaded Italy ".
But another and quite independent line of evidence
is open to us, which has hitherto, in England at least,
been very generally neglected. It is that which is
drawn from the study of archaeology, and is admir-
ably summed up by Prof Lanciani in his excellent
book on "Pagan and Christian Rome ". " I write," he
says, "about the monuments of Rome from a strictly
archaeological point of view, avoiding questions which
pertain, or are supposed to pertain, to religious con-
troversy. For the archaeologist the presence and
execution of SS. Peter and Paul in Rome are facts
established beyond the shadow of a doubt by purely
monumental evidence. . . . There is no event of the
imperial age, and of imperial Rome, which is attested
by so many noble structures, all of which point to the
same conclusion — the presence and execution of the
Apostles within the capital of the empire. When
Constantine raised the monumental basilicas over their
tombs on the Via Cornelia and the Via Ostiensis ;
when Eudoxia built the church ad Vincula ; when
Damasus put a memorial tablet in the Platonia ad
Catacumbas ; when the houses of Pudens and Aquila
were turned into Christian oratories ; when the name
of Nymphae Sancti Petri was given to the springs of
the Catacombs of the Via Nomentana ; when Christians
and pagans alike named their children Peter and Paul ;
when the twenty-ninth day of June was accepted as
the anniversary of St. Peter's execution ; when sculp-
tors, painters, medallists, goldsmiths, workers in glass
and enamel, and engravers of precious stones, all
began to reproduce in Rome the likenesses of the
Apostles at the beginning of the second century and
continued to do so until the fall of the empire ; must
we consider them all as labouring under a delusion or
THE PLACES OF MARTYRDOM 3
as conspiring in the commission of a gigantic fraud ?
Why were such proceedings accepted without protest
from whatever city, from whatever community, if there
were any other which claimed to own the genuine
tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul ? " ^
The Places of Martyrdom.
This monumental evidence, the special domain of
Christian archaeology, thus briefly and vividly sketched
out by Prof Lanciani, it is the object of the present
chapter to draw out in rather greater detail. We
begin with the spots in Rome connected by tradition
with the two Apostles.
Not all the churches in Rome which assert such
claims are altogether worthy of acceptance. Especially
must we mention in this category the well-known
church upon the Janiculum, which claims to be the
scene of St. Peter's passion. Its history goes back only
to the fourteenth century, and was the outcome of faulty
antiquarianism and of wrong deductions from the records
of the past. The real place of the martyrdom was,
there can be no doubt, the spina of the Circus of Nero,
close to the obelisk in the centre, and, therefore, just
outside the eastern transept of the present basilica.
The ancient authorities are in complete agreement.
The " Liber Pontificalis " ^ tells us that the grave was
near to the place of martyrdom ; the " Martyrium B.
Petri Ap." ^ tells us that it was close to the obelisk ;
and, lastly, the " Acta Petri " * adds the detail that it
was on the spina oi the Circus intra duas metas. Now
the ancient place of the obelisk, before it was moved
to the centre of the piazza by Sixtus V, may be dis-
^ Lanciani, " Pagan and Christian Rome," p. 125.
' " Lib. Pont.," i. p. 64, cd. Duchesne.
* " Acta Petri," ed. Lipsius, p. 13. *Ibid. p. 216.
4 THE EARL V CHURCH
covered by a flat stone with an inscription let into the
pavement, close by the door of the present sacristy,
and this enables us to locate the exact spot of the
martyrdom with considerable accuracy.
St. Paul, who as a Roman citizen was beheaded, was
taken to the third milestone on a small road branching
from the Via Ostiensis. The place is now known as
the Three Fountains, but was then called the Aquae
Salviae. No other place has ever claimed the honour
of being the scene of his martyrdom, and there is no
reason whatever for doubting the truth of the tradition.^
The Tombs on the Vatican and the Via Ostiensis.
No other monuments of apostolic Rome can make
so absolute a claim to authenticity as the two tombs
which are now covered respectively by the great ba-
silicas of St. Peter and St. Paul. Already at the
beginning of the second century we have notice of
their existence in the words of the priest Caius, " I can
show you," he says, " the monuments (tropaea) of the
Apostles, for you will find them on the Vatican and
on the Ostian Way" ; ^ and Eusebius himself, who has
preserved this testimony, bears witness that in his time
the monuments were still extant.
Each of these two primitive apostolic sepulchres was
necessarily situated outside the city limits, for burial
within those limits was not allowed, and they are each
of them placed as near as might be to the spot of the
actual martyrdom. As regards the tomb of St. Peter
there can be no doubt that the place was used for
burials in the age of Nero, for many tombs of that
period were discovered in the course of the excava-
tions made when the basilica was rebuilt. A small
1 See " Bull, d' arch, crist," 1869, p. 83.
a Eus., " H.E.," ii. p. 25,
TOMBS ON THE VATICAN AND VIA OSTIENSIS 5
portion of ground in this area was already in Christian
hands, even before St. Peter's death, and it was here
that the remains of the martyrs in the great persecution
of A.D. 64 had been deposited. More than 1600 years
afterwards, when the excavations were being made for
the great balaacchino over the tomb, these remains
were discovered close to the tomb of the i\postle him-
self. He was laid, therefore, as that discovery clearly
proved, in ground that was already Christian, and
already rendered holy in Christian eyes by being the
resting-place of so many who had given their lives for
the faith.^
The body of St, Paul is said in like manner to have
been buried by a matron called Lucina in her own
ground on the Ostian Way, a little beyond the first
milestone.
In neither case were the Apostles laid in one of those
subterranean cemeteries which we know by the name
of the Catacombs. The time for these had not yet
come. Each of these two apostolic tombs was on the
surface of the ground, in vaults dug down near the
road, and approached by a staircase on that side.
Similar graves of the same period may still be seen
on the Via Appia and Via Latina.
In the case of St. Peter's tomb, but not in that of
St. Paul, an addition was made later on to this primi-
tive vault. An upper chamber was added before the
end of the first century by Pope St. Anacletus.^ The
building, although to some extent it still exists, is
hidden from our eyes by the decorations of the High
Altar at St. Peter's. For a > moment, however, it was
uncovered, during the excavations of 1626, and al-
though the excavators did not altogether realize what
it was that they had found, a description of it has been
' Barnes, " St. Peter in Rome," pp. 91, 331.
*"Lib. Pont.," i. p. 125, ed. Duchesne.
6 THE EARL V CHURCH
left on record by one of their number. It had the
appearance to his eyes of a small heathen temple, and
was covered, as to its upper part only (which showed
that the greater part of the fabric had always been
underground), with ornamental work in stucco.^
Round this memoria of St. Peter were buried, sur-
rounding him like bishops at a synod, the first twelve
of his successors. Their bodies were found in 1626,
"clothed with long robes down to the heels, dark and
almost black with age, and swathed with bandages
like infants ; the bandages passing also over the
head "."^ All crumbled into dust as soon as the air
reached them.
In this state the tombs remained till the peace of
the Church, and then Constantine caused the great
basilicas to be built above them. But before we come
to that date we have to speak of a translation of the
relics of each of these two Apostles which was rendered
necessary by the edict of 258, an edict which deprived
the Christian body of the protection which had till
then been enjoyed by its graves and monuments.
For the first time the relics of the Apostles were in
real danger of profanation.
The Platonia ad Catacumbas.
There is a good deal of confusion about the transla-
tion of the relics which took place at this time, and
yet as to the reality of the fact there can be no doubt
whatever. The greater part of the confusion seems to
have resulted from a projection backwards of the story,
which really belongs to 258, to the original time of the
burial of the Apostles. Consequently the opinion
grew up that there were really two separate occasions
on which the bodies had been taken to the Catacombs
^ Barnes, •• St. Peter at Rome," pp. 334, 340.
^Ibid. p. 323.
THE PLATONIA AD CATACUMBAS 7
at S. Sebastiano. There is a long literature on the
point, and there is no object in our going into the
question now. The only point we need dwell upon,
one which is more or less historically certain, is the
fact of the translation and hiding of the relics, to save
them from possible danger of profanation, in the year
258.
In an ancient manuscript, which contains a
Hieronynian Martyrology and is preserved at Berne,
we read : —
III. Kal Julias.
Romae Via Aurelia S.S. Apostolorum Petri et
Pauli — Petri in Vaticano, Pauli vero in Via
Ostiensi, utrumque in Catacumbis, passi sub
Nerone, Basso et Tusco consulibus.
That is to say, that on the 29th June there were
three feasts kept at Rome : of St. Peter on the
Vatican, of St. Paul on the Ostian Way, and of both
at the Catacombs. The consular date, which is A.D.
258, cannot be connected with the martyrdoms, since
both suffered under Nero, but must have to do with
the third locality mentioned, that of the Catacombs.
The probable solution is the one we have already
mentioned. In the year 258 the right to a quiet pos-
session of the cemeteries was taken away from the
Christians. All those cemeteries at any rate which
were in the possession of the Church herself became
State property ; and among these would be included
the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. Hence the relics
were taken away by night and hidden in another
cemetery, that which we now know as S. Sebastiano.
Here they were comparatively safe, for not only would
the persecutors, even if they wished to desecrate them,
have had no clue where they might be hidden, but
they would also be protected by the right of private
property, since this particular cemetery had not yet
8 THE EARL V CHURCH
passed into the hands of the Church as such, but
was still, before the law, the property of a private
individual.
The hiding-place in which the bodies were laid
may yet be seen. It is under the altar in the
crypt which is called the Platonia, and is a square
chamber measuring about 8 feet each way, and
covered with barrel vaulting, the highest part of which
is 8 feet 3 inches from the floor. The vaulting is
of later date than the tomb. The floor is composed
of two slabs of marble, separated the one from the
other by a third slab set vertically, thus forming a
large double tomb in which the sarcophagi of the
Apostles could be laid side by side.
Whether or not the relics of the Saints would
have been in real danger had they remained in their
original resting-places we cannot tell. It would have
been unlike Romans to make war on the remains
of the dead long after the event. In any case, they
were safe at S, Sebastiano, and there they remained
until the persecution was passed and it was safe to bring
them back again to their own proper tombs. The local
tradition says that they remained at the Catacombs
for forty years, but such periods always tend to grow,
and it seems more likely that the period given in the
apocryphal Acts in connexion with an imaginary
earlier translation has preserved the truth as to the
real one, and that they were brought back after a year
and seven months, when Gallienus gave back the
cemeteries to the Church, But, in any case, the
ancient testimonies are much confused, and it is very
difficult to get at the real truth of the facts.
The Chair of St. Peter.
Two feasts of the Church, on 18 January and
22 February respectively, are celebrated in com-
THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER g
meraoration of the Chair of St. Peter. By a mis-
understanding of comparatively late date the second
of these feasts has come to be regarded as his Chair
at Antioch, but originally each of the two had refer-
ence to Rome, and commemorated two different chairs
or localities in which he sat as bishop and ruled the
Church.
It is recorded in the Acts of Pope Liberius that on
one occasion, being driven from the Lateran and un-
able to administer baptism at Easter in his own
cathedral, he followed the advice of his deacon, St.
Damasus, and betook himself for the purpose to a
spot close to the Ccemeterium Ostrianum on the Via
Nomentana, because that was the place where St. Peter
had been in the habit of baptizing. Formerly a
baptistery underground in the Ccemeterium Ostrianum
was identified by De Rossi as the scene ol this action,
but it is now generally admitted that this identification
cannot be sustained, but that the true spot must have
been somewhere above ground on the Via Salaria,
in an oratory connected with the Villa of the Acilii
Glabriones. There is now no trace of an oratory in
this spot, but the foundations of the villa can still be
seen.
The whole matter is still far from having received
its final solution, but we may state the present opinion
of those who are best qualified to judge, somewhat as
follows : —
St. Peter came first to Rome in the year 42. For
seven years he remained in Rome, not, however, in the
city itself, but rather outside of it in the Villa of the
Acilii, and here he exercised his ministry, baptizing
and preaching. This first coming to Rome, and stay
of seven years, are commemorated on the feast of
1 8 January. The seven years' stay was terminated by
a decree of Claudius ordering all Jews to leave Rome,
lo THE EARL V CHURCH
and in consequence St. Peter went away and remained
away for a prolonged period. When he returned again
to the city, some years afterwards, he did not go back
to his old quarters on the Via Salaria, but took up his
abode within the city itself. It is this second coming
and abode in Rome which is commemorated by the
feast of 22 February, His stay during this second
period connects itself especially with two spots, those
which are now known as the two churches of Sta
Prisca and Sta Pudenziana, and which we shall consider
immediately. It has also a yet more definite memorial
in the actual wooden chair which is still preserved at
St. Peter's and venerated as the chair of the Apostle,
and to this we must now give our attention.
It was placed in the Vatican Basilica, by Pope
St Damasus, about the year 375. From that time on-
wards its history is clear enough. At an earlier date
we have several references to an actual chair preserved
at Rome, which can scarcely refer to any other than
this. Thus the third-century poem " Adversus Marcio-
nem" (Migne, "P.L." ii. 1099) mentions a cathedra
Petrus qua sederat ipse, a chair on which Peter himself
had sat. St. Cyprian also speaks of the gradus cathe-
drae sacerdoialis,dindT Qrt\x\\\2inX.e\\s his readers to visit
the various churches founded by Apostles in which,
he says, " the very chairs of the Apostles still preside
in their places ". The history of the chair is, therefore,
well authenticated.
The actual chair is of oak, a perfectly plain arm-
chair with four legs connected with cross-bars. The
wood is much worm-eaten, and pieces have been cut
from various parts, obviously for relics. The seat is
I foot 10 inches above the ground, and it is about
3 feet wide. There are four iron rings, intended
for carrying-poles, set into the legs. At a later date,
probably in the ninth century, decorations of acacia
THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER
II
wood with ivories let in have been added to the
original chair. The ivories are engraved with the
labour of Hercules, not a very appropriate subject.
The back is divided by small columns and arches and
is open, with a triangular top of similar character.
There is hardly enough of the old chair left to enable
us to speak very clearly as to its character, but in any
case it is quite certain that the idea that it was the
Chair of St. Peter.
sella curulis or senatorial chair of Pudens, an idea
first put forth by Fabeo in the seventeenth century,
cannot possibly be sustained. It was of much too
plain and simple a character for such an origin to be
12 THE EARLY CHURCH
possible. But there is no reason to doubt the gen-
uineness of the tradition which connects it with the
Apostle, and in any case it is one of the most ancient
and venerable of all Christian monuments.
Churches and Cemeteries of Apostolic Date.
The tradition of the Church is, as we have said, that
St. Peter came first to Rome in the year 42, twenty-
five years before his martyrdom in 67. There are,
however, few, if any, antiquaries or historians who
would be inclined to support the theory that his resi-
dence at Rome between these dates was in any way
continuous. On the contrary, the general belief is
that he was obliged to quit Rome in 49 — when
Claudius ordered all the Jews to depart from the city.
We know of this expulsion from Suetonius, from whom
we have also the hint that religious difficulties caused
by the Christian propaganda were the cause of the
decree, Judaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes
Roma expulit (Suet. " in Claudio," 25). We know of
it also from the Acts of the Apostles, where we are
told (XVIII. 2) that Aquila and Priscilla had been ob-
liged in consequence to leave Rome, and had come to
Ephesus. They did not, however, remain very long
away from Rome, for when St, Paul wrote the Epistle
to the Romans he sent special salutations to them at
Rome. "Salute Prisca and Aquila, my helpers in
Christ Jesus, and the church that is in their house "
(Rom. XVI. 3).
This little domestic oratory thus mentioned by St.
Paul, as already existing by A.D. 58, seems to have
grown into the titulus or parish church we now know
by the name of S. Prisca on the Aventine, which is
thus shown to be perhaps the most ancient of all the
churches of the city, so far as its origin is concerned.
CHURCHES AND CEMETERIES 13
With it was always in close relation another church
on the Viminal, also reputed to be of apostolic date,
which we now know by the name of Sta Pudenziana,
and which is the titular church of Cardinal Bourne.
There is a good deal which is legendary about the
history of these two churches, and it is not always
easy to separate the true from the false. With regard
to Sta Pudenziana we have a variety of apocryphal,
but still extremely ancient, documents whose evidence
must be taken with considerable caution. Such are
the letter from Pius I to Justin of Vienna, the narra-
tives of Pastor and of Timothy, and, perhaps, the state-
ments of the " Liber Pontificalis ". From them we learn
that the church which is now known as Sta Puden-
ziana was originally the house of Pudens, who was
baptized by the Apostles ; that the Apostle St. Peter
dwelt there with his convert ; that at first the faithful
had their meeting-place in the actual house, but that,
later on, Pudenziana, Prassede, and Timothy, the chil-
dren of Pudens, caused the adjoining baths of Novatus,
their brother, to be made into a church by St. Pius I.
There is no impossibility in this if we allow the
change into a church to have been made when these
persons were already advanced in life, and the whole
is corroborated by a good deal of independent and un-
doubtedly genuine evidence. There is no doubt that
the church in the fourth century bore the name of
ecclesia Fudentiana, which would certainly seem to
denote a titulus erected on the property of the family
of Pudens, and not simply a church bearing the name
of an individual saint. So, again, the story of the
baths of Novatus is confirmed by the evidence of St.
Justin Martyr, and by an inscription in the galleries of
the Vatican. When excavations were made in 1895
beneath the church, five large halls were discovered,
ornamented with pilasters and arches and communica-
14 THE EARLY CHURCH
ting with one another. There were also two mosaic
pavements. In these remains it was generally
agreed that we had recovered the traces of the baths
of Novatus, and it is quite possible that when the
finances allow of the excavations being carried further,
there may be more discoveries which will throw yet
further light on the origin of the Church at Rome.
Both these two churches of Sta Pudenziana and Sta
Prisca had special relations with the very ancient
cemetery on the Via Salaria which is called the ceme-
tery of Priscilla. It seems likely, from inscriptions
which have been found in this cemetery, that the
ground originally belonged to one Priscilla, who was
the wife of one of the Acilii Glabriones, whose villa
lay just above. This lady having become a Christian,
instituted a cemetery to provide Christian burial in
the grounds of her own house. Her namesake, the
wife of Aquila, was connected somehow with her,
perhaps as a freedwoman of the family ; and this
accounts for the connexion to some extent. This
cemetery of Priscilla is perhaps the oldest of all the
cemeteries of Rome, though not the only one which
existed in apostolic times. The others of the same
period will be those of Domitilla, the so-called crypts
of Lucina in the cemetery of St, Callistus, and another
small cemetery, still unexplored, on the Via Aurelia,
where SS. Processus and Martinianus, the gaolers of
St, Peter, were buried. All these in some degree have
apostolic memories, mostly connected with St. Peter,
for it is a singular and noteworthy fact that the stay
of St. Paul in Rome has left very few traces behind ;
far less than is the case with his brother Apostle. The
claims of the oratory under the church of Sta Maria
in Via Lata cannot be sustained, and the so-called
"school of St. Paul," called alia Regola, has even less
right to serious attention. There is, however, one
THE MAMERTINE PRISON OR TULLIANUM 15
spot, the so-called Mamertine Prison, which is worthy
of more careful examination.
The Mamertine Prison or Tullianum.
This celebrated prison, close to the Capitol, is
venerated as having been the spot where the two
Apostles were united together in bonds just before
their martyrdom, and where St. Peter baptized his
gaolers by the aid of a spring which miraculously burst
forth in the floor of the dungeon. There is no im-
possibility in the story, for there is no doubt that the
place was used as a prison in imperial times, but the
evidence available is not very early. Still we have
notices of it as early as the fifth or sixth century in
the " Acts " of SS. Processus and Martinianus. In the
eighth century we have the pilgrim of Einsiedeln,
who speaks of
Fons Sancti Petri ubi est career ejus,
so that there can be no question that by that date
there was already an oratory on the spot. It would
seem, therefore, that the tradition is worthy of all
respect, and certainly all would regret it if the belief
had to be given up. In the time of the Apostles the
staircase which now gives access to the lower prison
was not in existence. At that time the only con-
nection of this awful spot with the outer world was by
means of a round hole in the centre of the vaulting
through which prisoners were lowered.
Otlier and Doubtful Traditions.
The other spots in Rome which claim to connect
themselves with the Apostles cannot be said to have
proved their case, though this does not at all necessarily
i6 THE EARL V CHURCH
mean that they are all to be rejected. The little oratory
of the Quo Vadis, for instance, serves to remind us of
a very beautiful story, but it has not much real claim
to authenticity, and the same must be said of the
little chapel on the Ostian Way, which is called the
Oratory of the Separation of the Apostles. The testi-
mony available for these spots is not very ancient,
but, of course, there is no impossibility that they do
preserve the memory of real occurrences of some
kind. The church on the Janiculum has no solid
claim at all, but owes its origin to the misunderstand-
ing of ancient documents. There remain just two
more relics of real importance, and with them our
recapitulation of the memories of the Apostles at Rome
must come to a close.
The Wooden Altar of St. Peter.
The present discipline of the Catholic Church is, as
is well known, that all altars must be of stone. This
rule knows one exception and only one, and that in
the mother of all churches, the Lateran basilica itself.
Here a small table of wood, which had been carefully
preserved during the ages of persecution, and which
was believed to have been used as an altar by St.
Peter himself, was enclosed in the larger altar of stone,
and forms the actual mensa on which the Holy
Sacrifice is now offered. There can be no doubt that
its authenticity was believed to be beyond question
in 325, when the Lateran became the Cathedral
of Rome. Otherwise, since the feeling in favour of
stone altars was so strong as to lead to the prohibi-
tion of all others, an altar of wood would never have
been allowed to remain as the high altar of the Cathe-
dral Church of Rome. But we know no details as to
its earlier history. It is of cedar wood, and apparently
ST. PETER'S CHAINS 17
of the same material as the piece preserved at Sta
Pudenziana, which is said to have been left there
when the main portion was removed to the Lateran.
St. Peter's Chains.
The present church of San Pietro ad Vincula dates
from the sixth century, when it was rebuilt by the Em-
press Eudoxiana. But long before that date there was
a church dedicated to St. Peter upon this site, and it
may even go back to apostolic days. The martyr-
ology of St. Jerome gives under the date of i August :
" At Rome the dedication of the first church built by
the Apostle St. Peter". A priest of this church re-
presented the Pope at the Council of Ephesus as one of
the legates, and signed the Acts : " Philipus ecclesiae
apostolorum presbyter".
The tradition of the chains here preserved is also of
very high antiquity, at least as regards the Roman
chain, which was certainly at this church in the fifth
century. The Empress Eudoxiana brought a second
chain from Jerusalem, which also claimed to have
bound St. Peter. The story of the miraculous union
of the two chains is of later date.
Such, then, are the principal memories of the
Apostles which are preserved at Rome. Of St. Paul
there is practically no authentic trace except the place
of his martyrdom and his tomb. But the case is very
different with St. Peter. Here we have memorials of
various kinds connecting him with various parts of the
city. Recent excavations and research, so far from shak-
ing this evidence, have made it considerably stronger
than before, and it is probable that we have by no
means yet reached the limits of the light that archaeo-
logy has to throw upon the subject. But even now
2
i8 THE EARL V CHURCH
this at least seems clearly proved, that St. Peter must
have lived a long time in the city, and have had rela-
tions with many residents in many quarters. Such
results harmonize much better with the Church's
tradition of a long pontificate largely spent at Rome,
than with the notion lately put forward by Protestant
scholars, that, although no doubt he came to Rome at
the close of his life and there suffered martyrdom,
there is no reason to believe that he had, at any
previous time, ever visited the capital of the empire.
St. Peter as the Good Shepherd
From, examples in the Later an Museum
From Marucchi's " 1 Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense " {Milan
Ulrica Hoepli)
CHAPTER II.
The Earliest Converts to Christianity.
It was only natural that the first preaching of the new
Gospel of Christianity should have appealed with
especial force to the lower orders of society. The
Apostles themselves were for the most part men of
low estate, who lived by the product of the labours of
their own hands. The Jews, to whom at the first the
Gospel was preached almost exclusively, were every-
where, then as now, a people despised, outcast, and
oppressed. As we examine the details of the Jewish
colony at Rome in the first century we might almost
be reading, under feigned names and changed condi-
tions, an account of the Jewish community, as we
know it in London or in any great European city of
the present. There is, first, a small number of wealthy
men, the leading financiers of the city, the forerunners
of the Rothschilds and Hirsch of a late age, having
little of Judaism about them except the names, and
these, as they were among the richest, so also were
among the most influential of Roman citizens. But
these, as always, were but the few, and for the most
part, then as now, the Jewish community was com-
posed of the very poor. " They are a people born for
slavery," says Cicero ; " abominable among all the
nations," says Seneca, who himself, however, was not
19 2 *
20 THE EARL Y CHURCH
always wholly unsympathetic. The Satirists, too,
while they find in the Jewish practice of circumcision,
in their institution of the Sabbath, and in their hatred
for pork, an endless opportunity for witticisms, in
general describe the Jews in terms of utter contempt ;
as beggars and rag-pickers ; bartering tapers for broken
glass ; dirty and odorous ; with swarms of ragged
children ; with no possessions but a basket, and no
bed to lie on but a heap of straw.
If such were the conditions of the Jewish colonies of
the dispersion, it is not to be wondered at that for the
most part Jewish converts were not of a high rank.
" Not many wise, not many noble," were chosen, as
we know from St. Paul, and yet even among these
some of the converts were of higher rank. A society
which, like that of the earliest Church at Jerusalem,
brought land and houses to be given to a common
stock that the necessities of the poorer brethren might
be relieved, obviously included many who were not of
the poorest class, and what was true of Jerusalem
was probably true also of the other cities in which the
Jewish element was numerous.
The Slaves.
If we turn to the Gentiles we shall find that here
again it was to the lower classes that the message first
came. It was the fulfilment of our Lord's prophecy,
the special characteristic of the Christian religion, that
" the poor had the Gospel preached to them ". There
was no class from whom the number of converts was
larger than from the lowest social class of all — those
who had no kind of political rights — the slaves of the
Empire.
The slave in Roman law was a mere chattel of
his owner. He was just a piece of property, which
THE SLAVES 21
must pay interest like any other, and from which profit
was extracted by systematic overwork. Some masters
were humane, others were not ; few had any interest in
their slaves except as means of profit, none troubled
about their moral condition or cared to help them in
any way. To such wretches as these the Christian
message of a common brotherhood and equality in the
sight of God made a strong appeal. They joined the
Church in crowds, and found themselves within her
borders almost in another world. Christian slaves
were allowed to partake of the Sacrament just like
Christian freemen ; they had an equal place in public
worship, and no longer lived in bestial concubinage, but
were duly married according to the laws of Catholicism.
Many of these Christian slaves, finding a new man-
hood and independence in the brotherhood of the
Church, carried on a keen apostolate in the homes of
their masters. It was a sore point with Celsus, as we
learn from Origen.^ They stood firm under punish-
ment and torture, and, to the astonishment of the
pagans, who could not understand such independence
in a slave, offered themselves rejoicingly for martyrdom.
The list of slave martyrs of the first two centuries is
indeed a long one. Felicitas at Carthage, Ariadne in
Phrygia, Blandina at Lyons, Sabina at Smyrna, Vitalis
at Bologna, Porphyrius at Caesarea, Potamiana at Alex-
andria, Euelpistus at Rome ; these are but a few of
the many that might be quoted, but they are drawn
from every portion of the Empire. When slaves could
rise to martyrdom we need not wonder that they were
also found worthy to occupy the highest positions in
the Church. Hermas, the author of the " Shepherd,"
is said to have been a slave by birth, and if so, then
Pius, his brother, who sat on the throne of Peter about
the year 1 50, must have been one also. In any case it
' Origen, " Contra Celsum," iii. 44, 55.
32
THE EARL V CHURCH
is certain that this was so in the case of Callixtus a
century later. He was born a banker's slave, and rose
first to be Archdeacon of Rome, and then to be him-
self Pope on the death of his patron.
In no household among the nobles and leaders
of Rome did the faith make more speedy progress
than in the highest of all, " the household of
Caesar ".i We know that St. Paul himself had found
Graffito of the Crucifixion.
(From Marucchi's " EUments d'ArcMologu," DescUe De Brouwer et Cie.)
means to reach the slaves of the Imperial house-
hold, and the torch once lighted was never again
extinguished. There were Christian slaves at Court
under Commodus, and also under Septimius Severus,
as we know from monumental evidence. Caracalla
was brought up by a Christian nurse, /acte Christiano
educatus? The well-known graffito of the Palatine,
^ " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1863, p. 83 ; cf. " Inscript. Christianae," i. 9.
* TertuUian, " Ad Scapulam," 4.
THE FREEDMAN 23
now in the Kircher Museum, shows the ridicule and
petty persecution to which these slaves were subjected.
It represents a man with the head of an ass fastened
upon a cross, and by his side another man in prayer,
with the inscription, " Alexamenes worships his God ".
It was found in the place where the pages of the Im-
perial household were educated.
At the commencement of the reign of Valerian
Christians were so common in the Imperial household
that Dionysius of Alexandria says that the place was
like a church,^ and a few years later, under Diocletian,
the Christians belonging to the Emperor's own house-
hold who were executed reached very large numbers.
The Freed man.
Above the slaves we come to the lower class of free-
men, those who had once been slaves themselves, or,
at least, were among the poorer and less important of
citizens. Here, again, great numbers had become
Christians, Tacitus' account of the persecution under
Nero shows us a great multitude, multitudo ingens, of
sufferers, most of whom were apparently of this class,
if we may judge from the kind of death to which they
were condemned. The Acts of the Martyrs present us
with many instances of this kind in later times : " The
shepherds, Themistocles and Mamas ; the inn-keeper,
Theodotus ; the gardener, Simeros ; the four stone-
masons of Pannonia; Philemon, the flute player;
Alexander, the charcoal-burner, who afterwards be-
came a bishop ; while no doubt many others, whose
profession is not given, might have answered as a
martyr of Ephesus answered the judge who asked
him what he was, ' A common fellow, living by my
labours '".2
1 Eus., " H.E.," viii. 6.
2 Allard., " Dix le9ons sur les Martyrs," Engl, trans., p. 156.
24 THE EARL Y CHURCH
The monuments in this case fail in so far as direct
evidence is concerned. Very rarely do the stones of
the Catacombs preserve any memorial of the worldly
rank of the dead. But indirect evidence abounds in
the unscholarly character of the various epitaphs,
misspelt, ungrammatical, and teeming with blunders.
It is sometimes difficult to make out what is intended,
so barbarous is the Latin of the texts. But assuredly
it was no cultured people for whom such epitaphs
were written, but rather for such as those whom Ter-
tullian describes as the ordinary Christian of his time,
" rude, uncultured, simple souls," ^ spending their lives
at work and unable to attain to any learning or to aim
at any refinement of living.
Here are a few examples : —
REGINA VIBAS
IN DOMINO
ZESV.
MARTYRES SANCTI
IN MENTE HAVITE
MARIA.
PETRUS ET PANCARA BOTVM PO
SVENT MARTYRE FELICITATI
A thousand more of like character could easily be
added. But these are enough to bring home to us the
fact that the great bulk of Christians, at any rate at
first, must have been drawn from the less educated
classes of society.
The Soldiers.
A class which deserves a word to itself, among
those which yielded converts to Christianity, is to be
found in the soldiers. In all ages there has been a
^ TcrtuUian, •' De test, animae," i.
THE SOLDIERS 25
somewhat unexpected connection between soldiers and
religion, and it is strongly marked in these centuries.
John the Baptist had baptized Roman soldiers in the
Jordan ; our Blessed Lord had listened to the prayer
of the centurion of Capharnaum ; the first Gentile con-
vert was Cornelius, the centurion of Caesarea. It was
among the praetorian cohorts at Rome that St. Paul
found his readiest listeners, and two at least of these
guardsmen, SS. Nereus and Achilleus, are numbered
among the martyrs of the Neronian persecution. In
the second and third centuries Christians were common
in the Roman ranks, so that Tertullian, who for the
most part exhibits a strong dislike and contempt for
the military life, appeals to the well-known fact as a
reason for allaying the rigours of persecution. "We
fight side by side with you," he urges, " we sail with
you, and till the soil together." ^ In Cappadocia, in
the time of Marcus Aurelius, even though we admit
some accretion of legend in the story of "The
Thundering Legion," it remains certain that this body,
the 1 2th Legion {Fulminata), was almost entirely
made up of Christians.^ The massacre of the Theban
Legion* at the end of the third century, which is
narrated by St. Eucherius, involved several hundreds
of Christian soldiers. So, again, there were soldier
martyrs in the time of Diocletian in every province of
the Empire ; in Italy, Mauretania, Spain, Asia, Egypt,
and on the banks of the Danube. This last persecu-
tion indeed actually began with an order that every
soldier in the army must either sacrifice to the gods or
else at once retire from the service, and soon went on
to harsher measures against them. Almost the last
1 " Apol.," 42.
^ See Harnack, " Die Quelle der Berichte iiber das Regerthunder
im Feldzuge Marc Aurel's gegen die Quaden," in Proceedings of
Acad, of Sciences, Berlin, 1894.
' Ruinart, " Acta Sincera," p. 290.
26 THE EARL Y CHURCH
occasion on which Christian blood was shed, before
the final peace of the Church was assured, was the
instance of the forty Martyrs of Sebaste, exposed on
the frozen lake in mid-winter by the orders of Licinius.
The persecution of Julian the Apostate even later on
gave us SS. John and Paul. Members of the military
profession rank high among those who first listened to
the Gospel message, and later gave their lives for the
preaching of Christianity.
The Philosophers.
"Not many wise according to the flesh " are chosen,
said St. Paul, and his words long remained true.
Only in the second century do we hear of any promi-
nent examples among the Christians of scholars and
philosophers. There is no real foundation for the
legend that St. Paul corresponded with and almost
converted the great Seneca ; though it is a singular
fact that a tombstone has been found at Ostia which
commemorates the death of a kinsman of his whose
name proclaims him a Christian, MARCUS ANNAEUS
PETRUS PAULUS. But similar conversions in the
second century were numerous, especially in Egypt,
and the Apologists are, most of them, men of this type
who tried to use their talents at a time when such
talents were highly valued at the Court of the Anto-
nine Emperors, in order to bring about a lasting peace
between the Empire and Christianity. The list of
such is a long one at this period. Tertulh'an, Minu-
cius Felix, and Cyprian were all of them lawyers who
had practised in the courts ; Aristides, Justin Martyr,
Athenagoras, Pantaenus, and Clement of Alexandria
are all names which stood high in philosophy. The
medical profession gives us SS. Cosmas and Damian,
Alexander of Phrygia, and many others. The whole
THE NOBLES 27
is summed up in the words of Arnobius : " Orators
and grammarians, lawyers, physicians, and philosophers,
all have sought the Church, quitting contemptuously
the doctrines in which they had formerly trusted "}
The Nobles.
While the great body of the faithful must always
have been drawn from the lower class there were always
a certain number, and more than has generally been
thought, who belonged to the higher circles of society.
We can see this even in the early days of the Acts of
the Apostles. The first convert made by St. Peter
was an officer of the Roman army. At Cyprus the
proconsul, Sergius Paulus, became a believer. At
Thessalonica Paul converted "of noble women not a
few ". At Corinth the treasurer of the city, Erastus,
became a Christian. At Athens one at least of the
famous Court of the Areopagites, St. Dionysius, was
won to the faith. At Rome the recent discoveries of
archaeology put it beyond all question that the same
was the case, only in a very much greater degree, and
that among those who believed in the preaching of
the Apostles were many of the very highest rank
and nobility.
Tacitus 2 tells the story of one Pomponia Graecina,
the wife of the general commanding in Britain, Aulus
Plautius, who, about the year 47, gave herself over to
perpetual mourning and refused to take any part in
the pleasures that Roman society had to offer. In
A.D. 58 she was brought before a kind of family court
and charged with having joined an unlawful religion,
but she was acquitted. Historians in all ages have
been inclined to suggest that the " strange superstition "
1 Arnobius, " Adv. gent.," ii. 55.
"• Annals," xiii. 12,
28 THE EARL Y CHURCH
to which she was addicted was nothing else than Chris-
tianity, but there existed no proof of the fact till a few
years ago, when a tombstone was discovered in a very
ancient crypt in the cemetery of St. Callixtus bearing
the name of Pomponius Graecinus. The Christianity of
the grandson, or rather, perhaps, of the grand-nephew
which is thus made certain, makes it exceedingly prob-
able that it was from her that he derived his religion.
We may put her down, therefore, as one of the earliest
converts made in Rome by the preaching of St. Peter,
Pudens, who is mentioned by St. Paul in the First
Epistle to Timothy, is another instance. By tradition
he is said to have been of senatorial rank, and although
not much more is known of him, we still have the
church of Sta Pudenziana, the ancient titulus Pudentis,
the titular church of Cardinal Wiseman and now of
Cardinal Bourne, to witness to the fact of his Chris-
tianity. But if his history is obscure it is far other-
wise with another of the same period, Manius Acilius
Glabrio, Consul in A.D. 91 with Trajan, the proof of
whose Christianity is another triumph of modern
archaeology. He was put to death by Domitian in
A.D. 95, as a " contriver of novelty," which seems to
mean the profession of the Christian religion. In 1 888
his tomb was discovered in the Catacomb of Priscilla.
Unfortunately the tomb had been wrecked by treasure-
seekers in the seventeenth century, but enough
remains to enable us to reconstruct its form.^ It was
a large crypt of rather unusual form, and the places for
tombs within it were all arcosolia, or niches for sarco-
phagi ; there was not a single loculus of the usual ceme-
terial pattern upon the walls. Near to it was a large
hall measuring nine yards by four and a half, which
had formerly contained an altar, with spiral columns
of giallo antico, now totally wrecked. Close by,
> " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1889, p. 18 ; 1890, p. 97.
THE NOBLES 29
however, were discovered fragments of a marble sarco-
phagus, with the inscription : —
ACILIO GLABRIO . . . FILIO
Still legible, in lettering of the time of Domitian or
thereabouts, so that no possible doubt remains that we
have here the family burying-place of the consul-martyr
and his family. The date and the circumstances con-
nected with the translation of his relics to Rome from
the place where he suffered are not known. He was
not put to death in Rome itself, but in his place of
exile, which is not recorded.
The Acilii Glabriones were among the noblest of
Rome's noble families, but Christianity reached higher
still and did not stop till it reached the Imperial
family itself. Indeed at one time it seemed almost
certain that before the first century had closed, a
Christian Emperor would be seated upon the throne
of the Caesars. The prefecture of Rome in the year
64 was held by one Titus Flavins Sabinus, the elder
brother of the future Emperor Vespasian. In virtue
of his office he had no doubt to assist at, probably
even to arrange for, the terrible massacre of the Chris-
tians which Nero ordered in that year. Such a task
must have been most distasteful to him, for he was, as
Tacitus^ tells us, "a man of gentle nature, who ab-
horred bloodshed ". Possibly the scenes which he then
saw caused him to take an interest in men who could
suffer thus patiently, and may even have led him to
embrace the persecuted creed. Anyhow, from that
time forward his nature seemed to have changed and
his contemporaries could not understand it. He seemed
to them in his later years to have lost all his former
energy 2. Prefect of Rome again under Vitellius in
A.D, 69, when his brother Vespasian was proclaimed
1 Tacitus, " Hist," iii. 60-75,
' In fine vitae segnem.
30 THE EARL Y CHURCH
by the legions of the Eastern army, he failed to take
advantage of the opportunity of securing the city for
his brother by putting himself at the head of the
guards and leading the rebellion against his master.
Only as a last resort, when his life was in danger, did
he take refuge in the Capitol, The Capitol was
attacked by the mob, and, in the struggle which
ensued, was burnt to the ground. Sabinus was seized
" unarmed and not attempting flight," was dragged
before Vitellius and forthwith murdered by the rabble,
his mutilated and headless corpse being afterwards
exposed on the Gemonian stairs. Truly a strange end,
as Tacitus says, " for one who had fought for his
country on five and thirty fields, and had covered him-
self with glory both as a soldier and in civil life".^
Cowardice was felt to be out of the question with such
a man, and most men contented themselves with the
conclusion that it was due rather to his excessive
anxiety not to shed the blood of his countrymen.^
His innocence and justice, the historian adds, were be-
yond all question, nor can he find any fault to charge
against him except a certain boastfulness of tongue.
Such a man we are naturally inclined to claim as a
Christian, for this want of energy is precisely the charge
which is constantly preferred against the Christians
of the following century. It manifestly arose from
the serious difficulty, if not the actual impossibility of
reconciling civil duties with the claims of their religion.
This difficulty confronted them as soon as they attemp-
ted to take any prominent part in political life, and
made their position impossible.
We have, it is true, no absolute proof that Titus
Flavins Sabinus was a Christian. Still here again,
all reasonable doubt seems to be taken away when we
1 Tacitus, " Hist.," iii. 75.
^ Civium sanguinis parcum.
« ■<»
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH 31
find that, in the next generation, his son Titus Flavius
Clemens died a Christian martyr, and that his daugh-
ter Plautilla was also among the faithful. This
Clemens it was whose son and heir almost became the
first Christian Emperor. He had married his cousin
Flavia Domitilla, the granddaughter of Vespasian, a
niece of Domitian, and she like himself was a Chris-
tian. The sons of this pair were publicly desig-
nated by Domitian, after the death of his own infant
son, as the heirs whom he intended should succeed to
his throne. The hopes of the Christian community
in Rome must have run high, but, unfortunately, the
temper of the tyrant soon changed. Clemens was put
to death, accused, we learn from Dion Cassius, of
" atheism ". Domitilla was exiled to Ponza, and the
two little boys not improbably shared their father's
fate, for they disappear from history, and we have no
clue as to what became of them. There remains,
however, to this day a splendid memorial and proof
that this elder branch of the Flavii really were con-
verted to Christianity, in the family sepulchral chamber
at the entrance to the cemetery of Domitilla, con-
taining some of the most ancient Christian tombs of
Rome, on one of which may still be read the Greek
epitaphs of one Flavius Sabinus and of his half-sister
Titiana.
Growth of the Church.
There is no need to carry the investigation further.
The facts we have given and the names we have
quoted are enough to prove that it was not from one
class only or from one single rank of society that
Christianity drew its earliest adherents. Every class,
every profession, every rank was represented among
them. Nor is it the least of the claims which the
Christian religion can put forward to prove its Divine
32 THE EARL Y CHURCH
origin that it should so instantly and completely have
occupied the entire ground, and shown itself so readily
adaptable to the needs and yearnings of every race
and every mind. Before even the first century had
drawn to a close, the prophecy of our Lord had been
abundantly fulfilled, and the little grain of mustard,
smaller than all the seeds of the earth, had already
grown up and become a great tree, the branches of
which were overshadowing all the peoples of the world.
Before the age of the persecutions was over, half the
Roman world had become Christian. One would be
amazed at the boldness of Valerian or Galerius in
imagining that it was possible to crush such a body
out of existence, were it not that we have in England
and the North of Europe such vivid instances before
us of what long-continued persecution was able to do
in the way of stamping out Catholicism. By the end
of the third century whole cities had become Christian.
" People are astonished," wrote Porphyry at this time,
" that towns where neither Esculapius nor any other
god has now access should be stricken by a plague !
But ever since Jesus has been worshipped we have
been deprived of all the benefits that the gods can
give us." 1 At Edessa, Eusebius tells us, that " Christ
only was adored," and he tells us also of another town
in Phrygia, of which, unfortunately, the name has not
come down to us, where, since all the inhabitants to
a man were Christians, all were shut up in the great
church which yet stood in spite of the edicts, and, the
building being set on fire, the whole population perished
in the flames, calling unceasingly on the name of the
Saviour.
It was ever in the towns that the new religion spread
first. The slow minds of villagers respond always but
tardily to changes in religion, and the very name of
^In Theodoret, Migne, " P.G.," Ixxxiii. 1152.
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH 33
pagan remains to witness that this was the case. But
by the end of the third century villagers also had
become Christians in many places. In Bithynia, at
the very beginning of the second century, Pliny tells
how he was struck by the fact that villagers were
among the number of Christian believers. Egypt was
especially the home of rural Christianity. St. Diony-
sius of Alexandria, in a letter which Eusebius has pre-
served for us, tells us how, when once he had been
taken prisoner, the news was carried to some feasters
at a village wedding, whereupon all left their feasting,
ran to the village where the bishop was held in cap-
tivity, fought the soldiers and put them to flight, and
then effected the bishop's rescue. And when he was
unwilling to make use of his freedom thus irregularly
obtained, for fear of bringing evil upon his rescuers,
they took him by his feet and hands, put him on a
donkey, and carried him back to their own village.^
The story brings back vividly enough some of the
conditions of life during penal times in Upper Egypt,
but it shows also how strong Christianity must have
become if its adherents could dare to act in this way.
Whatever they may have been in earlier days it is clear
that by the end of the third century at least Christians
had ceased to be the latebrosa et lucifugax natio, a
people loving darkness and shunning the light, which
pagans had formerly been accustomed to call them.
The years of successful repression were over already,
and a new courage had taken the place of former
timidity.
lEus., "H.E.," vi. 40.
CHAPTER in.
The Blood of the Martyrs.
In the earliest years of Christianity the Roman power
was not hostile to the new religion. In itself the Roman
mind was one of large tolerance ; they had no desire
to hinder any man from worshipping as he would, if
only his worship seemed in their eyes to involve no
danger to the religion of the State or to the continued
political well-being of the Roman Empire. At the
time when the Apostles arrived in the capital Rome
was already full of every kind of Eastern superstition,
and had welcomed all alike to its arms. Roman re-
ligion at that time cared little for dogma, nor was it
anxious to investigate the credentials of any faith
that offered itself for acceptance. It had come to be
a strange medley made up of all kinds of elements ;
Eastern as well as Western ; Asiatic and A.frican no
less than European. Already the better and keener
minds of paganism were heartily tired of it, almost
openly mocking at its claims to truth. Yet one and
all were filled with the conviction that its maintenance
was intimately bound up with the safety of the Em-
pire ; and that, therefore, nothing that threatened it,
or came into real competition with its claims, should
be allowed even a chance of life.
The follower of Eastern superstitions in general
seemed to the Roman in no way an enemy to the State
34
THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS 35
religion. He was as ready to accept and to reverence
the divinities of Rome as Rome was to reverence his
own. For such there was no thought of persecution,
for they constituted no kind of danger. On the con-
trary, these cults became popular among the Roman
aristocracy, and the religions of Isis or of Mithra had
open adherents highly placed in Roman society.
One religion alone stood out as obviously distinct
and irreconcilable. It was the religion of the Hebrews,
dispersed already over the whole world, although re-
taining their national life to some extent in Jerusalem.
Monotheism is necessarily exclusive, and can make no
acknowledgment of any divinity but its own. We
should have expected, therefore, that Judaism would
have been suppressed on this ground, that it ignored
and despised the State religion of the Empire. Two
considerations saved it from this fate. The first was
its national character, for Rome was ever kindly dis-
posed to the religions of the peoples she had conquered.
The other was the severity of the demands that it made
upon those who embraced it ; demands which were so
bound up with its national character that they did
away with all possible danger which might otherwise
have arisen from tolerating it. Not many Romans
after all were likely to become Jews, while to do so
involved circumcision and the keeping of the Mosaic
law.
For these reasons Judaism was invariably a religio
licita under the Emperors. Rome felt she had
nothing to fear from it. Far from persecuting the
Jews or trying to stamp out their religion, Augustus
had loaded the Temple with gifts, and after 7 1 , when
Judaism had ceased to possess a national centre at all,
but existed only as a matter of religion and of race,
emperor after emperor dispensed in favour of the
synagogue the general laws which forbade Roman
36 THE EARL V CHURCH
subjects to gather themselves together in meetings of
any kind
In the beginning, Christianity, to Roman eyes,
seemed nothing more than a sect of Judaism, and,
therefore, entitled to share in the toleration extended
to the Jews. When the Jews themselves endeavoured
to explain the situation, and to show that the new
religion, although it drew its origin from their own,
yet was entirely distinct from it in every way, the
Roman magistrates would hear nothing of the plea.
They told the Jews, as Gallio did at Corinth, that this
was only a question of their own laws and ceremonies ;
an internal dispute which they must settle amongst
themselves, for Roman dignity forbade its officers to
trouble about such matters. In the first years, there-
fore, not only was Christianity not persecuted by the
Roman authority, but Christians were actually often
protected by it against the Jews, who desired to invoke
it on the other side.
This state of affairs, which we find pictured in the
Acts of the Apostles, lasted on until the time of Nero.
Gradually, no doubt, men had been becoming aware
that the difference between Jews and Christians was
not merely a surface difference, but one that was
absolutely radical. The real change of opinion was
gradual, but the actual and formal distinction between
the two religions was made with startling suddenness,
when in a.d. 64 Nero, possibly under Jewish influence,
suddenly denounced the Christian inhabitants of Rome
as having been the originators and fosterers of the
great fire which had really been brought about at his
own command.
The result of this distinction, which was now brought
home to every individual in Rome, was that the Chris-
tians retained all the hatred and contempt which was
felt almost universally for the Jews, and had added to
THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS 37
it an opprobrium which was all their own. The com-
mon people had long been convinced that the Jews were
really atheists and worshipped no God, because they
knew that no image of any kind was allowed within
the precincts of the synagogue. Much more were
they now certain that this was true of the Christians,
for these allov/ed no sacrifice of any kind, while the
Jews, it was known, at least sacrificed at Jerusalem,
even if they did so nowhere else. Strange stories,
too, began to get about, concerning what happened
at Christian meetings ; stories which we can see well
enough were based on misapprehension, or perhaps on
deliberate misrepresentation, with regard to the kiss
of peace, and to the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Horrible crimes such as incest, promiscuous love, and
cannibal feasts were freely imputed to them, and
doubtless easily found believers. They were thought
to possess the evil eye, to be constantly in league with
the powers of darkness, and to be capable of casting
a spell on any that might have offended them. Can
we wonder that popular fury raged against them,
and that it needed only a spark to set the passions
of the mob alight? From the time of Nero onwards,
not only the deliberate and calculated policy of the
Emperor, but also the blind terror of the common
people, demanded the extirpation of the Christians as
enemies of the human race ; men whom it was not
safe to allow to live, for they were guilty of crimes
which, if left unpunished, would call down the ven-
geance of the gods ; crimes of which all alike were
necessarily guilty by the very fact that they were
0!\x\s\\zx\s,flagitia cohaerentia nornini. That a Christian
be not suffered to live, Christianas non licet esse, seems
to have been the form, if not the actual words, of the
law which initiated persecution ; it was certainly the
expression of the popular judgment. Everything which
38 THE EARL V CHURCH
went wrong was put down to their machinations, or
to the anger of the gods because their extermination
had been delayed. If the Tiber overflowed, or the
Nile was deficient, it was equally the fault of the
Christians ; if the crops failed, or if pestilence raged, or
a Roman army was defeated, the populace had one
remedy and only one for every occasion, Christianos
ad leones. Throw the atheists to the lions.
This popular prejudice against the new religion is
the one great cause and explanation of the persecu-
tions of the first century. Doubtless it was utilized
and fomented, again and again, by men in positions
of authority, who may, or may not, have shared in it,
but who were not above using it for personal ends.
That is the position with regard to Christianity which
is occupied by Nero and Domitian, the two great
persecuting Emperors before a.d. ioo. Always, at
any time after A.D. 64, the unrepealed edict of Nero
— Christiani non sint — the only one of Nero's measures
which was excepted by the Senate when all the rest
of the legislation of that Emperor was repealed,^
was ready to be brought into force in response to any
popular clamour. But in the main, with some local
exceptions, the period from the death of Nero to the
reign of Domitian was a period of peace and of pro-
gress.
The Second Century.
With the beginning of the new century, how-
ever, we enter upon a changed state of affairs. In
112 Pliny the Younger was sent to take up the charge,
of the Roman province of Bithynia, and found his new
district full of Christians. He was in some doubt as
1 Et tamen permansit, erasis omnibus, hoc solum institutum Nero-
nianum (Tertullian, " Ad. Nat.," i. 7).
THE SECOND CENTURY 39
to the usual practice and procedure. His humane
mind was appalled at the prospect before him if he
began to enforce the letter of the law seriously against
them. In consequence he wrote to Trajan, who had
been Emperor for some fifteen years, to ask for guid-
ance and direction. In reply Trajan sent the celebrated
Rescript which was to govern the action of the Roman
Government against the Christians for the next hundred
years. Summed up very briefly it comes to this, that
there was to be no inquisition, but those who were
formally delated as Christians and confessed the charge
were to suffer the full punishment ; if they denied it
and were willing to offer sacrifice they were to be ac-
quitted. The effect was to put Christians in an alto-
gether peculiar position before the law. They were
defended from vexatious persecution by the concession
of what had apparently previously been denied, the
ordinary right of freedom from molestation in the
absence of a formal accusation. But their acquittal
or condemnation was not to depend on evidence, but
solely on their own words and actions when before the
court. If they denied the charge and supported their
denial by offering sacrifice of any kind to the gods,
their acquittal was to follow as a matter of course, nor
could they be further molested.
This decision, which, as we have said, dominated the
law with regard to Christians for more than a century,
shows plainly enough that Trajan had no more faith
than Pliny in the charges commonly made against
Christians in his time. Men guilty of hideous crimes,
such as even pagans shuddered to recount, are not thus
set free on the evidence of their own word, and without
even a promise that they will for the future amend
their ways. One only asks why it was that they were
left liable to punishment at all, and why the edict
against them, since in the eyes of their rulers it had
40 THE EARL Y CHURCH
plainly ceased to be necessary, was not simply repealed.
The answer is to be found in the cold legal tempera-
ment of the Roman mind, which regarded such con-
stancy and perseverance in what was forbidden by law
to be itself an offence of great importance. " I do not
doubt," wrote Pliny to Trajan, " that, whether they be
guilty or not, such pertinacity and inflexible obstinacy
deserves to be punished." And Trajan replies in a
like tone, " If they are denounced and proved guilty,
they must be punished". "You punish us," cries
Tertullian, " not because we are guilty, but because we
are discovered, although we ought never to have been
looked for." " You forbid us to be searched for, it is
an acknowledgment that we are innocent, you con-
demn us when we are found just as if we were guilty."
Such was the state of the law throughout the second
century. It was confirmed by Hadrian and other em-
perors in later years. Under these conditions the
procedure of the courts was necessarily short and sum-
mary. No evidence was ever called, for it was not
needed. All that the magistrate had to do when the
accused was formally brought before him was to point
out the state of the law, that it did not allow anyone
to be a Christian, and then to put the question to the
prisoner whether or not he was an offender against
the law. If he replied, "I am a Christian," it was
enough ; and sentence followed as a matter of course. If
he denied the charge and would sacrifice to the gods,
there was equally no attempt to call evidence against
him ; but he was forthwith allowed to go free and un-
molested. The whole procedure was an exact rever-
sal of the ordinary conditions of a trial. Torture was
indeed applied, but it was not to extract a confession
of guilt, but to force the accused to deny his Chris-
tianity, and thereby to plead "not guilty " and obtain
his pardon. One reads the account of the long series
THE THIRD CENTURY 41
of punishments inflicted by the magistrate, and one is
apt to fail to realize his object. The whip and the
dungeon, the rack and the scourge, were ordered not
as additional punishments, but with the view of over-
coming a culpable obstinacy and thereby saving the
life which was otherwise forfeited to the law. The
sentence on the martyr, when all other means had
failed and at last it had to be pronounced, was always
dependent on his own free will ; and the object of the
law was always, in its own eyes, to save him from the
result of his own reprehensible obstinacy.
The Third Century.
Such measures were not sufficient to crush out the
new religion. On the contrary it grew and increased
in influence. In 244 even the Emperor himself,
Philip the Arabian, seems to have been a Christian,
although he never openly avowed his religion. Per-
secution was almost at a standstill : formal delation of
a Christian had become a rare event. Everywhere
the numbers of Christians were increasing with the
greatest rapidity. And then, at last, the Empire awoke
under Decius to realize its own peril. The one thing
that it dreaded, an imperium in imperio, an organized
power that owed allegiance to a ruler other than itself,
had grown up in the midst of it. The state paganism
recognized at last explicitly, what her adherents had
long subconsciously realized, that in Christianity she
had found her connatural foe, and that either she
must exterminate the professors of the new religion,
or must herself be content to disappear before it until
no place should remain to her anywhere within the
borders of the Empire. The hour had come for the
great struggle ; in Decius, and, later on, in Valerian,
paganism had leaders wholehearted on her side, and
42 THE EARL Y CHURCH
set herself ruthlessly to the work of extermination.
Persecution enters upon the third and most terrible of
its phases.
Decius does not appear to have been by nature a
cruel man, but he was a strong conservative and re-
actionary, quite convinced that the safety of the Empire
was bound up with the maintenance of the state
religion. His first effort was not to exterminate the
Christians, but to intimidate them and force them to
renounce their religion. Hence his new edict, issued
in the year 250, ordered that everywhere, throughout
the Empire, on a single fixed day, all Christians were
to come, and, when their name was called, to offer
sacrifice in some form or other. A certificate was to
be given to all who complied, and all who afterwards
could not show that certificate were to be brought up
for punishment, and if necessary for death. The per-
secution was not bloodthirsty ; the object was by no
means extermination ; every effort was made to induce
Christians to comply with the new law, the endeavour,
as St. Jerome puts it, was "to destroy souls but not
bodies ".^ But even so, the sum of suffering must have
been terrible. The magistrates had every power of
applying torture to enforce compliance, and did not
hesitate to use it. Thousands of Christians were de-
tained under conditions worse than death, in prisons
" darker than darkness itself . . . where night reigned
eternal, and never visited by the light of day "? They
longed to die, but death would not come to them, and
they were left in these conditions often for months
and even years. Who will deny them the title of
martyrs, even when their sufferings did not end in
death? "You live in a dark abode," wrote Tertullian
to such confessors, " but you are a light to yourselves ;
1 "Vita Pauli erem.," 3.
^Prudentius, " Peristephanon," v. 245.
THE THIRD CENTURY 43
you are bound with chains, but you are free for God ;
you inhale a fetid air, but yourselves are an odour of
sweetness ; you await the sentence of an earthly judge,
but you yourselves shall be the appointed judges of
the nations." ^
The Decian persecution was but short-lived, and
soon died away — only to be succeeded five years later,
in 257, by the yet more terrible persecution of Valerian.
The policy of this Emperor was the same as that of
his predecessor ; the revival and protection of the old
paganism as the uniting bond that held the political
fabric of the Empire together, and prevented it from
breaking up into separate fragments. Christianity as
a disintegrating force hostile to this must be destroyed.
He saw, however, the uselessness of acting as Decius
had done, and of attempting to destroy a world-wide
religion at a single blow. His aim, therefore, was to
proceed by slow degrees, but to destroy the enemy
unrelentingly and without exception.
His first attack was on the bishops and clergy of the
Church, For these death was decreed in every case of
refusal to sacrifice. Next the churches, and even the
burial-places, which till then had remained unmolested
under the sanction of the laws, were to be confiscated
and destroyed. Christianis non sint areae. Lastly,
those among the nobles and richer men who were
Christians were to be degraded to the ranks of the
people, their property confiscated, and any political
privileges they may have possessed were to be disre-
garded. In this way by striking at the heads Valerian
thought to destroy the whole body. Of the common
people he recked nothing. Deprived of their leaders
and of the clergy on whom their religion depended they
would be unable, he calculated, to maintain an inde-
' Tertullian, " Ad martyres," 2.
44 THE EARL Y CHURCH
pendent existence. In any case, it would be time
enough to attack them when the earlier measures had
been successfully carried through to their conclusion.
Such was the design of Valerian, and in several ways
it differed from all previous attacks on the Church.
For the first time money enters into the question ;
goods are forfeited, families are impoverished, and
the public treasury is enriched at their expense. For
the first time the public property of the Church is con-
fiscated, and the Christians are denied the privileges
guaranteed to all by the common law. For the first
time the poor and simple are left untouched — it was
on them that the worst horrors of previous persecu-
tions had fallen — and the rich and prominent had to
bear the brunt of the battle. The attack was fierce
while it lasted, and the loss to the Church, both in
souls and in property, must have been very great, but
it did not last long. In 260 Valerian was taken cap-
tive by the Persians, his son GalHenus reigned in his
stead, cancelled the edict of his father, and once more
restored to the Church the cemeteries and meeting-
places of which she had been deprived. "And the
land had rest forty years."
The Fourth Century.
At the beginning of the fourth century things had
been so long undisturbed, and Christianity enjoyed
such wide and universal freedom that men had almost
forgotten that such a thing as persecution had existed,
and could at any moment, under laws yet existing, be
called into fresh existence. Churches were built both
in the East and in the West ; Christians no longer
troubled to hide their religion, but professed it openly ;
the chance of renewed persecution seemed so far off as to
be practically negligible. And then, from a blue sky,
THE FOURTH CENTURY 45
came suddenly the greatest and most violent storm
that Christianity had ever yet been called to meet —
the persecution of Diocletian, the fiercest and the last
of the persecutions of the Church. It was the dying
struggle of the old pagan religion, fighting in sheer
desperation for a continuance of its former predomin-
ance. There is little of the old dignified procedure of
outraged law vindicating its majesty. It is rather a
savage war of extermination that spared neither age
nor sex nor character. The idea had got possession
of the dominant party that the only way to destroy
Christianity was to kill the Christians. The very
weakness of which they were conscious was the cause
of the savagery of their proceedings, for they felt that
to spare the Christians was to set the seal to their own
political effacement. It is the invariable position which
leads up to a Reign of Terror, and in this instance we
have no exception to the general procedure.
Each year from 303 to 306 edict after edict poured
forth from authority against the Christians, who by
this time must have numbered nearly half of the
population of the Empire, while in many places, especi-
ally in Asia, they commanded an actual majority.
The persecution assumed the character of a veritable
civil war. Churches were destroyed ; copies of the
Sacred Scriptures and liturgical books were searched
for and burnt ; every person of whatever degree
throughout the whole Empire was ordered to sacrifice ;
priests and bishops were everywhere to be put to
death ; cemeteries were confiscated ; and the property
of recusant Christians everywhere held forfeit to the
State. In some places every scrap of food offered
publicly for sale was sprinkled with water from the
sacrifices, and at the doors of the baths and other
public edifices sentinels were stationed with commands
to insist that all who entered should offer incense to
46 THE EARL V CHURCH
the statues of the gods. The net was cast so widely
that none it would seem could possibly escape it, and
Christian blood, in greater quantities by far than at any
previous epoch, was shed freely for the cause of their
religion. So deeply did the iron burn into the con-
sciousness of the faithful in Egypt that to this day the
Copts and Abyssinians count their years, not, as all
other Christians from the birth of Christ, but from
the accession of Diocletian, the Era of the Martyr's.
At Mastar there has been found an inscription which
commemorates the terrible dies thurificationis^ the
days of violence when all Christians were forced to
offer sacrifice or to die as the result of their refusal.
The persecution bears the name of Diocletian,
though it was not from him that it really proceeded,
Galerius, his colleague and successor on the throne,
would bear the title of persecutor with far better
right, and Maximin, the third of the tetrarchy, was
perhaps the keenest persecutor of all. Diocletian had
abdicated in 305 and Galerius died in 311, but still
the persecution dragged on until the years of horror
had been fulfilled. Then at last came the battle of
the Ponte Milvio ; the victory of Constantine as the
avowed champion of oppressed Christianity ; the edict
of Milan, and the peace of the Church. The long
series of persecutions had come at last to an end, and
after 300 years Christianity had won for herself a legal
right to existence. For centuries had " the kings
of the earth stood up, and her rulers taken counsel to-
gether, against the Lord and against His Christ," ^ but
all to no purpose. So far from exterminating Christi-
anity, persecution had only served to make it known.
Christians in 312 were more numerous than ever.
The blood of the martyrs had proved indeed to be,
* De Rossi, " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1875, pp. 162-75.
8 Ps. ii. 2.
THE RELICS OF THE MARTYRS 47
according to the oft-quoted saying, the seed of the
Church.^
The Relics of the Martyrs.
The Church was not unmindful of the great debt
which she owed to those who had, during the years of
persecution, so faithfully given their lives rather than
be untrue to her teaching. The name of Martyr, at
first applied to any who bore witness for the faith,
became, as years went on, the highest of her titles of
honour. It was jealously kept for those whose blood
had actually been shed, or who at the least had under-
gone rigorous imprisonment and torture ; and it gave,
ipso facto, the right to the religious veneration of
Christians everywhere. Even before their death those
who were about to witness for the faith were held in
such dignity that they might ask what they would
and none could deny them, least of all the Lord for
whom they were about to suffer. Such was the first
origin of the whole system of " indulgences," which
was to grow to so much larger proportions in the
Church. " The martyrs gave grace to those who were
not martyrs, and received the lapsed back into com-
munion " (cf. Eus., " H.E.," V. i. 40 ; ii. 7, 8). As soon
as a martyr was thrown into prison, others crowded
around him to beg his intercession on their behalf. St.
Cyprian even felt himself bound to protest against the
honours that were paid to them. " What martyr," he
asks, "is greater than God, or more merciful than the
Divine compassion, that he should fancy that we are
going to be preserved by no greater aid than he can
afford us." 2
By Roman law the bodies of those who were
1 Tertull. " Apol.," 50.
'Cyprian, " De Ups.," c, 20,
48 THE EARL V CHURCH
executed were ordinarily given up to the friends of
the culprit. Joseph of Arimathaea in this way obtained
for burial the body of Christ, and in like manner, in
the earlier persecutions, Christians obtained leave to
gather up for burial the rernains of the martyrs. The
account of the funeral rites accorded to St. Cyprian
will show us with what solemnity it was possible,
even when persecution was raging, to carry out their
burial. They buried him, we read, cum cereis et
scolacibus, cum voto et trimnpko magno. Torches and
candles were carried by his side, hymns and psalms
were sung in his honour as the long procession made
its way to the appointed tomb. There, in the depth
of the earth, in the dark passages or chapels of the
catacombs, year by year and month by month, as the
recurring anniversaries came round in long rotation,
the Holy Sacrifice was ofifered in the presence of the
faithful, above the body of the martyr, as the most
appropriate of all possible altars. When the peace of
the Church made it possible to offer Mass in the light
of day and without concealment, the conscience of the
Church had become so accustomed to the martyrs'
tombs as the only places of sacrifice, that to this day
she orders their relics to be placed in every altar, and
the service of the consecration of an altar is, practically
speaking, nothing else than the burial with all the
accustomed ceremony of a Christian martyr who has
died for his religion.
After the year 258, the year of the persecution of
Valerian, the old clemency which waged no war on
the dead was formally withdrawn from the Christians.
Henceforward the bodies of the martyrs were exposed
to the dogs and the vultures, and every effort was
made to prevent the faithful from obtaining them for
burial. In the persecution of Diocletian the Christian
slaves of the palace were buried as soon as their
THE RELICS OF THE MARTYRS 49
torments were over, but very soon the Emperors or-
dered that they should be dug up and cast into the
sea " because if they remained in their sepulchres very
soon they would be worshipped as deities.^ Datianus,
the governor of Valentia, in like manner ordered the
body of St. Vincent to be thrown into the sea " lest
the Christians should honour his relics as those of a
martyr", 2
Such barbarous treatment of their heroes roused the
Christians everywhere to superhuman efforts to save
the relics. "In the reign of Decius the faithful of
Pergamos ' stole in order to put them in safe custody '
the charred bones of Carpos, Papylos, and Agathonice.'*^
In Valerian's persecution the Christians of Tarragona
broke into the amphitheatre in the darkness and
recovered the still smoking remains of Fructuosus and
his deacons.* Under Diocletian . . . the Christians
disguised themselves as sailors and set out to fish with
their nets for the bodies of Philip and Hermes, who
had been cast into the Ebrus." ^ At a much earlier
time we find the same zeal constantly exhibited, as
for instance, at the martyrdom of St. Polycarp. " We
took up his bones," we read in the letter of the
Smyrnaeans, " bones which are more precious than
precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid
them in a suitable place, where the Lord will enable
us to gather ourselves together, as we are able to
celebrate in gladness and in joy the birthday of his
martyrdom." If nothing more remained the blood
was collected, and handkerchiefs and other objects
soaked in this were solemnly interred. The following
lEus., "H.E.," viii. 6.
2"Passio S. Vincent," lo.
' " Mart. Carpi," at end.
■* " Acta SS. Fructuosi," 6.
* Allard, " Dix Lemons sur les Martyrs ".
50 THE EARL V CHURCH
inscription, found in Numidia, commemorates an event
of this kind : —
. . . DEPOSI
TIO CRVORIS SANCTORVM MARTYRVM.
QVI SVNT PASSI SVB PRESIDE FLORO IN CIV!
TATE MILEVITANA IN DIEBVS TVRIFI
CATIONIS . . .1
In the catacombs the tombs of the martyrs can some-
times be recognized by little vases of blood, vas san-
guine tinctum. These, however, even when accompanied
by the palm branch, cannot be regarded as an infallible
token of martyrdom. The only sign which is really
certain is the word Martyr^ or, at the least the letter M
cut in the stone after the martyr's name. So well was
this recognized in ancient times that persecutors some-
times broke into the cemeteries and effaced the letters
from the graves in order to prevent religious cere-
monies from taking place. But numbers still remain
to us even to-day. In the cemetery of Priscilla, the
most ancient of all, the letter M is all that we find.
The first epitaph that bears a date is in the cemetery
of St. Hermes, the tomb of St. Hyacinthus : —
DP. III. IDVS SEPTEBR YACINTHVS MARTYR.
In 1849 and 1852 De Rossi recovered the two pieces
of the primitive epitaph of St. Cornelius : —
CORNELIVS MARTYR
EP.
At Lyons, to give one of many similar examples out-
side of Rome, there is a stone which records the
burial of a woman of high rank (clarissimd) : —
A TERRA AD MARTYRES.
1 " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1876, plate Hi.
THE TITLE OF MARTYR 51
The Title of Martyr.
The title of martyr with all that it conveyed to the
minds of the faithful was not given lightly. We are
far enough, of course, in those early times from the
modem rules concerning canonization of the saints.
Usually the title to religious veneration was based
simply on popular acclamation. But in the case of the
martyrs care was exercised by the Church authorities
from a very early time. Lists were kept in every
church of those who had died for Christ and whose
memory was worthy of honour. No heretic or schis-
matic, or one who had sought his own death, might be
inscribed upon these lists even if his death for Christ
was undisputed. The right of placing a name thereon
was reserved to the Bishop ; and till this had been
done the title of martyr could not be given. This
process was called vindicatio and was very strictly de-
manded. So at Carthage during the time of the per-
secution of Diocletian, a certain matron called Lucilla
was called in question for having paid religious honour
to one who " though a martyr had not yet been vin-
dicated," cujusdam mortui, etsi Martyris, sed necdum
vindicati} Nor could any stronger proof be brought
of the rigour with which the discipline was enforced
than is afforded by the tombstone of Pope St.
Fabian, which is still in situ in the catacomb of St.
Callixtus. There the title, as any one can see, was not
inscribed at the time, although space was left for it.
There was no doubt of his martyrdom, the clergy of
Rome made it the subject of an encyclical letter, but
there was no bishop to sign the vindicatio, for the see
was vacant and remained vacant for eighteen months.
When at last Cornelius had succeeded, and the vindi-
catio could be carried through, the relics had long been
1 Optatus, " De schism. Dom.," i. 16.
A ♦
52 THE EARL Y CHURCH
buried and the stone was already in situ. Hence,
when the title of martyr was added the two letters
MR were cut less deeply into the slab, lest the stone
should be split by the force which was then applied.
Nothing could speak more eloquently either as to the
greatness of the honour that was thus held to be done
to him, or the care of the Church that such honour
should not be given to any that were not worthy to
receive it (see Plate).
How true it has proved to be that ' ' God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and the weak things of the world to confound the things
that are mighty ".^ The great ones who condemned
them have long since passed into oblivion and no man
recks of their sepulchres, but the martyrs are honoured
and venerated with an honour that grows with the
ages. " We fools accounted their lives madness and
their end to be without honour. But now their lot is
among the saints and they are numbered among the
children of the Highest." ^
»iCor. i. 27. 2Wisd. V. 4.
^....J
Virgin and Child. From the Catacomb of St. Priscilla
From Marucchis "Elements d" A rcheologie" {DescUe, De Brouwer et Cie)
<AMAN0O€TrX^/;P
Epitaph of St. Fabian
From Mariuchi's ''Christian Epigraphy" {Ca7nbridge University Press)
CHAPTER IV.
The Collegia and the Catacombs.
In nothing was the law of ancient Rome more remark-
able than in its care for the memorials and burying-
places of the dead. Such places acquired, by the very
fact that men had been there laid to rest, a quasi-
religious and sacred character. Henceforward no man
might offer them for sale, if by so doing he would
alienate them from the families of those who were
buried there. Even if a whole estate changed hands,
the loca religiosa did not pass with it, and it was never
lawful to deny to any family the right of access to the
tombs of its ancestors. This jealous care was not con-
fined to the burial-places of the rich ; the tombs of the
poor, and even of slaves, could claim the same right ;
nor was the protection of the law refused to the last
resting-place of those who had suffered as transgressors
against it. Only in rare instances was there added to
the sentence of death the further penalty of the denial
of funercil rites. In all other cases all men, once they
were dead, were equal before the law, and it was the
duty of the Pontifices to watch over their tombs and
to see that no man disturbed in any way the arrange-
ments which had been made.
These arrangements for keeping alive the memory
of the dead were often very elaborate. Ordinarily they
included memorial feasts, to be provided out of money
53
54 THE EARL V CHURCH
left for the purpose, and to be eaten at the grave of the
testator. Not seldom it was further enacted that sacri-
fice should be offered, and that those who had bene-
fited by the will should be present at the sacrifice on
certain specified days in every month, or at least in
every year. For these purposes an upper chamber
was often provided above the vault in which the dead
were laid, an edificium superpositum. as it was often
called, which served as the meeting-place on these
mournful occasions. Sometimes land or gardens were
set aside by a testator for the purpose of providing the
entertainment and of keeping his tomb in order and
repair. Here is an actual instance : " These gardens
shall always serve my ashes. I shall appoint guardians
to feast on my birthday on the income they provide
and to throw roses on my tomb. 1 will that they shall
never be alienated nor divided." ^
The Collegria.
Such were the arrangements of the rich in order to
keep their memory from perishing. Poorer men could
naturally do much less than this, but many could and
did make some provision. Some bought themselves
land for a grave while they were yet living, or at the
least a niche in some one of the public columbaria,
where the urn containing their ashes could be de-
posited. But the usual way in which the poorer
Romans provided for their last obsequies was by means
of mutual co-operation. They formed themselves into
burial guilds and societies by whom they could be
cared for after death had taken place. It is said that
the Roman soldiers used to make regular contributions
out of their pay for this purpose ; and it is certain that
* " Corpus Insc. Lat.," v. p. 843. The inscription is at Grazzano.
THE COLLEGIA 55
members of the various trades and professions had each
their own burial clubs.^
Nothing was more carefully regulated in the later
days of the Republic and throughout the times of the
Empire than the right of joining together in any form
of guild or society. Such organizations, it was feared,
might be used for seditious purposes and militate
against the good order and government of the State.
From the days of Augustus onward it was forbidden
to form any new association of a private character
without the special leave of the Senate, which was
very rarely given. Under Trajan such liberty was
even more narrowly restricted. Pliny has left on
record his absolute failure to get permission to enrol
a body of firemen, even though he proposed to confine
their numbers to 150 and promised to be very careful
in making his selection.^
To this general and strictly enforced prohibition
one exception and one only was allowed. It was the
provision to be made by the poor itenuiores) for their
funeral rites. Such men were allowed to meet together
and to make monthly contributions to be applied for
this purpose.^
The classical instance which has come down to us
of such burial clubs among the pagans is to be found
in the celebrated inscription discovered at Lanuvium,
now called Citta Lavinia, in 1 816. It recites the law of
the Senate by virtue of which it was allowed to exist,
and also the special conditions insisted on ; that it
should not meet oftener than once a month, and should
be formed bona fde for the provision of burial facil-
ities. Then follow the statutes of the club. Every
' Brownlow, " Roma Sotterranea," i. p. 66.
" Pliny, " Ep.," x. 97.
^Marcianus, " Institut.," iii. ; " Digest," xlvii. 22, i. Cf. Momm-
sen, " De Collegiis et Sodalitiis Romanis," and De Rossi, " Roma
Sotterranea," iii. 509.
56 THE EARL V CHURCH
member as an entrance fee had to give a keg of good
wine and pay a sum of about sixteen shillings. After
that his monthly subscription was to be about four-
pence. If at his death his subscriptions were long in
arrear he was to forfeit all rights, but if his subscrip-
tions were paid up and he had paid for a long time the
club provided a sum of about thirty shillings out of
which the expenses of his funeral were met Suppers
were to be given on fixed days — including the birthdays
of the founder of the club, and of some of his relations,
and the anniversary of the foundation of the club itself.
Bread and wine and small fishes {sardae) were to be
provided for this purpose. Then follow certain fines
and other regulations for the due management of the
club. The date of the monument is about A.D. 133.
This may serve as a typical instance of the burial
collegia which were existing everywhere in the second
century. Any family or body of persons who had
some common bond of unity might form themselves
into such a collegium and draw up statutes for the
due administration of any property which the colle-
gium might hold. As members of such a college they
gave themselves a new name by which they might be
known. Thus the members of the collegium which
met at the sepulchre of Annius Phylles were known
as the Phylletians, while in another instance they
were known as the Syncratians. These are pagan
instances, but it is quite likely that there were Christian
parallels, and it may well be that this is the true
explanation of a stone which still remains in a beau-
tiful vault in the cemetery of St. Callixtus, which bears
the single word inscribed upon it EVTYCHIORVM.
Christian Burial Guilds.
Indeed it is not hard for us to see how admirably
this law was adapted to the special needs of the
CHRISTIAN BURIAL GUILDS 57
Christians who wanted to find a loophole which would
allow them to meet together for religious worship
without thereby rendering themselves liable to be
punished for unlawful assembly. As we go on to
consider the history of the Christian catacombs we
shall constantly find ourselves faced by details which
seem to show that it was precisely in virtue of this
exception to the general law that these singular bury-
ing-places came into existence.
We must, however, be on our guard against assign-
ing to this system of burying guilds an influence in the
development of Christianity greater than that which
it actually possessed. Mgr. Batiffol ^ has made an
attack on this ground on the whole position on this
point which was taken up by De Rossi, " How could
Christianity," he asks, " being a religion, have concealed
itself under the name of small funeral collegia ? Who
could have been deceived by the device? How could
it have been possible for Christian worship, with its
meetings held every Sunday and often during the
week, to be protected by a legislation which allowed
the collegia to meet only once a month ? How could
Christians who were admitted to communion in any
church they visited, have complied with a legislation
which forbade anyone to belong to more than one
such college?"
Arguments of this kind would be decisive if anyone
were contending that the use of such collegia was the
only way in which Christian worship was carried on,
or that the Christian Church as such applied for re-
cognition in this way. It is no argument at all against
the more moderate position put forward by De Rossi
and maintained by his followers, which is simply that
some Christians at special times of persecution seem to
have availed themselves of the loophole provided by
^ " Primitive Catholicism," pp. 35, 36.
58 THE EARL Y CHURCH
the law. We may admit readily enough that Chris-
tianity itself was neither a collegium nor a collection of
collegia, but it still remains possible and probable that
Christian collegia did exist and quite probably existed
in considerable numbers. Of at least one instance we
have positive proof in an inscription recording a " Col-
legium quod est in domo Sergiae Paulinae^'}
The Catacombs.
From the first, Christians set their faces resolutely
against the pagan practice, which had become almost
general, of burning the dead. "Christians execrate
the funeral pyre and condemn burial by fire," says
Minucius Felix. It became necessary for them, in
consequence, to make provision for the large numbers
for whom burial was needed, and this was done, as
we shall see, in a very remarkable way.
It was not infrequent among the richer and nobler
Roman families for the older custom of burial to be
retained, and a great many monuments have come
down to us which show us the way in which this was
commonly done. The most important are subterra-
nean vaults surmounted by an upper chamber above
ground, and many remain in a more or less dilapidated
condition along the Via Appia and the Via Latina.
But in other cases subterranean chambers and passages
were cut out in the solid tufa rock with horizontal
shelves or arched recesses in the walls upon which the
dead bodies might be laid.
Both these plans were adopted by the Christians in
their turn. The tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, in
the Vatican and on the Ostian Way respectively, were
examples of the first kind, funeral vaults containing
only a single sarcophagus, and in the case of St. Peter's
* " Roma Sotterranea," i. 209.
THE CATACOMBS $9
surmounted by an upper chamber or chapel. The
second plan, however, was that which was almost uni-
versally followed, especially when the commencement
of persecution made a burial above ground increasingly
difficult. It was given so great an extension by the
Christians that it has come to be looked upon as ex-
clusively their own, whereas in point of fact both pagan
and Jewish catacombs are, even now, known to exist.
At the first these catacombs were private burying-
places, on the property of individual Christians. A
few wealthy and charitable persons did precisely what
some of their pagan neighbours were doing, and set
aside a plot of land for their own resting-place and for
the burial of such as they might choose to allow to be
brought there. Hence the oldest cemeteries bore the
names of private persons ; of Lucina, or of Priscilla,
or Domitilla, to name three of the most famous, all
of which bear the names of women of rank ; or, again,
of Praetextatus, or the Coemeterium Ostrianum, so called
from the family of the Ostriani to whom the property
belonged.
All the cemeteries present the same characteristics,
and set the type for the great development which
followed in later centuries. The extent of those now
existing is enormous, and if all the galleries within
three miles of Rome could be stretched out in a
single line it has been computed that they would equal
the whole length of Italy itself. They are cut out
in the rock in various levels, one under another,
with staircases leading from one to the next ; are
about 3, or at most 4 feet in width and 8 or 10
in height All the way, on both sides, the walls
are pierced with horizontal niches like berths in a
ship's cabin, one above another, and every niche was
made to contain one or more dead bodies. Here and
there the galleries widen, or access is given by a door
6o THE EARL Y CHURCH
to a larger excavation, forming a chapel or place of
worship, generally containing the tomb of at least one
of the martyrs. Now and then a tomb may be seen
of a more pretentious character. An arch has been
cut out and recessed in the rock and an oblong space
excavated beneath it to receive one or perhaps more
bodies, and the wall under the arch is often decorated
with paintings. These more costly tombs are known
as arcosolia, and it was upon them, when they con-
tained the body of a martyr, that the Holy Mysteries
were celebrated. The other graves are closed in with
simple marble slabs set vertically, and bearing the
name of the person buried within, with, in many cases,
some Christian emblem or words of aspiration.
In the oldest instances the inscription is often Greek.
At first, as has been said, these cemeteries were
provided by private persons and remained in private
hands. But as years went on this could no longer be
the case. It became necessary for the authorities of
the Church to take the administration of the ceme-
teries into their own hands, in order to make proper
provision for the burial of the faithful, who had now
reached great numbers. By the time of Zephyrinus
this had been done, for we learn from the " Philo-
sophumena " of Hippolytus (ix. 7) that this Pope, in
A.D. 203 or thereabouts, "entrusted his deacon Cal-
lixtus with the government of the clergy and set him
over the cemetery ". One at least of the great ceme-
teries of Rome was, therefore, already the property of
the Church as a corporate body, and this seems to
have been recognized by the State, which could hardly
have been ignorant of the fact. The description given
us by TertuUian of the way in which the management
was carried out shows us that, in fact, advantage had
been taken of the law concerning collegia which has
already been described, and which was the only way in
THE CATACOMBS CONFISCATED 6i
which the Church at this epoch could have ventured
to hold corporate property at all. "Each person,"
he says, "contributes a small sum once a month, or
whenever he likes, and if he likes and has the means
to do it ... All these contributions are, as it were,
pious deposits ; for they are spent, not on feasting,
but on feeding the hungry, or burying the poor, or
orphans, old men and shipwrecked persons ; and if
any are condemned to the mines, or exiled, or in
prison, provided only that it be on account of God's
sect, these also become the foster-children of their con-
fession." ^ The Acts of St. Lawrence provide us with
a well-known instance of the way in which this constant
relief of distress was carried out among Christians at
this period.
The cemetery which we know now as that of St
Callixtus, from the name of its first administrator,
became the official cemetery of the Church and the
most important of all. Other cemeteries also became,
later on, Church property, but this always kept the
predominance, and in it accordingly were laid to rest
the remains of the Popes who died during the next
hundred years, from A.D. 217 to A.D. 314, from St.
Zephyrinus to St. Melchiades, with only two or three
exceptions due to the active persecution which was
raging at the time of their deaths. The first part of
this period was a time of peace, and the Church under
the protection of the law concerning collegia was able
to carry on her worship and to bury her dead without
let or hindrance of any description.
The Catacombs Confiscated.
Then in 2 5 8 came the withdrawal of this privilege-
The Emperor Valerian knew the use that was being
» TertuUian, " Apol.," c. 39.
62 THE EARL V CHURCH
made of the catacombs to carry on Christian worship
unmolested, and to prevent it he excluded Christians
from the benefit of the universal law. We see the
result of his action at once in the communications
made by the Prefects in Egypt and elsewhere to the
Christian bishops. " Neither to you nor to any other,"
wrote the Prefect of Alexandria to Dionysius the
Bishop, " is it permitted to hold assembly or to enter
the places which you call your cemeteries." It
was unlawful to hold assemblies, and, therefore, the
Holy Mass could no longer be celebrated under these
conditions.
The catacombs of Rome still bear the traces of these
terrible years of the persecutions of Valerian and of
Diocletian during which worship was thus proscribed.
Thus we can often trace the precautions which were
taken to protect the martyrs and their relics from pro-
fanation. The bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, as we
have seen, were taken from their tombs at night and
hidden away in the place known as the Platonia at
San Sebastiano. Similar precautions were taken in
the catacombs themselves. Some of the galleries
were filled up with earth and rendered impassable.
Sometimes the lower steps of a staircase were cut off
so as to be full of peril to any who were not in the
secret. Sometimes, again, walls were built to separate
catacombs that had been joined, and fresh entries were
made, hidden in unlikely places and leading to the
shrines only by long and deceptive ways. Every pre-
caution was taken to render surprise difficult and thus
to enable the faithful to meet as before for purposes of
worship.
These elaborate precautions were, however, often
unavailing. Either by the treachery of false brethren,
or in some other way, the Roman soldiers not unfre-
quently succeeded in breaking in at the very time that
THE CATACOMBS CONFISCATED 63
Mass was being celebrated. Pope St. Xystus was
thus discovered saying Mass at the cemetery of Prae-
textatus, was hurried off to the seat of judgment, and
then was brought back to the place of the Mass and
there beheaded. On another occasion on the Via
Salaria, when a great multitude of the faithful had
been seen to enter the catacomb to venerate the
tombs of St. Chrysanthus and St. Daria, the entrance
was hurriedly built up by the Roman soldiers and
great masses of earth were heaped in front of it, so
that all who were within perished miserably by starva-
tion. Long afterwards St. Damasus, touched by the
piteous tale, sought for and discovered the spot, and
found there not only the relics of the martyrs — skele-
tons of men, women, andchildren lying on the floor —
but even the silver cruets they had taken with them
for the offering of the Mass. He would not have them
touched, but left all as a memorial of Christian for-
titude, and they could still be seen through a window
in the sixth century. It is not even impossible that the
spot may yet again be discovered in our own times.
But except in the few bad years of active persecu-
tion these things did not happen. After the death
of Valerian, Gallienus gave back the cemeteries and
things went on much as before. Indeed the ecclesi-
astical administration became, in the first years of the
next century, still more minutely organized. Mar-
cellus (308-9) is the name especially connected with
these reforms. In spite of the shortness of his reign
and the great difficulty of the times in which his lot
was cast, in the midst of the Diocletian persecution,
he divided up the tituli or parish churches into seven
regions, and connected them with the cemeteries, so that
each parish had its own burying-place. Henceforward
the priests of the titulus in the city had the manage-
ment of the cemetery that went with it. We see the
64 THE EARL Y CHURCH
fact proclaimed in many an inscription of the fourth
and later centuries. The following, from the cemetery
of St. Domitilla, may stand as an example : —
ALEXIUS ET CAPRIOLA FECERVNT SE VIVI
IVSSV ARCHELAI ET DVLCITI PRESBB.
Alexius and Capriola made this in their own lifetime,
with the permission of Archelaus and Dulcitus the
priests.
The Fossors.
The excavation and keeping in repair of all these
miles of galleries demanded an immense deal of
labour, and this was given over to a particular class
of men, the fossores or diggers, who carried out their
charge with great difficulty and self-denial because of
the want of air and the pestilential atmosphere in
which they laboured. Hence they were always re-
garded as worthy of especial honour, as sacrificing them-
selves for the common good. The work was one
which required a good deal of skill and knowledge, as
otherwise the galleries would continually have been
breaking into one another, and great confusion would
have resulted. It was no mere hard and unpleasant
labour that they performed, but a highly skilled and
technical art, which had its own special danger in the
risk of martyrdom inseparable from it. Hence they
ranked immediately after the clergy, and were well-
known and trusted officials of the Church, charged
with the important duty of caring for the tombs of
the martyrs and those of others who were buried
within the area of their charge.
There is a very famous tomb in the cemetery of
St. Domitilla which bears on it the representation of
THE FOSSORS 65
one of these y^j-j<?rj, Diogenes by name. He bears the
pickaxe on his shoulder, the special sign of his office,
by which \hQfossors may always be recognized in any
representation of the period, and is surrounded by
the implements of his craft, hatchet and hammer, chisel
and compasses, mallet and lamp. It bears the inscrip-
tion : " Diogenes the Fossor, buried in peace ".
At a later date, after the peace of the Church and
towards the end of the fourth century we find the
fossors apparently almost in the position of owners of
the catacombs, selling the graves and registering the
title to them. But in earlier times there is no trace
of this, and rich and poor seem for the most part to
have been laid in similar graves, and without payment
of any kind. It is another evidence for the existence
of the collegia, of which we have spoken.
But this last carries us on to later years than our
present subject allows. For the present it must suffice
to have sketched out in outline the circumstances
which brought the catacombs into existence, and en-
abled them to be carried on for the use of the Church
and the preservation of her worship. To the religious
services of the catacombs how much do we owe of
that which we are enjoying to-day. The whole Chris-
tian calendar as regards the anniversaries of saints had
its rise in the meetings at the tomb of the Martyr on the
natalitia or anniversary of his martyrdom ; the relics
of the saints built into every Catholic altar carry us
back to the times when their tombs were the only
places where Mass could lawfully be celebrated ; the
consecration of a new altar to this day takes the
aspect of the burial of a martyr. The lights in our
churches, especially at the reading of the Gospel at
High Mass and in the course of processions, have, in
the opinion of many, no other origin than the darkness
of the subterranean chapels in which Mass was then
5
66 THE EARL V CHURCH
said. Everywhere, as soon as we begin to make serious
inquiry into origins, we find the glorious ceremonial
of the Church of to-day has sprung from those humble
beginnings which alone were possible for Christian
worship when it had to be carried on under the condi-
tions of persecution, in subterranean vaults and chapels
excavated far down in the very bowels of the earth.
CHAPTER V.
The Christianizing of Rome.
The fierce battle between the old paganism and the
new Christianity for the possession of the Empire,
which we know by the name of the persecution of
Diocletian, could not be continued for a very protrac-
ted period. The final issue was really decided before
that persecution ever began, for Christianity was al-
ready, by the end of the third century, too widely
diffused and accepted by too many adherents to be
successfully stamped out. A modus vivendi had to be
reached in one way or another if the Empire itself
were not to perish, weakened as it must have been by
this long internal strife ; and many of the less fanatical
thinkers on the pagan side must have been asking
themselves anxiously, about the year 3 1 2, in what way
such a modus vivendi could best be discovered.
It came, as we all know, by the conversion of
Constantine the Emperor to Christianity. Not that
Constantine thus suddenly and openly avowed his
change of faith. That would have been too dangerous
a thing to do ; nor, perhaps were the Emperor's opin-
ions at that time sufficiently clear and settled to justify
him in such a procedure. At first the whole affair
bore the aspect of mere political expediency, and only
by degrees was it made manifest to how great an ex-
tent the Emperor's own religious beliefs were involved.
67 5*
68 THE EARL Y CHURCH
The whole matter at a later date became obscured by
stories, such as that of the famous vision of the cross
before the battle of the Milvian bridge ; stories which
no doubt have a real historical foundation, but
which have nevertheless been exaggerated, and tend
sometimes to take possession of the imagination and
thus to obscure the true historical sequence of events.
Here archaeology comes in, and is able by indisputable
monumental evidence to fill in some at least of the
lacunae left by the documents of history. It shows us
not so much Christianity triumphing over paganism,
as Christianity and paganism living side by side, both
enjoying the protection and favour of the State.
The persecution had been brought to an end, and
peace had been finally given to the Church by the
famous Edict of Milan in 313. The effect of this edict
was simply to annul the existing laws against Chris-
tianity and to put the Christian religion into the
category of religiones licitae, religions which were re-
cognized and permitted by the State. It put an end to
the condition of affairs which had continued ever since
the time of Nero, according to which Christianity was
not only not permitted to exist, but was absolutely for-
bidden under the strongest penalties ; but it did nothing
further. The issuing of the edict did not mean that
the Emperor had himself embraced Christianity, or
even that he intended to do so. It only meant that
the Christian religion now attained the position which
the Jewish, for example, had always been allowed ;
that it was a permitted religion, whose votaries were
free to worship as they pleased, and to build churches
and own property, not merely by means of legal sub-
terfuges as they had done in the past, but of absolute
right and without any fear of molestation.
This consideration enables us to understand how
it was that the Edict of Milan was the joint act of
THE CHRISTIANIZING OF ROME 69
Constantine and Licinius. Whatever Constantine
may have thought in his heart of Christianity in 313,
Licinius was a convinced pagan. He, at least, had no
leanings towards the religion to which he was thus
giving a legal status. It was a mere political act, the
extension to the Christians, for the common good of
the Empire, of privileges and rights which could no
longer safely be denied to them, and it could, there-
fore, be the act of pagans just as easily and con-
sistently as of Christians or converts.
The edict is divided into two parts. The first lays
down the principle which was to govern future action ;
the second is devoted to a detailed instruction on the
methods according to which the properties which had
been confiscated from the Christians during the years
of persecution were to be given back. Henceforward,
every man, without distinction of rank or of nation-
ality, is to have free choice and liberty in religious
matters ; and he is not only not to be persecuted or
compelled in matters of conscience, but to be left
without any kind of molestation or annoyance. Of
course, the freedom of the Christians is what is aimed
at and intended, but the edict is not openly drawn up
from a Christian standpoint, for if it had been, Licinius
could not have signed it. So there is not even any
explicit mention of the name of God, and the powers
of heaven are spoken of in obscure terms — Quicquid
est divinitatis in sede coelesti, Whatever divinity reigns
in heaven. By these means the object was fully
attained ; the perfect liberty of the Christians was
completely ensured wherever the edict had force and
was not frustrated by the action of Maximin the third
Emperor ; but, at the same time, the personal religious
opinions of Constantine and of Licinius were in no
way compromised.
As a matter of fact, however, Constantine was
70 THE EARL Y CHURCH
already prepared not only to allow the Christians
freedom, but also to give them the benefit of his own
patronage, though he was not willing to go so far as
to undergo baptism and take upon himself the re-
sponsibilities of being an actual professing Christian.
He wrote letters to the Bishops of Africa which implied
that he held the Christian faith. " I, too, expect to
be judged by Christ," he wrote in 313. In this same
year, too, he handed over the palace of the Lateran
to serve as a residence for the Christian bishop and
as a meeting-place for Christian worship ; and it was
there in the next year, 313, that a council was held
against the Donatists and sentence was finally issued.
But still the Emperor, however well inclined privately,
was not openly Christian. The coins of this period,
and indeed of his whole reign, are still entirely pagan,
which is no doubt largely accounted for by the fact
that coinage was a privilege of the Senate, and the
Senate was still overwhelmingly pagan, Constantine
was still Pontifex Maximus and practically supreme
head of the State religion. He could not give up this
dignity without lowering himself in the eyes of a large
number of his subjects, nor could he allow it to be
held by any other. While paganism retained any
strong life at all it was impossible that an Emperor
should not be Pontifex Maximus and keep its regula-
tion in his own hands. That had been seen long
ago by Tertullian, when he said that no man could
be at once Caesar and Christian } But what had
seemed so impossible to the clear-sighted and logical
African, was feasible for a politician of less uncom-
promising character, and the double rdle of Christian
Emperor and Pagan Pontifex was successfully sus-
^ " Apol." xxi. " Sed et Caesares credidissent super Christo, si aut
Caesares non essent saeculo necessarii, aut si Christiani potuissent
esse Caesares."
THE POSITION OF CONSTANTINE 71
tained throughout a period of fifty years both by
Constantine himself and by his sons. It was probably
precisely this political necessity which made Constan-
tine put off his baptism to the very last moments of
his life.
The Position of Constantine.
Even in 313, when he triuniphed over Maxentius,
Constantine had refrained from any actual part in
pagan sacrifices. He gave the people their games and
rejoicings, but there is no mention of any visit on his
part to the Capitol. In 3 1 5, when the Arch of Triumph
was erected in his honour near the Colosseum, the
question of the inscription to be placed thereon brought
up the same difficulty once again. An examination
of it will show how the question was solved by means
of a compromise. He would not admit of the older
phrases such as diis faventibus^ by the favour of the
gods, but, on the other hand, the Senate and the
Roman people would have rebelled against any as-
cription which would openly exclude the ancient
deities. The actual phrase adopted, instinctu divini-
tatis, is capable of interpretation in either way, though
it is certainly more easily explained as referring to the
one true God. But it passed the Senate, as far as we
know, unopposed, and takes its place as the first
explicit statement in an official monument of the
momentous change which had taken place.
Now and again the history of the times allows us to
catch a glimpse of the very difficult position in which
Constantine found himself through the endeavour to
belong to both camps at once, and to be at heart and
by profession a Christian without definitely breaking
first with paganism. The old religion was far stronger
in the West than in the East, and he was able to do
more for Christianity and against paganism at Con-
72 THE EARL Y CHURCH
stantinople than he could at Rome ; a fact which in
itself may have influenced him in setting up his new-
capital. Constantinople was definitely founded as a
Christian city, in contradistinction to Rome which re-
mained chiefly pagan ; almost all the population which
crowded into her became Christian — at least nominally
— and yet even there we find strange outcrops of pagan
ritual. When the city was dedicated in 330 the cere-
mony was only half Christian. The chariot of the Sun-
God was set in the market-place, and above it was
placed the cross of Christ. So also the statue of the
Emperor was allowed to remain in heathen temples
until quite a late period in his reign. Some historians
have concluded from these and similar facts that
Constantine was never wholly Christian at heart, but
really favoured some kind of syncretic religion. The
political difficulties of the position, however, are quite
sufficient to account for all.
We must remember that until 323 Constantine was
not reigning alone, but in union with his colleague
Licinius, who was tending more and more to be in-
clined to favour a pagan reaction. The position of
Constantine was, therefore, peculiarly difficult for these
first ten years of his reign, and it was quite impossible
for him to declare himself in any way an open enemy
of paganism.
The Building of St. Peter's.
All that he could do in these years was to raise up
Christianity and to help it not only to repair the
damage of the last years of active persecution, but also
to show itself in a more dignified way to be at least
the rival and the equal of the State religion. For this
purpose, beyond anything else, a great central cathe-
dral and place of worship was urgently required.
Christianity could not rival the pagan religion in the
«
THE BUILDING OF ST. PETER'S 73
number of her churches — that was obviously impos-
sible— but she might at least have just a few which
could bear comparison with even the finest of the pagan
temples. Until this was done she could never make
an adequate appeal to the minds and imagination of
the people, but must always be content to occupy a
merely subordinate position.
This id^a, coupled no doubt with a genuine desire
to do honour to the Prince of the Apostles, was prob-
ably responsible for the determination, arrived at as
early as 315, to build a vast basilica over the tomb of
St. Peter on the Vatican. It was built in a great hurry,
and in as economical a fashion as possible. The Em-
peror was not yet throwing the whole of his influence
on the side of Christianity. The foundations of the
Circus of Nero were cleverly utilized for the new
church, and this must have saved many thousands
of pounds. The materials, too, were almost entirely
second-hand, and had done duty before in pagan edi-
fices. The notebooks of Antonio da Sangallo the
younger, an architect of the time of the destruction of
old St. Peter's in the sixteenth century, which are
preserved in the Uffizi at Florence, give details about
a large number of the columns, and show us what a
nondescript collection they must have been ; drawn
from every quarry and decorated in every style of art
Grimaldi says that he could not find two capitals or
two bases alike. Many of them bore pagan inscrip-
tions, which showed the uses they had previously been
put to. In one place a bust of the Emperor Hadrian
was visible between two acanthus leaves.
The old pagan edifices were still in active use, and
the collection from such sources of material for a
large building had not become so easy as was after-
wards the case, and this must have hampered the
builders very considerably. Still the building of St.
74 THE EARL Y CHURCH
Peter's marks an epoch, in a way which is less true of
the earHer handing over of the Lateran palace, and
the dedication of its basilica as the cathedral of Rome.
Christians now had a vast edifice of their own ; one
which could in some sort vie with the great pagan
temples ; and they were in consequence able to carry
out public ceremonies with fitting pomp, and to take
their proper place as members of a great and world-
wide religion.
But even after the building of St. Peter's, and
for many a long year to come, Christianity, so far as
externals are concerned, could only take a very sub-
ordinate place when she was compared with the
glories of paganism. It is hard for us to form an
adequate idea of the magnificence of Imperial Rome,
even in its decline under Constantine. The regionary
catalogue compiled by him, about 334, enumerates no
less than 423 temples still existing. When Constantius,
Constantine's second son, came to Rome from Byzan-
tium for the first time in 357, he was utterly over-
whelmed by the greatness of the city. At that time
the old buildings were still intact, and the work of
destruction had not yet been commenced.
Constantine's Later Years.
A period of greater freedom for the Emperor began
in the year 323, when the battle of Chrysopolis put an
end to the reign of his pagan coadjutor Licinius, and
left him alone in undisputed power. Accordingly we
find that a fresh note was struck in his proclamation
to his new subjects in the East. Licinius at the end of
his days had attempted a pagan reaction, and his
doings during this period had now to be reversed.
The situation was in many points very like that which
obtained at the time of the issuing of the Edict of
CONST ANTINE'S LATER YEARS 75
Milan in 313, eleven years before, but the phraseology
is curiously and instructively different. One feels that
the author of the two documents is free, in 323, in a
way in which he was not in 313. The policy, how-
ever, remains just the same. There was no attempt
to reverse the position, and to persecute the pagan.
Constantine made very little difference, all through
his reign, between pagans and Christians. The in-
scriptions at Rome show us a great number of
nobles invested during his reign with such high posi-
tions as consulates or prefectures, while still remaining
prominent members of the pagan religion ; pontiffs,
augurs, and so forth. Hence it is necessary to receive
with much hesitation the statements of Christian his-
torians of a generation or two later, which represent
the Emperor as having declared war against the
temples and forbidden the sacrifices. By that time
Constantine had been elevated to the rank of a
Christian hero, and he was accordingly represented as
having acted as these writers thought a Christian Em-
peror ought to do, without much reference to the ques-
tion whether he had actually done so or not. With
the monuments and inscriptions we are on ground that
is safer than that which is afforded by these state-
ments of the historians.
It is true that in 329 we have a proclamation
directed against soothsayers and tellers of fortunes.
But this and all similar acts of legislation were rather
aimed at acknowledged abuses than interference with
real religious worship. With regard to this last,
even where pagans were concerned, Constantine main-
tained complete tolerance not only up to the death of
Licinius, but also throughout the fourteen remaining
years of his reign. But at the same time he was not
careful to hide his own personal preference for Christi-
anity nor his growing dislike of paganism. Nor was
76 THE EARL V CHURCH
he at all inclined to any general tolerance on the lines
on which most moderns would conceive the idea. He
had no notion of any complete liberty of conscience
which would allow every individual to do exactly as
he pleased in religious matters. More and more the
question presented itself to him as one between the
old State paganism on the one hand, and the Catholic
Church on the other. He had set himself to bring
about a modus vivendi between these two great powers,
so that the Empire might not be devastated by civil
war, and he had entirely succeeded. A policy which
had done so much was not one to be changed, even
though the difficulties inseparable from it might stand
in the way of the Emperor's own realization, of all that
he desired in the matter of religion. But it did not
necessarily mean any kind of toleration for those out-
side the Church, who yet claimed to be in some sort
Christian. For heretics and schismatics of any kind
Constantine had no mercy. Valentinians, Marcion-
ites, Novatians, and Donatists had, none of them, any-
thing to hope for at his hands, except the confiscation
of their goods and the destruction of their chapels.
Their action could only act in the direction of weaken-
ing the Church in the great struggle for supremacy
upon which she had formally entered — the final issue
of which, in spite of the personal patronage of the
Emperor, was as yet very far indeed from being de-
termined.
We may refer to the last years of his life the very
definite statements of the inscriptions at St. Peter's and
in other churches of Rome. At St. Peter's we know
of two, both of them very explicit. One was in the
actual crypt wherein the body of the Apostle reposed,
and probably is there to this day, though the crypt has
been closed and no eye has rested on it for more than
a thousand years.
AFTER CONSTANTINE'S DEATH 77
CONSTANTINVS AVGVSTVS ET HELENA AVGVSTA
HANC DOMVM REGALEM SIMILI FVLGORE CORVS-
CANS
AVLA CIRCVMDAT.i
This is as it stands in the text of the " Liber
Pontificalis," but it does not make sense. De Rossi,
in order to give it an intelligible meaning, suggested
the insertion of the words auro decorant quant between
regalem and simili.
The other inscription was on the triumphal arch
over the altar, where Constantine was himself depicted
in mosaic at the side, offering the basilica, to our
Lord.
QVOD DVCE TE MVNDVS SVRREXIT AD ASTRA TRI-
VMPHANS
HANC CONSTANTINVS VICTOR TIBI CONDIDIT AVLAM »
Whatever he may have done in the crypt where
no unfriendly eye could see it, it would have been
most unwise for Constantine to put such an inscrip-
tion as this openly in any Christian building, at any
rate until after the death of Licinius. It seems almost
more probable that it was not really put there till after
Constantine's own death.
After Constantine's Death.
The picture, then, which we have to make for our-
selves of the Rome of the fourth century is one of two
great religions existing side by side in a more or less
peaceful fashion. The older religion is still the
religion of most of the aristocracy, and of a little more
than half the people ; and is still in undisputed pos-
session of all the old treasures, temples, and monuments
of its earlier greatness. The other and newer religion
J Barnes, " St. Peter in Rome," p. 185.
'" Inscr. Christ," ii. 345 ; see also Barnes, op. cit. p. 164,
78 THE EARL Y CHURCH
is the religion of the Emperor himself, and of the
other half of the population, but not of very many of
the upper classes. It has a few fine buildings and a
great many churches scattered about the city ; but in
the main, and as compared to its rival, it is still a
poor religion and almost Without endowments. But
it is constantly growing, and growing at the expense
of paganism by conversions from its ranks ; growing
even when paganism once more lifted up its head and
attempted fresh persecution under Julian the Apostate ;
growing rapidly and continuously both in power
and in influence and in numbers ; while the opposite
is true, and true ever increasingly, of the older pagan
worship, most of whose members by the end of the
fourth century clung to the old religion much more
through innate conservatism, than from any real con-
viction of its truth or love of its doctrines.
In 408 came the first great attack of the barbarians
from the North, the Goths under Alaric, followed by the
Vandals under Genseric in 455. Then came a long
fifty years of every kind of disaster — scarcity and
famine, pillage and siege, pestilence and massacre.
The old religion had not vitality to stand against such
a series of catastrophes. The fifth century is the
period of its fall and of its final disappearance, a fall
of which we know hardly any details.
In 408 when the Goths appeared before Rome, we
find paganism still apparently vigorous and flourishing.
Externally at least, it was as strong as ever it had
been. Sacrifice was offered solemnly at the Capitol,
and the Prefect of Rome and the whole Senate was
officially present.^ When this availed nothing the
treasures of the temples, still intact and unplundered,
were drawn upon in order to pay to the Goths the
ransom of the city. It was the first great blow of
* Sozomen, ix. 6 ; Zosimus v.
AFTER CONST ANTINE'S DEATH 79
the kind that paganism had received, and from it it
never recovered.
The Goths were Christians after a sort, that is they
were Arian sectaries. The Christian churches, there-
fore, were respected to some extent by them, especially
the basilicas of the great Apostles. The precincts of
St. Peter's, and also those of St. Paul's, were made
into sanctuaries of refuge, and were untouched by
marauders. In any case Christian churches at this
time cannot have offered a booty in any way compar-
able to that which was ready for sacking in the pagan
temples, and this alone will have secured them com-
parative immunity.
When the barbarians returned to their native North,
they left behind them a paganism already writhing in
the agonies of death. Christianity at last had the
field to itself, and henceforth appears as the only re-
ligion of Rome ; but it was a Rome far different from
that of the past. The old splendid edifices remained,
although in a state of ruin, and these one after an-
other were taken possession of for purposes of Chris-
tian worship. Slowly and by degrees, after the lowest
depths of misfortune had been touched at the end of
the sixth century, the new Rome began to arise out of
the general chaos. Had it not been for the Papal See
and the consequent necessity of preserving a centre
for the work of the government of the Church, Rome
might have disappeared almost as completely as Baby-
lon or Nineveh. But this was not to be. As it was
she was spared that final degradation. Henceforth,
accordingly, she is to be known as the Eternal City,
for she now has a title to greatness which cannot be
taken away from her, as the capital of Christendom.
Under Gregory the Great a new Rome begins to come
into being out of the ruins of the old. It is no longer
imperial, the seat of Empire has not been there since
8o THE EARL V CHURCH
330, and will never come back to it again. Rome
papal has come into existence, ruled over by the suc-
cessor of St. Peter, occupying the buildings and filling
the place of the older Rome ; it is a Rome no longer
in any sense pagan — the old heathen deities have
scarcely a single real adherent within the walls of the
city — but a Rome in which all are in union, where
government and people alike profess but a single re-
ligion and aim at a single ideal, the religion and ideals
no longer of the paganism that is ended, but those of
which she is henceforward always to be the centre,
the worship of Christianity and the ethical ideals of the
Catholic Church of Christ.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
The Symbolism of the Early Church.
It would not be possible to get any clear idea of the
true meaning of such relics of the past as the paintings
of the first three centuries on the walls of the catacombs
at Rome without a preliminary study of the symbols
which were at that time agreed on. At a time when
persecution was still constant, and when the Church
was surrounded on all sides by hostile pagans, it was
clearly quite impossible to depict the mysteries of the
Catholic faith in any obvious manner. That was
forbidden if in no other and more formal fashion, at
least by the thought of the reverence due to the
Sacraments of the Church, and by the memory of
our Lord's injunction that men should not cast the
pearls of their faith to be trampled under foot by
swine. Consequently, a whole language of Christian
symbolism came into being, in which all Christians
were duly instructed — a language which to them spoke
eloquently enough, and which was readily available
for the instruction and edification of the youngest neo-
phyte, while to the pagan intruder it told nothing and
seemed to be nothing more than ordinary and some-
what uninteresting decorations,
8i 6
83 THE EARL Y CHURCH
The Old Testament.
The stories of the Old Testament furnished a large
field from which this symbolic language could be
drawn. In themselves they were harmless and free
from danger, so far as persecution was concerned,
since Judaism was one of the permitted religions.
But their significance was not limited to the historical
facts they commemorated. They spoke also to the
Christian of the inner meaning of which those stories
were typical. Thus the figures of Adam and Eve
standing on each side of the tree in whose branches the
serpent is entwined, spoke to them, indeed, of the Fall
of man, but also of the second Adam and of man's
Redemption. So also the picture of Noe and the Ark
recalled the Deluge, but spoke far more eloquently
of the Church outside of which was no salvation ; of
baptism by which men were to be saved from the
flood of destruction and brought into the Ark of safety ;
and of the Resurrection through which men should be
brought to a new heaven and a new earth from which
all danger should be taken away and all persecution
be absent. So, again, the representation of Abraham
and Isaac spoke of the sacrifice of the Cross, and of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; Moses
striking the rock told of Peter and the new Covenant,
in which the waters of baptism gush from the side of
the rock, which Rock is Christ. At Podgoritza (the
ancient Doclea in Dalmatia) a singular glass vase of
the fourth century was discovered some years ago. It
is now in the museum of M. Basilewski at Paris, On
this vase the usual scenes of the Catacombs are drawn,
but their Christian meaning is made clear, in a way
which was not possible during the years of persecution,
by explanatory legends attached to each scene. The
scene of Moses striking the rock is thus commented
S: ^
^ =1,
THE OLD TESTAMENT 83
on : Petros virga perquodset, fontes ciperunt quorere — ^
Peter struck with his rod, the fountains [of grace]
began to flow.
This striking of the rock is not the only scene in
which we find Moses depicted in the catacombs.
Sometimes, perhaps more frequently, he is repre-
sented with the roll of the law, as the means through
whom the Law of God was made known to the Jewish
people. Here again he is a type of Peter, the law-
giver of the New Covenant, and, accordingly, he fre-
quently bears the well-known features of the Apostle.
The story of Jonas is another which is constantly
represented. Here the application is, of course, clear
enough, "the sign of the prophet Jonas". He is re-
presented in three separate ways : as being swallowed
by the whale — as cast up by the whale on the shore
— and as sitting under the gourd. The symbolism of
the first two scenes is clear enough, and was explained
by our Lord Himself (Matt. XII. 40), For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in the belly of the
whale, so also had the Son of Man to be a like time
in the tomb before He could pass to the glories of the
Resurrection. The symbolism of the third is less
obvious. It is interesting to note that the tree repre-
sented is always the melon or gourd, never the ivy
ihederd) of the Vulgate. Rufinus criticized St. Jerome
for this novelty and appealed to these very paintings
of the catacombs to prove his point (St. Jerome, " Epist."
cxii,). The symbolism is apparently of death, or at
least of the uncertainty of human life and the vanity of
human ambitions.
The Three Children in the Fire was another very
favourite subject. The story is one which was admir-
ably calculated to comfort and inspire those who re-
1 Petrus virga percussit, fontes ceperunt currere. For a sketch
of the vase in question see p. 104.
6*
84 THE EARL V CHURCH
called it in those days of constant persecution, when
any might be called upon at any moment to witness
with his life for the faith which he professed. The
same may be said of another subject, which is scarcely
less frequent, the Prophet Daniel cast into the den of
lions. It is hardly necessary to look for any further
symbolism, but the attitude of the prophet, who is
usually represented as an " Orante," in the position of
prayer with outstretched arms, seems to point to a
desire to identify him with the Redeemer, struggling
with the powers of darkness on the Cross of Calvary.
Mythology.
Another field of symbolism was offered by the
legends of heathen mythology. We should have ex-
pected that the early Christians would have shrunk
from exploiting this field when the legends still had
life and power for evil among their heathen neigh-
bours. But it was not so, and we find in the cata-
combs at least one representation of pagan mythology,
placed there, it may be, partly with the design of
misleading heathen visitors as to the nature of the
building in which they found themselves, but mainly
with the idea of edifying the faithful by the inculcation
of the truths of Christianity which it could be used
to illustrate. This representation is that of Orpheus
with his lyre, charming the animals by the music
which he plays. We meet with it in the Catacombs
of Domitilla, of Priscilla, and of St. Callixtus, so that
it is among the most ancient of these symbolic de-
vices, but it is far from common. The Christian
signification is obvious enough. Just as Orpheus by
the power of music had tamed the wild beasts and
brought them to his feet, so also has Christ, the true
Orpheus, tamed and subdued mankind, fallen to the
THE LAMB 85
level of the beasts, by the sweetness of His doctrine
and the attraction of His example.
Animals and Birds.
A still more important field of symbolism is offered
by certain objects of common life, especially animals
and birds. The representation of these could tell
nothing to anyone who was not of the brotherhood,
while to the initiated Christian they could be made to
speak with the utmost eloquence and depth of mean-
ing. A real understanding of the witness of the
monuments, and the support which they give to
Catholic doctrines, depends so much upon a full com-
prehension of the ideas which these symbols conveyed
to a Christian of the early centuries, that we must go
into some of the more important symbols with a
certain carefulness of detail.
The Lamb.
The lamb is used as a symbol sometimes of our
Blessed Lord, sometimes of the faithful Christian. It
is most common in the frescoes, which are among the
most frequent of all, representing the Good Shepherd
carrying a lamb on His shoulders while two others
run at His side. There is an ancient prayer recorded
by Muratori ("Lit. Rom. Vet" i. 751) which explains
the meaning of this picture very beautifully : " We
pray God ... to grant him a merciful judgment,
having redeemed him by His death, freed him from
sin, and reconciled him to the Father. May He be
to him the Good Shepherd and carry him on His
shoulders. May He receive him among the followers
of the King, and grant him a share of perpetual joy
in the fellowship of the saints." The lamb on the
shoulders of the Good Shepherd is the Christian at
86 THE EARL Y CHURCH
the moment of death, or the sinner just reconciled to
the Church, the two others at His feet are those who
have never strayed or who have already come to the
safety of heaven.
Sometimes the lambs are being watered by the
Apostles, or themselves, again, represent the Apostles,
who surround the true Lamb standing on a little
mount in the midst of them. In the crypts of St.
Lucina is a stone which is one of the most ancient of
all, and dates from the first century. It bears the
lamb lying under an anchor, and is, as it were, a
veiled representation of the crucifix. At Nola a
similar carving had the explanatory inscription, SUB
CRUCE SANGUINEA NIVEO STAT CHRISTUS IN ALBO,
bidding all who saw it to see Christ represented in the
lamb and the cross in the anchor above it.^
One more variation of this symbol deserves special
notice. It consists in the depicting with the Lamb,
or sometimes with the Good Shepherd, a vessel con-
taining milk. The meaning is, of course, that as the
Shepherd feeds his lambs with milk, so also does
Christ feed the souls of the faithful in the Holy
Eucharist. Or, in case the application is specially to
the souls of the dead, the milk must be taken to
symbolize the joys of heaven and the Beatific Vision.
The Ram.
The ram must not be confounded with the lamb in
Christian symbolism, but has a distinct meaning of its
own, founded upon that passage of Genesis in which,
after Abraham had given the proof of his faith and
obedience in his willingness to sacrifice his only son
Isaac, if such should be the will of God, a ram caught
by its horns in a thicket provided the fitting substitute.
^ St. Paulinus of Nola, " Epist." 32, 17, Ad Sever ; Migne, 61, 339.
THE DOVE 87
The ram, therefore, denotes our Lord as the Redeemer,
and St, Prosper draws out the symboh'sm in connexion
with the Crown of Thorns and other details of the
Passion.
The Stag.
Here, again, the meaning is fixed by a passage of
the Old Testament. The allusion is to the Psalms :
As the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so my
soul panteth after Thee, O God (Vs. xli. i). It repre-
sents, therefore, primarily, the Gentile or Jewish con-
verts, thirsting after the waters of baptism, though
sometimes also the stag is represented with the chalice,
and, in that case, the longing is for the refreshment
of the Christian soul by the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist. From the natural timidity of the deer was
drawn the lesson that Christians must fear and shun
moral dangers, or, sometimes, in protest against the
error of the Cataphrygians, that Christians had no
right to seek martyrdom directly, but when per-
secuted in one city must fly to another. Tertullian
uses it in this sense. " I have known some of their
pastors to be lions in time of peace, and deer in times
of persecution."
The Dove.
The dove, as a Christian symbol, draws its signifi-
cance from the story of the Baptism of Christ, and
hence its primary meaning is the influence and work
of the Holy Spirit Thus St. Gregory, in times rather
later than those we are discussing in this book, is
generally shown with a dove on his shoulder, to de-
note Divine guidance and inspiration. The symbol
occurs frequently in connection with baptism, in which
case its meaning is obvious. As a symbol of martyr-
dom it expressed the need of Divine grace to enable
88 THE EARL V CHURCH
the soul to endure suffering. As a secondary mean-
ing, it symbolizes the Church, the organ through which
the Holy Spirit works on earth. When two doves
appear the symbolism may represent, according to
Macarius (" Hagioglypte," p. 220), the Church of the
Circumcision and that of the Gentiles.
On a sarcophagus, or on other funeral monuments,
the dove signifies the soul of a Christian indwelt by
the Holy Spirit, Hence it tells of the peace of the
departed soul, especially when, as is generally the case,
it bears an olive branch in its beak. The reference
here is, of course, to Noe and his departure from the
ark, and hence it denotes faith in the resurrection.
Occasionally funeral lamps were made in the form of
a dove for this reason. Two doves on a funeral monu-
ment often denote the conjugal love and affection of
those who were buried there.
The dove in flight is the symbol of the Ascension of
Christ, and of the entry into glory of the Christian soul.
Similarly, the caged dove denotes the soul detained in
the body and held captive during the period of mortal
life. Speaking generally, the dove as a Christian em-
blem signifies always the Holy Spirit, either personally
or in His works. Hence if it denotes a Christian soul
it contemplates that soul as indwelt by the Holy
Spirit ; and especially, therefore, as freed from the
toils of the flesh and entered into the glory of everlast-
ing happiness.
The Fish.
The fish is by far the most important and the most
frequent of all Christian symbols. Its special attrac-
tion for the faithful is derived no doubt from the famous
acrostic formed from the initial letters of the Greek
word ^IxOv<i. This single word, thus interpreted, sum-
med up the whole of Christian theology concerning
THE FISH 89
our Lx)rd. It told of His name and office, of His
Divine and human nature, of His priesthood, and of
His work as Redeemer. 'Ir)aov<; XpiaT6<;, Oeov Tio^
^QiTTJp — Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour.
Every baptized Christian all over the whole civilized
world knew and constantly made use of this famous
symbol. It enabled them to recognize each other, for
they wore fishes as ornaments or drew them in the
dust when they wished to make themselves known to
their fellow-believers. A little fish, made sometimes
of precious materials, was given to the newly baptized
as a tesserUy to preserve as a memorial of the event and
a token of the character he had newly adopted. All
that the cross means to Christians of to-day was con-
veyed to the minds of the faithful of the earliest cen-
turies by the symbol of the fish. For them the use of
the cross was impossible, it would at once have betrayed
them, but the fish was as full of meaning and at the
same time free from all danger.
The fish is one of the most ancient of Christian
symbols, and occurs continually both in the Fathers and
on Christian monuments. It denotes, primarily, our
Lord, and, secondarily, His followers who have become
His members by Holy Baptism. Thus Origen speaks
of our Lord as figuratively called the Fish, and Tertul-
lian says we are by baptism as little fishes taken out of
the water. St. Jerome says that the fish, in which
was found the stater of the tribute money, represents
Christ who saves all mankind with the price of His
blood. Many Fathers comment in a similar strain on
the fish of Tobias. Thus St. Prosper of Acquitaine
says that " with the interior remedies of this fish we
also are illuminated and nourished ".
The fish is often accompanied by some other symbol.
Sometimes it swims by a ship, indicating Christ who
cares for and watches over the destinies of His Church.
9© THE EARL V CHURCH
Sometimes it carries the ship on its back, as Christ also
sustains His Church. Very frequently it is accom-
panied by the anchor, which denotes the cross, and
then the allusion is to the Crucifixion, or to the suffer-
ings of Christ or of his martyrs. Hence the anchor
comes to have the secondary meaning oihope^ and there
is often an inscription which accompanies it, such as
Spes in Christo — Hope in Christ. The combination of
the fish with bread is of very special importance. The
primary allusion is no doubt to the Gospel story, to
the bread and fishes of the miracle of the four thousand,
or to the broiled fish and bread of which our Lord
partook after His Resurrection. But the early Chris-
tians saw much more in it than this. We shall have
to return to the subject in connection with the sym-
bolism of the Holy Eucharist. The allusion has only
to be pointed out to commend itself to all. It speaks
of the mystic food, which to our senses indeed seems
to be but bread, but in reality is nothing less than
Christ Himself.
The dolphin in particular was chosen as the fish to
be thus represented. It owes its position in this re-
spect to the tradition that it was always the friend and
the saviour of men, and this rendered it particularly
suitable for the purpose. Sometimes it is transfixed
by a trident, and then it represents more particularly
the Passion of our Saviour.
Other Symbols.
The other symbols are of far less importance and
need not take up much of our space. The ship is
always the Church, tossed on the stormy waters of
persecution, or sailing calmly over brighter seas. The
serpent has several meanings. Sometimes it represents
the evil one, in allusion to the fall of man, sometimes the
OTHER SYMBOLS 91
Redeemer, in allusion to the Brazen Serpent lifted up
in the wilderness. Sometimes again the allusion is to
those words of our Lord, "Be ye wise as serpents".
It is sometimes also, but rarely, used as a symbol of
immortality, its habit of sloughing its skin, and emerg-
ing in new and brighter condition being probably
the origin. The palm, then as now, was the symbol
of martyrdom, but it does not invariably have that
meaning. It would not be safe, for instance, to assume
that a sepulchral monument which bears the palm
upon it is necessarily the tomb of a martyr. Eggs
again were a symbol of the Resurrection. Shells of
real eggs have been found in early tombs. Here once
more the symbolism has lasted on, in the form of
Easter eggs, even down to the twentieth century.
We have said enough, without going into any full
or scientific discussion of Christian symbolism in these
early ages, to show how real and vivid was the lan-
guage which they spoke. Now that we have mastered
the main outlines of that language we are in a position
to go on to interrogate the monuments, and to see
whether they have any message for us of the faith and
doctrine of the Church as held in those first ages when
Christians were still so near to the time when our Lord
Himself and His Apostles had been among us as
teachers of the new and final dispensation. We
shall find, if I am not mistaken, that in many details
the witness of the monuments fills out and renders
clearer than before the evidence of the literary remains
of the Christian writers of the period.
CHAPTER 11.
The Witness of the Monuments to the Primacy of
the Roman See.
The writings of the Fathers of the first centuries have
been ransacked again and again for expressions which
may serve to indicate the relations existing in those
times between the See of Rome as the heir to the
privilegium Petri and the rest of the Catholic world.
Nor can it be said that the search has failed. Testi-
monies both clear and numerous have been forth-
coming to prove the fact that from the earliest ages
the Roman Church and its Bishop were regarded as
being in a special way heirs of the commission given
by our Lord to St. Peter, and therefore as being
specially entitled to the reverence and obedience of
Catholic Christendom. These testimonies begin within
the Apostolic age, before yet St. John, the last of the
Apostles, had passed to his reward, and the first of
them is that letter which was written by St, Clement,
as Bishop and representative of the Church of Rome,
to the disordered and troubled Church of Corinth.
This letter is so clear and definite in its statements
on this subject that Protestant controversialists, unable
to evade its force, have found themselves reduced to
speak of it as an instance of the besetting sin of the
Roman Church, in always desiring to force her rule
upon others, breaking out thus early, in the very first
92
MONUMENTS OF THE ROMAN SEE 93
years of her existence. Dr. Salmon speaks of it
plainly as the first instance on record of papal aggres-
sion. The Church of Corinth, however, were so far
from regarding it in this light that they ordered it to
be read publicly in the churches side by side with Holy
Scripture, in the time of public service.
But over and above these formal documents there is
another possible source of evidence on this subject, and
indeed on the whole subject of Catholic doctrine,
which has up to the present time been left compara-
tively neglected. This is the evidence of the monu-
ments, and especially of the paintings and inscriptions
in the Roman catacombs, some of which may still be
seen and read in the very places where they were origin-
ally set up ; while others are known to us, although
the originals have perished, through the care and
labours of archaeologists and others who were able to
copy them before the injuries of time or of wanton
destruction had made it impossible to do so. Every
student of Christian antiquities knows the importance
of this monumental evidence with regard to the history
of Catholic dogma. The detailed statements of the
Fathers are borne out and confirmed by these pictures
and inscriptions, which were originally inspired by the
popular beliefs of the earliest centuries, and some-
times are more eloquent, simple as they are, than the
most fervent passages in the writings which they illus-
trate. They gain a singular power and directness from
the very fact that in them controversy is so entirely
absent, that there is no thought of persuading the
gainsayer or of teaching the ignorant, but that they
are the simple and unstudied expression of the thoughts
and beliefs which were popularly held in those times
and places that now have become so remote to us.
By the nature of the case it is hardly to be expected
that there should be very much evidence of this kind
94 THE EARL V CHURCH
bearing upon the question of Roman supremacy. For
these inscriptions and paintings are, for the most
part, sepulchral in character, and, while we find much
that relates to belief in a future life, and to the relations
of the living with those who have passed before them
into the other world, we cannot reasonably expect to
find in such surroundings very clear statements con-
cerning other doctrines, or of matters of government
and discipline. We shall have, therefore, to content
ourselves in great measure with mere allusions in
symbolical language — allusions which, nevertheless,
may often afford very valuable testimony concerning
the beliefs and feelings of those by whom the repre-
sentations and inscriptions in question were originally
erected.
The Stele of Abercius.
The first piece of documentary evidence on the sub-
ject of the Primacy of Rome is, as we have already
said, a document sent from Rome to the East, the letter
of St. Clement to the Church which was at Corinth.
The first piece of monumental evidence available is,
on the contrary, a sepulchral monument set up
originally in the East, but which after many centuries
has found its way to Rome, and may now be seen at
the Vatican. It is the famous Stele of Abercius, dis-
covered in Phrygia, about thirty years ago, by Profes-
sor Ramsay of Aberdeen, and presented to the late
Pope Leo XIII on the occasion of his Episcopal
Jubilee by the then Sultan of Turkey. It was a singu-
lar coincidence which gave to the world almost simul-
taneously these two long-forgotten testimonies to the
Primacy of the Holy See, each in its own class the
earliest that we possess — the one, the lost conclusion
of the Epistle of St. Clement, found at Constantinople
and published by Bryennios, a learned Eastern prelate ;
THE STELE OF ABERCIUS 95
and the other, the Stele of Abercius, found in Phrygia
and brought to Europe by Professor Ramsay, a member
of the Presbyterian Church, and Professor at the Univer-
sity of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Abercius was a priest, perhaps the Bishop of
Hieropolis in Phrygia in the latter half of the second
century, and was a person of considerable note
among the Christians of Asia, standing forth as the
champion of Catholicism and unity against the Mon-
tanist heresy which had its head-quarters and principal
influence in the province of Phrygia. His epitaph,
which he wrote in his own lifetime and ordered to be
placed upon his tomb, is recorded in his Life, a docu-
ment given by Symeon Metaphrastes, composed at a
much later period, and of little or no value, critical or
historical.
It did not at first attract any great attention from
scholars, because it was discredited by the surround-
ings in which it was placed, and regarded by almost
all as of very doubtful authenticity. Then came the
discovery at Autun, somewhere about the middle of the
nineteenth century, of a marble of very early date in-
scribed with a poem of similar character. This immedi-
ately drew the attention of scholars once more to the
neglected epitaph of Abercius, and it now seemed to
many that it was probably an authentic record which
had actually been seen and copied by the writer of the
Life some centuries later. It is of course by no means
infrequent for genuine records of this kind to be thus
incorporated in works that for the most part are worth-
less as historical material, and a great many valuable
scraps of knowledge have been preserved us precisely
in this way, and by means of a fortunate accident.
In the year 1 88 1 , Professor Ramsay, who was travel-
ling in Phrygia to gather material which might throw
new light on the Acts of the Apostles and the missionary
96 THE EARL Y CHURCH
journeys of St. Paul, discovered a stone on which were
inscribed six verses of the epitaph of Abercius, but
with the name, not of Abercius himself but of Alex-
ander, It was evident, however, that this was not the
original, for the name of Alexander did not fit the
metre, so that the poem could not have been composed
for him, but must have been copied and adapted from
one that was already in existence. The stone was
dated and bore the local year 300, which corresponds
to the year 216 of our era. From this discovery two
points of the greatest importance were at once estab-
lished— that the original epitaph and tombstone of
Abercius must really have existed, and was not the
mere invention of a later century, and that it must
have been composed prior to the year 216, which
brings us back very nearly to the lifetime of Abercius
himself.
But Professor Ramsay's good fortune did not end
here. A year or two later, having returned once more
to Phrygia, he was able to discover two large fragments
of the original inscription itself One of these he took
back with him to Scotland, and the other and larger
piece became the property of the Sultan of Turkey, in
whose dominions it had been discovered, A little
later the Sultan sent his fragment to the Pope, as a
present on the occasion of his Episcopal Jubilee, and
Professor Ramsay then followed suit by presenting his
portion also, so that now the two fragments, once more
united, form one of the greatest treasures of the
Museum of Christian Antiquities in the Palace of the
Lateran.
The poem itself is, of course, written in Greek, and
is couched in the highly mystical phraseology, an ac-
count of which was given in the last chapter, and which
was necessarily adopted by Christians in all similar
cases, so long as the fierce persecution of the early
O ^
J sj
a) •§
THE STELE OF ABERCIUS 97
centuries was still in full vigour against them. It is
not easy to give the full force of it in any translation,
but, that we may not be tempted unconsciously to
strain the meaning in a Catholic direction, we can
hardly do better than adopt the one given by the late
Bishop Lightfoot in his "Apostolic Fathers" (Vol. I,
Part II, p. 480):—
" The citizen of a notable city, I made this tomb in
my lifetime ; that in due season I might have here a
resting-place for my body. Abercius by name, I am
a disciple of the pure Shepherd, who feedeth his flocks
on mountains and plains, who hath great eyes looking
on all sides ; for he taught me faithful writings. He
also sent me to royal Rome to behold it and to see
the golden-robed, golden-slippered Queen. And there
I saw a people bearing a splendid seal. And I saw
the Plain of Syria and all the cities, even Nisibis,
crossing over the Euphrates. And everywhere I had
associates. In company with Paul I followed, while
everywhere Faith led the way, and set before me for
food the fish from the fountain, mighty and stainless
(whom a pure virgin grasped), and gave this to friends
to eat always, having good wine and giving the mixed
cup with bread. These words I, Abercius, standing
by, ordered to be inscribed. In sooth I was in the
course of my seventy-second year. Let every friend
who observeth this pray for me. But no man shall
place another tomb above mine. If otherwise, then he
shall pay two thousand pieces of gold to the treasury
of the Romans and a thousand pieces of gold to my
good fatherland HieropoHs."
The concluding words of this epitaph may, for our
present purpose, be neglected. But the part which
immediately precedes is, assuredly, by no means
unimportant. It tells, in language which, if always
intentionally mystical and veiled, would yet have been
7
98 THE EARL V CHURCH
quite sufficient to convey a clear meaning to anyone
who was accustomed to this manner of speaking,
about the principal doctrines and practices of the
Catholic Church. To a Catholic even of to-day the
words seem so definite and plain that it is very hard
for him to understand that there are many who want
to deny that the inscription is even Christian. Aber-
cius is recording on his tomb the main features of his
faith in order that his fellow-believers may read it and
understand and so be moved to utter a prayer for the
well-being of his soul. He tells us, therefore, of the
Good Shepherd whose disciple he is, whose flock is
but one over all the world, in Phrygia as well as
everywhere else. He tells how the Shepherd is Him-
self sinless, and that His glance penetrates everywhere
so that nothing can be hidden from His knowledge. He
speaks of the universality of Catholicism, as opposed
to the local character of Montanism : " everywhere he
had found fellow-worshippers". Faith had been his
guide, and the writings of St. Paul were in his hands
— his constant companion on his journey. Then, in
words the importance of which can scarcely be over-
estimated, he speaks of the Holy Eucharist ; the food
by which he had been sustained as he travelled. It is
Faith again who gives him to eat and the food is the
mystical Fish, the incarnate God, born of the pure
virgin. There, too, is bread and the mingled chalice.
The passage is most important, and we shall have to
return to it again, as an evidence of the clear belief
of the second century in the doctrine of the Real
Presence in the Holy Eucharist, as also in the doctrine
of late years brought into discussion, of the Virgin
birth of our Blessed Lord. It is important also as
witnessing to the fountain of baptism as the only way
in which access can be gained to the presence of our
Lord in the Holy Eucharist. But before Abercius
THE STELE OF ABERCIUS 99
comes to speak of these doctrines he deals with
another, and one which was in his eyes of particular
importance, since it was just then especially assaulted
in Phrygia. It is the doctrine of the Unity of the
Church and the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff. The
Good Shepherd, who is his Master, "sends him to
Royal Rome that he may see it," or as others prefer
to read the passage, " sends him to Rome that he may
behold a King " or " a Kingdom ". The style of the
whole epitaph demands a mystic interpretation here
also, just as in the case of the Shepherd, the Fish or
the Fountain. It is impossible, therefore, to interpret
it of the Roman Empire or of the reigning Emperor.
Why should the Good Shepherd desire His servant to
study the secular Empire? The whole poem was
intended to be, in the words of Professor Ramsay, " the
imperishable record, amid the most solemn and im-
pressive surroundings, of the testimony of Abercius in
favour of the one and indivisible Church Catholic, and
against the separation and the nationalism of Mon-
tanus ". The " Kingdom " then, if that be the true
reading, must naturally be interpreted of the Church,
the Kingdom of God upon earth, over which the Good
Shepherd Himself was reigning as Emperor. Every
Christian who was familiar with the Gospels would at
once have grasped the allusion. Nor is the interpre-
tation more difficult of " the Queen with golden robes
and wearing golden shoes ". It is the Church of Christ
again, under the aspect of the Bride, and the imagery
is derived from the words of the Psalmist : Astitit
regina a dextris tuts, in vestitu deaurato^ circumdata
varietatibus. It seems impossible to escape from this
conclusion, and indeed no other plausible interpretation
has ever been put forward by those who accept the epi-
taph as being really a Christian monument, though
many, with Lightfoot and Ramsay among them, have
7*
lOO THE EARL Y CHURCH
been content to pass over the subject with but slight
discussion and almost in silence.
But if this conclusion once be granted, how tremen-
dously important is the reference to Rome. In the
mind of this Eastern bishop of the second century, if a
man wishes to study the Church of Christ in her aspect
as a Queen ; if he would familiarize himself with the
working of the Kingdom of God upon earth, it is not in
Phrygia or in any provincial city that he can satisfy
his ambition. No, he must go to Rome, and go in
the spirit of a disciple, and taking Faith as his guide ;
and there in Rome, and in Rome alone, will he find
what he wants to examine. It was precisely because
Rome was the centre and the capital of Christendom,
the throne upon earth of that mystical Queen in the
raiment of gold, because, in a word, " Rome had
always held the primacy," and other Churches were
bound to agree with her propter potiorem principali-
tatem, as St. Irenaeus was saying almost at the same
moment that the Good Shepherd willed His disciple
to come thither, as a humble learner wearing the garb
of a pilgrim. A great deal has been written on this
epitaph of Abercius, as was, of course, inevitable in the
case of so important a monument ; and every endeavour
has been made to interpret it in any other than a
Christian and Catholic manner. But in spite of all
such endeavours, no other interpretation has as yet
been suggested which is not obviously far-fetched and
improbable. It remains, therefore, a most valuable
witness to second-century belief on these great doctrines
of the Church, and its consequent value and impor-
tance can hardly be placed at too high a level.^
^ Those who desire to study this subject may consult the following :
Pitra in •' Spicil. Solesm.," iii. 532 ; De Rossi, " Inscr. Christ.," ii. i ;
G. Ficker in the " Sitzungsberichte " of the Academy of Berlin, 1894 ;
Duchesne in the " Bulletin Critique," 1894 ; De Rossi, " Bollett.
d' arch, crist.," 1894 ; Marucchi, " Nuovo Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1895 ;
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE APOSTLES loi
Representations of the Apostles.
Our next piece of evidence comes from a period
slightly later indeed than that with which we have so
far been dealing, but still often well within the ages
of persecution. It consists of a number of representa-
tions of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul which
have been found painted on the walls of the cata-
combs, engraved on gems or on glass, or carved on
sarcophagi of the third and fourth centuries. These
representations are in almost every case strictly con-
formed to a certain type of feature in their present-
ment of the two great Apostles, and there is every
reason to believe that in them we have traditionally
handed down to us the actual portraits of those to
whom Christian Rome owed so much, and who were
always, from the earliest times, regarded as her
founders and patrons. Even when all the Apostles
are represented it is noticeable that these two are
marked off from the rest, and given a place of honour
and precedence. Sometimes they are seated while all
the rest stand ; or sometimes, in the late compositions,
they are distinguished from the others by means of the
circular nimbus. But what is especially interesting
from our present point of view is that, while these two
are thus uniformly distinguished above the rest, they
are not represented as equal in dignity between them-
selves, but there is always a further distinction by
which St Peter is given a rank superior to his brother
Harnack in " Texte und Untersuchungen," 1895 ; Duchesne, " Me-
langes d'arch. et d'histoire," xv. ; Zahn, " Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift,"
1895 ; " Analecta Bollandiana," 1897 ; " Bessarione," 1898; De Sanctis
in "Zeitschrift fiir Katholische Theologie," 1897; and especially
" Declerq in Diet.".
Among English writers the following should be consulted : Ramsay,
"Journal of Hellenic Studies," 1882 and 1883; Lightfoot, " Colos-
sians," p. 54, and " Apostolic Fathers," Vol. I, Part II, p. 472 seq.^ and
in the " Expositor," 1885 ; Ramsay, " Expositor," 1889.
102 THE EARL V CHURCH
Apostle. It is not merely that he is on the right of
our Lord while St. Paul is on the left. To that rule
there are several exceptions, and it is never safe to
draw any conclusion of this sort as to the relative
precedence of right and left in any monument which
is earlier than the mediaeval period. The question
was finally decided in favour of the dexter side only
by the rise of the science of heraldry.
The mark which most frequently distinguishes St.
Peter in the earliest representations is that our Lord
is depicted in the act of handing to him a roll or a
volume, an act which is sometimes explained by the
accompanying inscription, DOM IN US LEGEM DAT.
Of this class of representation a good many instances
have come down to us. The most famous is, perhaps,
the well-known sarcophagus which came originally
from the Vatican Cemetery, and is now in the Museum
of Christian Antiquities at the Lateran. On this
sarcophagus Christ is shown already ascended into
Heaven, but handing over to St. Peter, as his visible
representative upon earth, the volume of the Law of
the New Dispensation. There is a painting of the
same subject in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla ; and on
a gilded glass, now in the Vatican Museum, the
volume actually bears the title, LEX DOMINI. Most
important of all this class, perhaps, is the mosaic in
Sta Costanze on the Via Salaria, where the whole
parallel is carefully worked out between the giving of
the Law of the Old Covenant to Moses on Mount
Sinai and the giving of the New Law to Peter the
Apostle. From it we see at once what was the real
thought underlying all these representations. All that
Moses was to the Jews — the Chosen Lawgiver ap-
pointed by God, whom it was their duty to obey and
to follow — all that, and more than that, St. Peter was
to be in the Christian communion. He is the Moses
isss3s:s^^ssm
■liaSCTKwSEssaaS*
)^.\
Christ gives the Law to St. Peter
From a sarcophagus in the Laterati Museum
From Marucchi's " I Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense"
(Milan : Ulrica Hoepli)
en ^ 4
<
to «
« vs
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE APOSTLES 103
of the New Covenant, the Lawgiver and Leader of the
Catholic Church of Christ, specially sent and com-
missioned that he may bring the people of God through
the wilderness of earthly life to the Land of Promise,
the spiritual Canaan. No image could possibly have
been chosen which would express more fully and con-
clusively the whole doctrine of the Supremacy of
Peter and of his successors in the Pontifical office.
The giving of the Law on Sinai is not the only
incident in the life of Moses which finds frequent re-
presentation in the monuments of the earliest centuries.
Another attitude in which he is often depicted is strik-
ing the rock and causing the water to flow forth for
the relief of the thirsty multitude. This representation,
again, like all those which are found in the catacombs,
must not be taken as merely historical, but as convey-
ing a second and mystical interpretation drawn from
the words of St. Paul : " And they drank of the Rock
that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (i Cor. X.
4). Moses is the representative, that is, of the authority
of the Church, who draws forth from the Rock the living
stream of Divine grace for the nourishing and refresh-
ment of the souls of her children. Here, again, it is
interesting to note that St. Peter was regarded as the
authority in the Church of whom the type in the older
Covenant had been presented by Moses. It is not
only that the features of the Lawgiver as he strikes
the rock are generally those which every Roman
Christian knew and recognized at once as those of the
Prince of the Apostles, but that the actual name of
Peter is not infrequently inscribed, especially in the
gilded glasses of the third and fourth centuries, as
if to ensure that the application should always be
realized. There are two well-known examples in
the Vatican Library, in each of which the inscription
consists only of the name of PETROS. A still more
104
THE EARL Y CHURCH
notable example, which we have already quoted in
another connection/ is to be found in the well-known
dish, found originally at Podgoritza in Dalmatia, but
Vase Found at Podgoritza.
{From Marucchi's " BUments d'A rchceologU," Descle De Brouwer et Cie.)
now in the collection of M, Basilewski at Paris, on
which the inscription is given in full, PETROS VIRQA
PERQVODSET PONTES CIPERVNT QVORERE — Peter
^ Supra, p. 83.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD to5
struck with his rod, the fountains began to flow. Analo-
gous again to these is a glass which is now preserved
in the British Museum, on which is represented the
Chair of Peter, surmounted by the monogram of Christ.
It has in the background the rock, from which water
is flowing, and on the top of the rock rises the Christian
altar. The whole might well serve as an illustration
of the words of Pope Innocent I to the Fathers of
Africa, when he spoke of the Chair of Peter as being
the source " whence all waters issue and flow through
all the regions of the world as pure streams from a
spotless fountain (Constant, " Epist. Rom. Pont," p.
80 1).
The Good Shepherd.
Another class of representations must next en-
gage our attention. No figure is more frequent or
more characteristic of the art of the catacombs than
that of our Blessed Lord in the character of the Good
Shepherd. He is commonly represented as a beardless
youth bearing a lamb upon his shoulders. But some-
times, as notably in the case of an ancient statue found
in the course of the excavating the lower church of
S. Clemente at Rome, the same attitude was adopted
for the statues of St. Peter, the Shepherd to whom
Christ assigned His flock, and who was charged with
the duty of feeding the sheep and guiding the flock
in the place of his Master. Another important monu-
ment which sets forth the same idea in a slightly dif-
ferent manner may be found in a sarcophagus which
is one of the most beautiful and interesting of those
preserved in the Lateran collection. Christ, wearing
the dress of a shepherd, and carrying the shepherd's
staff in His hands, stands in the midst of the Apostles,
all similarly habited as shepherds, and each one having
in front of him a sheep to represent the portion of the
io6 THE EARL V CHURCH
flock committed to his charge. On the right of our
Lord stands St. Peter, and St. Paul in the correspond-
ing place on His left. The general subject of the
design is evidently the Shepherd of shepherds in the
midst of those to whom collectively He has assigned
the care of His flock. But He turns especially to-
wards St. Peter, and lays His hand as if in benediction
upon the sheep that belongs to him and stands imme-
diately before him. It brings back irresistibly to
the mind the words once spoken so solemnly to that
Apostle : " Feed My sheep," and seems to repeat to
us the truth that the flock of Peter is in a special way
the flock of Christ, and that Peter, more than the other
Apostles, is charged with the care of all and general
superintendence.^
Papal Sepulchres.
The places of burial selected for the earliest Popes
are worth a moment's consideration in this connection.
It is manifest that they were generally considered to
hold a relation to St. Peter, which was quite other
than that in which they stood to St. Paul. The
earliest bishops of Rome were buried on the Vatican
close round the tomb which contained the relics of
the Apostle. There their bodies were found, in the
excavations in 1626, still largely preserved by the
quasi-embalming process to which they had been sub-
jected, and surrounding St. Peter like bishops attend-
ing a council.^ When no more space was available
at the Vatican, the next series of Pontiff's, from Pope
St. Zephyrinus onwards in A.D. 220, were laid in the
so-called Papal Crypt, in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus,
since that cemetery had now become the official pro-
perty of the Church. When this very fact led to its
^ See plate opposite p. 166.
2 Barnes, " St. Peter in Rome," p. 323.
OTHER INSCRIPTIONS I07
confiscation under Galerius in 258, a new burying-
place had to be chosen. This was selected in the
cemetery of St Priscilla, the oldest of all the cemeteries
of the Church, but still protected by the right of
private property. The point of the selection was
that here again there were Petrine memories. It was
the place ubi Petrus baptizaverat, where his chair had
been placed and whence tradition told that he had
governed the Church. If they could not lie close to
his relics on the Vatican, there was no more appropri-
ate spot to be found for the burial of those who had
succeeded him in the exercise of apostolic authority.
But never was any Pope in those earliest centuries
laid to rest where the trophaum of St Paul on the
Ostian Way was visited by the pilgrims who found
their way to the eternal city.
Other Inscriptions.
We turn lastly to the inscriptions of the early cen-
turies to ask whether they have any further light to
shed upon the matter. It must be admitted that, as
regards the inscriptions of the earliest centuries — of all
the inscriptions, that is — which date from the times of
persecution, there is little or nothing to be gathered ger-
mane to our present inquiry. The sepulchral inscrip-
tions of this period which mark out the tombs of the
Pontiffs are remarkable chiefly for their brevity and
simplicity. CORNELIVS MARTYR EP may stand as a
specimen of the later ones, while the earliest of all are
exactly of the same character and only differ by being
inscribed in Greek characters. The title of Papa is
given to a Patriarch of Alexandria at an earlier date
than, as far as we know, it was applied to the Bishop of
Rome ; and that of Pontifex Maximus is of much later
date, and even to the present day is never employed in
any ecclesiastical document. The stone which closed in
lo8 THE EARL Y CHURCH
the sepulchral vault of St. Paul, and which to this day
may be seen under the High Altar of his church, is of
Constantinian date, but is inscribed simply with the
three words PAULO APOSTOLO MARTYRI. There must
have been some such inscription in earlier days both
over his tomb and over that of St. Peter, for we learn
from Eusebius that in his day there were " monuments
of Peter and Paul, distinguished by name, even now
visible in the cemeteries of Rome". But we have
no ground whatever for supposing that the inscription
at the tomb of St. Peter made any reference to his
position as the Vicar of Christ or as Chief Pastor of
the Catholic Church. An inscription in Greek charac-
ters is most probable, altogether similar to that which
Constantine put — or was it renewed ? — above the body
of St. Paul, PETRO APOSTOLO MARTYRI.
But so soon as peace had been given to the Church,
and Christians were free to express themselves openly
on the subject of their belief, we do meet with in-
scriptions which set forth the position of St. Peter and
of his successors as the possessors in the Church of
a primacy of jurisdiction. In the inscription which
Constantine set up over the great arch of the Basilica
of St. Peter, the old symbolism of the catacombs is
clearly referred to, and the Apostle is set forth to us
as the Moses of the New Covenant, leading his people
victoriously to a better land.
QVOD DVCE TE MVNDVS SVRREXIT IN ASTRA
TRIVMPHANS
HANC CONSTANTINVS VICTOR TIBI CONDIDIT
AULAM.
" Because under thy guidance the world rose triumph-
ing to the stars, therefore the victorious Constantine
has built for thee this church."
A little later came St. Damasus, who did so ad-
o
OTHER INSCRIPTIONS 109
mirable a work in preserving for future generations the
various sites which tradition had handed down as
connected with the great events of Catholic history.
Several of his inscriptions have reference to St. Peter,
and set forth his position in no ambiguous language.
At the Platonia in the Catacomb of St, Sebastian —
the place where the bodies of the Apostles once rested
— the inscription claims them both as Roman citizens :
ROMA SVOS POTIUS MERVIT DEFENDERE GIVES.
In the Baptistery at St Peter's he went further, and
definitely claimed for St, Peter the primacy and the
right by Divine appointment of being the centre of
unity : —
SED PRAESTANTE RETRO CVI TRADITA lANVA
COELI EST
ANTISTES CHRISTI COMPOSVIT DAMASVS
VNA PETRI SEDES, VNVM VERVMQUE LAVACRVM
VINCVLA NVLLA TENENT QVEM LIOVOR ISTE
LAVAT.
Two other inscriptions which still remain at Rome
are specially important as setting forth the primacy of
jurisdiction of St, Peter's successors. The first was
found at Sta Pudenziana, and is contemporary with
Pope Siricius, who reigned from 384 to 398, and to
whom it refers : —
SALVO SIRICIO EPISCOPO SANCTAE ECCLESIAE.
The other is still in situ over the great door of the
Basilica of Sta Sabina, inside the church. It is of the
date of the Council of Ephesus, and refers to that
Pope St, Celestine (a,D, 422-432) whose legates pre-
sided at that Council, and is therefore of very special
importance : —
CVLMEN APOSTOLICVM CVM CAELESTINVS HA-
BERET
PRIMVS ET IN TOTO FVLGERET EPISCOPVS ORBE
no THE EARLY CHURCH
— When Celestine held the Apostolic height, and shone
as first bishop over the whole world.
It is the last piece of evidence we shall quote, and
surely leaves nothing to be desired on the score of
completeness or of clear definition.
CHAPTER III.
The Witness of the Monuments with Regard to Holy
Baptism.
Baptism in the early centuries (when it was not a case
of the children of Christian parents, who, as Tertullian
says, do not become Christians, but are born so) was
always preceded by a period of instruction which was
called the Catechumenate. There was a certain cere-
mony in admitting inquirers to this grade, consisting
generally in prayer with the imposition of hands. Thus
in the life of St. Martin by Severus Sulpitius (" Dial,"
ii. cap. V.) we read that that saint was accustomed to
admit postulants to the Catechumenate wherever he
might be, even in the open fields, by laying his hand
on each of them. Some of the ancient liturgical books
have a rite appointed for this purpose, under the title
" Ad Christianum faciendum ".
This Catechumenate lasted for a considerable period.
In the second and third centuries it was extended
generally to three years, and this period is laid down
in the "Apostolical Constitutions" (viii. c. 32), with
the proviso, however, that it might be shortened in
special cases. If a catechumen fell seriously ill during
this period, and was in danger of death, he was at once
baptized. St. Basil, for instance (" Epist.," 176), writes
to the wife of Arintheus, a Roman praetor, saying that
he baptized him although only a catechumen, because
he was in danger of dying.
1 1 2 THE EARL V CHURCH
There were various grades in the Catechumenate.
The audientes^ or hearers, were admitted to the church to
hear the lessons from Holy Scripture and the Homily,
but to nothing else. It was for these that St. Augustine
wrote his work, " De catechizandis rudibus," and we
can gather from that book how far their instruction
had to go before they were admitted to the next grade,
that of the Genuflectentes, or kneelers. These were ad-
mitted to the prayers and received the blessing of the
Bishop. There was a special place in the Mass beyond
which they might not stay, and the earlier portion of
the Liturgy hence acquired the name of Missa Cate-
chumenorum. Lastly, there were the Competentes who
were ready and anxious for the Sacrament, and to
these, at last, was taught the mystery of the Holy
Trinity and the Sacrament of Penance.
Baptism was usually conferred on converts only on
one or at most on two occasions in the year, on Holy
Saturday and the Eve of Pentecost. The whole of
Lent was in some sort a special preparation, and was
fasted rigorously by those who were candidates. The
new name, the Christian name as we still say, the im-
position of which was held to imply the acceptance
of Christian obligations, was given on the fourth Sun-
day of Lent in the West (Aug. " Serm.," ccxiii.),
and on the second Sunday in the East (Cyril., " Hier.
Catech.," iii.). It marked yet another stage in the long
preparation. The next step was the confession of sins
made to the Bishop, which took place about Passion
Sunday, and was followed by the Scrutiny, a ceremony
which lasted for seven days. On each day the cate-
chumens came to the church, bareheaded and bare-
footed, and took their stand in the appointed place.
Then came the exorcists and did their office. They
blew three times in the face of each, and then touched
their nostrils and ears with saliva, while they recited
THE METHOD OF BAPTIZING 113
over them the prayers of exorcism. By the sixth
century there had been added the ceremony of placing
salt in their mouths, and this was then considered an
ancient ceremony going back to the Apostles. So it
may have been introduced long before, although we
have no trace of it (Isid. Hisp., " De div. off.," ii. 20;
Aug., "De nupt. et concup.," Ii. xxix. 50).
Such was the Catechumenate in early times. There
are many inscriptions commemorating catechumens in
the catacombs. Here it may suffice to note one only,
which may yet be seen in the Vigna Vannutelli on the
Via Tiburtina, fixed to the wall of the Osteria in the
place of the bowling-green.
KITE • BIKTOP . KATHXOTMENOC
AITON . EIKOCI . HAPeENOC
AOXAOe . TOT . KTPIOT • IHSOT J
Here lies Victor, a Catechumen, aged twenty years.
A Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Method of Baptizing^.
If we are to trust the references to the administra-
tion of baptism which are to be found in the pages of
the Fathers, we shall almost certainly be led to the
conclusion that the sacrament was always given, in
the case of adults no less than of little children, by the
method of complete submersion, the whole body of
the candidate being plunged under the water, so as to
be entirely submerged at one and the same moment.
No doubt this was what was generally regarded as
ideal, and it is only thus that the full force of St.
Paul's words, " Buried with Him in baptism," could
be realized. But, in practice, although such immersion
8
114
THE EARL V CHURCH
of infants caused little difficulty, it was scarcely pos-
sible to arrange for it in the case of grown men and
women. A great depth of water would be required,
and this, especially in the times of persecution, would
be very hard to obtain, St. Peter himself is said to
have baptized in the Tiber, though the evidence for
this is not very strong. Still, it may have been pos-
sible for him to do so in the earliest years, before the
outbreak of the first great persecution of Nero. After
that date it would have been quite impossible.
It is at this point that the evidence of the monu-
ments becomes valuable, as supplementing and ex-
Baptism of Christ, from
the Crypt of Lucina.
Baptism, in the Gallery
of the Sacraments, in
the Catacomb of St.
Callixtus.
{From Rogers' "Baptism and Christian Archeology," Oxford University Press.)
plaining the evidence of the Fathers. We have in the
paintings of the catacombs a great number of repre-
sentations of the act of baptism ; some depicting the
Christian sacrament and others the baptism of Christ.
Both are valuable evidence for our purpose, for there
is no reason to doubt that each alike would represent
the ceremony as it was ordinarily administered, so that
it might at once be recognized by the faithful who
looked upon it.
The earliest representation of all is in the Crypt of
Lucina on the Appian Way, which now forms part of
the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. It dates from the first
THE METHOD OF BAPTIZING
"5
century or at latest from the beginning of the second.
The scene is that of the baptism of Christ. The Baptist
stands on the right and holds out his hand to a nude
figure moving towards him as if it came out of the
water. The dove is seen on the left of the picture. The
water has disappeared through age, but could not have
been depicted, from the relative position of the figures,
as rising higher than to our Lord's knees, as the Baptist
is apparently standing on dry ground.
Of even greater importance for our present purpose
are two pictures in the so-called Gallery of the Sacra-
ments in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus, These again
are of very early date, somewhere about the year A.D.
200.
In the first the baptizer stands on dry ground to the
left of the picture. He is clothed in a white toga and
lays his right hand on the head of the catechumen,
who is represented as a nude boy. The water rises to
the ankles.
In the second picture the baptizer stands on the
right and has a cloth
round his loins. The
catechumen is again a
nude boy. Both are
standing in the water,
which just covers the
ankles, and the bap-
tizer is in the act of
pouring water over
the head of the boy.
The falling water is
represented by six
large strokes of dark blue paint.
These three are the three oldest representations of
baptism which we possess, and their evidence is of the
highest importance, especially as it is entirely borne out
8*
Baptism, in the Gallery of the Sacra-
ments, in the Catacomb of St.
Callixtus.
1 16 THE EARL V CHURCH
and confirmed by a mass of later representations.^ The
points worthy of notice are these. In every case the
baptizer is clothed. It was not then customary for him
in these early times to go down into deep water with
the candidate, but he stood on dry land, or at most
went into shallow water. Otherwise he would have
removed his clothes. The candidate is in every case
completely naked, for, although the water is not shown
as deep enough for submersion, it was held right that
the bathing should be complete and involve every por-
tion of the body. This was effected, since it was not
ordinarily possible to do it in any other way, by means
of affusion, pouring water from a vessel over the head.
That this was the ordinary way in which baptism
was given to adults in the ages of persecution is made
clear to us again by the evidence of the baptis-
teries or places where the sacrament was administered.
At first any running water was utilized for the purpose,
as we see in the story of the baptism of the eunuch
by St. Philip ; but very soon, as the ritual became
more settled, it became usual to administer the sacra-
ment within doors and usually in a special place
appointed for the purpose. In those cases when the
sacrament was given, as we know was not unusual, in
private houses, total submersion would have been im-
possible, and some such method as that which is
depicted in the catacombs must have been followed,
for want of a bath sufficiently large and deep to make
submersion possible. Thus in the Acts of St.
Lawrence (Surius, "Vit. Sanct," Aug. lo, § i6) the
Saint is said to have baptized Lucillus, a fellow-prisoner.
*' He blessed the water, and, when he had undressed
him, he poured the water over his head saying. ..."
So again in the story of the boy Athanasius baptizing
iSee, for instance, the sarcophagus from the Lateran Museum,
on plate opposite p. 148.
BAPTISTERIES 1 1 7
his playmates on the seashore : he did it by pouring
water over them, not by immersing them in the sea
(Rufinus, "H.E.," i. 14), That this method was the
only one possible in the case of clinical baptisms is
also obvious.
Baptisteries.
It was, however, soon felt that, although the prac-
tice of baptizing in private houses was, of course, per-
fectly valid, and, under the circumstances of the
persecution, very excusable, yet the dignity of the
sacrament demanded a fixed and settled place for its
administration. Such places may have existed in
some of the great private houses, but we have no
certain tradition on the subject, and the evidence seems
to tend in the opposite direction. In the catacombs,
however, there were undoubtedly such places. Boldetti
speaks of several as existing in his days, but only three
are known at the present time.
The earliest of these is the one discovered by Professor
Marucchi in the cemetery of St. Priscilla in 1901, and
by him identified with the place ad nymphas ubi
Petrus baptizavit, though others regard it as only of
the fourth century. The basin can hardly have been
used for immersion, and the sacrament was almost
certainly administered by affusion. The niches for
the lamps are round the chapel and leave the tank
below in darkness.^
The second is in the Coemeterium Ostrianum, close
to Sta Agnese, and was discovered in 1876. It seems
to be of the third century. The water flows into a
hollow cut in the rock which is neither large nor deep,
though exact measurements have not been published.
In the cemetery of Pontianus is another, apparently
^ " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1901, with plan and photographs.
1 1 8 THE EARL V CHURCH
of the sixth century. The tank is about 3 feet
deep but is seldom full. There is an important fresco
of the baptism of our Lord above it.
By the end of the fourth century there were already
regular baptisteries erected in connection with the
principal churches. By far the greater number of
baptisms at this period must have been those of the
infant children of Christian parents, but paganism was
still strong, and there must also have been constant
need for a font large enough to allow of the baptism
by immersion of adult converts. It becomes, therefore,
distinctly interesting to ascertain what was the size
and especially the depth of these fonts, in order
to discover the nature of the ceremony employed ;
whether, in short, complete submersion was considered
necessary, or whether the usual practice after the
peace of the church, continued identical with that
which we have shown to have been usual during
the centuries of persecution. Now the first of all
these baptisteries, and by far the most important of
all, inasmuch as it sets the norm, which all other and
later baptisteries tend to follow, was, of course, the
great round baptistery at the Lateran which was
built by Constantine and still remains. The basin is
octagonal and the depth about 3 feet. Its size is
quite abnormal, as befits the font of the Cathedral
Church of Rome.
This depth of about 3 feet seems to be almost
general in the baptismal fonts of the fourth and fifth
centuries, so far as we can now recover the facts. It
was thus in the font at S. Stefano on the Via Latina,^ as
we can see, although the font itself is almost destroyed,
by the fact that the holes for filling and for emptying the
tank still remain visible. It is circular in shape and
about 6 feet in diameter. So, again, at Naples, in
^ Marucchi, " Elements d'arch, chr^.," ii. p. 200.
BAPTISTERIES 119
the baptistery which was once attached to the Church
of Sta Restituta, and still more clearly at the Cata-
combs of St, Januarius, there are remains of fonts of
the fourth century, the size and depth of which were
almost identical with that at S. Stefano,
Outside of Italy there still exist some ancient fonts
of this period. In Egypt there is one at the White
Monastery (Dair al Abiad), near Abydos. It is about
4 feet across and 3 feet in depth. In Syria there is
one at Tyre discovered in 1874 hy Dr. Sepp.^ It is
2\ feet in depth and seems to be the original font built
by Paulinus in 314. Another was discovered at
Amwas in 1884 by Dr. Schick.^ Here the water
could never have been more that 2 feet in depth, and
the depth would seem to have been even less in the
instance at Beit' Aiiwa, near Hebron, which is de-
scribed by Conder.^ Altogether, the evidence of the
baptisteries seems perfectly clear, and entirely in
accordance with that of the pictures of the catacombs.
Children may have continued to be baptized by total
immersion until a comparatively late period, but for
adults it can never have been practicable. Everywhere
in the earliest ages the practice would seem to have
been invariable. The baptizer, bishop, and priest, stood
at the side of the font and did not go down into the
water. The candidate for baptism, apparently always
at this time completely undressed, stood in the shallow
water and was baptized, thus standing, by a triple
affusion poured upon his head and flowing over the
whole body. In later times the affusion over the
head came to be considered all that was necessary,
and as it was not now thought needful that the
1 '• Meerfahrt nach Tyrus " (Leipzig, 1879), p. 217.
^"Zeitschrift d. Deutsch Palastina Vereins," 1884, p. 15.
^Conder and Kitchener, '• Survej' of Western Palestine," 1883, p,
321,
I30 THE EARL V CHURCH
whole body should be wetted, there was no longer
any reason why the clothes should be removed.
The Doctrine of Holy Baptism.
So far we have considered nothing except the
manner in which the sacrament was conferred in the
earliest times. We have learnt that some of the
ceremonies which we now associate with baptism
itself — the insufflation, the touching with saliva, the
placing salt in the mouth — were originally connected
with the catechumenate rather than with the sacra-
ment, although others, such as the lighting of a candle,
the clothing in a white robe, and so forth, are actually
connected with baptism, and have a very obvious
symbolism. But it is not only upon the ceremonies
of baptism that the rnonuments have a message to give
us. They speak to us also of doctrine, and by inter-
preting the symbolism of the representations of which
we have spoken we can learn much of the belief of
those first ages as to the meaning and efficacy of the
sacrament.
The symbolical representations are of two kinds.
The first kind concerns itself with the striking of the
rock by Moses, and the second with the general
symbolism of the fish.
The figure of Moses never bears the horns of light
with which we are familiar in later representations,
but generally is given the well-known features of the
Apostle St. Peter, the actual name of Peter being
added in several instances later than the peace of the
Church. The meaning of these pictures, therefore,
was, that as Moses, the lawgiver of the Old Covenant,
brought water from the rock for the refreshment of
Israel, so also does Peter, the lawgiver of the New
Covenant, and those who act with him and derive
Moses Striking the Rock
From a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum
From MarucchV s " I Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense'^
(Milan : Ulrico Hoepli)
THE DOCTRINE OF HOLY BAPTISM 121
their authority from him, draw from the side of Christ,
who is typified by the Rock, the sacrament of baptism
for the remission of sins. " This is the water," says
Tertullian (" De bapt," 9), "which from the Rock
flowed down to the people." " The Rock was smitten,"
says St. Augustine ("Serm.," 352), "that grace might
be able to approach us."
In some of these pictures of Moses and the rock we
may see the application driven home by the presence
of one of the faithful with his head under the stream
which gushes from the place where the rod has struck.
He is not trying to drink, which shows that the
symbolism is not connected with the other sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist, but gives himself up to the
cleansing and refreshment supplied by the mystic
stream. It is another argument for the practice, for
which we have already contended, of baptism by
affusion in those times.
The symbolism of the fish is well drawn out by
Tertullian. "Our Lord Himself," he tells us, "is the
great Fish, the true Ichthus — Sed nos pisciculi secun-
dum Piscein nostrum Jesum Christum — but we are little
fishes also, sharing in His nature" (" De bapt," c. i. ;
Migne, "P.L.," i. 1198). The Apostles and their suc-
cessors are the fishermen, according to the promise of
Christ, " I will make you fishers of men " (Matt. IV. 19),
and they draw us out of the water with the hook of
the sacrament. The hook, rather than the net, is
chosen for this symbolism because the sacraments are
administered to individuals, and we enter into the
Kingdom of God one by one rather than as members
of a crowd. In the Chapel of the Sacraments at St.
Callixtus, in the same picture as one of those to which
we have already alluded as showing the act of baptism,
may be seen a fisherman seated on a rock and drawing
out a little fish from the water in this manner.
122 THE EARL V CHURCH
Many are the scenes from the Old Testament which
were enlisted in the same way to teach to the faithful
the mystery of baptism. We find them everywhere
in the catacombs, and their meaning is explained to
us by many a passage from contemporary Fathers.
Noe and the ark is of course obvious in this connection,
and its use is very ancient, since we find it already in
the so-called Greek Chapel at Sta Priscilla, which dates
from the second century. So again the passage of the
Red Sea (cf. i Cor. X. 2) or of the Jordan, suggested
the passage from the darkness of idolatry to the know-
ledge of the Divine law. St. Chrysostom {In dictum
Pauli, Nolo vos ignorari, Migne, "P.G.," li. 247) ex-
plains the symbolism at great length. For St. Hip-
polytus, Susannah is the great type of baptism. The
day when she went to bathe, he says, prefigured the
Pascal feast when in the garden of the church the bath
is prepared for the catechumens burning with desire.
The elders represent the powers of evil from which es-
cape is made through holy baptism (in Dan. I. 16 ; cf
Cyril Hier., " Catech.," iii. 5). The application explains
to us the reason why the story of Susannah and the
elders was one of those most frequently depicted on the
walls of the catacombs.
The inscriptions come to the aid of the pictures,
though, naturally, they are less definite and instructive,
An instance found at Aquileia incised on marble gives
a representation of the baptism of a young girl with
the inscription inNOCENTI SPirito QvEM ELEGIT
DOMinus PAVSAT IN PACE Fl DELIS. It is note-
worthy for two reasons. The first is the vessel over
the neophyte's head, from which the water pours down
upon her. The second is the absolute nudity of the
recipient, in spite of her sex. It shows that the cus-
tom of giving over the details of the baptism of
persons of her sex to deaconesses was not general or
CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM 123
invariable,^ and we recall the words of St Augustine :
" Naked are we born into the world, naked also we
come to the font ; so that naked and unburdened we
may hasten to the gate of heaven. How foolish is it
and incongruous that one whom his mother bore
naked, whom the Church again received naked, should
desire to enter heaven possessing riches" ("Serm.,"
XX.),
Ceremonies connected with Baptism.
In the earliest times on the third day of the Scrutiny,
but later on immediately before the actual baptism,
came the initiation of the catechumen into a further
knowledge of Christian doctrine. Not even yet was
the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist communicated, but
a further step forward was made. Certain pages from
the Gospels were read, the Creed was recited for the
first time, and, most important of all, the Paternoster,
the prayer of the faithful, which might not be said by
any but the initiated, was now pronounced and taught.
Mgr. Duchesne in his " Origines du Culte Chretien,"
thinks that we have a representation of this initiation
in the well-known scene of the giving of the law to
Moses, here again represented generally with the fea-
tures and sometimes with the name of Peter, which is
so frequent in Christian paintings and sculptures of the
period, " Christ is there depicted as seated on a splendid
throne placed on the summit of a mountain from
whence flow the four rivers of Paradise. Around him
are assembled the Apostles. St. Peter, their chief,
receives from the hands of the Saviour a book — em-
blem of the Christian Law — on which is inscribed
DOMINVS LEGEM DAT or some similar device. Above
this group there appear in the azure of the sky the
* " Const, Ap,," iii. 15, 16,
124 THE EARLY CHURCH
four symbolical animals with the four books of the
Gospel, I would not take upon myself to say that this
scene was expressly depicted from the ritual of the
' Traditio Legis Christi,' but there is such a striking
resemblance between the two things, that the likeness
could not fail to have been remarked. Many of the
faithful when casting their eyes upon the paintings
which decorated the apses of their churches, must have
had thus brought before them one of the most beauti-
ful ceremonies of their initiation." ^
Infant Baptism.
Actual infants were, of course, baptized from the first
years of Christianity. We know this from the Fathers,
but the monuments are equally decisive on the point.
Thus Marini ("Arvali," p. 171) has preserved for us
an inscription which commemorates the burial of a
child not yet two years of age whose grandmother
asked and obtained for it ut fidelis de sceculo recederet
that it might die a Christian. But all candidates for
baptism, as about to be born again to Christ, were
spoken of as children and infants. Thus St. Augustine,
speaking of the great orator Victorinus says, senex non
erubuit esse puer Christi et infans fontis Dei — " Old as
he was, he was not ashamed to be the child of Christ,
and an infant at the font of God ". They were spoken
of in these terms for eight days after they had received
baptism, and during this period they continued to wear
the white garments, symbolic of innocence, which had
been put upon them as they came from the font.
The laying aside of these white garments on the octave
of Easter gave rise to the name by which we still know
the day, Dominica in albis. Here again we find proof
of the custom from the monuments, for we have not
^Duchesne, " Origines du Culte Chretien",
INFANT BAPTISM 125
only an inscription in the cemetery of St. Callixtus
which speaks of the baptismal robe which was buried
with a woman who died within the octave of her bap-
tism, but another of the year 463,^ which records the
same thing.
' De Rossi, '* Roma Sott.," iii. p. 406.
CHAPTER IV.
The Witness of the Monuments to the Doctrine of
the Holy Eucharist.
We are by no means without testimonies of the doctrine
of the Holy Eucharist, drawn from the writings of the
Fathers and from other Christian documents. They are
not always absolutely clear, especially in the earliest
years, and this was often due to the Disciplina arcani^
the rule which forbad any explicit mention of these
Holy Mysteries in any writing which could get into
heathen hands.
The most ancient of these testimonies is to be found
in the " Didache," a document of the second cen-
tury at latest, long lost, but recovered in 1883 in a
manuscript of the eleventh century at Constantinople.
Perhaps because of the discipline of which we have
spoken it says nothing of the consecration, though it
mentions the breaking of the bread. The Eucharistic
prayers are to be recited after the Agape, or common
meal. This is a proof of its great antiquity, for already
by the beginning of the second century the change
had been made which placed the Agape after instead
of before the Eucharistic celebration,
A far more detailed description of the Eucharist is
given to us in the " Apology " of St. Justin Martyr.
It was written in a moment of comparative freedom
from persecution, and so the discipline of secrecy was
126
PICTURES IN THE CATACOMBS 127
for the time a little relaxed. He speaks of lections
from the Scriptures, of a homily or sermon, of the
prayer of consecration and of the Communion. In
another place he mentions the kiss of peace, which, he
says, immediately preceded the actual reception by the
faithful.
These passages, with the exception of a long litur-
gical prayer in the Epistle of St. Clement of Rome, and
of a number of scattered allusions in the writings of
St. Cyprian and other fathers, are almost the only
ones during the age of persecution which have come
down to us. The earliest actual liturgies do not go
so far back. The writings of the Fathers after the
peace of the Church have, possibly, to do with a more
developed worship. The witness, therefore, of the
monuments is thus of exceptional interest and im-
portance as furnishing irrefragable proof that the belief
of the faithful, in the days when active persecution
made it impossible for them to set down their belief
in clear terms in writing, was identical with that which
is taught us by the works of the great Fathers of the
Church at a later period.
Pictures in the Catacombs.
According to De Rossi the most ancient of the pic-
tures of the catacombs which are concerned with the
Holy Eucharist is that of the Crypts of Lucina. Here
we have two paintings very much resembling one
another, and placed symmetrically. In each is depicted
a fish on a green background, carrying on his back, or
as Mgr. Wilpert thinks, placed side by side with, a
basket which contains bread, and in addition to the
bread glasses filled with red wine. The allusion is, no
doubt, to the miracles of the loaves and fishes, but the
introduction of the wine emphasizes and renders neces-
128 THE EARLY CHURCH
sary the Eucharistic application. The doctrine of
Transubstantiation could scarcely be more vividly set
forth. In the bread and wine we have the matter of
the Sacrament ; in the fish which accompanies it the
inner reality which the bread and wine become after
consecration ; the true Ichthus^ our Lord Jesus Christ,
It would almost seem that St. Jerome must have had
this very painting in his mind, as of course may very
well have been the case, when he writes to Rusticus
that " nothing can be richer than one who carries the
Body of Christ in a basket made of twigs, and the
Blood of Christ in a chalice of glass " (" ad Rusticum,"
Ep, 125; Migne, "RL.,"xxii. 1085). So again the
Holy Eucharist is called by St. Paulinus " true bread
and fish from living water " (Ep. xiii. ; " P.L.," Ixi. 2 1 3).
Next in importance we must rank the famous paint-
ing in the Greek Chapel at Sta Priscilla, which is
known as the Fractio Pants, and was discovered
comparatively recently by Mgr. Wilpert in 1896.
No one, certainly, has a better right than its discoverer
to explain to us the meaning of this remarkable
picture, which takes us back to the beginning of the
second century and the age of St. Justin. It repre-
sents the actual liturgical action of the breaking of the
bread. The priest is on the extreme left of the pic-
ture, and stretches out his hand to the bread which is
before him. In front of him also stands the cup —
two-handled and massive. Six persons are seated
with him at the table, one of whom is a woman.
Bread and fish are on the table ; five loaves and two
fishes. On each side stand large baskets of bread.
Evidently we have here also an allusion to the
miracles of our Lord. The number of the loaves and
fishes, with the baskets on either side, make that
abundantly clear. But the representation of a banquet
and the chalice of wine make it no less clear that we
PICTURES IN THE CATACOMBS 129
have also a representation of the Holy Eucharist. It
is, indeed, an actual picture of the offering of Holy
Mass, as it was performed in the early second century,
about the year 1 10. The guests have about them an
air of real life, so the picture is not wholly mystical.
In Mgr, Wilpert's opinion we have in it a real
representation of an actual Mass celebrated in that
chapel. Be that as it may, at least the doctrinal
teaching of the symbolism is clear, and the lesson
taught is the same as that of the fish we have just
described — the transubstantiation of the bread and the
wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
There are several other similar representations of
scarcely less importance. One, in the Chapel of the
Sacraments at St. Callixtus, presents to us the tripod
in the midst of the same baskets of bread. The tripod
is thus a new Eucharistic symbol, and no doubt be-
sides representing the Altar has reference to the
Blessed Trinity. It appears with greater definite-
ness in another picture in the same Chapel of the
Sacraments, where the tripod bears the loaf and the
fish, and the priest extends his hands over it apparently
in the very act of consecration. By his side is a female
Orante, representing the Church in the attitude of
worship. This picture forms only one of a series of
three, each of which is of interest in this connection.
The second is a banquet of seven disciples, of which
we will speak immediately ; the third being a repre-
sentation of the sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac. These
two together give us the double aspect of the Eucharist,
as communion and as sacrifice, each of which results
from the consecration which is represented in the first
picture.
The banquet of the seven disciples which forms the
second picture of this group is only the earliest in-
9
I30 THE EARLY CHURCH
stance of a subject of frequent occurrence. Always the
number of the disciples is seven, never more nor less ;
and always bread and fish form the meal that is set
before them. The scene is clearly that recorded in
Jn. xxi. 9, and represents the meal eaten by our
Lord after His Resurrection, at the Sea of Tiberias.
There are no baskets to suggest the miraculous
multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and the diners
are represented nude, as being fishermen. Once again
the Fathers explain the picture, and tell us that the
fish roasted on the ashes is Christ Himself Piscis
assus; Christus passus (K\xg., "Tract.," cxxiii. in Joan. ;
"P.L.," XXXV. 1966).
But this painting is only one type, though an
early one, of a great number of similar representa-
tions of Eucharistic banquets which we find in the
frescoes of this period. Sometimes there are more
than seven feasters, and then the allusion is primarily
to the heavenly banquet, and only secondarily to the
Eucharist. The fish in these pictures is rarely repre-
sented. Sometimes the banquet is of the five wise
Virgins, carrying lighted torches, and here the appli-
cation is the same. There is, however, one very in-
teresting fresco of the second century in the Catacomb
of Sta Domitilla, which we ought not to pass by. It
represents, as may be seen in spite of the bad state of
the fresco, two persons seated at a tripod table on
which is bread and fish. A server waits behind, which
is the peculiarity which distinguishes this picture from
many others. It is developed in others of the third
century, especially at SS. Pietro e Marcellino. Here
we have two women always as assistants. The
inscriptions above them tell us who they are. They
are Peace and Charity, who ought always to be
present at the Eucharistic feast. The legend tells us
their office: IRENE DA CALDA, AGAPE MISCE Ml,
PICTURES IN THE CATACOMBS 131
The word Misce reminds us of the fact, which we
should hardly otherwise have learned from these
pictures, that water was always mixed with the wine
at the Holy Eucharist, because of the belief that this
had been done by our Blessed Lord at the Last
Supper.
Another Eucharistic symbol which we must not
omit to notice is the pail of milk. We find it in the
representations of the Good Shepherd, sometimes on
the back of a sheep, sometimes suspended from the
pastoral staff, and sometimes simply by the side of
the principal figure. In one representation at SS.
Pietro e Marcellino, repeated in each corner of a
vault, is the lamb carrying the vessel, but it is the vessel
and not the lamb which bears the nimbus.^ This
alone would make it certain, were there any doubt in
the matter, that here again we have a reference to the
Holy Eucharist. We may compare the Acts of St.
Perpetua, which are of the third century. She had a
vision of the Good Shepherd, who appeared to her in
prison. He gave her curdled milk to eat, and she re-
ceived it as she had been accustomed to receive the
Eucharist, with crossed hands and answering. Amen,
after reception (Ruinart, " Acta Sincera "). So also
St. Clement of Alexandria uses the same image when
he says that " the Church nourishes her children with
milk, and this milk ... is the Body of Christ "
(" Paedag.," i. vii.).
The grape, which is not rare on sepulchral monu-
ments, has the same signification. We see it especially
in the mosaics at Sta Costa nze. The manna, which
seems so obvious a symbol, especially in view of the
sixth chapter of St. John, is very rare indeed. We
see it, however, in one of the arcosoHa at Sta Cyriaca.
There remains one more representation of frequent
* See supra, p, 8§,
132 THE EARL Y CHURCH
occurrence which has a Eucharistic application. It is
that of the Miracle of Cana. St. Cyril of Jerusalem
asks why, " since the Lord at Cana changed water into
wine, which is akin to blood," it should be thought
"incredible that He should have turned bread into
His Body (" Cat.," xxii. 2). Two frescoes of this sub-
ject survive at SS. Pietro e Marcellino, and have only
recently been brought to our knowledge. In the first,
which dates from the first half of the third century, we
have the usual seven persons, four men and three
women, seated round a tripod table. The ground is
strewn with green leaves. A servant bearing a veiled
dish advances from the left towards the principal
guest. In the foreground Christ touches with a wand
one of six great jars which are before him. There is
no attempt at historical representation, and the miracle
is clearly used as a symbol of the Eucharist. This is
made yet more certain by the symbols of baptism —
Moses and the rock and an actual baptism — which
are on either side. The two great sacraments were
seldom divided in the thought of the time.
The other picture is a century later, and the ap-
plication is clearer. Seven persons again, all appar-
ently men, are seated at a table with the usual tripod
bearing the fish in front. A servant comes forward
bearing a glass filled with wine. The companion
picture represents the multiplication of the bread.
All the instances we have hitherto given are from
Rome, but one other exists in 'the Catacombs at
Alexandria,^ which was discovered in 1864. The
picture is immediately behind the place where the
altar once stood. It is divided into three portions by
trees. In the centre is Christ bearing the nimbus and
seated on a throne. He blesses loaves and fishes
presented by Peter and Andrew, and at his feet are
1 Lowrie, " Monuments of the Early Church," 1901,
■-vt
ira
'Ml
if
Portion ok the Inscription of Pectorivs at Autun
From Cabroi's " Dictionnaire dtArchMogie Chritienne " {Parts : Letouzey et And)
CONCERNING THE HOLY EUCHARIST 133
twelve baskets of bread. On each side were scenes of
banquet. That on the left, much destroyed, was ap-
parently a Eucharistic feast, for we still can read the
words, "Those partaking of the eulogia of Christ".
On the right, in like manner, fragments of inscriptions
prove that the Marriage at Cana was represented.
The application of the whole is obvious enough.
Inscriptions Concerning: the Holy Eucharist.
To the general witness of the pictures of the cata-
combs we must add also the witness of the inscrip-
tions. There are two most notable monuments, both
of them of the second century, and both discovered
far from Rome itself, which beyond all others claim a
careful investigation at our hands. These are the
famous Stele of Abercius, an account of the discovery
of which has been already given in our last chapter,
and a somewhat similar inscription, of a date not very
much later, which was found at Autun in France in
1839. Both are in Greek, and it will be best for our
present purpose to consider them together, as they
mutually throw light upon one another. To take first
the Stele of Abercius. This is the portion which has
reference to the Holy Eucharist : —
" Faith everywhere led the way, and set before me
for food the fish from the fountain, mighty and stain-
less (whom a pure virgin grasped), and gave this to
friends to eat always, having good wine and giving
the mixed cup with bread."
Compare with this the words of the inscription ot
Pectorius at Autun : —
" Celestial offspring of the Divine Fish, fortify thy
heart, since thou hast received in the midst of mortals
the immortal source of Divine love. Friend, rejoice
thy soul with the water that ever gushes forth from
the wisdom that gives treasures. Receive this sweet
134 THE EARL Y CHURCH
sustenance as the honey of the Saviour of the saints,
eat with delight, holding the Fish in thy hands."
It is only by the symbolism of the Catacombs, as
we have already explained it, that we are enabled to
understand what is the hidden meaning of these two
most important inscriptions. Without that key they
would seem, as they must have seemed to hundreds
of the heathen who read them when they were first
erected, utterly meaningless and futile.
But, once we are possessed of the key, the whole
is open to us. We have the fountain gushing from
the rock, the rock that is Christ ; the Wisdom that
gives treasures to such as seek them. From that
water of baptism, which flows from the stricken side of
Christ, we are drawn forth by the rod of the fisher-
men ; little fishes, the offspring of the Divine Fish.
And not merely are we fishes, as sharers in the nature
of that Divine Fish, but we are also fed on fish ; and
faith it is that gives us fish to eat. We hold that Fish
in our hands, for that, as we learn from St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, was the way in which the faithful were wont
in those ages to receive Holy Communion. " Make
thy left hand," he says, " a throne for thy right, which
is about to receive thy King" ("Catech." xxiii. 21).
Faith gives this Fish to her friends always "having
good wine and giving the mixed cup with bread," and
it is only through Faith that we know these elements
to be really the true Fish from the fountain ; the Fish
that was born of a pure Virgin ; mighty and without
spot. The food is sweet as honey, the honey of the
Saviour of the saints ; it is the immortal source of
Divine love, received in the midst of mortals. All
through our lives it is ever with us, on the mountains
and the plains the Good Shepherd gives it to us, and
we are refreshed by it as we pass onwards on our jour-
ney homewards.
CONCERNING THE HOLY EUCHARIST 135
It would be difficult indeed to find a more explicit
and definite exposition of the doctrine of the Real
Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and of the
transubstantiation of the bread and wine to become
His true Body and Blood, than we have here in these
two epitaphs, when once we have been given the key
to their interpretation. They are earlier than almost
all the purely literary evidence that remains to us in
the writings of the fathers. In them we are listening
to the voice of the second and third centuries ; when it
was still impossible to speak clearly on such subjects
because of persecution. Mystical they are, of course,
but not obscure. Indeed they could scarcely speak
more plainly. It is almost with a shock of surprise
that we find the doctrine of the twentieth century, as
it is held and taught in the Catholic Church to-day
thus definitely set out, engraved on imperishable stone,
before a hundred years had passed from the time of
our Lord's Ascension.
These inscriptions of Abercius from Phrygia, and of
Pectorius from ancient Gaul testify to the definiteness
of the doctrine thus held in union in the second and
third centuries by Christians very widely divided by
race and locality. The inscriptions of St. Damasus
at Rome two or three hundred years later have a very
different character. These latter were official monu-
ments, set up by authority in a city which was not yet
Christian, but in which Christianity was already free.
We have seen how in the earlier centuries, all the
essentials of the Catholic belief are already set forth,
although they are shrouded in mystical and symbolical
language. Let us see how the Church spoke at the
end of the fourth century, when she had nothing to
fear from speaking plainly.
Among the stories of the martyrs of the Valerian
persecution there is none morebeautiful and more touch-
136 THE EARL Y CHURCH
ing than that of the boy-martyr Tarcisius. He was
an acolyte ; admitted, that is, to one of the lower orders
of the clergy, and, no doubt, hoping in due time to be
promoted to the priesthood. In this capacity he was
entrusted with the Blessed Sacrament in order that he
might carry it to some place where Christian prisoners
were confined and so enable them to receive Holy
Communion. Perhaps it was thought a boy would
pass unchallenged where a priest would infallibly have
been stopped and taken prisoner. He was not, however,
so fortunate as to pass unnoticed, and was challenged
by the pagans to say what it was that he was carrying.
He would not answer them, nor, being unwilling to
expose the Blessed Sacrament to insult, would he show
them what he had in his possession. They set upon
him with clubs and stones and so ill-treated him that
he died under their blows, but when they came to
search his hands and his garments, they could discover
no sign of anything at all. The Blessed Sacrament
had disappeared. His body was buried by the Chris-
tians in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus, and now rests
in the Church of San Silvestro in Capite. Over his
shrine St. Damasus put up the following inscription : —
TARCISIVM SANCTVM CHRISTI SACRAMENTA
FERENTEM
CVM MALESANA MANVS PETERET VULGARE
PROFANIS
IPSE ANIMAM POTIVS VOLVIT DIMITTERE C/ESVS
PRODERE QVAM CANIBVS RABIDIS C/ELESTIA
MEMBRA
When the evil band sought to profane the sacraments of
Christy borne by holy Tarcisius, he preferred to lose his
life under their blows, than to betray the heavenly limbs
to those maddened dogs.
What in the second century could only be spoken of
CONCERNING THE HOLY EUCHARIST 137
under a symbol, in the fourth could be said plainly.
The bread and the wine, say the earlier inscriptions,
are not what they seem, they are the Ichthus — the
Divine Fish — Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour,
St. Damasus teaches precisely the same doctrine, but
he teaches it in plainer language. The bread and the
wine, as they were to outward seeming, which Tar-
cisius was carrying to the Christian prisoners, were
other than they seemed to be. Had the pagan mob
obtained their wish and succeeded in wresting them
from the martyr as he fell, it would not have been
mere bread and wine, but coelestia membra, the heavenly
limbs of our Lord and Saviour that they would have
outraged. The symbolism of the second century re-
ceives its full interpretation in the explicit words of
the late inscription.
So through the ages the voice of the monuments
sounds forth, bearing witness to the fact that what the
Church teaches and believes now, when a score of
centuries have passed over her head, that also she
believed and taught in the fourth century, in the first
days of the peace of the Church, and that also she
held with no less clearness and certainty while the
storms of persecution were still beating around her.
We could hardly ask for a proof more striking and
unanswerable of the marvellous and unchanging unity
of Catholic doctrine in all ages.
CHAPTER V.
The Witness of the Monuments as to Other Rites
and Ceremonies of the Church.
The pre-eminence of the two great Sacraments, Bap-
tism and the Holy Eucharist, is exceedingly clear in
the catacombs, and there are not many pictures or
inscriptions which deal with the other sacraments and
ceremonies of the Church. It may, however, be worth
while to bring together a few scattered testimonies
which throw light upon the doctrine, or elucidate the
ritual which was practised in those earliest centuries.
Confirmation.
Although, of course, Confirmation is a Sacrament
altogether distinct from Baptism, and in no way neces-
sarily connected with it, it was the custom of the early
Church, in the case of children no less than of adults,
to administer it always in the same function and im-
mediately after baptism had been received. Before
the time of Tertullian no one of the Fathers makes
any explicit mention of Confirmation as distinct from
Baptism, no doubt because of this custom of conferring
both together, but from the middle of the second cen-
tury onwards the distinction is clear. Confirmation is
spoken of sometimes as "imposition of hands," some-
times as " chrism," or as " sealing ". The actual word
138
CONFIRM A TION 1 39
"confirmation " appears first at the Council of Elvira
(Can. xxxviii.), where it is enacted that any who have
been baptized by laics must be brought as soon as
possible to the Bishop that he may confirm them {fer-
ficere possif) by imposition of hands. So also St. Leo
(" ad Nicet " vii.) says that those who have been baptized
by heretics must be confirmed by the invocation of the
Holy Ghost and by laying on of hands. When it
became usual for priests to baptize, and this office was
no longer normally confined to bishops, an extension
of the same reasoning brought about our present prac-
tice concerning this Sacrament.
After the candidate had come up from the font
having received Holy Baptism, he was conducted to
the Bishop, who was seated solemnly upon his throne.
For this reason the place of the cathedra, or Bishop's
throne, in early times was always close to the Baptis-
tery. There is a chair of this kind, cut out of the rock
in the Coemeterium Ostrianum, close to the place where
baptism was administered. So again it was in the
Baptistery at St. Peter's that St. Damasus placed the
Chair of Peter, and he connected it with the ceremonies
there enacted by the following inscription : —
VNA PETRI SEDES VNVM VERVMQVE LAVACRVM
One is the Chair of Peter, one also and true is baptism.
St. Ennodius of Pavia speaks of this chair in terms
which make the connection even more clear. " The
neophytes," he says, " go from the dripping threshold
to the gestatorial chair of the Apostolic confession ;
amid abundant tears called forth by joy the gifts of
grace are doubled " (" Libellus pro Synodo," adfin^.
Another inscription of St. Damasus in the same
Vatican Baptistery makes a yet clearer allusion to
Confirmation, for it speaks not only of the " signing " of
140 THE EARLY CHURCH
the candidates by the Bishop, but also of the " cross "
received by them through that signing : —
ISTIC INSONTES COELESTI FLVMINE LOTAS
PASTORIS SVMMI DEXTERA SIGNAT OVES
HVC VNDIS GENERATE VENI QVO SANCTVS AD VNVM
SPIRITVS VT CAPIAS TE SVA DONA VOCAT
TV CRVCE SVSCEPTA MVNDI VITARE PROCELLAS
DISCE MAGIS MONITOS HAG RATIONE LOCI ^
Here and there we meet with epitaphs which re-
cord the fact of Confirmation, but they are naturally
rare. Fabretti, however, has preserved one which told
how two persons, a husband and wife, named Catervius
and Severina, died immediately after receiving Baptism
and Confirmation from a Bishop named Probianus.
QVOS DEI SACERDVS PROBIANVS LAVIT ET
VNXIT,2
Whom Probianus, the priest of God, washed and
anointed.
Here is another which comes from Rome: —
PICENTIAE LEGITIMAE
NEOPHYTAE DIE V KAL. SEP,
CONSIGNATAE A LIBERIO PAPA,"
To Picentia, a true neophyte, who was confirmed by
Pope Liberius.
Marriage.
The Christian view of marriage in the second cen-
tury is set forth by Tertullian. " Whence," he asks,
"shall I be able to tell the happiness of the marriage
1 " Inscr. Christ.," ii. p. 139.
''Fabretti, " Corp. Inscr. Ital.," x. 505.
^ Oderico, " Syll. vet. inscr.," p. 268.
MARRIAGE 141
which the Church arranges {conciliat), the sacrifice
confirms and the blessing seals." ^ The phrase is
short enough, but it puts us in possession of the facts
that in the second century Christian marriage was not
merely a civil function, but was already regarded as a
sacrament, to be entered upon before the Church, to
be united to the offering of the Holy Sacrifice and the
reception of Holy Communion, and finally to be sealed
by the benediction of the priest.
A sarcophagus was discovered in the Villa Albani
some years ago which gives a representation of a
Christian marriage, a subject which is very rarely met
with in such monuments. The sculpture is a good
deal damaged, and only the right-hand portion now
remains intact. On the right is a male figure wearing
the tunic and pallium, holding in his left hand a
volume, while with his right he grasps the hand of
another figure, which has now disappeared through the
decay of the marble. In the middle, between the two
figures, and beneath the two hands then joined, is an
open book, placed upon a small lectern. Above, be-
tween the two, there appears among the clouds the
bust of the Saviour, who with outstretched arms holds
two crowns which He is in the act of placing upon the
heads of the two figures.^
The monument appears to be of the fourth century
and is, therefore, ithe earliest representation of the
Sacrament of Matrimony which has survived. If the
female figure were still visible we should, doubtless,
find it veiled, for this custom, already in use among
the pagans, was preserved by the Christians. The
open book is clearly that of the Gospel, on which the
promise of mutual fidelity was made. The crown was
a regular part of the ceremony of marriage among the
^ " Ad uxorem," ii. 9.
*Marucchi, " Studi in Italia," 1882.
142 THE EARLY CHURCH
heathen,^ and was at first refused by Christians "^ as
unlawful, but adopted at a later time from the East,
where, indeed, it seems never to have been entirely
disused. The crowns were placed on the heads of the
newly married pair, immediately after the benediction,
and were worn not only till the end of the ceremony
but for eight days afterwards, when the couple came
once more to the church in order to have the crowns
solemnly removed. The ceremony had always more
prominence in the East than in the West, and the
prayers which accompanied the action may be found
in the " Euchologion ".^
The ring as a symbol of matrimonial union was
already introduced, but hardly enjoyed the prominence
which it has at present. It is mentioned by Tertullian,
who speaks of it as the only gold a respectable woman
ought to wear.* Several of such rings have come
down to us bearing inscriptions. Here is one of the
fourth century : —
VENANTI VIVAS IN DEO CVN SERCHA,
Venantius, live in God with Sercha.
Many others could be given.
Under Pope Callixtus, A.D, 218, the Church took a
very important step. The law of the land declared the
marriage between a woman of the highest rank, claris-
sima, and a man of servile condition or a freedman to
be ipso facto null and void. The Church declared such
unions to be in her eyes valid. De Rossi believes
that he has discovered in an inscription at the ceme-
tery of Domitilla a commemoration of such a marriage,
^ Cf. Eurip., " Iphigenia in Aulide,," 905.
2 Cf. Justin M., •' Apol.," ix. ; Tertull., " Apol,," i. 42 ; Clem. Alex.,
" Paedag.," ii. 8.
'Goar, " Euchol.," pp. 396, 400,
«"Apol.,"6.
PENANCE 143
valid in the eyes of the Church though null in that of
the State.^
The ordinary phrase by which those united in Chris-
tian marriage were wont to describe themselves was
as Conservi, Fellow-servants, with or without the addi-
tion of the words Christi or Dei. Thus when St.
Jerome writes to Paulinus about his wife Terasia, he
calls her Sanctam conservam tuam tecufn in Domino
militantetn ^ — Thy holy fellow-servant who fights at thy
side in the Lord. So in many a monument of the
period we find the term used : —
PLOTIVS TERTIVS ET FAVSTINA CONSERVI DEI
FECERVNT SIB! IN PACE. X.
Plotius Tertius and Faustina, fellow-servants of God,
made this for themselves. In the peace of Christ.
Sometimes the same phrase is found in Greek. One
was found in Catania in which the wife styles her-
self:—^
CYNAOYAH EN XPICTH
A fellow -servant in Christ.
Penance.
M. De Rossi held that the representation of the
paralytic, healed and carrying his bed, which we meet
with in the Chapel of the Sacraments at the cemetery
of St. Callixtus, was intended to convey the idea of
penance, just as other pictures in the same series un-
doubtedly did represent the Sacraments of Baptism
and the Holy Eucharist. But this is now generally ad-
mitted not to be so. The paralytic represented is not,
probably, the paralytic of Capharnaum (Mt. ix. 2),
which would make the application obvious, but rather
the paralytic of the pool of Bethesda, and this would
naturally suggest rather baptism than penance. The
1 " Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1880, p. 65. » " Ep„" 58,
' Torremuzza, " Inscr. Sic.," p. 260, 15.
144 THE EARL V CHURCH
subject of penance in the catacombs is in any case rare,
but there is no doubt a reference to it in the most
frequent of all the representations, that of the Good
Shepherd bearing on His shoulders the sheep that was
lost. Of course the reference here again is not ex-
clusive. Christians when they looked upon this
symbol were reminded also of the constant care which
Christ had for His Church in this world, and especi-
ally of His care for each individual soul in the moment
of death, and in the life that lies beyond the grave.
But neither of these applications exhaust the signifi-
cance or even give so full a meaning as does that of
penance ; so that we are justified in considering this to
be the primary and most important interpretation of
the symbol.
It would not be possible here to go into the details
of the system of public penance, as evolved and carried
out in the Church of the first centuries. In any case
death brought an end of such penance, and so it is
seldom noted on the tomb. The only instances which
have come down to us are from Gaul.
Here is one from Aix les Bains, with a consular
date : —
HIC IN PACE QVIESCIT ADIVTOR QVI POST
ACCEPTAM POENITENTIAM
MIGRAVIT IN DOMINVM.
Another from Lyons, also with a consular date : —
IN HOC TVMVLO REQVIESCET BONAE MEMORIAE
RELIGIOSA QVI EGIT POENITENTIAM ANNOS
VIGINTI ET DVOS ET VIXE IN PACE ANNVS
SEXAGINTA GVINQVE.
Funeral Rites and Ceremonies.
As far as was possible the Church reduced the cere-
monies of burial which were customary among the
FUNERAL RITES AND CEREMONIES 145
heathen, inasmuch as many of them were of a character
which it was impossible to reconcile with her own
teaching, or to free from superstitious meanings. At
the same time very much was continued and adapted,
though very often with a different interpretation. Any
one who desires to make an exhaustive study of the
ceremonies of burial as they existed in the early Church,
will do well, in the first place, to familiarize himself
with the customs of the heathen world at Rome at the
same period, and also with those of the Jews. He
will find that much of the Christian ceremonial had its
roots far back in times that were long before the
coming of Christianity.
So soon as the body was cold, and it was quite certain
that death had taken place, the corpse was carefully
washed, and then was laid in linen clothes with spices
and unguents. The whole process recalls the accounts
of our Lord's burial atjerusalem, and no doubt this was
constantly present to their minds. It was carried out
to burial with a good deal of ceremony, even in times
of active persecution, processions being formed with
lights and torches, and clergy following on the way.
These acts of reverence to the dead were not hindered
by the Romans, except during a very few periods, and
the catacombs themselves, as we have seen, were pro-
tected by the common law, and therefore safe from
profanation.
The most important matter connected with the
burial of the dead was, of course, the offering of the
Holy Sacrifice. This was done before the body was
buried, when it was brought to the church. This Mass
was called the Mass dormitionis or depositionis. When
this was finished there came the prayers at the sepul-
chre, and afterwards, on the third, the seventh, and the
thirtieth d lys, there were additional solemn offerings
of the Holy Mass for the soul of the deceased, that he
10
146 THE EARL Y CHURCH
might obtain a merciful j udgment. These Masses for the
dead took place, in the days of persecution, close to the
actual grave in the catacombs. This was the object
of the many little chambers which have been excavated
there. Such little chapels have not to do with the
cultus of the martyrs, but rather with masses for the
souls of those who were buried in the vicinity. In
some cases seats are provided, cut in the rock. The
object of these was to accommodate the relations and
others who assembled there not only to hear Mass, but
also, in conjunction with the clergy, to recite psalms
and hymns for the soul of the departed. We have
thus, already developed in the catacombs, the beginnings
of the whole system of prayer for the dead which has
continued in the Church ever since.
A word ought to be said, before we leave the subject,
upon one of the most difficult and obscure of all archae-
ological and liturgical questions ; the connection,
namely, between the ancient Agape and the funerals
of the dead.
The ancients celebrated in the honour of the dead
certain funeral repasts, which were in their eyes of the
nature of an offering. Such a celebration was con-
sidered altogether a necessary part of funeral obsequies,
without it the soul would lack something in the other
world. The funeral feast was not, primarily, for the
refreshment of the living, it was an offering for the
repose and happiness of the dead. To suppose that
it was merely commemorative would be altogether a
mistake. The wine and the milk were poured out
upon the tomb, nor in the earliest times did any living
person partake of the food that was brought. It was
for the dead, and for the dead alone. Only in later
times did the living share in it at all ; nor, even then,
was the other side lost sight of In the first and
second centuries, although this pagan ceremony had
FUNERAL RITES AND CEREMONIES 147
become a meal eaten by the relations at or near the
tomb, the aspect of an offering for the dead had by
no means passed out of sight.
Under the system of collegia, or burial guilds, which
we have described in an earlier chapter, the funeral
feast was a recognized part of the expenditure for
each member. The survivors met together on certain
regular occasions, and ate a meal in common at their
place of meeting, which was commonly annexed to, or
at least in close proximity to, the spot where they
were buried.
Christians apparently acted outwardly in the same
way as their heathen contemporaries. They, too, met at
the catacombs for their funeral celebrations. As with
the heathen, so also with them, the proceedings had a
double aspect — a feast for the living and an offering
for the dead. The offering for the dead, however,
was in their case no mere pouring out of wine and
milk upon the grave ; no mere sacrifice of an animal
to procure the repose of the dead ; but was the offering,
under the form of bread and wine of the one, true,
pure, and eternal sacrifice for the remission of sins.
And just as our Blessed Lord in instituting the Holy
Eucharist had chosen to do so at a solemn and re-
ligious meal, so also did His followers after Him
connect the Holy Mass with a similar meal taken in
common, which was called the Agape, All Christians
there met together, whatever their degree and rank, and
all shared in the repast. We know very little about
the details of these meetings, all is shrouded almost in
absolute obscurity. But it seems likely that, although
the Agape soon led to abuses, and, consequently, was
separated from the actual offering of the Holy Eu-
charist at a comparatively early date, it was yet kept
in being in connection with funerals by the obvious
advantage it presented. It enabled Christians to
10*
148 THE EARL Y CHURCH
conform outwardly, even in detail, with the law and
practice which regulated the collegia^ and was, there-
fore, of a very real and practical utility which ensured
its continuance long after it would otherwise have
passed into oblivion.
We have in the Catacombs of Domitilla, in the
well-known fresco of the Fractio pants in the Cappella
GrecUy a representation which brings home to us
precisely this double aspect of the celebrations of
the catacombs. On the other hand, it is the Holy
Eucharist ; the symbols of the baskets and of the
fishes prove that no less than the action of the principal
figure ; but, on the other hand, it still has very much
the appearance of an ordinary meal in which the
worshippers are engaged.
But the whole subject is too full of difficulty and too
obscure to allow us to speak upon it with any kind of
certainty.^ It is, however, too important to be alto-
gether ignored in any study of the funeral customs of
early Christianity.
^ For an examination of the whole subject, see the study by P6re
Leclercq in the " Diet, d'arch. chr6tienne," s.v. " Agape ".
CO "^
I
1.1
%) Si
"^ ^ ^i
CHAPTER VI.
The Witness of the Monuments to the Communion
of Saints.
As we wander through the halls of the Museum of
Christian Antiquities, which now occupies the ancient
Palace of the Lateran, and see the walls covered with
inscriptions which have been brought thither from the
various catacombs by which Rome is surrounded, or,
still more, if we obtain the services of a guide and
descend ourselves to those long and dreary passages
excavated by the earliest Christians in the tufa rock,
we can hardly fail to be struck with the wealth of
evidence around us. These stones were never meant
to play their parts in any controversy of doctrine;
they were not intended to be brought into any kind
of prominence, or even to be read by any eyes other
than those of the immediate friends and acquaintances
of the deceased person who is commemorated, and
precisely for this reason they afford the most vivid and
satisfying evidence that is possible to imagine as to
the beliefs and practice in those early ages on the
subject of the Communion of Saints. These men
who cut these touching epitaphs on the stones that
closed in the mortal remains of their dear ones, were
not men who sorrowed without hope. They knew
that those whom they thus laid to rest in peace — the
word itself has additional pathos when we realize the
119
ISO THE EARLY CHURCH
state of persecution and fear in which the survivors
were still living — were not lost to them, but had only
gone before to that place of rest where all in turn
hoped to be permitted to follow them. They made
no picture of a state of mere sleep and unconsciousness,
uninterrupted until the day of judgment, such as
some later Christians have taught is the fate of those
who die in the Lord, but thought of their dead as
living more truly than before, and praying for those
whom they had left behind, but still held in loving
remembrance.
Prayer for the Dead.
We should hardly expect to find in a cemetery such
as are the catacombs any clear statement of belief in
the pains of purgatory. There can be no doubt as to
the belief of modern Catholics on that subject, and
yet a visit to a Catholic cemetery of the present time,
and a study of the epitaphs inscribed on the graves
will hardly supply us even with an allusion to the
subject. The thoughts of the living with regard to
the dead express themselves in two ways. They
realize that the dead have need of their prayers, and
so they arrange for Masses to be said and prayers to
be offered on their behalf But they remember also
that although for a time suffering may be needed by
the souls of the dead in order that they may thus
attain to greater happiness, yet those souls are already
" in peace," that the trial is over and the goal attained,
and that, therefore, words of joy and of hope are most
appropriate upon their last resting-places.
Bearing this in mind and remembering always that
we should apply to these memorials of the dead just
the same canons of interpretation that we should to
similar inscriptions in a modern graveyard, we go on
to examine what the catacombs have to teach us.
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD
151
We find, first, a formula which, especially in the
later graves, has become almost universal. It is the
formula IN PACE, which meets us everywhere, so that
it is no exaggeration to say that we can appeal to
instances which can be counted by the thousand. Like
the corresponding formula which has taken its place
in more modern times, the three letters R.I. P., it is
essentially a prayer, although the actual petition is
not formally expressed. It is an aspiration, an ex-
rirVSEVPO^ ^
^
aviv
MES
TVIIl
IXir/> ,
Ik ^
Epitaph of a Boy.
(From Marucchi's "I Monumenti del Museo CrisHano Pio-Lateran ense" (Hoepli,
Milan).)
pression of desire that it may be so with the departed
soul, as well as an expression of conviction that this
really is the case. The words are really of Jewish
origin, and have been taken over from the Jews by
Christians to express the condition of those who die
in Christ. Here are a few examples, from the earliest
cemeteries : —
.<l>IAOYMENH EN EIPENH COY TO HNEYMA
Philumena, may thy soul be in peace.
MAXIMIANVS SATVRNINA DORMIT IN PACA
Maximianus Saturnina, sleeps in peace.
BENEMERENTI IN PACE LIBERA QVE BIXIT A. XI.
152 THE EARLY CHURCH
NEOFITA.
To Libera well-deserving in peace, who lived 1 1 years.
A Neophyte.
4>0PT0YNAT0YC EYMEN . • • KOIOTEI IN PAKE
Fortunatus Eumenes lies here in peace.
ARCESSITVS AB ANGELIS QVI VIXIT
ANN. XXII. MESIS Vlll. DIEB. VIII. IN PACE.
Fetched by the angels, who lived 22 years 8 months
8 days. In peace.
Very often the formula is abbreviated. Thus we
meet sometimes with such forms as these: IN P. — IN
PC,— I P,— E I {Iv €ip77V7?)— EN El P.
The instances already quoted are for the most part
mere statements, into which the prayer, if it exists at
all, has to be read. Here are some of a more definite
kind : —
EIPHNH COY TH YYXH ZHCIMH
Peace be to thy soul, Zosinia,
EIPHNH TE 4)0PTYNATE GYrATPi TAYKTATH
and peace be to Fortunata, fny sweetest daughter.
HILARIS VIVAS CVM TVIS FELICITER SEMPER
REFRIGERIS IN PACE DEI
Hilaris, may you live for ever happy with your friends^
may you be refreshed in the peace of God.
The formula in PACE, general as it is, is yet by no
means universal. Sometimes the prayer is rather for
refreshment : —
BOLOSA DEVS TIBI REFRIGERET
Bolosa, may God refresh you.
REFRIGERA DEVS ANIMA
0 God, refresh the soul of. . , ,
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD
153
The following narration, drawn from the authentic
Acts of St. Perpetua, which date from the very begin-
ning of the third century, may help us to understand
the meaning which this word refrigerium conveyed to
those who originally placed it on these tombs, Per-
petua, when in prison waiting for her martyrdom, had
wEVixfr
Xv/ii
Epitaph of a virgin named Belucia.
(From Marucchi't "J Monumtnti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateran tme " (Hoeph,
Milan).)
a vision in which she saw her young brother, Dino-
crates, who had died a short time before at the age of
seven years from cancer in the face. She saw him
coming out of a dark place, very pale, and disfigured
by a terrible wound in his face. He was sad and de-
154 THE EARLY CHURCH
pressed, and went wandering hither and thither like
one who had suffered some great loss. She could
not reach him to help him for there was a great gulf
between them. There was a great fountain in the
place where Dinocrates was, and it seemed that he
was very thirsty, for he kept trying to drink from it,
but could not because he was too small to be able to
reach it. As she could help him in no other way she
began to pray for him, and she continued doing so
after this vision until the eve of her martyrdom. Then
she had another vision. She saw the same place as
before, but quite transformed, shining with light, and
looking like a beautiful garden. In this garden was
Dinocrates happy and cheerful, playing about in white
clothes. The tip of the fountain was lower down
and from it he drank continually and was refreshed
{et vidi Dinocratem refrigerantetn). Thus she under-
stood that her prayers had reached him and helped
him, and that now he was refreshed in the heavenly
kingdom.^
HPAKAIA PnA\H IC ANAPAYCIN COY H YYXH
Heraclea Roma, may thy soul go into rest.
The transliteration in this case is interesting. The
Greek word et? appears as IC.
In a great many instances the prayer for the de-
parted is for light : —
ETERNA LVX TIBI TIMOTHEA IN XP
Timothea, may est thou have eternal light in Christ.
^ Ruinart, " Acta sincera ",
PRAYERS OF DEPARTED FOR THE LIVING 155
NE QVANDO ADVMBRETVR SPIRITVS
May his spirit never be overshadowed,
and very frequently indeed is for life eternal : —
. EPENEA VIVAS IN DEO
Irenaea, may est thou live in God.
AGAPE . VIBES . IN . AETERNVM
Agapus, may est thou live for ever.
EN OEH META HANTHN HONTIANE ZHCHC
Mayest thou live, O Pontianus, with all in God.
This last is of especial interest. It is not actually
an epitaph, but a graffito, an inscription, that is. written
on the wall by some visitor to the tomb. It is in the
chapel known as the Papal Crypt at St. Callixtus, and
was done while the plaster was still wet. We can,
therefore, date it with absolute accuracy. It must
have been written at the precise time when the relics
of Pope Pontianus, having been brought back from
Sardinia where he had died in exile, were buried in
this very chapel by St. Fabian in 245.
Prayers of the Departed for the Living.
Hitherto the epitaphs we have been considering
have been confined to prayers for those who lie
buried in the tombs. It is clear from them that the
belief of the early Church was definite in its teaching
that the souls of the departed were benefited by
prayers made on their behalf. Let us now pass on to
consider what light is thrown by the inscriptions on
the belief of those times concerning the value of the
prayers of those who had passed away for the friends
they had left behind.
156 THE EARLY CHURCH
It was not only for the prayers of the saints, pro-
perly so called, that the early Christians asked. We
find everywhere engraved on the stones in the cata-
combs requests for the prayers of the dead, and there
is no reason whatever to think that wherever this
occurs we have the tomb of a martyr. It is evident
that the belief of those centuries was that the holy
souls could intercede effectively for those whom they
had left behind, even before they had themselves
attained to the Beatific Vision. Here are a few
examples : —
lANVARIA BENE REFRIGERA
ET ROGA PRO NOS
Januaria, be thou well refreshed^ and intercede for us.
ATTICE SPIRITVS TVVS
IN BONO ORA PRO PAREN
TIBVS TVIS
Atticus, thy spirit is in happiness, pray for thy parents.
The next one is imperfect, but sufficient remains for
our purpose. It is in the cemetery of Domitilla : —
N
IBAS
IN PACE ET PETE
PRO NOBIS
Mayst thou live in peace and intercede for us.
PETE PRO PARENTIBVS TVIS
MATRONATA MATRONA
QVE VIXIT AN I D Lll
Matronata Matrona, who lived one year and fifty-two
days, pray for thy parents.
Here the prayers are asked of one who died in in-
fancy before she can have known what prayers meant.
INVOCATION OF SAINTS 157
ATTICE DORMI IN PACE
DE TVA INCOLVMITATE
SECVRVS ET PRO NOSTRIS
PECCATIS PETE SOLLICITVS
Atticus, sleep in peace, secure of thy salvation, and pray
earnestly for our sins.
KARA MNHMONEYE MOY
Cara (or " dear one "), remember me.
QENTIANVS FIDELIS IN PACE
QVI VIXIT ANNIS XXI MENS VIM
DIES XVI ET IN ORATIONIS TVIS
ROGES PRO NOBIS QVIA SCIMVS
TE IN ^
Gentian, a Christian, in peace.
Who lived xxi years viii months xvi days.
In thy prayers intercede for us, for we know
thou art in Christ.
SVTI PETE
PRO NOS
VT SALVI SIMVS
Sutius, pray for us, that we may be saved.
SABBATI DVLCIS
ANIMA PETE ET RO
GA PRO FRATRES ET
SODALES TVOS.
Sabbatius, sweet soul, intercede and make petition
for thy brothers and companions.
Invocation of Saints.
In the days of persecution the value to the Church
of the witness borne by the martyrs who laid down
their lives for the Faith was seen to be of para-
mount importance. It was to the martyrs, there-
fore, and practically to them alone, that the thoughts
158 THE EARLY CHURCH
of Christians turned when they needed an intercession
with God. They alone were canonized in anything
resembling our modern sense. The word martyr could
only be placed on a tomb by the permission of the
Bishop and after an inquiry duly held, and it was the
formal permission to the faithful to pay religious hon-
ours at the tomb of one who had been thus qualified.
Most of the evidence, therefore, which is available
on this subject comes to us, not so much from the
formal epitaphs of those who had thus given their life
for the faith as from a yet more interesting and living
source of information. It is from the graffiti, the
scribbled notes on the walls of the chapels in which
the martyrs were buried, left by pilgrims who had
come to seek their intercession, that we learn most of
what Christians then felt and believed on this subject.
Very many of these graffiti remain to this day, and
Christian archaeology has no branch which is of more
vivid interest for its votaries.
At the cemetery of St. Basilla we read
DOMINA BASILLA COMMANDAMVS TIBI CRESCEN-
TINVS ET MICINA FILIA NOSTRA CRESCEN . . . QVE
VIXIT MEN X ET DIES . . .
O Lady Basilla, we, Crescentinus andMicina, commend
to thee our daughter Crescentina who lived ten months
and . . . days.
Another epitaph, too long to quote in full, appeals at
the end to the martyrs to help the soul of the departed : —
MARTYRES SANCTI IN MENTE HA
VITE MARIA
Ye holy martyrs, keep Maria in your mind.
REFRIGERET TIBI DOMINVS IPPOLYTVS
May St. Hippolytus refresh thee.
Here is an ancient example from the cemetery
INVOCATION OF SAINTS 159
of St Priscilla, which appeals to the intercession of
St. Peter:—
RVTA OMNIBVS SVBDITA ET ADFA
BILIS BIBET IN NOMINE PETRI
IN PACE |»
May Ruta, who was humble and kind to all, live in the
name of Peter. In the peace of Christ.
PROCVLA CL FEMINA
FAMVLA DEI
A TERRA AD MARTYRES
Procula, a woman of noble family, the servant of God.
From, earth to the Martyrs.
Here is a bold instance in which the martyrs are
joined to the name of God and of Christ : —
NVTRICATVS DEO CHRISTO
MARTYRIBVS
Nourished by God, Christ, and the Martyrs.
These are instances from ordinary tombs, but the
evidence of the graffiti, or inscriptions scratched on the
walls of the crypts in which the martyrs lie buried,
is of even greater interest and importance. Near the
papal crypt in the cemetery of St. Callixtus, the whole
wall is covered with writing. One after another the
pilgrims as they came to visit that sacred spot, so full
of sacred memories of the past, wrote down, as they
waited for the doors to open, the desires and aspirations
which had brought them thither. T\\&'=,& graffiti, written
in bad Latin, generally wrongly spelt and scribbled one
on the top of another, presented a problem which might
have baffled any archaeologist. However, the patience
of De Rossi was equal to the task, and the results of
his patient labours are truly marvellous. His words
have been often quoted, but are too valuable to be
omitted. " Here," writes a pilgrim, " is the true
i6o
THE EARL Y CHURCH
Jerusalem, adorned with the martyrs of the Lord."
" Live in Christ," " Live in God," " Live in the
Eternal," " Rest in peace," wrote others, thinking
of the dear ones they had lost. Pope St. Xystus
seems to have been the object of special devotion.
'^D\ /TP\ \t4v*
■Jt»
c
/^
Graffiti in the Papal Crypt at St. Callixtus.
(From Marucchi's " Elements d'Archaologie," Desclee De Brouwer et Cie.)
He had been beheaded in the cemetery of Praetextatus,
on the other side of the Appian Way ; but his re-
mains had been transferred to the papal crypt, where
his throne, dyed with his blood, was also to be seen.
" Remember us in thy prayers " — In mente habeas in
INVOCATION OF SAINTS i6l
orationibus — is a formula used by many pilgrims who
under it inscribed their names and those of their friends.
" Pray for Marcian, my adopted child," asks one.
Another requests the martyr to obtain for his father
and his brothers eternal rest and union with the
supreme good. A mother asks that Vereumdus and
his family may have a happy journey. Many similar
invocations are unfinished, or have become unreadable
like so many prayers which human life cannot express,
but which God hears in silence.^
Though fifteen centuries separate us from those
times, we may still follow the track of one of the
visitors in the galleries of the cemetery of St Callix-
tus. He had apparently come to pray for a certain
Sophronia, either his wife, his daughter, or his mother.
Before entering the porch of the main sanctuary he
wrote, Sofronia . . . vibas cum. tuis — "Sophronia,
mayest thou live with thine". A few paces farther
on, at the door of another chapel, he repeats this
formula with a slight addition : Sofronia {vibas) in
Domino — " Sophronia, mayest thou live in the Lord ".
Farther on, near the arcosolium, of yet another chapel,
he has written in large letters these words : Sofronia
dulcis, semper vives Deo — " Sweet Sophronia, thou wilt
always live in God " ; and just below he has again
scribbled, Sofronia vives — " Sophronia, thou shalt
live". It would seem as if this pilgrim, as he pro-
gressed further and further down this subterranean
passage which was sanctified by the presence of the
bodies of St Xystus, St. Cecilia, St Fabian, St.
Pontian, and so many other martyrs less known to
fame, experienced varying feelings. He had come
full of anxiety for the salvation of one he loved, but
little by little this feeling changed to hope, then to
confidence, and finally to certainty, and he returned
^ De Rossi, " Roma Sott.," ii. pp. 13-20 ; cf. also plates xxix-xxxiv.
II
i62 THE EARL Y CHURCH
from his pilgrimage convinced that his prayer had
been granted.^
Veneration of the Martyrs.
When once the peace of the Church had come, and
the tombs of the martyrs might safely be venerated,
then indeed was no lack of honour done to them.
In order that churches might be built where their
bodies rested, and in order that their tombs might
serve as the high altars of those churches, hundreds
and even thousands of graves must have been des-
troyed. At Sta Agnese the long flight of steps which
leads down into the church speaks eloquently, even
now, of this destruction. There was no thought of
moving the body of the saint to a church above ground,
the church must come to the martyr, where she lay
deep down in the catacombs under the ground. Here
in churches like this the anniversaries of the martyrs
were kept with the utmost splendour. But those to
whom no churches were built were not neglected.
To their graves the crowds of pilgrims went, from every
nation on the earth, and for their guidance from one
sacred tomb to another " Itineraries " were compiled,
which in these later days have been the principal aid by
which the various cemeteries have been identified.
To Romans themselves no greater honour was
obtainable in the fourth and fifth centuries, than to
be buried, not in the cemeteries above ground which
were now everywhere being provided, but down below
in the catacombs, and, if possible, close to the remains
of some one of the martyrs. Numbers of paintings,
of the highest interest and value, have been destroyed
by later graves, which have thus intruded. Here,
again, many epitaphs record the desire and its accom-
i De Rossi, '• Roma Sott,," i, 259 ; ii, 15 ; cf, plat© xxxi, 2, 4. 7.
VENERATION OF THE MARTYRS 163
pHshment. We must content ourselves with quoting
only one or two : —
SERPENTIVS EMIT LOCVM
A QVINTO FOSSORE
AD SANCTVM CORNELIVM
Serpentius bought himself a grave from Quintus the
fossor, close to St. Cornelius.
IN CRYPTA NOBA RETRO SANCTOS
In a new crypt behind the saints.
Here, since there was no longer room in the original
crypt in which the saints lay buried, a new gallery
had been excavated to enable those who desired it to
be buried in close contiguity with the martyrs, though
in another gallery.
We can see how widespread the desire was from
the writings of the Fathers. St. Gregory Nazianzus,
St. Ambrose, and St. Paulinus of Nola, all had their
relatives buried near the martyrs. The practice grew
to an abuse, and the inscription on the grave of
Sabinus, Archdeacon of Rome in the fifth century, re-
bukes those who desired to be buried there, saying : —
NIL IVVAT IMO GRAVAT TVMVLIS HAERERE PIORVM
SANCTORVM MERITIS OPTIMA VITA PROPE EST
// is useless and even dangerous to lie close to the tombs
of the saints ; a good life brings one nearer to the merits
of the saints.
In the same spirit St Damasus, when he put up
his inscription in the crypt of the martyrs, records his
desire to be buried there himself, and the way in
which he had resisted the temptation : —
HIC FATEOR DAMASVS VOLVI MEA CONDERE
MEMBRA
SED CINERES TIMVI SANCTOS VEXARE PIORVM
Here I, Damdsus, confess that I wished to hide my
limbs, but I feared to disturb the holy a?hes of the saints,
II*
l64 THE EARL Y CHURCH
Burial in the catacombs went on until the invasion
of the Goths in 408. At that time these cemeteries,
lying outside the walls, were largely pillaged by these
invaders in search of treasure. After the invasions
were over it was felt that the relics of the martyrs
ought no longer to be left exposed to such dangers,
and the process of translation to safer spots within the
city, which would have been thought sacrilegious a
hundred years before, began in earnest. Very soon
there were none, or, at any rate, very few of the mar-
tyrs left in their original resting-places. No one cared
any longer to be buried in these deserted and melan-
choly spots, and so by degrees the memory of the
catacombs died away ; the entrances became shut up
and inaccessible ; and the knowledge even of the
localities in which they were situated was entirely lost.
The process of their recovery began again at the
period of the Renaissance, and has been carried much
further in our own day. Only one remained always
accessible, that at S. Sebastiano, preserved by the
veneration for the spot where the bodies of St. Peter
and St. Paul had found a temporary resting-place.
This cemetery, originally the only one known as ad
catacumbas, then came to give its name to all the rest.
It is only in our own days, and by the labours of
De Rossi and his pupils, that the great wealth of
evidence, a small portion of which has been cited in
these chapters, has become generally available. Even
now the good work is by no means completed. As
the monuments of the past are once more brought to
light, there may be many a fresh surprise in store for
us, and many a revelation as yet undreamt of may
bring into greater clearness the constant and practical
faith of the early Church on this subject of the Com-
munion of Saints.
CHAPTER VII.
Portraits and Representations.
The monuments of the earliest Christian art include
among them a number of representations of our Lord
and of the Saints, concerning which it is of the greatest
interest to ask the question whether any of them can be
regarded as authentic, or whether all alike must be
considered to be merely the pious imaginations of
Christians of the period. Is there, in other words,
any real and true tradition to tell us how our Lord,
His blessed mother, and His Apostles appeared in the
eyes of men while they were upon earth ; or have
we nothing better to go upon than the attempts of
Christian artists of all ages to depict them as it seemed
to them to be most fitting — attempts which in the
course of ages have crystallized into the conventional
features which are so familiar to us at the present time?
There is, of course, no insuperable antecedent im-
probability in authentic contemporary portraits having
been handed down. Portrait-painting in the time of
Augustus and his immediate successors at Rome was
practised very extensively and with very considerable
skill. Marble busts especially of this period have
come down to us in great numbers ; and from them
we can judge of the ability of the Roman artists to
catch a likeness and to fix it in imperishable stone.
The features of every emperor and of almost every
great man of the early imperial period are as well
165
i66 THE EARL Y CHURCH
known to us to-day as are those of the kings and
statesmen of the eighteenth century. The paintings
of the same period have almost all perished through
the lapse of time, though formerly they must have
existed in very great numbers. Only a few still sur-
vive, for the most part preserved by the climate and
the sands of Upper Egypt. But these few are more
than sufficient to show us how flourishing and wide-
spread an art portrait-painting was in the imperial
age, and at the same time to prove that its exercise
was by no means limited to the capital itself. If por-
traits were being painted constantly and in great
numbers in Upper Egypt, there is no reason why
some few at least who were competent to produce a
satisfactory likeness should not have been found in
Jerusalem at the same period.
Nor, again, is there any theological reason why
such portraits should not exist. The Mosaic prohibi-
tion against images and likenesses produced for the
purpose of worship, was, as Christians saw clearly
from a very early time, repealed by the very fact of
the Incarnation, and no religious prejudice was felt
against representations of our Lord or of the Saints.
This is proved both by the writings of the anti-Nicene
Fathers, and by the large numbers of such representa-
tions which do in fact exist. The Judaistic reaction
which gave birth in later times to the Iconoclastic
controversies was foreign to the minds of the Christians
of the earliest centuries.
The Blessed Trinity.
So far, indeed, were these from regarding it as un-
lawful to make a representation for religious purposes
of our Lord or of the Saints, that they did not
even shrink from representing the Uncreated. There
is, for instance, in the Lateran Museum of Christian
mpup
CHklsl AM) Si. PhltK
From a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum
From MaruccM s " / Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Lateranense '
— nmnivnnwinaanMMiMW"
•iinMinnMK^
%^
I
Earliest Representation of the Trinity
From a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum
From MarucchVs " / Monumenti del Museo Cristiano Pio-Laieranense"
(Alilan : Ulrica Hoepli)
THE BLESSED TRINITY 167
Antiquities a sarcophagus of very great importance,
which was discovered when excavations were being
made, about the middle of the last century, for the
construction of the new baldachino over the high
altar of St. Paul's, It is of the latter part of the
fourth century. Christian sarcophagi of carved stone
are seldom earlier than the peace of the Church, because
of the impossibility during the times of persecution of
getting Christian subjects executed in pagan work-
shops. In the times of persecution the sarcophagi of
Christians rarely show definitely Christian ornamenta-
tion, but such pagan forms as were not objectionable
had perforce to be pressed into the service.
On this sarcophagus on the right side and in the
upper tier, there are three bearded figures which
appear to represent the three Persons of the Blessed
Trinity engaged on the creation of Eve from the side
of Adam. The Eternal Father, represented as an old
man with bald head and wrinkled brow, is standing
behind a seat on which is a second figure with the
hand raised in the act of speaking. The nude figure
of Adam lies, apparently dead, on the ground, and
a third figure stands beside him, with his hand on
the head of a young girl. The second figure, seated
and speaking, is the Eternal Word, with whom to
speak is to effect and " by whom all things were made ".
The third is the Holy Spirit, the hand on the head of
Eve implying the work of sanctification. Thus each
of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are repre-
sented according to his proper operation. The Word
speaks and creates ; the Holy Spirit sanctifies ; the
Eternal Father is present as the One Source of Deity,
united in Will with the Word and the Holy Spirit.
De Rossi explains the three figures somewhat
differently. He would make the seated figure to be
the Eternal Father, the figure with the hand on the
t68 THE BARLV CHVRCH
head of Eve to be the Word, and the one behind the
throne to be the Holy Spirit. But the explanation
we have given, which is that which used to be given
by Professor Armellini in his lectures at the Propa-
ganda, seems to be the better and to express more
accurately the several operations of the Three Persons.
Portraits of our Lord.
The earliest representations of our Lord in the
catacombs were not portraits. He is represented at
first ideally, as a beautiful and beardless youth,
generally under the form of the Good Shepherd. In
these pictures there is, quite obviously, no attempt
whatever at portraiture, nor at any kind of verisimili-
tude. It is an idea which is portrayed, not the Christ
as He walked on earth. The whole treatment is con-
ventional and cannot possibly be mistaken for anything
else. It was no part of the purpose of those artists
who made such pictures to present to the eyes of the
faithful the actual features of the historical Christ, but
only to speak to them of the beauty of His character,
and of the work that He accomplished for the salvation
of souls.
But here and there in the catacombs themselves,
and in many specimens of the art of the earliest cen-
turies, we do find representations of a different type.
These latter are not of a merely conventional character,
but certainly give the idea of an attempt to set forth
an actual likeness. They do not seem to be, as a rule,
of the very earliest date — the conventional type seems
to be the older of the two, but some of them are per-
haps as old as the second century, and there is nothing
to forbid their being based on some generally accepted
description of our Lord's appearance, or even on some
actual portrait drawn by some person whose eyes had
rested on the living features of Jesus Christ
THE STATUE OF SANE AS 169
The Statue of Baneas.
We know from various passages in early writers
that portraits of our Lord were in existence in the
second century. St. Irenaeus, for instance (" Contr.
Haeres," I. xxv. 6), tells us that the Carpocratian
heretics possessed such, which they said were copied
from a picture made by order of Pilate. These por-
traits fall under suspicion, if for no other reason,
because they were put forward by heretics, but there
was one famous example to which no taint of heresy
has ever clung, and which may perhaps go back not
only to the second century but even to the first This
was the famous statue of Baneas, the Caesarea Philippi
of the Gospels, which was said to have been set up by
Berenice of Edessa, the woman cured by our Lord of
an issue of blood. We know of it chiefly from
Eusebius, who speaks thus : " Since I have mentioned
this city of Paneas I think I ought not to omit an
account which is worthy of record for posterity. For
they say that the woman with an issue of blood, who,
as we learn from the sacred Gospel, received from our
Saviour deliverance from her affliction, came from this
place, and that her house is shown in the city, and
that noteworthy memorials of the kindness of the
Saviour to her remain there. For there stands upon
a raised stone, by the gates of her house, a bronze
image of a woman kneeling, with her hands stretched
out, as if she were praying. Opposite to her stands
the figure of a man made of the same material, clothed
in comely fashion in a double cloak, and extending
his hand towards the woman. . . . They say that this
statue is an image of Jesus. It has remained to our
day, so that we ourselves also saw it when we were
staying in the city. Nor is it strange that those
of the Gentiles who were benefited by our Saviour
I70 THE EARLY CHURCH
should have done such things, when we learn also that
the likenesses of His Apostles Paul and Peter and of
Christ Himself are preserved in paintings, the ancients
being accustomed, as is common among the Gentiles,
to pay this kind of honour to all those whom they
regarded as deliverers" ("Hist. Eccl.," vii. i8).
It is clear from this passage that Eusebius himself
believed that this statue actually was what it claimed
to be, and it seems probable that he was right.
Many have urged that it was only a statue of some
Emperor, such as Hadrian, with the kneeling figure of
a Province, That would be likely enough if the date
was later, but in the time of Eusebius, when Christianity
had only just become free, it would be very unlikely
that the statue of an Emperor should have lost its
identity, and should have been generally regarded as a
representation of Christ. The later history of the
statue confirms this idea of its genuineness. It was
broken up by Julian the Apostate (Sozomen, V. xxi.),
and the fragments were collected by the Christians
and put into the church of the town.
It is possible that although this statue no longer
survives we yet have a representation of it upon one
of the sarcophagi of the Lateran Museum. Here we
have a woman kneeling, much as Eusebius describes,
and stretching out her hands in supplication to the
figure of our Lord, who stands vested in a kind of
toga, with His face in profile, looking at the suppliant
towards whom He stretches out His hand. The face
of our Lord is bearded, which is rare in works of this
period, and gives one the idea of a portrait. This is
the more remarkable because on the same sarcophagus
we have another representation of Him which is quite
conventional and beardless. ... It is possible, of
course, that the subject is the Noli me iangere, Magda-
lene at the feet of Jesus after His Resurrection. How-
THE ARCHEIROPOIETA 171
ever, the view that it represents the group of Baneas
has much to be said for it, and has been held by such
men as Garucci (Storia, i. 406), De Rossi and Leclercq.
It is the more probable if the further opinion be true,
which is based on some expressions in Macarius
Magnus, that a replica of the Baneas statue existed at
Rome.
The Acheiropoieta.
If only their authenticity can be accepted, the
earliest portraits of Christ and those whose likeness is
most beyond dispute, will be that group of portraits
on linen which claim a miraculous origin, and are
hence known by the name of ACHEIROPOIETA as
not being made by mortal hands. Of these there are
several in existence, of which the best known is the
" Veronica " at St. Peter's in Rome, the portrait pre-
served at St. Silvestro in Capite, the Holy Shroud at
Turin and the portrait in the Sancta Sanctorum in the
Lateran. Of these it is very difficult to speak with
any confidence from a purely archaeological point of
view. Their documentary history is for the most part
not very satisfactory, and this is especially true of the
Holy Shroud. For the earlier centuries there is,
naturally enough, no documentary evidence at all, but
this could scarcely be expected for the ages of perse-
cution. Many questions might be set at rest if these
relics were subjected to a close and scientific investiga-
tion, but this has hitherto been refused, and the great
care and veneration with which they are preserved
make it impossible for any minute examination of
their state and real character to be carried out. One
thing and one thing only is clear about them and that
is that the general type of the likeness of Christ which
has been received from the fourth century at least, if
not earlier, is to be found in all of them.
172 TM^ EARLY CHURCH
Perhaps the most remarkable of these relics is the
Holy Shroud of Turin. Its documentary history is un-
satisfactory, as we have already said, and certainly lays
it open to suspicion, though it is not absolutely incon-
sistent with its real authenticity. But the representa-
tion of Christ which it affords is very notable. To the
ordinary eye there is little to be seen but a few brown
stains, which take the general form of a human body,
the actual features of the face being scarcely decipher-
able. But when it was last exposed for public
veneration at the time of the Eucharistic Congress of
Turin in 1 896, a photograph was taken of it. The
photographic negative gave a far more clear portrait
than the original, and showed, what no one had
hitherto suspected, that the marks on the linen are
themselves, photographically speaking, negative ; that
is, that the light and shade is the reverse of that
which obtains in nature. The fact is a very singular
one, and it is certainly not easy to explain. In any
case, and whatever its origin may be, we have re-
covered from the photographic negative what amounts
to a new portrait of Christ ; although itself undoubtedly
of very great antiquity, which preserves the traditional
likeness, and yet goes beyond any other in some
characteristics of dignity and of suffering. From an
artistic point of view, and we confine ourselves to that
until further information is forthcoming through a
detailed examination of the relic, it is of the highest
importance as a powerful conception of the suffering
Christ.
The Qilded Glasses.
These form a branch of art which is almost entirely
Christian and limited to the earliest centuries. Most
of them belong to the third and fourth centuries, but
m-
'% ,-^h'
Face of Christ
From a negative photograph of the Holy Shroud
(To get the best effect the picture should be looked at from some distance)
From Vignon's " Le Linceul du Christ'^ {.\fasson et Cie)
THE GILDED GLASSES 173
some go back at least to the second. The manufacture
became a lost art about the end of the fourth century.
They consist of two disks of glass united in the fur-
nace, between which is a piece of gold leaf, so treated
as to form a picture or an inscription. Very often
they seem to have formed the bases of cups, the upper
portions of which have been destroyed by time.
Sometimes they were parts of boxes or caskets made
for religious or domestic uses. It is possible even
that in some cases they were actually chalices used for
the Eucharistic service. Among the glasses of this
kind preserved in the Vatican Museum are several
which have the figure of our Lord, some with the in-
scription ZESVS CRISTVS. The small size of these
glasses causes the portraits shown upon them to be
also very small, but they are still quite recognizable,
and are evidently attempts at actual portraiture and
not mere conventional representations. Their prin-
cipal importance in the matter of the likeness of Christ
is that they tend to prove that this likeness was not a
mere invention of later centuries, the result of the
concordant action of many artistic minds, but that it
was actually handed down by tradition all through the
years of persecution in Rome. But it is very doubt-
ful indeed whether this evidence is strengthened or
weakened when we go on to take into consideration
what the catacombs have to teach us.
The Representations of Christ in the Catacombs.
The great majority of the representations of our
Lord which are to be found in the catacombs are, as
has already been said, of a purely conventional
character. Indeed it is extremely doubtful whether
there is any single example, earlier than the latter half
of the fourth century, which even aims at any actual
174 THE EARLY CHURCH
portraiture. It could hardly have been otherwise it
we consider the circumstances of the case, for to paint
up in large size the actual features of our Lord, sup-
posing them to have been available, would only have
been to run the risk of their defacement and insult at
Pagan hands.
There is, however, if we may take Mgr. Wilpert as
our guide, a certain development observable in the
various representations which remain, if we take them
in chronological order. In the oldest examples, which
date from the first half of the second century, our Lord
is represented as youthful and beardless. This is true
of all the examples of the second century. In the
third century we meet for the first time with the
beard. It is short and the hair is long and falls on
the shoulders. This older type, however, still persisted
and is the one generally employed right down to the
peace of the Church.
The earliest picture in the catacombs to approxi-
mate to the modern idea is to be found in Sta
Domitilla and is of the second half of the fourth cen-
tury. Here it seems clear that the artist is attempt-
ing a portrait, and it is of great importance for this
reason.
Sir W. Wyke Bayliss, in his interesting but uncon-
vincing book " Rex Regum," laid much stress on a small
portrait in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus. It was copied
by Mr. Heaphy with great care, and if we can trust
the fidelity of his reproduction it would be, perhaps,
the most important piece of evidence we possess. Un-
fortunately, however, it is impossible to test this, for
the picture has now been destroyed by the joint action
of the damp and of the smoke from tourists' torches.
In Mr. Heaphy's drawing it certainly seems to carry
back the traditional likeness at Rome to a period
earlier than the peace of Constantine.
The Christ of the Catacombs
From a fresco hi the Catacomb of St, Callixtus
Fro tn Bay lis s' ^' Rex Begum" (S.P.C.K.)
Virgin and Child. In the Ostrian Cemetery at Rome
From Marncchts " Elements (T A rchiologie " (DescUe, De Broiiwer et Cie)
REPRESENTATIONS IN THE CATACOMBS 175
If we try to sum up the whole of the evidence
which is available on the subject of the early repre-
sentations of our Lord, we find ourselves unable to
pronounce with absolute certainty how far the Church
is in possession of a likeness which may be considered
really authentic. Of course, as Sir William Wyke
Bayliss points out, we must distinguish carefully
between the Likeness and the likenesses. It is not a
simple question of the authenticity of any single
picture, but rather the question whether the similarity
which underlies so many of the representations be not
based on an authentic picture which is now lost, or at
least upon trustworthy tradition. Probably it is a
question which we must leave undecided and which
each will answer according to his own predilections.
There is certainly no impossibility, rather on the other
hand an antecedent probability, that some attempt
should have been made to hand down features which
meant so much to the world. On the other hand the
evidence is not sufficiently clear, and the difficulty of
accurately dating and estimating the evidence is too
great to allow of any real certainty in the matter.
Sir W. Wyke Bayliss notes one little point which
is of considerable interest. There must be at least two
separate exemplars from which the traditional like-
nesses of our Lord in the East and in the West have
been respectively derived. A very simple criterion
enables one to say with practical certainty whether
any particular example of ancient date is of Eastern
or of Roman origin. If it is from the East it will
show the hair with a small lock detached and falling
in the centre of the forehead. If it is Roman in origin
the hair will be divided evenly over the forehead with
no detached lock at all. This minute detail, which is
carefully and conscientiously kept to, certainly seems
to show that the artist believed himself to be following
176 THE EARLY CHURCH
an authentic likeness, which he was bound to hand on
intact, and with which he had no right to take even
the slightest liberty. There can be little doubt that
at the time of Constantine there were pictures in
existence which were believed to be authentic, and that
these served as the models on which those great
pictures in mosaic were built up in the basilicas which
fixed the tradition of the likeness of Christ for all men
and for all time. The only real question is how far
these early pictures were themselves trustworthy or
only imaginative, and that, as we have said, is a ques-
tion on which we have not, at present, sufficient
evidence to enable us to give a really decisive answer.
Representations of our Blessed Lady.
When we turn next to the representations of our
Blessed Lady which have come down to us from the
early centuries, we find the conditions of the problem
are precisely the opposite to those which obtain in the
case of our Lord. It is very rare to find any repre-
sentation of our Lady, either alone or with the Holy
Child, on the small objects of devotion which have
survived. On the other hand, there are several large
paintings in the catacombs which deal with this sub-
ject and call for careful attention.
The most important is to be found in the Catacomb
of Sta Priscilla, and is of very early date. In the
centre of the composition is a figure of the Good
Shepherd, with a family group on the left. On the
right is the Holy Virgin, seated and holding the Infant
Jesus at her breast. Before her stands an upright
figure who seems to represent a Prophet, and who is
pointing to a star above her head.^ The style of the
whole is classic in character, and the date can hardly
be put later than the opening years of the second
^ See Plate opposite p. 52.
REPRESENTATIONS OF OUR BLESSED LAD Y 177
century. There are two or three other pictures of our
Lady in the same catacomb, but they are of less im-
portance.
In the Catacomb of St. Domitilla is a painting of
the third century which represents the Epiphany.
Our Lady is in the centre, veiled and seated upon a
chair, with the Holy Child upon her knees. The
wise men are four in number and bring their gifts on
trays on either side. In another similar scene a little
later in date which has survived in the Catacomb of
S. Peter and Marcellinus the wise men are only two.
In the Ostrian Cemetery in an arcosolium over a
tomb is a very famous picture of our Lady, which is
the first which does not form part of a historical scene.
It is of the fourth century and later than Constantine
as may be seen by the monogram on each side. The
face of the Virgin looks straight out of the picture
and the Holy Child is in the centre on her breast It
is the prototype of all those pictures of our Lady in
the same position which were common from this time
down to the Renaissance and still survive in the
eikons of the Eastern Church.
The importance of these frescoes of the catacombs
is very considerable from a doctrinal point of view.
They prove that honour was paid to our Blessed
Lady, at a period long before the Council of Ephesus.
But the faces of the various representations do not
seem to be portraits. They do not lead us to think
that the early Church possessed any likeness of our
Lady which was held to be authentic. The features
are conventional and without character, and there is
no common likeness, as is so marked in the case of
our Lord.
Against this conclusion, however, may be quoted
the various paintings of our Lady which are preserved
in different places, and which are said to be from the
13
178 THE EARLY CHURCH
hand of St. Luke. The most famous of these is, per-
haps, the one in Sta Maria Maggiore, the history of
which can be traced back at least to the ninth century.
But no one of these pictures can possibly go back
behind the Byzantine period, as is clear from the style
of the art and details of the painting, nor is there any
reason to think they were based to any great extent
on earlier examples. On the whole, therefore, it must
be admitted that there is no reason to think that any
authentic likeness of our Blessed Lady has been pre-
served, although the earliest of the pictures which
represent her in the catacombs may well have been
painted by one who, so far as age is concerned, might
have seen her in the flesh.
The Apostles;
There can, however, be no doubt at all that we do
possess actual portraits of two at least of the Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul. We owe this, no doubt, to
the fact that, while the other Apostles laboured in
distant countries and never visited the capital at all,
St Peter and St. Paul were well known in Rome
itself. The type of face assigned to each of these
Apostles is quite clear and distinct and never varies.
We have examples on the gilded glasses, on medals
and plaques, as well as on the walls of t^e catacombs.
The earliest and at the same time one of the most
distinct of these representations of the two great
Apostles is to be found in a medallion which was
discovered in the Cemetery of Domitilla, and is now
in the Vatican Museum. St. Peter appears with short
curling hair and beard and features which are strongly
marked, and those of a man who worked with his
hands. The hair and beard in the catacomb pictures
are grey. St. Paul is of a more aristocratic and intel-
St. Peter and St. Paul
From a medallion of the Second Century in the Vatican
Daniel in the Lions' Den
From a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum. From Marucchis " / Monu-
menti del Museo Cristiayio Pio-Lateranense " (Milan : Ulrica Hoepli)
THE APOSTLES 179
lectual type, somewhat bald and with a beard long and
pointed. The work of the medallion is of the second
century.
So familiar were the Christians of Rome with the
features of these two great Apostles that it was not
necessary to put their names to show who was repre-
sented. Every one knew their appearance and could
recognize them at once. So again, when it was
desired to emphasize for doctrinal purposes the ap-
plication of some scene of Old Testament history and
to bring out the symbolism in connexion with
Christian teaching, it was not necessary to do more
than to give the familiar features of St. Peter to the
representation of an Old Testament character. Refer-
ence has already been made to this, but we repeat
once more what we have said. Let us suppose that
the scene depicted was Moses striking the rock, or
else receiving from God the Tables of the Law. The
application desired to be made was that as Moses
gave water to the thirsty Israelites so also were
Christians to draw the refreshments of the Sacraments
from the Apostolic ministry. Or, again, that as
Moses was the Lawgiver of the Old Testament, sent
and commissioned by God, so also must we look
for the New Law to the teaching of the Apostles sent
by Christ. It was quite sufficient, in order to bring
this teaching home to the mind of every Christian of
the first centuries, to depict Moses with the face of
Peter. So familiar was that face to all, so unmistak-
able were its well-known features, that none could
miss the lesson which was meant to be conveyed.
Of the other Apostles and of the leading figures of
the Church of the first century, we do not seem to have
any portraits. The gilded glasses provide us with
representations of St. John, St. Linus, and others, but
in the absence of a sufficient number of examples to
la *
i8o THE EARL Y CHURCH
compare with one another it is not possible to say
whether any of these are intended as actual portraits.
Of St. Peter and St. Paul there can be no reasonable
doubt at all, but with them we must be content
There is no certainty, scarcely even a probability, that
we possess any authentic likeness of any other one
from among the first generation of Christians either at
Rome or in any other part of the Empire.
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
Christian Edifices I^efore Constantine.
The earliest of all the edifices consecrated to Christian
worship was that upper room in Jerusalem, where our
Lord had instituted the Holy Eucharist, and where
on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost had come
down upon the assembled Apostles, A place with
such memories could not possibly be neglected, and
it is without surprise, therefore, that we find that the
local tradition of Jerusalem has preserved the identity
of this sacred spot. This upper room, capable as it
was, apparently, of accommodating at least 120
persons, became, naturally enough, the central
and perhaps the only place of meeting of the
little band of Christians in Jerusalem before the dis-
persion of the Apostles. They went daily to the
Temple for the prayers of their nation, and returned
" to break bread," /car' oIkov, not from house to house
as the " Authorized Version " translates the phrase,
nor even "at home," but rather " in the house " ; in
that house and place, that is to say, which had been
originally consecrated by the institution of the Blessed
Sacrament, and which now remained the normal centre
of its administration.
The house, lying as it did on the outskirts of
i8x
i82 THE EARL V CHURCH
Jerusalem, survived, so again tradition informs us, the
destruction of the siege of Jerusalem, in A.D. 70, and
it was still in being and still preserved its essential
characteristic of an upper room when St. Epiphanius
wrote about A.D. 380.^ It still survives and still is an
upper chamber, but is now in the hands of the infidels.
Moreover, such changes have been made in the lapse
of ages that it is impossible to make any certain de-
ductions from its present form. Outside of Jerusalem
when the Apostles were scattered over the world,
preaching the gospel, we should naturally expect to
find them preserving in the main this original plan of
action. The appeal was everywhere made first to the
Jews ; every possible use was made of the existing
organization of the Jewish body, for the time of defini-
tive separation had not yet come, and the hope was
still alive that the Jewish nation as a whole might yet ac-
cept the gospel message. But there must always in each
place have been some one chosen spot where Christians
could meet for their own special devotions ; where,
as in Jerusalem, they could " break bread in the house,"
besides using the public worship of their nation.
We can follow the process in detail in the history
of St. Paul as narrated in the Acts. The missionary
work of the Church was conducted for the most part
in the Synagogues. Everywhere we find him as soon
as he arrived in a new town, going straight to the
Synagogue, and there delivering his message as a Jew
to Jews. But at the same time we are aware that
there is another kind of religious work being carried
on, and this not in the Synagogue, nor in any public
place, but in the privacy of a convert's house. At
Troas, for instance, this private assembly was held on
the third floor ieU to virepSov, Acts XX. 6-9) ; at Rome
St Paul sends salutations to Aquila and Priscilla "and
*" Oc Mens.," xiv. ; cf. Cyr. Hier., "Catech.," vi,
PRIVATE ORATORIES
183
the church that is in their house " (Rom. XVI. 5) ; at
Colosse, it is in the house of Nymphe (Col. rv. 15);
at Ephesus, besides the church in the house of Aquila
(i Cor. XVI. 19), we find that a public hall has been taken
for missionary work, and St. Paul disputes daily in the
schola of one Tyrannus (Acts XIX. 9).
Private Oratories.
Here then we have the real origin of the Christian
churches of later date. It begins with private oratories
sheltered by the rights of private property. If we
are to get any idea of these places now, it can only
be by examining the general plan of a Roman house,
and forming our ideas as to the most usual disposition
which would be made for these purposes. Individual
cases must, of course, have varied widely, but the
general type was pretty constant, and from it we may
gather some ideas of value.
Roman Houses as Shown on the Capitoline Plan.
{From Sir W. Smith's " Greek atuL Roman Antiquities," John Murray.)
The arrangement of a Roman house was mainly on
a single floor, though sometimes in crowded localities
upper stories were added. It was entered from the
1 84
THE EARL V CHURCH
Street by a passage which led into the atrium^ the more
public part of the house. From this access could be
obtained to the peristyle, an inner courtyard sur-
rounded by pillars, round which were built the private
rooms of the family. At the far end of the peristyle
was usually a larger chamber, the oecus or tahlinum,
which served as a private reception room for the
owner of the house.
Typical Plan of a Roman House.
If we take these main features, neglecting the sub-
sidiary arrangements, which varied in every way, we
shall see that if the owner of such a house as this were
called upon to make provision for a meeting of Chris-
tians for the purpose of worship, he would have found
his premises admirably adapted for this object. The
guests would naturally be admitted into the inner por-
tion of the house, for fear of interruption. The oecus
would be the natural place for the officiating clergy,
and so forth, and the peristyle would afford accommo-
dation for a large number of worshippers. If that was
the arrangement made, we can already recognize the
germ of our later plans. We have the large oblong
THE ECCLESIA DOMESTICA
185
space for the ordinary worshippers, and we have also
the smaller apartment, similarly oblong in form and
separated from the other by an arch, which forms the
chancel. It is precisely and identically the plan which
is so familiar to us in the north as that of our oldest
churches.
Typical Plan of an Ancient English Church.
The Ecclesia Domestica.
Only two oratories certainly earlier than the time
of Constantine are known to exist in Rome. One of
these at Sta Prisca was discovered in 1776 and has
again been lost. We have no certain record of its
shape. The other was recently found near the Via
Venti Settembre, and is rectangular and apseless with a
vine-patterned mosaic pavement enclosing an altar
compartment with symbolic cross and fishes.^
Two passages in the " Clementine Recognitions " are
of special interest. Although some of this document is
to be assigned to a later date, the ground plan of it is
very early indeed, and of considerable value. We read
in it that at Tripoli, when the Apostle Peter was
there, and great numbers were converted through his
preaching, a certain prominent citizen named Maro
^ Frothingham, " Amer. Journal of Archaeology," 1903, p. 77.
i86 THE EARL V CHURCH
offered a spacious hall in his house capable of holding
more than 500 persons. There was also a garden
adjoining which could accommodate even more. So
again at Antioch under similar circumstances one
Theophilus, a chief noble of the place, " consecrated the
great hall of his house under the name of a church,"
and Peter's chair was placed there.^
The passages are interesting whatever may be their
exact authority, because they put before us an instance
of what was undoubtedly happening frequently during
the years of persecution, and constitutes a further step
in the development of a church. As the number of
Christians increased, and got beyond the small circle
of individual friends of single proprietors, the private
house obviously became unsuitable for public worship.
It might be tolerated as being inevitable, on the ground
that no more fixed and adequate arrangements were
possible on account of persecution ; but it is evident
that more general accommodation would have to be
provided where it was possible. So there grew up the
ecclesia domestica as we meet with it in the second and
third centuries ; a real church, though held in what
was externally a private house. Certain houses were
bought, or were handed over by their owners for the
express purpose of being used as churches. Hence-
forth they were occupied, not by private individuals,
but by the priests who served the church. Probably
they still preserved the appearance of private houses,
internally as well as externally, so as to avoid attract-
ing attention and in order to disarm all suspicion.
The priests lived in the more private rooms of the
house, and the peristyle and oecus as usual formed
the church.
We have several records of private houses which
were turned into churches in this way. The house
J " Clem. Recogn.," iv. 6 and x. 71,
THE ECCLESIA DOMESTICA 187
of Clement, one of the earliest popes, became
the church which bears his name. The house of
Pudens apparently bears the same relation to Sta
Pudenziana, and that of Aquila on the Aventine to
the church of Sta Prisca. In later times we find
Lucina giving her house for the purpose, and it be-
comes the church of S. Marcello in Corso.^ So also
in the Acts of St. Cecilia, which are rather late but
based on earlier material, we are told that as the saint
lay dying she handed over her house to the bishop
that it might be made into a church,^ The pipes
which belonged to the baths in that house may still
be seen in the Church of Sta Cecilia in Trastevere.
A very curious document, which is printed in the
appendix to Vol. IX. of Migne's edition of St. Augustine
("P.L.,"xliii. p. 794), gives us an account of a domicili-
ary visit paid during the course of the persecution of
Diocletian to such an ecclesia domestica as we have
described at Cirta in Africa. The Roman Magistrate
Felix comes to "the house in which the Christians
were wont to meet," evidently a place which was
perfectly well known, and finds there Paul the Bishop
and others of the clergy. He orders the Bishop to
produce the Scriptures and anything else he possessed,
so as to obey the law which ordered these to be de-
stroyed. The Bishop replies that these were in the
hands of the lectors, and on being further asked to
produce the lectors, answers that their names were
well known to the authorities, which is not disputed.
A large number of clergy, priests, deacons, subdeacons,
and fossors are mentioned as being present, and an
inventory was taken of the things which were produced,
including two cups of gold, six of silver, six silver
ewers, seven silver lamps, two candelabra with branches,
^ Acta Marcelli,
' Acta Qeciliae,
l88 THE EARL V CHURCH ^
seven short bronze candlesticks, and eleven lamps.
There was also a large quantity of clothing for both
men and women, which, it has been suggested, was i
used by poorer Christians when they came to the \
Agape, after the manner of the wedding garment in
the parable. Afterwards search was made in the
library, but apparently there had been time to hide the i
books, for the cases were found empty. Then the ;
triclinium, or dining-room, was searched, and here i
four jars and six vases were found. A large number i
of codices were afterwards discovered by visits to ,
other houses, and these were all destroyed. The \
whole document is full of interest, as showing just ]
what was happening at the time all over the Empire.
The Scholae. i
We have seen how at Corinth, even in apostolic
times, the needs of the young Christian community !
were such that no private house could fulfil the \
Typical Forms of Roman Scholae.
purpose, and a public hall or schola had to be acquired.
It is likely enough that a similar need in other places
and later times was satisfied in like fashion. These
THE SCHOLAR
189
scholae were common lenough, and served business
purposes and for the meeting-places of the various
guilds or collegia of which so many existed at that
period. They varied very much in size and im-
portance, according to the numbers and rank of the
members of the guilds who owned them. At Pompeii
there are several to be seen close to the Forum, and
these are simply large rooms about 50 feet by 30 feet.
They possessed as a rule an apse at the upper end,
which served as a special place for the occupation of
the president and officials. A similar arrangement
was very general in the Jewish synagogues.
Cella of St. Sixtus.
It was not only in the city that these scholae or semi-
public halls existed. Most of the collegia had to do with
burials, and accordingly they had their scholae in
connexion with the cemeteries. Heathen examples
have been found on the Via Appia, and elsewhere in
Rome, and a very fine example exists at Ostia.
Christians, too, had their scholae at the catacombs,
IQO
THE EARL V CHURCH
though there is no certainty that they had any in the
towns themselves. At the entrance to the cemetery
of St. Domitilla, there is a very fine example of such
a Christian schola. It is of irregular form and a stone
bench runs all round it. Out of it opens the crypt of
the Acilii Glabriones. De Rossi speaks of it as " a vast
triclinium for a large number of guests, in a word, a
schola sodalium similar to those of the pagan brother-
hoods instituted for purposes of burial".^
Cella of St. Soteris.
Some of the cellae or chapels remain standing above
the various cemeteries of Rome to the present day.
They seem to go back, in origin at any rate, beyond
the persecution of Diocletian. But, although they
cannot be neglected by any one who wishes to take
into consideration all the various lines of evolution
which were contributing to bring about the settled
*"Bull. d' arch, crist." 1865, p. 97.
CHAPELS AT THE CATACOMBS 191
type of the Christian Church, the influence of these
celiac does not seem to have been great, and it is
hardly worth our while, consequently, to pursue the
subject much further.
In Rome itself there is not a single church, properly
so called, which is of this form. Within the city and
throughout Italy the basilican type has carried all
before it. But there are a certain number of very
ancient churches in the more remote parts of the
Empire which are not altogether of the basilican
type, and do not seem to have derived their plan
from purely domestic architecture. These churches
are for the most part not very large and are not
divided up by pillars into aisles. They are generally
simple rectangles with a large apse at the end, taking
up the whole of that side of the rectangle. There are,
for instance, two very remarkable churches of this
form at Surp Garabed in Cappadocia,^ entirely exca-
vated in the solid rock and adjoining one another.
There are other examples at Babouda,^ between
Damascus and Aleppo, and at Chagque ^ to the south-
east of Damascus. The shape of all these is exactly
that of the schola or cella as we find it at Pompeii, and
on the plans of ancient Rome, and it may well be that
such of the Christian Churches of pre-Constantinian
date as were derived from this origin, rather than from
the ecclesia domestica, were generally of this form.
Chapels at the Catacombs.
Besides the cella or schola above ground at the ceme-
teries there were chapels underground, in the catacombs
themselves, generally at the shrines of the martyrs,
and from these again there is much to be learnt as to
^Texier and Pullan, " Byzantine Architecture," p. 39.
^ " Syrie Centrale," par le Comte de Vogiie.
' Idem.
192
THE EARL Y CHURCH
the arrangements thought essential for Divine worship
in the earliest ages. Clearly we have to do here not
with the luxuries of worship, but with the barest
necessaries. For the most part they are simple
cubicula, rather larger than the others, and that is all.
The famous crypt of the Popes at St. CalHxtus, where
so many of the Popes of the third century are buried,
may serve as an example. Here we have a simple
rectangular chamber, with no liturgical division of any
kind, at one end of which, apparently, the altar was
erected. Where the conditions were so severely limited,
very little could be done. The Church had to worship
in these places, not indeed as she would, but as she
found it possible. Their interest is extreme, but they
have not much to teach us as to the course and direction
of liturgical development.
Chapel .vT the Ostrian Cemetery.
There is, however, in another catacomb, that of the
Ostrian cemetery on the Via Nomentana, a much more
detailed arrangement for Divine worship. A chapel of
some size has been formed by connecting, so as to make
into a single elongated chamber, a number of the small
cubicula which are so frequent. There are five of these
altogether, three in front of and two behind the pass-
age by which access is obtained. The two behind were
given up to the women; we have provision for the
separation of the sexes even here. The next two are
similarly for the men, while the remaining one at the
THE BASILICA 193
extreme end is for the clergy. The Bishop's throne,
cut in the rock, is against the back wall, facing down
the chapel, and the seats for the presbyters are on
either side. A portable altar, apparently, was placed
in front of him. A good deal of trouble has been
taken to give the whole place an architectural effect,
by cutting pilasters at the side and so forth, and
places are provided for lamps. The interest of the
place is great because we see that here, in spite of the
difficulties of the situation, a real attempt has been
made to provide proper accommodation as it was then
conceived of. We may be sure that in oratories above
ground, when things were peaceable and such oratories
were able to exist, all these distinctions would have
been held absolutely necessary. In any reconstruction
of the arrangements of such an oratory, we should have
to provide separate accommodation for the two sexes,
as well as a special place, well divided off from the
rest of the oratory, for the Bishop and his clergy.
The Basilica.
So far, in our search for the various elements out
of which the traditional arrangements of our churches
have come into existence, the structure of the Roman
house has been by far the most important. The other
element, the schola and the subterranean crypt might
almost be neglected. But in the arrangements of
certain large Roman houses, there was a peculiarity
which is of higher importance than anything to which
we have as yet drawn attention in its influence upon
the form ultimately taken by Christian churches.
This is the private basilica, or great hall of a Roman
palace, which, according to Vitruvius, was a constant
feature of these buildings, and was constructed accord-
^ Vitruvius, " De archit." vi. v. 8.
13
194
THE EARL Y CHURCH
ing to the same general rules as the public basilicas
which were used as law courts and exchanges. We
have the remains of a private basilica of this kind in
the palace of Domitian on the Palatine. It was used
for giving audiences to clients and for the decision of
causes which were brought before the Emperor per-
sonally, and doubtless many a Christian has stood and
been judged within it. Such private basilicas differed
from the oecus of an ordinary house mainly by the
H H H
ij^
w
Plan of the Basilica Julia, on the Palatine at Rome.
addition of an apse at the end, and, if this was rendered
necessary because of the greater size, of pillars down
each side to help to support the roof. The tablinum
or oecus was an ordinary room in which the host
received his guests and moved about among them.
The basilica on the contrary was a hall to which the
prince or noble went to receive his clients and to hear
their causes. Hence there was a necessity for the
GENERAL RESULTS 195
apse to form a focus to dominate the whole and to
make a fitting place for the throne of the prince when
sitting as judge.
After the peace of the Church, when Christians were
free to build churches as they wished, the basilica type
became almost universal in the West. Christian
imaginations were captured by the gift by Constantine
to Pope Zephyrinus of the Lateran Palace, whose
basilica became the cathedral of Rome and set the
pattern for almost all future churches in the West.
But all this belongs to a later period than that which we
are now discussing, and before Constantine handed over
the Lateran, the basilica type of church seems to have
been very rare, though not perhaps absolutely unknown.
There cannot have been enough Christians of ex-
alted position at any time to make the use of basilicas
of this kind at all common during the ages of perse-
cution. But we have a few instances of the use of the
word, and it is not impossible that in one or two great
houses in Rome or elsewhere such basilicas were
actually used for Christian worship. Their suitability
for such a purpose was remarkable. The throne of
the prince, situated at the farthest point of the apse,
naturally lent itself for the bishop or presiding officer,
and the seats of the assessors which lined the apse on
either side of the throne were equally suitable for the
assisting clergy. It is the exact arrangement which
we find in the Coemeterium Ostrianum and which be-
came the normal arrangement of the Christian Church
for many centuries.
General Results.
We may sum up the results of our investigations con-
cerning the ecclesiastical buildings in use during the
ages of persecution somewhat as follows : The Chris-
tians met first in private houses and seldom had
13 *
196 THE EARLY CHURCH
buildings of their own apart from these. The usual
thing, when it was decided to set apart a particular
building as a semi-public oratory, was to utilize an
ordinary house for the purpose, allowing the bishop
or the priest, as the case might be, to live in the
house. He will have passed, so far as the outside
world was concerned, as an ordinary tenant, and prob-
ably used the peristyle and tablinum, or whatever
other part of the house was most suitable, for the pur-
poses of the public meeting. Accordingly the idea of
a church which was prevalent in these centuries was
that of la large oblong hall, with a second and smaller
oblong sanctuary separated from the great hall by an
arch. Within the bounds of the Empire of Constantine,
as we shall see, this primitive ideal came to be super-
seded by another drawn from the basilica, but in some
countries where the Roman influence was weak in the
fourth and fifth centuries, such as Ireland and Britain
and other parts of the North, the basilican type never
succeeded in establishing itself, and the square east
end of our churches even at the present time preserves
the memory of the earliest type of Christian church
derived from the conditions of the Roman house of
the period.
In the later part of the third century and the be-
ginning of the fourth, especially in the period of
comparative peace which intervened between the per-
secutions of Decius and Valerius and that of Diocletian,
there can be no doubt that edifices formally given
over to Christian worship were rising everywhere.
Eusebius would have had no motive for exaggeration,
and he tells us that they were very numerous. "Who
could describe," he asks, "the vast crowds of those
who came daily to religious worship, or the number of
churches in every town ? " ^ The old churches, he
1 " Hist, eccl.," viii. 3.
GENERAL RESULTS 197
goes on to say, had grown too small, and every-
where new and vast churches were rising up. Other
testimonies are completely in accord with this, and it
is evident that at this period the picture commonly
drawn of the worship carried on with difficulty in the
depths of the catacombs and other similar places, how-
ever true it may be for the comparatively few years of
active persecution, does not apply at all to the longer
years of truce between Church and State. St, Optatus
of Milevis counted forty Christian churches at Rome
at this time, and we know that in the middle of
the third century, under Pope St. Cornelius, Rome
already possessed at least eighty-six priests. But
of all these churches absolutely nothing remains
to us. Probably they were of light construction,
and it may be that they were, after all, little
more than private houses, but in any case the
order of Diocletian that they were all to be razed
and levelled with the ground seems to have swept
them all out of existence. There is scarcely a single
building anywhere surviving, of which we can say with
certainty that it was used for Christian worship before
the time of Constantine, though no doubt many are
built on sites which were those of earlier churches.
We remain, therefore, absolutely without any trust-
worthy evidence as to \ the size, the shape, or the in-
ternal arrangements of these churches.^
A passage of Eusebius^ brings before us vividly
enough the kind of destruction that was going on every-
where under Diocletian. He is telling of the ruin of
^ From two descriptions of churches of the pre-Constantinian
period which have come down to us, in the " Didascalia Apostolorum "
and the " Testamentum Domini," we should conclude that they were
usually single naved and without aisles.
" " Hist, eccl.," viii. 2 ; cf. " De Mart. Pal.," i. 436, and Lactantius
" de mort. Persec," xii.
198 THE EARLY CHURCH
the church of Nicomedia within sight of the Imperial
Palace. It was the last day of the Terminalia (the
seventh of the calends of March). In obedience to the
Imperial order, the Roman soldiers burst into the
Christian church, breaking down its gates. They
searched everywhere for the image of God, so little
as this even then was known of Christianity; burnt
the books of the Scriptures and of the liturgies ; every-
thing was given over to pillage and destruction. The
Emperors stood in the palace and watched what was
going on. They discussed the question whether the
building should be set on fire. But Diocletian was
against this, he feared that the flames would spread
and that other structures would be involved. His
opinion prevailed, but the building was not therefore
spared. The soldiers set to work with axes and crow-
bars, and in a very few hours the whole was destroyed.
Nothing remained to show where the church had stood
except only the foundations upon which it had been
built.
Everywhere all over the Empire the same tale of
destruction was going on. At Cirta we have already
told the story of the visit of the magistrates. The
destruction of the church no doubt followed though it
is not recorded. The persecutors could destroy the
churches, they could not touch the ecclesiastical or-
ganization under which those churches were worked.
Everywhere the hierarchic arrangement of dioceses and
patriarchates survived the storm. Within each diocese,
too, there must have been a detailed organization of
priests and of other clergy, and this, too, continued
unchanged. Rome itself was by this time minutely
organized for ecclesiastical purposes, and we will bring
our account of the period of persecution to an end by
giving a sketch of this organization, as we find it at
this period.
THE TITULI 199
The Tituli.
The earliest notice we have of such an organization
is in the "Liber Pontificah's ". St. Fabian (250), we
read there, " divided the regions among the deacons".
There were seven deacons at Rome (the number is
still preserved in that of the Cardinal Deacons of the
Sacred College), and to each was assigned a " region,"
made up, roughly speaking, of two of the fourteen civil
regions, though the arrangement allowed of certain
exceptions.
Each region included a certain number of tituli, or
" titles ". These were the oldest churches in the city,
and of them in the third century there were twenty-
five. The reason why this name of " title " was given
to the churches is generally considered uncertain. A
number of very unsatisfactory suggestions were made
by Baronius, who has been followed by most writers
since. Certainly the name is exceedingly ancient, and
dates from the very earliest age of the Church. The
present author, in another work, published some twelve
years ago, suggested a new derivation which seemed
to him less unsatisfactory, and he would now bring it
forward once again, with some additional evidence.
The word titulus in the Latin of the fourth century
denoted among other things a memorial pillar, the
Greek Stele, or Roman Cippus.
Thus, in Genesis xxvill. 1 8 in the Vulgate, it is used
of the stone which Jacob set up, after his dream at
Bethel, erexit in titulmn, pouring oil upon it. Similarly
in the Itinera of the early Palestine pilgrims we find
that Adamnan saw at Bethlehem the titulus which
Jacob had set up over Rachel's grave, while an earlier
pilgrim still, St. Sylvia, expresses her disappointment
that the titulus of Lot's wife was no longer visible.
Apparently the use of the word in Genesis XXVill, 1 8
aoo THE EARLY CHURCH
goes back behind the Vulgate to some form of the
Itala^ for both St. Augustine and St. Jerome quote
the passage using this word. The only text of this
portion of the Itala which survives, namely, the Lyons
MS. , does not have the word, but says posuerat eum
stantem.
In Rome itself the idea of a shrine of a saint, which
is pretty much what the word titulus seems to have
meant originally, naturally connected itself with the
idea of an altar, through the custom of using the tombs
of the saints as altars which had grown up in the cata-
combs. So here we find a local and derived meaning
of " altar " pure and simple ; denoting, apparently, a
fixed altar of stone, in contradistinction to the wooden
and portable altars, the use of which was rendered
necessary by persecution. Sulpitius Severus (" Hist."
i. 8) quotes the passage in Genesis, and clearly under-
stands the word titulus to be simply the equivalent of
"altar," for he says that Jacob promised, if he pros-
pered, that the stone he set up, titulmn sibi domus Dei
futurum — "should be the altar of a future church" ; a pas-
sage which has puzzled many commentators. Another
instance of the use of the word in this sense of altar
may be found in the life of St. Theofrid. Ipse ante
venerandum Beati Petri titulujn in oratione est prostra-
tus — " He prostrated himself in prayer before the altar cA
Blessed Peter ". Next it came to mean the part about
the altar, the presbytery^ or sanctuary. In this sense
it is used continually by Leo Marsicanus in the " Chron-
icle of Cassino," about the eleventh century. In Ecclesia
autem titulum cum confessione sua construjcit} Here
we might still take it to mean the altar only were it
not that the same writer in another place mentions
that there were six long and four round windows in
titulo, and two in the centre apse, and others in the
1 " Vita St. Theofridi Afif."
THE TITULI aoi
nave.' But long before this date it had acquired its
final sense in Rome itself, and is used for the whole
Church ; not, however, for every Church, but for those
only which possessed parochial rights.^
The first person who is recorded to have instituted
parishes of this kind is Pope Evaristus in the third
century, but the authority is somewhat doubtful, and
the earliest real authority is the Acts of the Roman
Council of 499. At that time it applied to twenty-
eight churches, of which almost all remain to the
present time. The list is as follows : " Titulus
Praxedis, Vestinae (St. Vitalis), St. Cecilia, Pammachii,
Byzantis (SS. John and Paul), dementis, Julii, Calixti
(St. Maria in Trastevere), Chrysogoni, Pudentis, S.
Sabinae, Equitii (St. Martino ai Monti), Damasi (S.
Lorenzo in Damaso), Matthei (now SS. Pietro e
Marcellino), Aemilianae, Eusebii, Tigridis, Crescentiani
(S. Sisto), Nicomedis (unknown), Cyriaci (now trans-
ferred to St. Maria in Via Lata), S. Susannae, Gaii,
Romani (doubtful), SS. Apostolorum, Eudoxiae (S.
Pietro Vincula), Fasciolae (SS. Nereo e Achilleo),
S. Priscae, S. Marcelli, Lucinae (S. Lorenzo in Lucina),
Marci, Pallacinae. The original number before the
peace of the Church was twenty-five. Three had been
added in the fourth and fifth centuries, viz. SS. John
and Paul, S. Lorenzo in Damaso, and another. The
others were the original churches of the times of
persecution, and we may suppose were for the most
part at first private houses permanently used as
churches, and with duly consecrated and permanent
altars. They were probably all, or at least most of
them, destroyed in the persecution of Diocletian, and
rebuilt again after the peace of the Church. It may
be noticed that they are all in the suburbs of Rome ;
1 " Chron. Cass.," ii. 3-7 ; Migne, *' P.L.," vol. 173, p. 586.
'Ibid. p. 747.
202 THE EARLY CHURCH
at least none are in the central part, which afterwards
had so many round the Forum. Nor are any in
buildings which have been taken over from the pagans ;
the time for this had not yet come, although from the
same lists of the signatories of the Council of 499 we
see that the deacons had their offices already in build-
ings of this kind, in the Templum sacrae Urbis (SS.
Cosmas and Damian, and in the horrea or public
barns (St. Maria in Cosmedin ^).
At a later date the parish organization of Rome
increased largely. The remains of the old system,
however, can still be traced in the College of Cardinals
with their " titular " churches ; not, as is commonly
supposed, churches from which they take their titles,
but rather parochial churches of which they are, in
theory, the parish priests. The deaconries survive
also in like manner, and are held by the " Cardinal
Deacons". Their number is, however, no longer
strictly limited to seven.
^Cf. Duchesne, "Les litres presbyteraux," Melanges de I'Ecole
Fr. 1887.
CHAPTER II.
The Basilicas and the Development of Church
Architecture.
We have seen in the last chapter that there were cer-
tainly Christian churches set apart for Divine worship,
already existing everywhere before the end of the
time of persecution. Such churches, we concluded,
were probably for the most part ordinary houses, given
up to this one purpose, and perhaps specially adapted
for that end by internal alterations. The word basilica
does already occur in describing these edifices, and it
is possible that here and there private basilicas in large
houses may have been used as churches, but this can-
not have been common, and everything leads us to
believe that the pre-Constantinian churches were small
and square-ended for the most part, not having as yet
thebasilican form or possessed of an apse at the western
end.
In the year 312 an event took place, the impor-
tance of which can hardly be exaggerated in the history
of church architecture. Constantine handed over to
the Christians the palace and basilica of the Lateran
to serve as the residence of the Pope St. Zephyrinus,
and to be the cathedral church of Rome. The basilica
seems not to have been wholly rebuilt, but simply re-
fitted to prepare it for its new use. St. Jerome ^ speaks
1 " Ep.," Ixxiii.
203
204 THE EARL V CHURCH
of it as basilica quondam Laterani, and the passage in
the "Liber Pontificalis" which records the donation
and the consecration of the church does not say that
it was actually built at this time.
As so often happens when a great forward step is
taken in architecture, the acquisition of this great hall,
probably of exceptional size and grandeur for a private
basilica, set the type for the churches so many of
which were so soon to be erected. Just as Justinian's
great church of St. Sophia at Constantinople set the
form, first for all the smaller churches of the East, and
afterwards, since the Conquest, for all the mosques of
the Turkish world, so did the basilica of the Lateran
set the type for many centuries for all the churches of
the Western Empire, and wherever Roman influence
was paramount.
The course of ages has made so much alteration in
this most important church that it is hard to say just
what was its size and shape in its original condition.
It can hardly have been so large in its original state
as at present, and probably it was greatly enlarged and
practically rebuilt in the fifth century by the Consul
Flavius Felix. The provision of the transverse nave,
for reasons which we shall see presently, must be set
down to this period and not to the original building.
The position of the altar in every church of the Con-
stantinian period seems to have been on the chord of
the apse, just in front of the bishop's throne, and such
arrangements as transverse naves are all of later de-
velopment.
The general type of the basilica is at first quite
constant, and is completely accounted for if we may
suppose that in the Lateran Palace the basilica occupied
the position of the tablinum or oecus of an ordinary
house. The plan of Old St. Peter's or S. Clemente,
or of S. Ambrogio at Milan, illustrates the point.
BASILICAS AND CHURCH ARCHITECTURE 205
The basilica itself takes the place of the peristyle, and
the apse succeeds to the tablinum. The atrium pre-
serves its name, and is kept as an open forecourt, sur-
rounded sometimes with pillars making a kind of
cloister, through which the church is approached. The
impluvium or fountain, which was usually found in
the atrium of a Roman house, kept its place in the
centre of the atrium of the basilica. The transition is
by no means abrupt from the ecclesia domestica of the
earlier time to the great basilicas of the centuries that
follow. Even the memory of the pillars which were
returned along the side of the peristyle farthest from
the tablinum survived. We find pillars thus returned
along the eastern side of many basilicas of the earliest
date, although they seem to serve no special purpose.
It was so, for instance, in the lower church at S.
Clemente ; in the Deir el Adra, a rock-cut church of the
fourth century on the Nile ; at Sta Agnese fuori le
mura, and in the cathedral, now destroyed, at Messina.
Four great basilicas were erected by Constantine
in Rome itself, besides the Lateran and those which
he built at Jerusalem and Bethlehem, at Tyre and in
Constantinople. All the four at Rome were outside
the walls and over the tombs of the martyrs. They
differed from one another chiefly in the number of
aisles. St. Peter's, by far the largest of all, had five
aisles, the others at the Lateran, Sta Agnese, S. Lor-
enzo, and St. Paul's had only three. Sta Agnese and
S. Lorenzo, probably because the great depths to which
they were excavated made this arrangement conven-
ient, had upper galleries over the aisles. The roofing
of all was by means of wooden beams carried trans-
versely.
There is no reason to think that in making the
church of St. Paul so much smaller and less import-
ant than that of St. Peter, or indeed than those of
2o6 THE EARL Y CHURCH
Sta Agnese and S. Lorenzo, Constantine meant in any
way to depreciate or show little honour to the great
Apostle of the Gentiles, In his time two canons were
always adhered to at Rome in building these churches,
in spite of every difficulty in the way. The altar was
always placed over the tomb, and the church always
ran to the eastward of the altar, so that the celebrant
standing behind the altar, faced down the church.
The nature of the locality in which St. Paul was
buried made the creation of a large church impossible
if these rules were to be kept to. The tomb lay just
west of the great road that ran from Rome to the
port of Ostia. Since the road could not easily be
changed, it was only possible to build a very small
church.
But the church of St. Paul was not long allowed to
remain in this primitive condition. In the year 386
it was determined to rebuild it, and to enlarge it in
the only way in which this could possibly be done,
by reversing its orientation. The tomb and the altar
above it were left undisturbed. A great arch was
raised above the altar, and westwards from that point
a vast church of five aisles was built, rivalling both in
size and magnificence the sister church of St. Peter.
East of the great arch, the whole space which had
been filled by the old church, besides a good deal more
to right and to left of it, was occupied by a vast trans-
verse nave, at right angles to that of the great nave
and of similar height, and out of this again opened the
tribune or apse with the pontifical throne and the
semicircular benches for the clergy. The exigences
of the situation had thus been met by two striking
innovations, each of which has been fertile in further
consequences in the development of church architecture,
namely, the introduction of the cross or tranverse nave,
and the reversal of the hitherto universally accepted
BASILICAS AND CHURCH ARCHITECTURE 207
Plan of St. Paul's at Rome, illustrating the relation of the earlier
and later churches.
2o8 THE EARLY CHURCH
relations between the altar and the church in which it
stood. The transverse nave came into existence
through what we may almost call the accidental
circumstance that it was necessary to reverse the
direction of the basilica of St Paul, without either
disturbing the tomb in which the Apostle lay, or
allowing any portion of the ground already consecrated
for the existing church to revert to secular uses. There
may, or may not, have been the further idea of repro-
ducing the form of the cross in the plan of the new
basilica ; but whether this was intended or not, there
can be little doubt that the church when constructed
in this form suggested the idea of cruciform architect-
ure, and so led on in much later times to the beautiful
development of the Gothic churches of the North.
Orientation of Churches.
The innovation as to the altar had consequences
which were no less momentous. Hitherto there had
been a remarkable difference on the subject of the
orientation of churches between Rome itself and the
rest of Catholic Christendom. The Jewish practice
of facing towards Jerusalem ^ at the time of prayer had
passed into Christianity. When Jerusalem had been
destroyed and the connection of the Christian Church
with the city which had given it birth had consequently
ceased to exist, churches were built facing the East,
but with no relation to the actual direction of Jerusalem
itself.^ The altar was placed at the east end of the
church, and priest and people alike faced to the East
when the Holy Sacrifice was being offered. " All alike
look to the East," is the direction in the " Didascalia ".^
This practice was apparently invariable throughout
*Cf. I Kings VIII. 38, 44 ; Dan. vi. 10; Ps. v. 7; Jonas 11. 4.
""Apost. Const," ii., 57; Clem. Alex., "Strom.," vii., 7; Tert.,
" Apol.," 16. 3 Ed. Funk, p. 124.
ORIENTATION OF CHURCHES 209
the whole world, with the solitary exception of the city
of Rome, and those places where the influence of Rome
was paramount. In Syria and in Egypt, in Africa, in
Gaul and in Britain, we find the altar in the oldest
churches placed at the east end of the Church. But
in Rome, and under Roman influence, although the
churches there also were built east and west, the altar
was placed always at the western end and the church
itself ran to the eastward. Whereas everywhere else
priest and people faced in the same direction to the
East when Mass was celebrated, in Rome the practice
was different. The priest stood facing eastwards on
the further side of the altar, looking down the church
and facing the people who looked westwards towards
him. This singular arrangement appears to be derived
from the ritual directions contained in the Old Testa-
ment for the building of the Tabernacle^ and of the
Temple. Whereas in the rest of Christendom the ar-
rangements of the church were apparently derived from
the Synagogue, and the practice of all facing towards
Jerusalem, or at least towards the East, thus came into
being, the practice at Rome seems to have been
deliberately based on the arrangements of the Temple
itself, and the eastward position of the people at the time
of prayer was consequently unknown. It is worth
noting, perhaps, in this connexion that it is in the
writings of St. Clement of Rome, and nowhere else
in the Fathers before St Cyprian, that the parallel of
the Eucharistic sacrifice with its Jewish prototype is
fully worked out^ It looks as if the doctrine had
produced its logical result at Rome, and there alone,
in the region of Church ceremonies.
The reversal of the orientation of St Paul's had
consequently a striking result so far as Roman
^ Exod. xxvi., xxvii,
' Cf, Clem. Rom,, I. iv., x. xxxi., xxxii., xxxvu, xL, xli., xliii., xliv.
14
2IO THE EARL V CHURCH
Christianity was concerned. Now in that church, and
nowhere else in the city, the celebrant stood as he did
everywhere else with his back to the people and facing
the apse in which was the bishop's throne. The conse-
quence was that pilgrims to the Eternal City might see,
possibly on consecutive days, the Pope saying Mass at
St. Peter's facing eastwards down the church, and at
St. Paul's still facing eastwards, but occupying the re-
verse position in relation to the church in which he was
celebrating. So striking an object-lesson could not
fail to impress men's minds, and the idea soon gained
ground that the really important matter was the east-
ward position of the celebrant, and that so long as
this was preserved it was of little consequence whether
he faced down the church or towards the apse. The
original idea of orientation, based upon the liturgical
directions of the Tabernacle and Temple, passed out
of view so far as the actual building was concerned,
and the whole stress was henceforth laid upon the
eastward position of the celebrant.
The next step in the development of our churches
is illustrated by the earliest church at Canterbury ; a
conjectural plan of what it was before the fire of 1 067
may be seen in Mr. G. G. Scott's " Essay on English
Church Architecture ". The arrangement still exists
at the cathedrals of Maintz and Nauheim. A second
altar, furnished with arrangements for a monastic
choir, was placed in an apse at the eastern end of the
church. There were now two high altars in the same
church. The original one, at the western end of the
church, was on the chord of the apse, and had the
throne of the bishop immediately behind it. At this
altar the celebrant faced eastwards down the church,
as he had always done. At the other and newer altar
(which in every instance known to us seems to have
been a copy of the actual high altar at St. Peter's at
ORIENTATION OF CHURCHES
211
r-^l_:;r -^-Ljif
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury. Conjectural plan by Mr. G. G. Scott. \
This shows the church as it was before the fire of a.d. 1067. The black parts '
represent the original Basilica.
14*
212 THE EARLY CHURCH
Rome, although its liturgical arrangement was that of
St. Paul's and not of St. Peter's) ; the celebrant still
faced eastwards but had his back to the main portion
of the church. By degrees, owing perhaps in part to
the greater frequency of the services at the monastic
altar, the original altar being reserved for episcopal
functions which were comparatively rare, the tendency
grew up to regard the new altar, and not the original
or episcopal altar, as the principal altar of the cathedral.
Hence the lesser churches copied its arrangements for
their own altars, and by degrees the original basilican
arrangement died out of use, so that now it can hardly
be met with outside of Rome itself
The other innovation of the rebuilding of St. Paul's,
the provision of the transverse nave, was soon found
to be of great convenience, no doubt because of the
greater room it allowed near the altar. Hence it
seems speedily to have been adopted at the Lateran,
where a similar enlargement was soon found to be
necessary, and seems to have been carried out, as we
have already said, by the Consul Flavius Felix, in the
fifth century. At some later date the same thing was
done at St. Peter's, but, as in the case of the Lateran,
there is no specific mention in any record of the change.
Our own belief, the reasons for which have been already
given in another work,^ is that it was not done until the
very end of the Middle Ages, in 1470. While, on the one
hand the tradition of the sixteenth century seems clear
that a transverse nave did exist at the time of its destruc-
tion, it is remarkable that no early authority seems
to speak of it, and that no one of the many pictorial
representations which we possess depicts it as showing
externally, though there is no difficulty at all about
proving the existence of the one at St. Paul's. There
^ " St. Peter in Rome," pp. 244 seq.y which see for details of the argu-
ment.
EASTERN CHURCHES 213
were great works of reparation carried out in 1470,
and it is possible that the change was made then, and
that the church from that time onwards imitated the
arrangements of St. Paul's and the Lateran. There
was, however, one important difference. The trans-
verse nave at both the other two churches was beyond
the altar, between it and the new apse. But at St.
Peter's the new nave was made eastward of the apse
and altar ; a wholly different plan, but one which was
much more in accordance with the ideas brought into
being by the Gothic cruciform churches.
With the development of Gothic churches we have
here no concern. In them the cruciform plan is carried
much further, and the upper limb of the cross, which
in the basilicas was only represented by the apse, be-
comes longer and longer in order to accommodate the
choir. But to follow out these developments would
carry us far beyond our present plan, and we must go
back again to the earliest days after the peace of the
Church in order to follow out the development of
churches in the East, which took place on lines very
different from those which obtained in the West.
Eastern Churches.
The origin of the Western Churches, we have con-
tended, must be looked for in the Roman house, and
the line of their development was fixed to the basilican
type by the donation to the Church by Constantine of
the Lateran Palace with its great private basilica. In
the East the churches during the centuries of per-
secution were, no doubt, just as in the West, simply
domestic houses of the locality put to this particular
use. But the ordinary house in the East, whether in
Egypt, in Syria, or in Asia Minor, was not constructed
on the lines which Rome had taken over from Greece.
214 THE EARLY CHURCH
The essential difference lay in the plans for carrying
the roof. In Greece and Rome the roof was carried
by timbers, and was therefore sloping. In the East
the roof of the house was flat, and was used as a terrace.
As a rule the support was given by flat beams of
stone, but in some structures the arch and dome were
used. As, however, the skill arrived at in this form
of construction was not as yet great, the unit of con-
struction was necessarily small. Eastern buildings
tended then, as to a great extent they do still, to
be made up of a great number of small squares, each
covered with a separate dome, which may or may not
be manifested externally.
At first the basilican style had a very great vogue
in the East as well as in the West. At Tyre the
great church built by Constantine and described by
Eusebius was a true basilica. At Jerusalem the church
of the Anastasis and that of the Nativity at Bethlehem
were also basilicas. In Egypt the White Monastery
near Assiout survives to this day and is of the same
type. At Constantinople the original church of Sta
Sophia, built by Constantine, was a basilica, and so
also was the original of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. The
great mosque of Damascus seems to have been origin-
ally two basilican churches standing apse to apse which
have now been united to form a single edifice of great
beauty and striking proportions.
In spite of these magnificent examples the basilican
style in the East was exotic and never really took root
in the soil. Even Constantine himself seems to have
felt this, for in his directions to Macarius of Jerusalem,
quoted by Eusebius,^ he expressly lays it down that
either style of building (by which he means really
either the timber beam form of construction for the
roof or else the brick dome), might be employed in
1 Eusebius, " Vita Constantini," iii, 32.
EASTERN CHURCHES 215
Palestine as was preferred. Almost from the first the
dome was the more frequent form of construction, and
the development of Byzantine architecture is accor-
dingly along the lines thereby necessitated rather than
along those which were followed in the West. The
square church, 'surmounted by a circular dome, is the
type to which all conform, and from which all develop-
ments are ultimately derived.
In the country districts and where architecture was
not progressive, as in Egypt at this period, we find
churches built which in ground plan more or less
resemble the basilica. They have commonly three
haikals or sanctuaries, each square and with one side
built into an internal apse. But the number three
though usual in the North is very frequently exceeded
in the South. Several churches in Upper Egypt have
as many as seven haikals side by side.^ These are
separated from the body of the church by screens, and
have each an altar in the centre, and seats round for
the clergy. The whole church is commonly roofed
by means of a number of small domes, each rising
from its own square unit, so that the resemblance to
the basilica does not go beyond the general ground
plan.
Such was the development in the country districts,
and churches built on this plan may be seen anywhere
in Egypt to-day. Size is obtained by the simple
method of putting a great number of square units side
by side, and in no other way. But at Constantinople
itself, where Greek architects were available and threw
themselves with enthusiasm into the conditions of the
problem, development was rapid. The adoption of
pendentives enabled the dome to be built of much
^ Dr. Butler, " Coptic Churches," is wrong when he says the num-
ber of three is invariable. He had never been beyond Cairo and knew
nothing of Upper Egypt.
ai6 THE EARL Y CHURCH
greater size without unduly increasing the thrust on
the walls. From Constantinople the style spread to
the West, and we get such interesting churches as
those of S. Vitale at Ravenna and S. Lorenzo at
Milan, both about the sixth century. All of them are
square or nearly so, though this may be architecturally
modified, so that they appear octagonal. All are roofed
in by means of the dome, and belong, therefore, to the
Eastern type rather than to the Western.
It was at Constantinople itself, however, that this
Byzantine style reached its perfection. The original
basilica of Sta Sophia, which had been built by Constan-
tine, was burnt down about the year 530, and it was
determined by Justinian the Emperor to rebuild it in
the Byzantine style. The result was to produce a
church which may fairly be called one of the wonders
of the world. In it we have the element of the square
unit with domed roof carried to its extreme develop-
ment. It gives a finer central space than is possible
with any other method, and at once became the
model for the smaller churches of the East. Later
on, when the architects of the West saw it at the
time of the Crusades, and learnt from it what the
possibilities of the dome really were, it influenced the
production of St. Marco at Venice, and of the Gothic
dome of the Cathedral of Florence. A little later it
must be considered the parent of the great church of St.
Peter's at Rome. After the capture of Constantinople
by the Turks in 1453 it became the model for every
great Turkish mosque. In our own day it has supplied
the motif iox the new Cathedral at Westminster, though
this in turn has started a new development of its own
just as St. Peter's did before it. No other church has
ever had so much influence on later architecture as has
been exercised by this great Cathedral of Sta Sophia
at Constantinople.
CRUCIFORM ARCHITECTURE 217
Cruciform Architecture.
In the year 1 216, or thereabouts, Pope Honorius III
made another important change in one of the ancient
basilicas. The Church of S. Lorenzo, as built by
Constantine, was still standing, but it had long been
far too small to accommodate the worshippers who
came. A second basilica had, therefore, been built
adjoining it end to end, but in the reverse direction,
so that the two apses almost touched. Honorius de-
termined to pull down the two apses, and then unite the
churches, adding three more columns on each side.
The later church then became the nave, and the older
one the choir. The altar of the tomb, of course, re-
mained the altar of the church in its new form. The
floor of the earlier church was, however, much lower
than that of the second basilica, because it had been
dug out in order to get down to the actual tomb for
the high altar. Honorius, therefore, inserted a new
floor, supported on piers, at a level of about 3 feet
higher than that of the new nave, and utilized the
space underneath as a crypt. This new floor cuts across
the lower columns at the side, which support the upper
columns of the galleries, but the whole effect of the
crypt and galleries is very fine.
The result of this innovation was that now there ex-
isted at Rome, in oneof the great churches which every
pilgrim went to visit, an arrangement which placed the
high altar of the church in the centre, with the choir
behind the altar, and the bishop's throne at the far end
of this choir. Here, again, the development was al-
most accidental, but it was fertile in consequences. If
it is to Sta Sophia that we must look for the revelation
of the power of the dome to Western architects, it is
to S. Lorenzo that the idea of placing the altar in
the centre of the church is really due. There had been
round churches at Rome before this. The baptistery
2i8 THE EARLY CHURCH
constantly took this form ; and the Pantheon had been
utilized for Christian worship, and the round church
which enclosed the Holy Sepulchre had been frequently
copied by the Templars on their return from Jerusalem.
But in none of these churches had the altar been placed
in the centre. It was always under one of the arches
at the side of the building, and to place it in the centre
would have seemed too bold a departure. But here
at Rome, in one of the principal basilicas, the thing had
been done, and a precedent existed. That precedent
was made use of by the genius of Michael Angelo when
he planned his new church of St. Peter's. His direct in-
spiration for the building came from pagan Rome, and
not apparently, save indirectly, from any Christian
building. What he said he would do was to take the
dome of the Pantheon and place it above the basilica
of Constantine. His original design was for a Greek
cross, adding two more to the two half-domes which
help to roof Sta Sophia, and making the church of a
true cruciform shape. The necessity for providing
room for great crowds, and also the desire to include
in the new church every portion of the older building,
led to the modifications, which he himself regretted, of
the present ground plan. But here, again, we are far
beyond our proper limits, and we must leave the sub-
ject of further developments to other hands. There
is no more fascinating subject than the story of the
developments of Gothic architecture and their relation
to the needs of monastic and congregational worship,
but it is a story which belongs to the Middle Ages,
and lies outside the domain of Christian archaeology.
The archaeologist has done his part when he has
defined the conditions under which churches were
originally built, and suggested the principal forces at
work which are responsible for later developments and
subsequent modifications.
BOOKS TO CONSULT.
I. On the Whole Subject —
Marucchi, Elements tPArcheologia Chretienne. 3 volumes. Rome,
1900-3.
Armellini, Lezioni di archeologia cristiana. Rome, 1898.
Leclercq, Manuel d'Archeologie Chretienne. Paris, 1907.
Kraus, Realescyklopadie der christlichen Alterthumer. Freiburg,
1880-86.
Wilpert, Principienfragen der christlichen Archdologie. Freiburg,
1892.
Kaufmann, Handbuch der christlichen Arch'dologie. Paderborm,
1905.
De Rossi, La Roma sotterranea cristiana. Rome, 1864-77.
Bullettino di archeologia cristiana. Rome, 1863-94, 1896.
De Rossi and Others. Nuovo Bullettino di arch, crist. Rome,
1S95-
Smith and Cheetham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.
London, 1876-80.
Martigny, Dictionnaire des antiquites chretiennes. Paris, 1877.
Forrer, Reallexicon der friihchristlichen Altertumer. Berlin, 1907.
Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie. Paris,
1902.
Naval, Elementos de arqueologia. S. Domingo, 1903.
De Rossi, Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae VIP saeculo
antiquiores. Rome, 1861-88.
Northcote and Brownlow. Roma Sotterranea. London, 1869.
Marucchi, / Monumenti del Museo Cristiana Pio-Lateranense,
Milan, 1910.
Sybel, L. von, Christliche Antike. Marburg, igog.
a. History of the First Three Centuries —
Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis. Paris, 1886.
Allard, Histoire des Persecutions. Paris, 1885.
Grisar, Storia di Roma e dei Papi. Rome, 1899.
KrQger, Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur in der ersten drei
Jahrhunderten. Freiburg, 1895.
Ruinart, Acta sincera Marty rum. Paris, 1689.
BoUandists, Acta Sanctorum.
Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels, 1882.
2x9
220 THE EARL V CHURCH
Marucchi, he Memorie degli Apostoli Pietro e Paolo in Roma.
Rome, 1903.
Barnes, St. Peter in Rome a7id his Tomb on the Vatican Hill.
London.
Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome. London, 1893.
Allard, Ten Lectures on the Martyrs. London, 1907.
La Persecution de Diocletian et le triomphe de VEglise. Paris,
1903- ,
Doulcet, Essai sur les rapports de VEglise chretienne avec VEtat
Romain. Paris, 1882.
Gregorovius, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages.
London, 1902.
3. Early Christian Art —
Marchi, I Monumenti delle arti cristiane nelle metropoli del
cristianesimo. Rome, 1844.
Garrucci, Storia delV arti cristiana. Prato, 1873-
Vetri ornati di figure in oro trovati nei cimeteri dei cristiani
primitivi di Roma. Roma, 1858.
Ghignoni, El pensiero cristiano nelV arte. Rome, 1903. ,
Millet, La collection chretienne et byzantine des Hautes-Etndes.
Paris, 1903.
Dalton, Catalogue of early Christian antiquities of the British
Museum. London, 1901.
Lowrie, Monuments of the Early Church. New York, igoi.
Schultze, Archdologie der Alt-christlichen Kunst. Munich, 1895.
Wilpert, Die Malereien der Katacombes Roms. Freiburg, 1903.
4. Christian Epigraphy —
De Rossi, Inscriptionis Christianae Urbis Romae VIP saeculo
anteriores. Rome, 1861-88.
Corpus inscriptionum graecarum. Beriin, 1828-77.
Corpus inscriptionum latinarum. Beriin, 1863.
Fabretti, Inscriptionum antiquarum, etc. Rome, 1699.
Hubner, Inscriptiones Hispaniae christianae, Berlin, 1871.
Kraus, Inscriptiones rhenanae christianae.
Le Blant, Itiscriptiotts chretiennes de la Gaule. Paris, 1856.
Manuel d'epigraphie chretienne. Paris, 1869.
Marucchi, Christian Epigraphy. Cambridge, 1912.
Wilmanns, Exempla inscriptionum latinarum. Berlin, 1873.
Northcote, Epitaphs of the Catacombs. London, 187S.
McCall, Christian Epitaphs of the First Six Centuries. London,
1869.
INDEX.
Abercius, Stele of, xvi, 94, 97,
133.
Adam and Eve, 82.
Agape, 146.
Aix-les-Bains, 144.
Alexamenes, 23.
Altar, wooden, of St. Peter, 16,
Anchor, symbolism of, 89.
Aquileia, 122.
Arch of Constantine, 71.
Arcosolia, 60.
Armellin, 168.
Athanasius, St., 116.
Atrium, 184.
Autun, inscription of, 95, 133.
Baneas, i6g.
Baptism, method of, 114.
Baronius, igg.
Basil, St., III.
Basilica, 73, 167, 193, 203, 205, 206.
Battifol, Mgr., 57.
Bayliss, Sir W., 174.
Berenice, 169.
Brutus, xiii.
Burial-clubs, 55, 56.
Burial-places, confiscated, 7, 43.
Caius, 4.
Callixtus, St., xvii, 22, 61, 106, 114,
115, 121, 125, 129, 143, 192.
Canterbury, Church of, 210.
Caracalla, 22.
Catacombs, xvi, 6, 58, 173.
Catechumen, 112.
Cecilia, St., 187.
Celestine, St., log.
Cellae, 190.
Celsus, 21.
Chains of St. Peter, 17.
Chair of St. Peter, 8.
Christians, crimes imputed to, 37.
— procedure against, 40.
Churches in East, 213.
Cicero, 19.
Cirta, 187.
Clement, St., 92, 94.
Clementine Recognitions, 185.
Ccemeterium Ostrianum, 9, 59,
117, 139, 177, 192.
Collegia, 53, 60, 147, i8g.
Confirmation, 138.
Constantine, xvi, xix, 6, 46, 67,
108, 195, 203.
Constantinople, xvi, 72, 214.
Converts, earliest, 19.
Cornelius, St., 50, 107, 181.
Cruciform architecture, 217.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., 132, 134.
Damasus, St., 63, 135, 136, 139,
163.
Daniel, 84.
Dead, prayer for, 150.
Decius, 41, 42, 43.
De Rossi, 57, 127, 142, 143, 159,
167, 171.
Didache, 126.
Diocletian, 23, 25, 45, 48, 62, 187,
198.
Diogenes the Fossor, 65.
Dionysius of Alexandria, St., 33,
62.
Dolphin, symbolism of, 90.
Domitian, 194.
Domitilla, St., 148, 174, 177, 190.
Dove, symbolism of, 87.
Duchesne, Mgr., 123, 202.
222
THE EARL Y CHURCH
EccLESiA domestica, 185, 205.
Edict of Milan, xiv, 46, 68.
Ellicott, Bp,, I.
Elvira, Council of, 139.
English churches, ancient, 185,
196.
Epiphanius, 182.
Era of the Martyrs, 46,
Eusebius, 32, 33, 169, 196, 197.
Fabian, St., 51, 155.
Fish, symbolism of, 88, 121.
Flavians, 28, 31.
Fonts, ancient, 118.
Fossors, 64.
Funeral ceremonies, 144.
Galerius, 32, 46.
Gallienus, 8, 44, 63.
Gallio, 36.
Garucci, 171.
Gilded glasses, 172, 179.
Glabriones, 9, 14, 28, 190.
Good Shepherd, 86, 99.
Goths, 73.
Graffiti, 22, 159.
Gregory, St., 79.
Hadrian, 40, 73.
Haikal, 215.
Heaphy, Mr., 174.
Hermas, 21.
Hermes, St., 50.
Hippolytus, 60.
Holy Shroud, 171.
Invocation of Saints, 157.
Irenaeus, St., 169.
Itala, 200.
Jerome, St., 89, 143, 187.
Jerusalem, Upper Room at, 165.
Jews, 20, 35.
Jonas, 83.
Julian, the Apostate, 78, 170.
Justin Martyr, St., 126.
Lady, portraits of Our, 176.
Lamb, symbolism of, 85.
Lanciani, Prof., 2.
Lateran, Baptistery at, 118.
Lateran, Basilica, 203.
— Palace, 70, 195.
Lawrence, St., 116.
Church of, 217.
Liberius, 9.
Licinius, 69, 72, 73.
Lucilla, 51.
Lucina, 5, 59, 187.
Lyons, 144.
Mamertine prison, 15.
Marcellus, 63.
Marriage, 140.
Martin, St., iii.
Martyrs, 34 and foil., 47.
— Veneration of, 162.
Marucchi, Prof., 117, 141.
Maximin, 46, 49.
Michael Angelo, 218.
Minutius Felix, 58.
Mixed chalice, 131.
Moses, 82, 103, 120.
Nero, 36, 38,
Nicomedia, 198,
Noe, 82, 88.
Novatus, 13.
Orientation of churches, 208,
Origen, 21, 88.
Orpheus, 84.
Ostrian Cemetery, g, 59, 177, 192.
Papal sepulchres, 106.
Paul, St., Basilica of, 4, 5, 7, 17,
108, 166, 167, 205, 206.
Peace of the Church, 46.
Penance, 143.
Perpetua, St., 131, 153.
Peter, St., 1-18, 83.
Basilica of, 73, 76, 102, 123,
159. 205.
— and Paul, SS., portraits of, 178.
Philip the Arabian, 41.
Phylletians, 56.
Pius I, St., 13, 21.
Platonia, 6, 109.
Pliny. 33. 38, 55.
Podgoritza, 82.
Pompeii, 189.
Pomponia Grsecina, 27,
INDEX
223
Pontianus, 155,
Pontifex Maximus, 70.
Popes, bodies of, 6.
Porphyry, 32.
Portraits of Our Lord, 168, 175.
Prisca, Sta, 10, 12, 185, 187.
Priscilla, Sta, 107, 122, 128, 159,
176.
Private oratories, 167.
Prosper, St., of Aquitaine, 89.
Pudens, 11, 187.
Pudentiana, Sta, 10, 13, 17, 28,
109, 187.
Quo Vadis, 16.
Ram, symbolism of, 86.
Ramsay, Prof., 94, 99.
Relics of the martyrs, 47 and foil.
Rock-cut churches, 191, 205.
Roman house, plan of, 183.
Sabina, St., log.
Sabinus, Titus Flavius, 29.
Salmon, Dr., 93.
Sancta Sanctorum, 171.
Sangallo, Antonio da, 73.
Schola, 188,
School of St. Paul, 14.
Scott, G. G., 210.
Sebastiano, San, catacomb of, 7,
164.
Seneca, 19, 26.
Serpent, symbolism of, 90.
Ship, symbolism of, 90.
Slaves, 20.
Soldiers, 24, 54.
Sophia, St., Church of, 204.
Stag, symbolism of, 87.
Stele of Abercius, 94.
Susannah and the elders, 122.
Sylvia, St., 199.
Symbolism, 80.
Syncratians, 56.
Tacitus, 27, 29, 30,
Tarcisius, St., 136.
Tertullian, 10, 24, 25, 42, 60, 70,
III, 121, 142.
Thundering Legion, 25.
Titulus, 63, 199, 201.
Tombs of ApostleS; 4, 58.
Trajan, 39, 55.
Transverse naves, 212.
Trinity, representation of, 166.
Tripoli, 185.
Troas, 182.
Tullianum, 15.
Tyrannus, 183.
Valerian, 32, 41, 43, 48, 61.
Vandals, 78.
Veronica, St., 171.
Vindicatio, 51.
Vitruvius, 193.
WiLPERT, Mgr., xviii, 127, 128,
129, 174.
Xystus, St., 63.
ZEPHYRINUS,St., 60, 195, 203.
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