_P.S._—Any profits derived from the sale of this book will be sent to Commendatore de Rossi to promote the work of excavation, which languishes for want of funds. At more than one spot in the Catacombs, the Commission of Sacred Archæology, of which De Rossi is Secretary, has the strongest reason for believing in the existence of historic monuments of great value, and it is most desirable that these monuments should be recovered, whilst we have amongst us so competent an interpreter of them. But funds are wanting. The late Monsignor de Merode was a most munificent benefactor to this work, and his death has been an irreparable loss. Smaller contributions, however, will be thankfully received; and through the kindness of friends, or by means of my own public lectures, I have been able to send two or three hundred pounds within the last few years. Any further sums that may be intrusted to me for the same purpose will be at once forwarded to Rome. J. S. N. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Part I. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE CATACOMBS. St. Jerome’s description of the Catacombs—More detailed description of their galleries, chambers, and tombs; their depth, extent, and number—They were not deserted sandpits or quarries, but made expressly to be places of burial for Christians—This shown to have been rendered easy by the Roman laws and practice about burial—Pagan burial-clubs in Rome—Perfect freedom and safety of the Christian cemeteries in the beginning 1 CHAPTER II. THEIR HISTORY DURING THE AGES OF PERSECUTION. Earliest places of Christian worship in Rome—Their position before the law—Edict of Valerian against assemblies in the Catacombs—Disobedience and consequent martyrdom of St. Sixtus—Extension of the Catacombs—Changes in their architectural forms—The _fossors_ and their clerical character—Stories of martyrs belonging to this period—St. Hippolytus and others—SS. Chrysanthus and Daria—St. Tharsicius—St. Agnes and St. Emerentiana 26 CHAPTER III. THEIR HISTORY FROM A.D. 310 TO A.D. 850.