As in every other city, so in Rome, the eucharistic sacrifice was offered originally in only one place, by the bishop. And even after more churches were erected, and the faithful met in them, communion was brought to them from the one altar by the deacons, and distributed by the priests. It was Pope Evaristus, the fourth successor of St. Peter, who multiplied the churches of Rome with circumstances peculiarly interesting. This Pope, then, did two things. First, he enacted that from thenceforward no altars should be erected except of stone, and that they should be consecrated; and secondly, “he distributed the _titles_;” that is, he divided Rome into parishes, to the churches of which he gave the name of “title.” The connection of these two acts will be apparent to any one looking at Genesis xxviii.; where, after Jacob had enjoyed an angelic vision, while sleeping with a stone for his pillow, we are told that, “trembling he said, How terrible is this place! _This is no other than the house of God_, and the gate of heaven. And Jacob arising in the morning _took the stone_,..... _and set it up for a title, pouring oil on the top of it_.”[122] The church or oratory, where the sacred mysteries were celebrated, was truly, to the Christian, the house of God; and the stone altar, set up in it, was consecrated by the pouring of oil upon it, as is done to this day (for the whole law of Evaristus remains in full force); and thus became a _title_, or monument.[123] Two interesting facts are elicited from this narrative. One is, that to that time there was only one church with an altar in Rome; and no doubt has ever been raised, that this was the church afterwards, and yet, known by the name of St. Pudentiana. Another is, that the one altar till then existing was not of stone. It was, in fact, the wooden altar used by St. Peter, and kept in that church, till transferred by St. Sylvester to the Lateran basilica, of which it forms the high altar.[124] We further conclude, that the law was not retrospective, and that the wooden altar of the Popes was preserved at that church, where it had been first erected, though from time to time it might be carried, and used elsewhere. The church in the Vicus Patricius, therefore, which existed previous to the creation of _titles_, was not itself a title. It continued to be the episcopal, or rather the pontifical church of Rome. The pontificate of St. Pius I., from 142 to 157, forms an interesting period in its history, for two reasons. First, that Pope, without altering the character of the church itself, added to it an oratory which he made a _title_;[125] and having collated to it his brother Pastor, it was called the _titulus Pastoris_, the designation, for a long time, of the cardinalate attached to the church. This shows that the church itself was more than a title.