Among the most illustrious victims of Valerian whose bodies lie in the lowly Catacombs, but whose names live for evermore, were Stephen I. and Sixtus II., bishops of the persecuted church, and a number of distinguished ecclesiastics, as well as many laymen of noble rank.[108] Stephen, as the head of the Christian community, was especially obnoxious to heathen rage. According to the Acts of his martyrdom he sought concealment in these sepulchral crypts,[109] where he was secretly visited by the faithful, and where he administered the sacraments. He was traced by the Roman soldiers to his subterranean chapel, but, awed by the mysterious rites, they allowed him to conclude the service in which he was engaged. He was then beheaded, with several of his adherents,[110] and buried in the Catacomb. Sixtus, the successor of Stephen, within a year received the martyr’s 85 crown. Like another Daniel setting at defiance the emperor’s decree, he was leading the devotions of the persecuted flock in the Catacomb of Prætextatus, probably because it was less known than the public cemetery of Callixtus, when he was apprehended by the fierce soldiery, who had tracked his footsteps thither. He was hurried away to summary judgment, brought back to the place of his offence, and there beheaded, sprinkling with his blood the walls of the chamber. With him were also executed four of his deacons,[111] the monuments of two of whom, Agapetus and Felicissimus, De Rossi discovered in the very Catacomb in which they suffered. Sixtus himself was buried in the “Bishops’ Tomb” in the Callixtan Cemetery, where the following inscription, fragments of which have been found in the _débris_, was afterward set up by Damasus: TEMPORE QVO GLADIVS SECVIT PIA VISCERA MATRIS HIC POSITVS RECTOR COELESTIA IVSSA DOCEBAM ADVENIVNT SVBITO RAPIVNT QVI FORTE SEDENTEM MILITIBVS MISSIS POPVLI TVNC COLLA DEDERE MOX SIBI COGNOVIT SENIOR QVIS TOLLERE VELLET PALMAM SEQVE SVVMQVE CAPVT PRIOR OBTVLIT IPSE IMPATIENS FERITAS POSSET NE LAEDERE QVEMQVAM OSTENDIT CHRISTVS REDDIT QVI PRAEMIA VITAE PASTORIS MERITVM NVMERVM GREGIS IPSE TVETVR At the time when the sword pierced the tender heart of the Mother 86 [church,] I, the ruler buried here, was teaching the laws of heaven. Suddenly came [the enemy,] who seized me sitting as I was. Then the people presented their necks to the soldiers sent against me. Soon the old man saw who sought to bear away the palm, and was the first to offer himself and his own head, that impatient rage might injure no one else. Christ who bestows the rewards of life, manifests the merit of the pastor: he himself defends the flock.[112]