The martyrs traditionally interred in the various Catacombs of Rome, and whose graves were reverently and persistently visited by crowds of pilgrims to Rome from foreign lands after the Peace of the Church during the fourth, fifth, and following centuries, represent the victims of the various periods of persecution during the first three centuries. It is by no means intended to press the traditional statements contained in the Pilgrim Itineraries quoted in this chapter respecting the vast number of martyrs interred in the Catacombs of Rome. These statements are probably somewhat exaggerated, but the undisputed fact remains that a _very great number_ of these victims of the various persecutions were certainly interred in this hallowed city of the dead; and the unvarying tradition of the number of martyrs so interred must be taken into account, and gravely reckoned with, wherever the question of the number of Christian victims is considered. BOOK IV THE ROMAN CATACOMBS [Illustration: THE “COME AND DINE” OF THE LAST CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN’S GOSPEL--THE MYSTIC REPAST OF THE SEVEN DISCIPLES CEMETERY OF CALLISTUS--II CENTURY. (A FAVOURITE PICTURE IN THE CATACOMBS)] THE ROMAN CATACOMBS INTRODUCTORY An absolutely reliable source of information respecting the secret of the inner life of the Church in the early Christian centuries is the faithful record of the thoughts, the hopes, the aspirations of the congregations of the Church of the metropolis of the Empire, carved and painted on the countless graves of the subterranean corridors and chambers of the Catacombs of Rome. “The popular, the actual belief of a generation or society of men cannot always be ascertained from the contemporary writers, who belong for the most part to another stratum. The belief of a people is something separate from the books or the watchwords of parties. It is in the air. It is in their intimate conversation. We must hear, especially in the case of the simple and unlearned, what they talk of to each other. We must sit by their bedsides, get at what gives them most consolation, what most occupies their last moments. This, whatever it be, is the belief of the people, right or wrong; this and this only, is their real religion.... Now, is it possible to ascertain this concerning the early Christians? * * * * *