Now three of the most ancient churches of Rome--churches whose foundation stories were laid in apostolic times--are referred to by the great scholar and archæologist here. They are S. Pudentiana on the Viminal Hill, S. Prassedis on the Esquiline, and S. Priscilla (S. Prisca) on the Aventine. Of these S. Priscilla is no doubt the lineal descendant of the church that was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, the friends of Paul. We trace it back to the fifth century. It is evident that before the fourth century the little church in the house of the tent-makers had become the public church of S. Priscilla. Its founders, the well-known Aquila and Priscilla, were buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla. Pope Leo IV in the ninth century specially refers to their tombs in the Priscilla Cemetery. The second of the three ancient churches, S. Prassedis, in common with S. Pudentiana, was on the vast estate which the family of Pudens possessed at the foot of the Esquiline. There is, however, no tradition extant as to when it was first founded. It is mentioned in an inscription of the fifth century in the Cemetery of S. Hippolytus, and again in the year 490 in the Acts of the Council under the presidency of Pope Symmachus. It has been restored several times, and in the early Middle Ages is famous as the first place where Pope Paschal I deposited the remains of the 2400 martyrs which were translated for security’s sake from the various catacombs. In our day and time this most ancient church is best known for the little chapel, called from its unusual and mysterious splendour “Orto del Paradiso.” It is commonly called the Chapel of S. Zeno, to whom it was originally dedicated. S. Zeno suffered in the reign of Claudius (Gothicus), A.D. 268-70. He is buried in a crypt in the Cemetery of Prætextaus. S. Zeno is called in one of the Itineraries “The Brother of the S. Valentinus of the Catacomb on the Flaminian Way.” This famous chapel contains one of the great relics of Rome, the column to which it is said our Saviour in His Passion was bound--it is of the rarest blood jasper. In S. Prassedis are two ancient sarcophagi containing the remains of the two sainted sisters SS. Prassedis and Pudentiana, brought from their original tombs in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla at the time of the great translation of the remains of the saints by Paschal I. In the centre of the nave the well is still shown where S. Prassedis probably buried the remains of martyrs; a similar well exists in the sister church of S. Pudentiana. [Illustration: MOSAIC IN THE APSE OF THE CHURCH OF STA. PUDENZIANA, ROME FOURTH CENTURY. OUR LORD WITH APOSTLES AND OTHERS: THE BUILDINGS IN THE BACKGROUND PROBABLY REPRESENT JERUSALEM. OF THE TWO FEMALE FIGURES STANDING BEHIND THE APOSTLES, THAT ON THE RIGHT OF THE SAVIOUR REPRESENTS S. PRASSEDIS, THAT ON THE LEFT S. PUDENZIANA--THE DAUGHTERS OF PUDENS. THE MOSAIC IS OF THE TIME OF POPE SIRICIUS, A.D. 384-398]