The Early Christians in RomeSpence-Jones, H. D. M. (Henry Donald Maurice)
History
The Early Christians in Rome
Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Henry Donald Maurice)
Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600; Rome (Italy) -- Church history
This singular feature, when taken in conjunction with the great
tank or reservoir of the first story and the several smaller tanks
or reservoirs discovered in the various corridors and sepulchral
chambers--peculiarities and features possessed by no other
catacomb--amply justifies the ancient appellation “ad Nymphas,” which
no doubt exclusively belongs to the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, and which
in several parts seems to preserve a memory of the baptisms of S. Peter.
Over most of the catacombs--certainly over the more important--shortly
after the Peace of the Church, basilicas or churches of various
dimensions were erected for the accommodation of pilgrims and members
of the Roman congregations who desired to visit and to venerate the
sanctuaries of the subterranean cemeteries which soon became famous and
objects of reverence in the Christian world. The basilica subsequently
known as S. Sylvester, which was built over the Cemetery of Priscilla,
no doubt before the year 336, has perhaps obtained a greater notoriety
than any other of these fourth-century cemetery churches.
Into this basilica, apparently shortly after its erection, were
translated many of the bodies of martyrs, whose remains had been in the
first instance deposited in the crypts of S. Priscilla beneath. The
Pilgrim Itineraries dwell upon this, and especially mention how under
the high altar of S. Sylvester two of the martyred sons of S. Felicitas
rested--Felix and Philip.
Into S. Sylvester, too, were brought the remains of the two martyr
Popes, Marcellus and Marcellinus. There also Pope Sylvester, the
builder of the basilica after whom it has been named, was interred;
and at his feet Pope Siricius, the successor of Pope Damasus. Three
more of the occupants of the papal dignity have been interred in this
honoured sanctuary, namely, Liberius, A.D. 353-5; Celestinus,
A.D. 422-32; and at a somewhat later date Pope Vigilius,
A.D. 538-55; in all the remains of seven of the Bishops of
Rome rested in S. Sylvester.
Indeed, this little basilica ranks as the third of the sacred places
of interment of the Bishops of Rome. The _first_ is on the Vatican
Hill--in the immediate neighbourhood of the grave of S. Peter--where
ten or eleven of the first occupants of the See of Rome lie. The
_second_ is the famous so-called Papal Crypt in the Cemetery of
S. Callistus on the Appian Way. The _third_ is the Basilica of S.
Sylvester over the Cemetery of Priscilla. The _fourth_ is once more on
the Vatican Hill, near the grave of S. Peter, in the stately church
erected by the Emperor Constantine on the site of the little Memoria
chapel of Linus.
[Illustration: CHAPEL OF THE TOMBS OF THE III CENTURY BISHOPS OF
ROME--PARTLY RESTORED--CATACOMB OF S. CALLISTUS]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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