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
It has been well suggested that in each instance the selection of the
spot for the formal creation of an official papal burying-place was
influenced by some direct memory of S. Peter which was attached to the
spot in question. In the case of the first and fourth this is obvious.
In the case of the first was the little Memoria over the sacred tomb.
In the case of the fourth--the place selected was on the Vatican
Hill--under the shadow of the house of God erected by Constantine over
the first Memoria.
Round the grave of S. Peter it was natural and fitting that the
first Bishops of Rome should lie. When the space was entirely filled
up, as was the case at the close of the second century, and a fresh
official burying-place for the Bishops had to be found, Zephyrinus
and Callistus were, with great probability, directed to that great
cemetery which at a very early date bore the name of Callistus, on
account of the memories of S. Peter and S. Paul, which were connected
with the adjacent cemetery “ad Catacombas” (S. Sebastian); and Marucchi
thinks some treasured memory of the great apostle connected with the
beautiful legend of the “Quo vadis”--a spot not far from the Callistus
Cemetery--hung round the God’s acre selected for the site of the Papal
Crypt.
The third choice of a spot for the burying-place of the Popes, the
basilica on the S. Priscilla Catacomb, has been attributed to the many
memories of S. Peter associated with the Catacomb in question, which
are now identified with the scenes of S. Peter’s teaching and baptizing.
There in the Basilica of S. Sylvester, until the great translation
of the Catacomb saints in the pontificates of Paul I and
Paschal I was carried out, the remains of the seven Popes, the
two sons of Felicitas, and of many other famous and heroic martyrs
rested. When, however, the precious treasure of these saints’ remains
was removed to the securer shelter of the metropolis hard by, S.
Priscilla’s Catacomb and Basilica were soon forgotten.
There is, alas! little left of the basilica of S. Sylvester; its very
existence was unknown until De Rossi discovered its ruins in 1889. The
subterranean crypt and corridors and baptisteries have fared better
than the basilica built above them, and have already provided an almost
inexhaustible mine of riches for the antiquarian, the theologian, and
the historian; and in coming years, when further investigations in this
vast historical cemetery are carried out, discoveries of a yet greater
interest may be looked for--discoveries, to use the words of the latest
toiler in S. Priscilla, which may tell us more of the “passing by”
of S. Peter in this venerable home of so many and such varied sacred
memories.
VIII
THE VIA SALARIA VETUS AND VIA FLAMINIA
_Cemetery of S. Pamphilus._--S. Pamphilus, we learn from the
Itineraries, was a martyr; nothing, however, is known of his history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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