Walks in RomeHare, Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert)
History
Walks in Rome
Hare, Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert)
Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
3. Near the exit, properly in the catacomb of Sta. Lucina, connected
with that of Calixtus by a labyrinth of galleries, is the tomb of Pope
St. Cornelius (251, 252) the only Roman bishop down to the time of St.
Sylvester (314) who bore the name of any noble Roman family, and whose
epitaph, (perhaps in consequence) is in Latin, while those of the other
popes are in Greek. The tomb has no chapel of its own, but is a mere
grave in a gallery, with a rectangular instead of a circular space
above, as in the cubicula. Near the tomb are fragments of one of the
commemorative inscriptions of St. Damasus, which has been ingeniously
restored by De Rossi thus:--
"Aspice, descensu extructo tenebrisque fugatis
Corneli monumenta vides tumulumque sacratum
Hoc opus ægroti Damasi præstantia fecit,
Esset ut accessus melior, populisque paratum
Auxilium sancti, et valeas si fundere puro
Corde preces, Damasus melior consurgere posset,
Quem non lucis amor, tenuit mage cura laboris."
"Behold! a way down has been constructed, and the darkness
dispelled; you see the monuments of Cornelius, and his sacred tomb.
This work the zeal of Damasus has accomplished, sick as he is, in
order that the approach might be better, and the aid of the saint
might be made convenient for the people; and that, if you will pour
forth your prayers from a pure heart, Damasus may rise up better in
health, though it has not been love of life, but care for work,
that has kept him (here below)."[211]
St. Cornelius was banished under Gallus to Centumcellæ--now Civita
Vecchia, and was brought back thence to Rome for martyrdom Sept. 14,
A.D. 252. On the same day of the month, in 258, died his friend and
correspondent St. Cyprian, archbishop of Carthage,[212] who is
consequently commemorated by the Church on the same day with St.
Cornelius. Therefore also, on the right of the grave, are two figures of
bishops with inscriptions declaring them to be St. Cornelius and St.
Cyprian. Each holds the book of the Gospels in his hands and is clothed
in pontifical robes, "including the pallium, which had not yet been
confined as a mark of distinction to metropolitans."[213] Beneath the
picture stands a pillar which held one of the vases of oil which were
always kept burning before the shrines of the martyr. Beyond the tomb,
at the end of the gallery, is another painting of two bishops, St.
Sistus II., martyred in the catacomb of Pretextatus, and St. Optatus
who was buried near him.
In going round this catacomb, and in most of the others, the visitor
will be shown a number of rude paintings, which will be explained to him
in various ways, according to the tendencies of his guide. The paintings
may be considered to consist of three classes, symbolical; allegorical
and biblical; and liturgical. There is little variety of subject,--the
same are introduced over and over again.
The symbols most frequently introduced on and over the graves are:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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