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Character of Christian Monuments.

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those individuals as members of a Roman family. Occasionally we meet with two, and perhaps even three, names on their monuments, as Aurelia Agapetilla, Largia Agape; but these are not common. The first believers, when not forced, by the multiplicity of persons christened alike, to add a further distinction, appear to have regarded their Christian name as the only one worthy of preservation on their sepulchres."- pp. 10-12.

The following affords a touching testimony to the power of the religion of the cross.

"The Fathers of the Church live in their voluminous works; the lower orders are only represented by these simple records, from which, with scarcely an exception, sorrow and complaint. are banished; the boast of suffering, or an appeal to the revengeful passions, is nowhere to be found. One expresses faith, another hope, a third charity. The genius of primitive Christianity, to believe, to love, and to suffer,' has never been bet ter illustrated. These ' sermons in stones' are addressed to the heart, and not to the head, to the feelings rather than to the taste; and possess additional value from being the work of the purest and most influential portion of the catholic and apostolic Church' then in existence."

P. 13.

The value of Christian monuments and inscriptions as sources of historical information relating to the ancient Church, it is obvious, depends on their age. In those in the Lapidarian Gallery, according to Dr. Maitland, there are "no prayers for the dead (unless the forms, May you live,' May God refresh you,' be so construed); no addresses to the Virgin Mary, nor to the Apostles or earlier saints." One epitaph, however, contains the words, "Pray for us" (Ora pro nobis). The monuments everywhere breathe a "gentle and amiable spirit," and are distinctively Christian, though occasionally retaining, as was natural, some slight traces of Pagan ideas. The name of Christ, or its monogram, perpetually appears. On innumerable stones he is figured as the "Good Shepherd, bearing on his shoulders the recovered sheep, by which many an illiterate believer expressed his sense of personal salvation." The cross in its simpler form is everywhere met, and all savors of the faith and simplicity of primitive times.

We are compelled by the limits we have assigned to this article to pass over much which we should be glad to present to our readers relating to the origin of the Catacombs, the manner in which Christians originally became connected

VOL. XLIII. - 4TH S. VOL. VIII. NO. II.

25

ac

with them, their use as places of worship and as cemeteries, the enlargement they from time to time received, and the manner in which the bodies of their occupants were disposed in them. In conformity with the Christian principle of common brotherhood, the dead reposed there side by side, and not, like the ashes of the heathen, in separate and costly urns. Dr. Maitland thinks, what is contrary to the hypothesis of some writers, that there is no evidence of any cumulation of tombs around those of the martyrs." The graves, he says, are "distributed irregularly along the passages, and here and there one is marked with the supposed symbols of martyrdom "; but these symbols are very deceptive, and several of those formerly relied on as indicating the martyr's fate are now shown to have had a very different purpose. The title of martyr does not occur on a tombstone, "the writer says, to the best of his knowledge, "before the persecution of Diocletian; nor is it found in the Lapidarian Gallery." Some of the inscriptions are expressive of rest, but generally the idea of hope and confidence in a resurrection distinctly appears. As our readers may feel some curiosity to see specimens of the epitaphs of these old Christians, we will give a few culled from different parts of the volume before us. Some of them, it will be seen, are exceedingly short and simple, others occur longer and more complex, those of the former description being by far the most numerous. Thus we have, "Victorina sleeps," -"Zoticus laid here to sleep," "Gemella sleeps in peace," "Eutropus in peace," "Domitianus, a simple soul, sleeps in peace," "Sweet Faustina, may you live in God," "Bolosa, may God refresh thee," "Nicephorus, a sweet soul, in the place of refreshment," "The place of Sevus," "The place of Exuperantius the deacon," "Maximinus, who lived 23 years; friend of all "" In Christ. On the 5th Kalends of November, slept Gorgonius, friend of all, and enemy to none," — " Furia Elpis, a consecrated_virgin," "To Octavia, a matron, widow of God." Irene and Agape (Peace and Love) were favorite names among the ancient Christians, as epitaphs like the following show: "Irene in peace. Her mother Agape set up this,"" Agape, may you live for

men,

ever."

--

The earliest Christian epitaph we possess, according to Dr. Maitland, belongs to the year 98" Publius Liberio

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Ancient Christian Epitaphs.

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lived two years, three months, and eight days. Anicius Faustus and Virius Gallus being consuls." There is a fragment of one belonging to A. D. 102. The next dates A. D. 111: Servilia, aged thirteen, died in the consulate of Piso and Bolanus." The following belongs to A. D. 235: "Aurelia, our sweetest daughter, who departed from the world, Severus and Quintinus being consuls. She lived fifteen years and four months." We may remark here that an uncommonly large proportion of the epitaphs given belong to children, and they often express the tenderest affection. Besides those already copied we have such as these:-"To Adsertor, our son, dear, sweet, most innocent, and incomparable, who lived seventeen years, six months, and eight days. His father and mother set up this "; "Laurence to his sweetest son Severus, borne away by angels on the seventh Ides of January," etc. Some of the inscriptions possess a remarkable precision, naming not only the years, months, and days the person lived, but the odd hours. Others, again, are as remarkable for vagueness; as, "To Claudius, the well-deserving and affectionate, who loved me. He lived twenty-five years, more or less. In peace."

The following is one of the "very few epitaphs actually inscribed on the grave of a martyr, specifying him to be such": Lannus, the martyr of Christ, rests here. He suffered under Diocletian. (The sepulchre is) also for his posterity"; the latter clause being expressed on monuments by the initials, e. p. s. (et posteris suis).

On the subject of the number of the martyrs, it is well known, there exists a difference of opinion. Dodwell maintained that they were very few, and every body is aware that the Roman martyrologists are not to be confided in. As will be inferred from what has been already said, the old monuments afford little help in the controversy. Times of persecution are not the most favorable for erecting monuments, and multitudes of Christians, even in the tranquil days of the Church, belonging to an humble condition, slept in unnumbered and unlettered graves. We cannot infer the paucity of martyrs from the absence of epitaphs declaring their martyrdom. There is some evidence on the subject, showing, in the language of Dr. Maitland, "the sweeping nature of the last persecution, in the two inscriptions [not Christian] erected on its termination by Diocletian and Galerius." Gruter says, that they were found on beautiful columns

at Clunia, in Spain. The first speaks of "the Christian superstition" as universally extinguished in the East, and of the propagation of the worship of the heathen gods under these emperors; and the second celebrates Diocletian and Maximian for having "extended the Roman empire through the East and West, and obliterated the name of the Christians, who were overthrowing the republic." Yet Christianity was not extinguished nor obliterated, but was near the period of its final triumph, in a few years ascending the throne of the Cæsars.

The church of the Catacombs, however, differed very essentially from the modern church of the seven-hilled city. On turning from Dr. Maitland's volume to the second named on our list, what a contrast presents itself! The difference is not that simply which exists between a persecuted and a triumphant church, but old Pagan Rome seems to have risen from her ashes and still to live in the prevailing rites and usages of the "eternal" city. Middleton, in his celebrated "Letter from Rome," long ago attempted to draw the parallel, and show how much of heathenism had passed into Christianity, and under another name was still retained. The "English Resident," without any reference to that work, and deriving many of his materials from personal observation, pursues a similar track. He has certainly made, for the general reader, an entertaining and instructive book, and though the resemblance he professes to trace between the old and the new, between Pagan and Christian Rome, occasionally appears a little fanciful or forced, yet his pictures are such in the main as we can accept, and he clearly writes with an honest purpose and without one particle of sectarian acrimony or exclusiveness. To the great ideas embodied by the Catholic Church, and the noble spirit of her devotions where he meets them, he pays due homage, nay, in the position she has occupied finds every apology he can for her superstitions. He judges her generously, but he discovers the taint of heathenism on her robes, and by a few graphic pencillings" shows the need she has to arise and purify her garments. The old deities were not more worshipped than are the Madonna, and the saints of modern Italy. After some remarks on this subject, the writer proceeds to speak of images and image-worship in ancient and modern

* Church in the Catacombs, p. 129.

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The Carnevale.

285

Rome; then of the miracles of the Romish Church. The paper on the latter subject concludes thus :

"Here, then, I finish my observations on Roman Catholic miracles; but remember that these things, which appear trifles to you, are here serious, very serious things; and, indeed, they are very serious things, if we look on them as representing the mind of Italy. The majority of those which I have adduced are recommended, as you will have seen, by Papal authority, or by that of a celebrated antiquary, and are interwoven with their fêtes and with the names of some of their religious edifices: the few which I have advanced towards the termination of my letter have only the guaranty of my incorrupta fides. If the comparison which I have instituted be fair and just, it will prove, not that the Roman Church is Pagan, altogether abominable, the Scarlet Lady of Babylon, or whatever else it may please our firebrands to call her,—but that, like all other institutions, divine or human, she has been acted upon by surrounding influences, and reflects the colors of the moral and spiritual atmosphere in which she lives and has her being. At the same time, however, she is not merely passive; for, possessing unbounded influence over an ignorant, devout, and imaginative people, she modifies their dreams and gives them their particular form and substance. And the people will dream, and the Church will possess and exercise her influence, until education shall induce a more wholesome state of mind. But that time is, I fear, far distant, and stones will sweat and hot ricottas will fall yet many a year. Let us rejoice, however, in the belief that mind is advancing, however slow be the progress. Things cannot remain as they are; and the time may yet come when Rome shall be as distinguished for her superiority in the arts of civilization as she has already been in arms." pp. 69, 70.

Reflections equally creditable to the writer's understanding and feelings occur at the conclusion of his letters on the worship of relics, votive offerings, ceremonies of the Church, and several others. The following remarks on the "Carnevale" (so the author writes it), are deserving of attention.

"It is now time to turn to something more serious, so we will gradually trace back the history of the Carnevale to its birth, touching, as a matter of necessity, on its ecclesiastical character; not that I mean to say that the Carnevale is sanctioned by the Church; on the contrary, it is merely tolerated as a necessary evil, which cannot be rooted out without a terrible convul. sion. The priesthood have, therefore, instead of prohibiting it, endeavoured to stamp another character upon it, and hence, per