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ROMAN CATACOMBS

the Appian way, their very existence passed out of the minds of men in the Middle Ages. Rediscovery and Research. -In 1587 some workmen, excavating on the Via Salaria, chanced upon a Catacomb corridor, rich in paintings and inscriptions. The interest aroused by this discovery has never since died out. Antonio Bosio (1576-1614), the Columbus of the Catacombs, devoted his life to their exploration. His 'Roma Sotteranea is the first classic on the Catacombs. The researches made by Boldetti and Battari and others in the 18th century were mainly in the interest of controversy. To the Jesuit, Fr. Marchi, belongs the glory of having inaugurated, in 1841, a strictly scientific study of these early monuments and memorials, and the still greater glory of being the Master of Giovanni Battista de Rossi (q.v.), the father and founder of the science of Christian archæology. By his genius and labors he explored and excavated the buried crypts and corridors of the Catacombs, established their identity and called them by name. From broken stone and damaged fresco and forgotten tomb, he gathered together the materials of a monumental Encyclopædia Romana, a storehouse of the treasures of early

Christian belief and behavior.

Paintings. In regard to the many paintings found in the Catacombs, it may be said in general, that the history of the decline of Classic is that of the beginning of Christian art. In fact nearly all the exampies extant of Roman paintings in the 2d, 3d, and 4th centuries are in the Catacombs. They show us that the Church baptised the art as well as the language of the Græco-Roman world. While the themes treated for the most part have a direct reference to the grave and beyond, they still illustrate a large part of the creed of the early church, The Catacomb frescoes belong to three distinct periods. In the first and beginning of 2d century, there was properly speaking no Christian art. The methods and motifs of the pagan painter, such as abound at Pompeii, vines, garlands, flowers, fishes, fruits, birds, cupids, etc., appear likewise in the Catacombs. However even among these designs, those that were capable of symbolizing some Christian truth, as the vine, peacock, dove, and fish, predominate. In the 2d and 3d centuries, as the cemeteries pass from private to public control, a series of paintings distinctly Christian begin to appear. They are symbolical in meaning and similar in execution.

In the third epoch which corresponds to the time of peace, the pictures tend to become more and more realistic, until they are petrified in the 5th and following centuries in the rigid forms of Byzantine art.

The Biblical Cycle.-A remarkable_parallel between the prayers of the Roman Breviary for the commendation of the soul in the hour of death and the Biblical Cycle of cemeterial paintings, was first pointed out by Le Blant. This correspondence is so exact as to leave little doubt that these paintings derive their inspiration from the funeral liturgies of the Church. The deliverance of Noah in the flood, of Isaac from the sacrificing hand of his father, of Daniel from the lions' den, of the three hildren from the fiery furnace, of Susannah

from her false accusers, of Jonah from the whale, are the ever repeated themes, and they all correspond to the liturgical prayers for the dying. The raising of Lazarus completes the Biblical Cycle, and this scene is the gospel for the Requiem Mass. Of this series Jonas and Lazarus are most frequently depicted. The designs are evidently symbolic. A man standing in a chest serves to recall Noah and the ark; the story of Jonah is often told in three scenes; the casting from the ship, the vomiting forth from the dragon fish, and the resting under the gourd. But not infrequently the last the raising of Lazarus is depicted by a man scene alone is portrayed. In the same spirit standing upright at the entrance of a tomb.

Pictures of the Saviour.-There is no likeness of Christ attempted in the Catacombs. He is represented by the symbol of the fish and the hidden cross. The fish, in Greek, xoús formed the famous acrostic Ιησους Χριστος,

EOU TOS Zwrηp (Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour) and whether written or pictured was a mystic symbol of the Saviour. The transpierced dolphin in Calixtus is the earliest copy of the Crucifixion. The disguised cross was also of higher esteem than the first ages of the Church. frequent use, and never has this sign been in It was sometimes represented thus X; again as an anchor I, now as the gamma cross, at other times as a trident . The Constantine monogram X, so called from its use on the Labarum, was the common symbol of the 4th century. It was used even in inscriptions, as in nomine X or in pace X. This X wa the early monogram of Christ, as IHS became the later one, of Jesus. There was no real representation of the Crucifixion till the Middle Ages. The Crucifix is the creation of the ages of faith, and not of the formative period of Christianity. The first pictures in the Catacombs represent Christ as young and beardless, but in the 5th century the Byzantine bearded face with severe features came into vogue. The picture of the Good Shepherd is the Catacomb Christ par excellence. It is found everywhere in the frescoes of the 2d, 3d, and early 4th centuries. The Saviour is represented in the garb of a young Roman shepherd, wearing the short sleeveless tunic, his right shoulder bare, his feet and legs sometimes bare, again covered with shoes and leggings. In some scenes he carries one of the flok upon his shoulders, in others he plays the pipe while they listen, in others still he leads them to pleasant pastures, but always and everywhere it is the Good Shepherd who seeks and saves. This picture of love was the reply of the Roman Church to the harsh doctrine of the Novations in the 3d century.

The Saints. Most of the pictures of the martyrs belong to the 4th, 5th, 6th, and even 7th centuries when their graves became shrines, and were richly decorated. They are Byzantine in execution and resemble the mosaics of that period. They are valuable as witnessing the style of vestments worn by ecclesiastics of the day. The Virgin Mary appears most frequently in the Catacombs as the central figure in the Adoration of the Magi. These vary in number from two to six, but uniformly wear the Phrygian cap. The two most interesting pic

ROMAN CATACOMBS

tures of the Madonna are in Priscilla and Ostriano. The former is a 2d century representation of the Virgin with child in her arms, with a prophet in front of them, pointing to a star. It is a picture of much grace and excellent execution. Its classic lines do not appear again in Christian art for more than a thousand years. The latter is a 4th century Madonna and child, where the X is placed on either side, as though it were a painted echo of the Council of Ephesus. The divine maternity of Mary was certainly in the mind of the artist, and the features of this painting are still preserved in Greek and Russian images. The saints are sometimes portrayed as "advocates" introducing into heaven the souls of those whose bodies were buried near their shrines. This ministerial mediatorship of the saints, exhibited in the Catacomb frescoes of the 3d and 4th centuries, became a common theme of the apsidal mosaics of the basilicas.

The Soul.-The soul is frequently represented by a young woman standing with armis outstretched in an attitude of prayer, called an orans. In paradise the soul is depicted as a bird flying among the flowers or feasting on the fruits or drinking from the chalice of heavenly delights. The celestial banquet is represented some six or seven times in Saints Pietro and Marcellino by the blessed seated at a semicircular table, feasting upon the mystic fish under the guidance of Peace and Charity. The judgment of soul standing before Christ in the presence of the martyrs, seems to be the subject of some obscure frescoes.

Our

The Sacraments.- In the cemetery of Calixtus are a series of so-called Sacrament chapels, where the decorations are arranged to set forth a number of Christian truths. First, comes the scene of Moses (Peter) striking the rock. "And the rock was Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.) In the mystic water of grace a small fish is being caught by the Apostolic fisherman. Tertullian has painted the thought in words. "We as little fish are born in the water after xús, Jesus Christ." (Tert. de Bapt.) Then succeeds the Sacrament of Baptism, the source of the new life. The catechumen stands in the water, and the priest pours the laver of regeneration on his brow. Next follows the Eucharistic action, portrayed by a priest standing beside a tripod altar containing a fish and some bread, while an orante at the other side lifts her hands in prayer. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the banquet of Christ with his disciples by the sea of Tiberias next represent the Communion. And finally the resurrection as a result of the Communion is shown in the raising of Lazarus and the deliverance of Jonah. "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John vi. 55.) There are two representations of the Eucharist worthy of remark. In the crypt of Lucina, the primitive centre of Calixtus, there are two frescoes (about 150 A.D.), in which two large fish carry on their back baskets containing bread and wine. Here Christ, the fish, the ιχθύς, bears the Eucharistic bread and wine which is himself. Saint Jerome would seem almost to speak of this scene: "No one is so rich as he who carries

the body of Christ in a wicker basket and his blood in a cup of glass" (Ep. ch. xxv. ad Rustic). Another painting of first half of 24 century, discovered by Wilpert (1894), in the archaic part of Priscilla, the Capella Græca, seems to be a real representation of the Eucharistic action of the "Breaking of the Bread." Seven persons, one of them a woman, are seated at a semicircular table, on which are two plates with five loaves and two fishes. These, however, are evidently symbolical, for the priest at the head of the table is engaged in the very act of breaking the bread, and before him sits the Eucharistic chalice. This fresco is in a chapel, and seems to be an early representation of the Eucharistic sacrifice. The representations of the other Sacraments are rare and of doubtful interpretation. A general survey of these paintings leads to the conclusion that the early Christians saw nothing in religious representations hostile to the law of Moses; that the early Church had no repugnance to art, and that the art of the Catacombs is Roman and not of Oriental origin. Mgr. Joseph Wilpert has just published an accurate and complete edition of the Pictures of the Roman Catacombs with German and Italian texts (Rome 1903).

Sculpture. Christian sculpture barely existed before the 4th century. Catacomb conditions were not favorable to its growth. A fresco could easily be painted in the gloom of the grave, but carved marbles were at once expensive and required light and space for execution. Moreover the sarcophagi in the pagan shops were often covered with idolatrous scenes. Some of these have been found in the Catacombs with the pagan images effaced. With the era of peace, however, the faithful began to use sculptured sarcophagi, and a number of them are preserved in the Lateran Museum. As far as workmanship is concerned, they are of inferior merit, being executed at a time when art had greatly degenerated. Some of them are little less than carved creeds, containing on their façade the main mysteries of the Christian religion. They shed much light on the earlier paintings. The clear carving of the 4th and 5th centuries illumines the doubtful fresco of the 2d and 3d. In the sarcophagi, it is Peter striking the rock and Peter to whom Christ gives the law. Hence in the earlier paintings Moses typified Peter. Daniel among the lions on the sarcophagi is evidently Christ on the Cross. Hence we have a key to the early representations of this scene.

Statuary. But few pieces of statuary have been found in the Catacombs. While idols were on all sides, the faithful seem to have held aloof from this branch of art. However several statues of the Good Shepherd were executed, and one of the 3d century preserved in the Lateran is a most beautiful representation of the subject. The sitting statue of Hippolytus of the first part of the 3d century found in the cemetery of his name, is unique among early monuments. It contains inscribed on the cathedra a list of his works and his computation of the Easter Cycle.

Gold Glasses. The gold glasses of which many have been found in the Catacombs, consist of a design made of gold leaf, enclosed

ROMAN CATACOMBS

between two pieces of glass, ordinarily at the bottom of the glass. The subjects treated in these glasses of the 3d and 4th centuries, are of two classes. Some of them are genre pictures, ornamented with the portraits of a newly married couple or a family group, and inscribed with such toasts as "Drink! Live!" They were probably gifts for wedding and family feasts. Others used probably in the liturgical functions and perhaps as Eucharistic chalices were ornamented with the ordinary Catacomb cycle of paintings, but especially with the images of the Saints. Peter and Paul, Agnes and the Virgin Mary are the subjects most frequently represented. Eighty out of the three hundred published by Garuicci portray Saints Peter and Paul. The constancy of the types, their correspondence with tradition, and the medallion of same characteristics found in Domitilla and attributed to the early part of 2d century, indicate that these are portraits of the Princes of the Apostles.

Mosaics.-There are but few mosaics in the Catacombs, and most of these of the age of peace. The mosaic is the distinctive Christian decoration of the basilica of the 5th and 6th centuries, as the fresco was of the Catacomb in the 3d and 4th.

Lamps. The common clay lamp is the object most frequently found in the Catacombs. Most of them are in no respect different from those used by the pagans. However in the 3d and particularly in the 4th centuries, they were marked with the Christian emblems of the fish, the Constantine monogram, the Good Shepherd, the palm, etc. They illustrate the way the Christian faith entered into domestic life after the advice of the Apostle: "Whether you eat or drink do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31). The wine flagon and the wine cup, as well as the lamp and the loaf, were stamped with the sign of the cross in the 4th and 5th centuries. The few bronze lamps unearthed are of much more elaborate workmanship and sybmolism.

Other Objects.- Rings, seals, and coins adorned with the characteristic symbols of early Christian art, have been found frequently in the excavations, as well as a number of miscellaneous objects, such as children's toys, combs, etc.

Inscriptions.-The numerous Catacomb inscriptions are of the greatest interest to the Christian scholar. The most precious of them have been arranged in the Lateran Museum by De Rossi. The bulk remains yet in the Catacombs and in the gallery of Christian inscriptions at the Vatican. They may be divided according to the method of execution into carved, painted, and "graffiti" inscriptions, the latter being writings rudely scratched on the plaster or tufa; according to time, into the original epitaphs and later laudatory inscriptions; according to language, into Greek and Latin; according to content, into dogmatic and domestic. Many of the tombs are without any inscription whatsoever, and many more are distinguished but by a rude mark or some object pressed into the fresh plaster. As a rule the early epitaphs are the shorter, although brevity is a distinguishing trait of Catacomb epigraphy, in marked contrast to the lengthy pagan eulogies of the time. The name of the

departed, with a short prayer and some symbol as the fish, palm, anchor, or Constantine monogram, to which was sometimes added the date of burial and age, forms the ordinary inscription. "Gerontius, may you live in God," "Lucilla in pace"; are characteristic epitaphs. The word "deposition" is peculiar to Christian epigraphy, implying that the body is consigned but for a time to the soil. The short prayers and symbols on the tombs are in general but a reproduction of the "Memento of the Dead in the Mass," Ipsis, Domine, locum refrigerü, lucis, et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur, "Refreshment, light, and peace grant to them, O Lord." This is the requiem chanted and carved in the Catacombs. Despite the fact that the inscriptions are sepulchral, they yet contain much matter of dogmatic and historic interest. They express belief in the unity and trinity of God, in the divinity of Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in the resurrection, and almost every article of the creed is carved on some monument. Especially strong is the testimony of the Catacombs to prayers for and to the dead. Both are sometimes found in one inscription, as this from Domitilla:

VIBAS

IN PACE ET PETE PRO NOBIS.

that thou art Christ," we read in another. "Gentianus, pray for us because we know "Holy Martyrs, remember Mary,» comes from Aquileia. Januaria bene refrigera et Roga pro fair sample of Catacomb Latinity. It is ornanos. This last inscription from Calixtus is a mented with a small box, containing the rolls of Bible in early Christian art. the law, the customary representation of the

where the Popes of Rome were interred in Papal Crypt- The inscriptions of the crypt the 3d century, are of peculiar interest.

ANTEPWS ЄTI ABIANOS · EπI· MP These inscriptions show that Greek was still the official language of the Church in the 3d century. The monogram Mr, martyr, was the official canonization of the Catacombs.

Damasus

Damasene Inscriptions.- Pope (304-385), the first Christian archæologist, embellished the tombs of the martyrs with a series of metrical inscriptions, carved on large slabs of marble by his secretary, Furius Dionysius Filocalus. The texts of 40 of these are preserved in the ancient itineraries, and many of the original slabs have been discovered in the excavations of the last 50 years. The inscription of the papal crypt was found broken in 125 small pieces, which when joined together, gave the entire text. Of all these inscriptions, but a fragment of the title at the tomb of Pope Cornelius remains in its primitive position, so thorough was the work of the devastating Lombard and destroying time. The tomb of Damasus himself, so long sought by the archæologists, was discovered at the close of 1903 by Mgr. Wilpert. The work of excavating is still going on, but enough data has already been dug from the depths to make it certain, that whoever would go back to Christ, must pass through the corridors of the Catacombs. Here he will find the mind of the Master in

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

the might of the martyr, and the love of the Saviour in the liberty of the slave. Here he will find church and Sacrament, right and ritual, creed and deed. Here he will come upon a society, Catholic in composition and in charity, Christian in faith and in hope, sleeping the sleep of peace and awaiting the resurrection of the flesh in X. The scientific study of the Catacombs has shown that the Christians were numbered in Rome by tens of thousands in the 3d century. "We are of yesterday yet we fill all that belongs to you; we leave to you only your temples.» The rhetoric of Tertullian is the reality of the Catacombs. The researches of De Rossi have shown, too, that the acts of the martyrs have much more historical value than the critical school of history was formerly inclined to give them. Further and fuller research will act as luminaria to dissipate the darkness which controversy has gathered round the Catacombs. And when the treasures of Roma Sotterranea are all unearthed, should all other witnesses of the faith once delivered to the saints become silent, the very stones of the Catacombs will cry out to the world the wisdom and grace of Christ.

Consult: Lowrie, 'Monuments of the Early Church' (1901), gives in an appendix the best Catacomb bibliography accessible to the English reader. WILLIAM TEMPLE, D.D., Formerly Professor of Philosophy, Saint Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, N. Y.

Roman Catholic Church. See CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Roman Catholic Church in Canada, The, will be treated in this article under three headings: 1. The Church under the French, from the discovery of Canada until the conquest by England (1534-1763); 2. The Church under the rule of Great Britain, from 1763 until the present day; 3. Present condition.

1. Before 1763.-Catholicism was planted in Canada by France, through whose sailors, Aubert de Dieppe (1508), Verazzano (1522), and especially Jacques Cartier (1534), it was discovered about the beginning of the 16th century. Cartier penetrated the estuary of the Saint Lawrence (10 Aug. 1535), and took possession of the country in the name of King Francis I. While endowing his fatherland with new countries, he proposed also to disseminate therein the Catholic faith, as related in the account of his travels inserted in the 'Histoire de la Nouvelle France' by Marc Lescarbot, Paris 1609.

From Cartier to Champlain (1542-1608) a few attempts at colonial settlement in Acadia was succeeded by the foundation of Port Royal (now Annapolis, N. S.). There appeared the first missionaries, Jesuits and secular priests. Champlain visited Canada in 1603, and in 1608 founded the town of Quebec and settled there. In 1615 he invited Recollet Fathers from France, who became the first apostles to the Indians, and inaugurated those missions in the interior of Canada so famous during the 17th century, and in which the Jesuits (1625) and the Sulpicians (1657), soon took such a glorious part,

Two distinct and savage races, the Algonquins and the Huron-Iroquois inhabited the countries just opening up to missionary zeal.

To the Algonquin race belonged the Abenakis the Montagnais, the Attikamèques or PoissonsBlancs, the Otawawas, and several other tribes scattered from Hudson Bay to the western prairies. From the Huron-Iroquois source sprang two great branches: the Yendats or Hurons established between Lakes Huron, Erie, Saint Claire, and Simcoe, and the Iroquois who dwelt south of Lake Ontario, and were divided into five nations: Mohawks, Onondagoes, Senekas, Oneidas, and Caiyoquos. It would appear that the total population of these tribes was not above 100,000 individuals.

The Recollets were the first to devote themselves to evangelization among the Indians. Father d'Olbeau instructed the Montagnais; Father Le Caron penetrated deeply into the land of the Hurons to carry them the true faith, while several fathers remained at Quebec preaching among the colonists and the surrounding savages. During ten years they multiplied their travels, their preachings, opened schools for Indian children, called to their assistance new recruits, and among them Father Viel, who perished in the Ottawa River, victim of the perfidy of a Huron. Consult: F. Sagard, 'Histoire du Canada, Paris 1686; Ch. Beaubien, 'Histoire du Sault-au-Récollet, Montreal 1897. Unable to fill the wants of the missions alone, the Recollets called upon the Jesuits (1625), and on their invitation Fathers Brebeuf and Lalemant with other missionaries came to Canada. Their efforts for the conversion of the savages were not attended with the success hoped for, owing to the opposition of the Company of Merthe monopoly of traffic in these regions, on the chants, to whom the French king had conceded condition of founding a colony. Louis XIII. and Richelieu replaced them (1627) by the Company of New France who engaged to lead "the people inhabiting Canada to the knowledge of God, and to instruct them in the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion." There was no time to see the effects of these good intentions, for less than two years later (1629), Quebec and the colony fell into the power of David Kerth, who fought on the side of England. The missionaries and their helpers were obliged to return to France.

When Canada was returned to France by the Treaty of Saint German-en-Laye (1632), the Jesuits at the request of Cardinal de Richelieu again took up their missions. Father Lejeune organized religious service at Quebec and opened the college of that town (1635), then he plunged into the interior in search of the wandering tribes of Montagnais. Others established a mission at Miscou, and from there branched forth into the peninsula of Gaspé, into Acadia and Cape Breton. Trois Rivières and Tadousac on the banks of the Saint Lawrence became centres of evangelization. Consult Les Jésuites et La Nouvelle France au XVIIe siècle, par le Père de la Rochemontaix, S. J. Paris, 1895.

Meanwhile hospital religious and Ursulines arrived at Quebec (1639), the first to direct a Hôtel-Dieu endowed by the Duchess of Aiguillon, niece of Richelieu; the second at the head of whom was Marie de l'Incarnation, to provide for the education of the girls. These heroic women were rivals in zeal for the conversion of the savages. Consult: Abbé Casgrain, 'Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Quebec, 1878;

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