Energetically as these hypogees were explored in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, little was accomplished, in comparison with results quite recent, by any earlier undertakings; and much of the wealth secured was lost through Vandalic spoliation or inexcusable neglect. It was in December, 1593, that the first exploration was commenced by Bosio, in company with Pompeo Ugonio and others; and subsequently, between that year and 1600, were explored by the former all subterraneans into which he could find access along the Appian, Salarian, Flaminian, Ostian, Latin, and Portuense Ways. In the library of the Oratorian Fathers at Rome are four large folio volumes of MS., entirely written by Bosio, comprising the vast material for the work he did not live to produce; and another example of industry, frustrated by fatal accident, was the compilation intended to comprise all the art objects, epigraphs, &c., from catacombs, on which Marangoni and Boldetti had been occupied for seventeen years, when the whole fell a prey to the flames in 1720; the few fragments saved being, however, turned to account by the former, and brought out as an appendix to his "Acta S. Victorini," 1740.

Even whilst that earlier organization continued, the loss and destruction of monuments from catacombs reflects most unfavourably on those responsible. Marangoni, after long experience as assistant custode with Boldetti, tells us that thousands of epigraphs were taken from these cemeteries to the church of S. Maria in Trastevere ; seven cartfuls to S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini; two cartfuls to another church of S. Giovanni in Rome; yet, at the present day, only about a score of epitaphs remain in the portico of the former, not one in either of the two latter churches. Mazzolari ("Vie Sacre," 1779) describes what he had himself seen, the deliberate destruction of a corridor and cubiculum (sepulchral chapel) in the Catacombs of St. Lawrence, almost immediately after they had been reopened in the long-inaccessible cemetery on the Tiburtine Way.

The works carried on within recent years have led to most interesting results. First of all may be classed, for importance, the discovery of the vast hypogee which took its name from St. Callixtus, though of origin still earlier; not founded, but enlarged, by that Pope, and in which all the Roman bishops were interred during the third Bosio, in the course of his long labours, century; the first mention of this, as a discovered only one group of sepulchres cemetery whose possession was legally historically noted (in 1619); another such guaranteed to the Church, occurring unwas found by Boldetti in 1720; and in 1845 der the reign of Septimius Severus. About Father Marchi accomplished a like dis- two miles beyond the Appian Gatecovery in the tombs of the martyrs Protus way stands, on elevated ground, an old and Hyacinthus. The catacombs called brick edifice with apse and vaulted roof, after the Christian matron Lucina, were re-long used as a gardener's storehouse, now opened by the accidental sinking of the identified as the chapel raised for his own soil in 1688; and access to those of St. sepulture by Pope St. Damasus. Near this Tertullianus, on the Latin Way, was alike were begun, in 1844, the researches that due to mere accident. In 1849 the Cavalier led to the opening of those long-unexplored de Rossi began his task of directing excava- catacombs, at a short distance from the tions, for the costs of which a monthly sub- Basilica of St. Sebastian, below which exvention had been assigned by the Pope. tend other subterraneans long supposed to Soon afterwards, Pius IX. appointed an be the real Callixtan. Some years pre"apostolic visitation," for ascertaining the viously had been found, near this spot, a condition of all Roman Catacombs; and a broken marble slab, with the letters of an more practically important step, that soon inscription, "NELIUS MARTYR;" and followed, was the creation of a "Committee the discovery of the tomb of St. Cornelius of Sacred Antiquities," with charge and soon rewarded the labours here undertaken; superintendence over all works and objects the missing fragment, with the letters within that sphere, under whose direction" COR . . . EP" [iscopus], within a the first excavations were commenced in 1851. By this arrangement was superseded the ordinance of Pope Clement X., dated 1672, entrusting the care of all these hypogees to the Cardinal Vicar, under the authority of whom, and that of the papal sacristan (a prelate), subterranean works used to be directed by custodi, as official deputies.

cubiculum dimly lighted from above, being soon found near a tomb, beside which are the painted figures of St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian of Carthage, near the figures of two other saints; one designated by the written name "Sixtus," another martyred pope; the two first being thus associated, because commemorated by the Church on the same day, having both suffered on the

16th of September, and having in their miracle of multiplying loaves; another gives lifetime held frequent correspondence. baptism to a similarly typical creature of its These four figures have all the nimbus, kind; a sheep touches a mummy-like figure also the same characteristics of style; and a with a wand, to represent the raising of period not later than the sixth or seventh Lazarus; and a sheep receives the tablets century can be assigned to these, as to other of the Law on the mount. Turning to the paintings in the same subterranean. collection in the Lateran Museum, we observe the most interesting sculptured series on a large sarcophagus brought from St. Paul's, where it was probably placed at the time of the building of that basilica in the fourth century, the groups in relief on its front presenting a valuable record of religious ideas; but we are shocked to find here the traditional reverence of earlier days so soon departed from in the admission, among the now larger art-range, of such a subject as the Supreme Being, manifest alike in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, under the aspect of humanity, with identity of type, strongly marked and severe, indicating middle age, in each of the co-equal Three. First in order is the creation of Eve out of Adam's side, by God the Son, in presence of the Father and Spirit; the former seated, and in the act of blessing the new-born woman; the latter standing behind the Father's throne. Next appears the Son awarding to Adam and Eve the symbols of labour, which was part of their punishment, —a wheatsheaf to the man, a lamb (for spinning wool) to the woman; and it is remarkable that in this instance the second Divine Person wears a different aspect, more youthful and beautiful than when associated with the Father,

In considering the selection to which this primitive art was so strictly confined, we are struck by two predominant features, the avoidance of those subjects invested with most awful sacredness, as the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, the institution of the Eucharist; also the pervading mysticism, which ever led to prefer such themes, in miracle, type, or historic incident, as suggest more than they represent; for, in fact, the more frequently recurring scenes, as here treated, always imply a truth or principle addressed to the moral sense of the believer, lying far too deep for the apprehension of the uninitiate. In sculpture this is more strikingly carried out; and in this walk of early sacred art we have the finest example in the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, prefect of Rome, who died a neophyte, A.D. 359, and was buried at St. Peter's, where his beautifully chiselled tomb was rediscovered, after ages of oblivion, during the works for the new basilica, still being left near its original place in the crypt.

In freedom of design, in conception as well as execution, these reliefs surpass all others of the same epoch: ten groups are ranged along two files, divided by pilasters, the lower under canopies alternately circular and pointed; the subjects historic; the principal and central figure that of the Saviour, in form a beautiful youth, seated between two apostles, with his feet upon the earth, this latter being personified as an old man just emerging from the ground, and holding over his head a canopy of draperies. The Sacrifice of Abraham, the Sufferings of Job, the Fall of Adam and Eve, Daniel in the Lion's Den; Christ entering Jerusalem seated on an ass, again seen before Pilate, who is washing his hands; the Denial of St. Peter, and the Arrest of that Apostle, are the representations ranged around. But more curious still are the groups of sheep, minutely sculptured between the arches, serving to attest both the simplicity and earnestness of minds to which such art-treatment could be addressed; these animals being here seen to perform acts mystically selected from both the Old and New Testaments, and thus naïvely admitted to personify, in type, Moses, John the Baptist, and the Redeemer himself. A sheep strikes water from the rock; another performs the

thus to announce the mystery of his Incarnation. Successively follow the miracles operated by our Lord upon water, bread, and wine; the Adoration of the Magi (the Virgin of a somewhat severe matronly type), with the Holy Spirit (again in human aspect) standing beside the chair of the Mother and Child; the Restoring of Sight to the Blind; the Raising of Lazarus; St. Peter denying Christ; St. Peter between Two Jews (his arrest probably intended); Moses striking the Rock; the story of Jonas; Christ entering Jerusalem; Daniel between the Lions- and this last of very original treatment, for, besides the personages essential to the story, another is also introduced, on each side of Daniel, meant (as we infer) for the third Divine Person, holding by the hair of his head the prophet Habakkuk, who brings the bread (here an admitted type of the Eucharist) for Daniel's sustenance (see the book "Bel and the Dragon "). As to the selection from the miracles of our Lord (constantly repeated in others as in these reliefs), their deeper significance is admitted in the following instances:- the healing of

the paralytic implies absolution from sin; the giving of sight to the blind, illumination through faith; the multiplication of loaves and fishes, as well as the change of water into win e, the Eucharist; Moses striking water from the rock implies baptism; the adoration of the wise men, the calling of the Gentiles to Christ. Job is introduced as a witness to the resurrection of the body; and especially conspicuous is the type of the Saviour's resurrection in the story of Jonas. Elias carried up to heaven signifies the ascension of Him whose last sufferings and triumphs on earth are reverently shown under veils of symbolism. On two sarcophagi in the Lateran Museum is seen the Labarum, guarded by soldiers, with birds (symbols of the apostles, or of beautified spirits) on the arms of the cross supporting the holy monogram; and on another such sculptured tomb here are details of architecture, where we recognise a Christian basilica and a baptistery of circular form, no doubt correct representations of such sacred buildings in the fourth or fifth century. Turning from this museum, we find another remarkable example of funereal sculpture in a small, almost dark chapel, no longer used for worship, at St. Peter's- the tomb of an illustrious wedded pair, Probus Anicius, prætorian prefect, who died A.D. 395, and of his wife Proba Falconia, whose virtues are commemorated, with those of her husband, in several poetic tributes still extant. On their sarcophagus here we see the Saviour, youthful and beardless, with the book of the Gospels, standing on a rock, from which issue the four rivers of Paradise (a type of the Evangelists ;) beside him St. Peter and St. Paul; and, divided by colonnettes, the other Apostles, in that attitude, with one uplifted hand, understood to express assent or reverential attention. Elsewhere, at St. Peter's, S. Maria Maggiore, S. Prassede, are to be seen ancient Christian sarcophagi, adorned by observable sculptures.

-

Crossing of the Red Sea, the Bestowal of the Keys on St. Peter, -that led him to assume for them origin within the first two centuries of our era; and in the sarcophagi that stand first and seventh, left, in this gallery, one with vintage scenes divided into compartments by figures of the Good Shepherd in higher relief; also in one of the statues here, the "Pastor Bonus," are artistic qualities that seem to indicate date anterior to the fourth century (Perkins, "Tuscan Sculptors"). The Christian museum at the Vatican is rich in lamps, with sacred emblems, from catacombs; also in bronzes of early periods, and in terrific instruments of torture, that impress us with the reality of what has been suffered for our Faith. Here too is the most complete series of Christian glasses with gilt figures, the very specimens so well explained by Padre Garrucci,- objects rarely to be seen elsewhere, though a few are in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, and another set, from a Sicilian museum, were recently pur chased at Rome by the British Government. The museum at the Collegio Romano contains, among antiques of various classes, some interesting art-relics of the primitive and medieval Church among the earliest, a marble vase, with the Adoration of the Magi in relief. In the Propaganda Museum are a few of those gilt glasses from catacombs, one with the group of the Virgin Mother between the two Apostles: and objects of various description from the same subterraneans, as well as copies from paintings in their chapels, are to be seen at the "Custodia" of relics in the Apollinare College, made public for the Lenten Stations on the Thursday before Holy Week.

Besides those above named, there is another remarkable range of subjects serving to illustrate doctrine or religious usages; and the judgment of competent critics, who assign to certain paintings an tiquity so high as the first or second century, But the museum founded by Pius IX. at enhances the interest we naturally feel in the Lateran contains so rich an abstract such examples. Among these may be nofrom this primitive art-range, that it is to ticed the group of two men, one kneeling, that centre we should turn, rather than any supposed to record the story of some person other, in order to study and appreciate. lapsed during the period of persecution, or Here are the facsimiles of paintings that other notorious sinner, publicly reconciled have been judiciously selected for their mys- to the Church before death. The five Wise tic interest; besides the most complete series Virgins (Catacombs of St. Agnes) are repof sculptured sarcophagi, in the greater resented with torches instead of lamps, number, no doubt, of the fourth century, conformably to Roman practice, but each though some may be supposed earlier-of carrying also a vessel for oil. A group the third, or even the second. Agincourt the Saviour in the midst of the Twelve Apos points out merits of treatment in some of tles (Catacomb of SS. Nereus and Achil these sacred reliefs -e. g., the Ascent of leus), two only, SS. Peter and Paul, Elias to Heaven (in this museum), the being seated, whilst the others stand,

of

In regard to another vast range of monuments- - the epigraphy of the catacombs — we must turn for the best of authorities to De Rossi's " Inscriptiones Christianæ Urbis Romæ," an immense compilation, intended to comprise nearly 11,000 epigraphs, all collected by the writer during twenty-one years of assiduous research, and to be eventually classified, under the same gentleman's direction, in the Christian museum at the Lateran. De Rossi infers that numerous

seems evidence to the idea of superiority alike shared by those co-founders of the Church in Rome. A banquet, at which are seated guests waited upon by two allegoric personages, Peace and Love (Irene and Agape), whose names are written near, is supposed to represent the joys of Paradise. A group representing two persons, male and female, the latter with arms extended in prayer, beside a tripod table, on which are laid a fish and loaves marked with the cross (Catacomb of St. Callixtus), is a strik-decorative details hitherto ascribed to the ingly expressive illustration of the eucharistic doctrine, with not only the proper substance of that sacrament in one kind, but also the mystic emblem of our Lord's person the Divine Presence -associated with it another sacramental subject in the same catacomb, a man pouring water over the head of a boy, while both stand in a river, conveying proof that infant, or at least pædobaptism, was the practice of the ancient Church. It is, indeed, in the aggregate, a grand and affecting ideal of primitive Christianity that this monumental series, painted, sculptured, and chiselled, presents to us—a moral picture of purity and peace, earnestness without fanaticism, mystic ordinances undegraded by superstition, true devotion manifest in the supreme sacrifice of the heart, the mind, and life. The varied and mystic illustration of sacraments, the select representation of such miracles as convey lessons of Divine goodness and love, or confirm belief in immortal life, may be said to revolve around one subject, that dominates like a star whose hallowed light illumes the entire sphere- namely, the Person and Office of the Redeemer, towards Whom all hope and faith tend, from Whom proceed all power, all strengthening and consoling virtue.

third century are really of much higher antiquity, approaching even the apostolic age; proof of which he sees in the classic style of various frescoes and decorations on stucco, also in the constructed (not merely excavated) chambers and corridors, provided with ample recesses for sarcophagi, instead of the usual sepulchral niches; lastly, in various epitaphs wanting the known Christian formulas, and with nomenclature quite classic, found in certain hypogees. Till the latter years of the third century no spoliation had impaired these cemeteries, no intolerant edict had driven the faithful from their limits; but during the persecution by Diocletian all places of Christian assemblage were burned down or devastated, all ecclesiastical books given to the flames, the Roman See being left vacant for more than six (if not seven) years. That tempest was stilled by the relenting policy of Maxentius, A.D. 306, but the restitution of what the Church had lost did not ensue before 311.

The legalized possession of cemeteries, and that of their churches likewise, by the Christians under pagan government, is one historic point clearly established by De Rossi's arguments and proofs. Valerian forbid to the faithful even access into these sacred retreats, but Gallienus restored such The idea of a headship vested in St. Pe- sites to the bishops, implying the recogniter appears occasionally with decided ex- tion of an aggregate claim; and during the pression, though indeed tempered by other third century, at latest, that possession was proofs of an admission to spiritual equality generally guaranteed. The Christians of for those co-founders, SS. Peter and Paul. Antioch applied to Aurelian in order to In the sculptures (the greater number re- compel a bishop deposed in council, the ferred to the fourth and fifth centuries) this heretical Paul of Samosata, to quit "the idea of St. Peter's supremacy becomes more house of the Church," and in the sequel manifest, as natural at periods when the the decree of a Catholic synod was enRoman bishopric was rapidly advancing in forced by a pagan magistrate. An ingepower and grandeur. Moses and the Apos- nious suggestion in the "Roma Cristiana" tle constantly appear in juxtaposition, the is that originally, perhaps, it was under colone striking the rock, the other standing our of associations for mutual aid and charibetween two Jews; the aspect of both ab- table interment that the Christians obtained solutely identical, and the wand, symbolic the first conceded tolerance, gradually exof authority, as often held by the Apostle tending to their places of worship as well as as by the Lawgiver. In an enamel on glass those of sepulture. this becomes an absolute interchange of of- The chronology of primitive Christian art fices, St. Peter (designated by name) strik- cannot, of course, be brought within bounds ing water from the rock in place of Moses. I of distinct definition, and has been subject

of various conjectures. Its earliest forms | than in the entire range of those from pa were purely symbolism, sacred emblems, gan monuments- a further proof of the the lamb, the dove, the ship, the lyre, worn prevailing beneficence, the new-born doon rings or bracelets, or embroidered on mestic virtues, to which 'so many outcast vestments (vide Clement of Alexandria, sec- children owed their maintenance and even ond century); if any human figures were life, as members of the Christian commurepresented, no other save the Good Shep- nity. herd, mentioned by Tertullian early in the third century, as sometimes seen, probably enamelled, on chalices. But it seems certain that all attempts at portraiture were prohibited till after the time of Constantine, and Mabillon concludes that ten centuries had passed before images were permitted to appear above the altar.