ClIMBKI y / 9.. E- 52; a CJD CO PQ PC E- PQ CO pa E- ^ CO B P-. SAINT CLEMENT POPE AND MARTYR AND HIS BASILICA IX ROME JOSEPH MULLOOLY. 0. P The memory of li'aa shull not depart away, And his name shall be in request from generation to generation. (EcCI-ESIASTICfS, XXXIX, 13). Swund edition enlarged and improved. KG ME. PHIXTEI) BY G. BARBKKA 1873. The right of translation is reserved. INTRODUCTION. Ls a vineyard about a mile from Rome, the foun- dation walls of a large villa, the chambers of which are filled up with masses of stucco ornaments and coloured plaster, as indeed the whole soil with bits of Pompeian red. fragments of various and rare mar- bles, mosaics, glass of so many colours that we won- der at the profusion, pottery from the coarsest to the fine thin polished red clay, and, more rarely, seals, and gold ornaments, attest the mansion of a rich Pagan family. In a corner of the inclosure A Pagan are ruined columbaria, probably for their depend- ents, with broken cinerary urns still in their niches; and in another place a vast massive round monu- ment of stone for the head of the house, who left to posterity a single sepulchral chamber in the cen- tre. A white marble slab, still preserved, though detached from the building, gives us the title. D. M. M. AVRELIVS SYNTOMVS ET AVBELIA MARCIANE AEDIFICIVM CVM CEPOTAFIO. ET MEMORIAM A SOLO FECERVNT SIBI ET FILIIS SVIS AVRELIO LEONTIO ET AVRELI AE FRVCTVOSAE ET LIB. LIBER. POSTERISQVE EORVM. D. M. M. Aurelius Syntomus and Aurelia Marciana made the building with garden-tomb and memoria from the foundation for themselves and their children Aurelius Leontius and Aurelia Fructuosa, and their freedmen, freedwomen and their posterity. * its Christian Here then we have the whole exterior economy adaptation. of Roman burial: the praediwn or farm ; and that disposition of the monumenttim with its area and precincts so sacred, and jealously fenced about by Roman law. l With this before our eyes we can 1 According to Roman law, land which had beau once used for burial purposes was protected by special privileges, oue of which was that it was exempted from many of the law 3 which regulated the tuiiure and transfer 3 conceive, were the owner a Christian, how by his licence, or active zeal, the martyr might be safely laid at rest upon his estate; and history records the names of many noble ladies who thus gave honourable burial to the martyred dead. The breviary says of S. Andrew that Maxi- milla. dear to Christ, bore the Apostle's body to an excellent place, and buried it with spices. ' Xot long ago several martyrs were found, with the sponges which were used to collect their blood, in the church of S. Pudenziana. In 119, Severina, the wife of Count Aurelian, buried Pope Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus, on her farm seven miles on the Nomentan way, and made a cemetery for them. When the emperor Adrian, in 120, put to death Symphorosa and her seven children at Tivoli, their Acts say: After this the persecution ceased for a > year and six months, during which time the holy bodies of all the martyrs were honoured, and > deposited with all care, in tombs constructed for them. ~ Two Lucinas were celebrated for this pious work. The first, the sorrowful widow Pom- <>f property. In the technical language of the time it became Religiosum locum unusquisf^ue sua voluntate facit, dum mortuum infert in locum suum. (Marciau. Digest. 1, 8, G, . 4.) It was inalienable, and exclusively belonged to the families cf those who were buried in it. '- Maximilla Christo amabilis tulit corpus Ap istuli, optiuio loco cum aromatibus papelivit. Antiph. IV. ad Laudes. ' Ruiuart, Acta Sincera, p. 19. 4 ponia Graecina, who, as De Rossi thinks, buried S. Paul, and, in 251-252, another Lucina, who buried Pope Cornelius at night, with Cereale and Salustia, and twenty one others on her farm in a crypt next the cemetery of Callixtus on the Appian way. And, even under Diocletian, in 301, the martyr Resti- tutus was thus interred. Justa, a pious and reli- gious matron, with some ecclesiastics, a few Chri- stians, and her servants, at night, on account of the wickedness of the Pagans, gathered up his body, went to her house towards the meta sudans. and there sprinkled it with aromatics, and placed * it in a snowy windingsheet. Whilst it was yet dark night, she put it in her chariot to take it to her grounds on the Nomentan way. And whilst she was going there, she dispatched a mes- sage to the bishop (Stephen by name) who lived on the same road, that he might come to meet * it with the priests, deacons, and other clerks, with the servants of God and the sacred vir- gins. Early in the morning they arrived, and with hymns and canticles brought the holy body to the sixteenth milestone and there worthily interred it. But here, on the lands of Aurelius Syntomus, there are no vestiges of the Christian dead, no are- naria, no crypts, and above all no loculi, arcoso- 5 lia and chapels, l for the commemoration and culttis of the martyr. The first Christian members of the family were obliged to make arrangements for them- selves, under the protection of the law, with such decorations as their means and taste afforded. The earlier the conversion of any Roman family the more certainly will their funeral monuments puzzle us by an intermixture of Pagan ornaments. For they had no other at hand, and so long as they were not peculiarly identified with Pagan worship, there was no reason for rejecting them. Whether the con- vert had to fear a family council upon foreign superstition, such as sat upon Pomponia Graecina the wife of Aulus Plautius, who conquered Britain 1 The proper term is cella, or celki memoria, which was a rectangular chamber cut in the rock, with loculi, that is single places for bodies, (sar- cophagi being usually on the floor, though iu Domitilla's cemetery some loculi were closed with imitations of sarcophagi), and an arcosoUum, that is an arched recess for the altar-slab over the body. Behind a wall built for concealment in the above mentioned cemetery De Rossi found an arco- solium with marble slabs, and a marble table having two large bronze rings to lift it, beneath which were two bodies, one in cloth of gold, the other in purple with a terra-cotta vase at its head. Pope Eutychian, A. D. 275-283, who was himself a martyr and interred in the cemetery cf Callixtus, buried there a hundred and sixty two martyrs with his own hands, and forbade the faithful to bury a martyr without a dalmatic, or a purple garment called colobium. De Rossi says that the Fathers, especially in Africa, and the Pontifical Book, call such cellae cellae memoriae of the martyrs , to distinguish them from the cellae or chambers in the temples and baths. S. Augustine tells the Manichaeau Faustus : The Christian people celebrate together the memories of the martyrs with religious solemnity; both to excite imitation, and to be made partakers of their merits, and be helped by their prayers. So however, that we sacrifice 6 under Claudius, or notoriety had provoked imperial edicts, sculpture above ground was not so safe a work as painting below. Pure symbolism must ne- cessarily be the growth of leisure and instruction ; and the more exclusively Christian its character the less we should expect to find it among the primi- tive converts. Hence if we see the vine and vin- tage (Bacchanalian emblems as classical conceit has christened them) upon the mosaic vault of S. Co- stanza, or carved on the sarcophagus of her grand- mother S. Helen, whilst they may have had an indirect reference to the mysteries of faith, it does not follow that they had or were anything more than customary embellishments. to none of the martp-s, but to the very God of the martyrs, although we erect altars at the memonas of the martyrs. And again : To our martyrs we build not temples as to gods, but memorias as to men whose spirit* are living with God. And the fifth Council of Carthage, Can. XIV , forbids aedes to be built for martyrs except there be on the spot either the body, or some sure relics, or where the origin of some ha- bitation, or possession, or passion, has been transmitted from a most trust- worthy source. And in his fifth hymn Prudentius describes the tyrant threatening to destroy the bones of Vincentius lest the people of the Lord worship and fix martyrs' titles over them. The whole technical phraseo- logy is found in the inscription from Caesarea in Mauritania quoted in the Boilettino of April ]8fl4 : Aream at sepulcra cultor verbi contulit Et cellam struxit suis cunctis sumptibus Eclesiae sanctae hanc reliquit memoriam Salvete fratres puro corde et simplici Evolpius vos sat os sancto spirit u EC 'LEST A FRATRVVM IIVXC RESTTTVIT TITVLVM M. A. I. SEVERTAXI C. V. x> Ex iiiir. Astcri. 7 We do not mean that the Christians did not rejoice in images of the vine, but that the earliest converts chose it perhaps as the most easy and least offensive of Pagan ornaments. S. Jerome says that the Syrian tongue naturally lent itself to parable. It was one of the mediums which the wisdom of our Lord adapted for teaching the people. The images in the catacombs were scrip- tural images; and perhaps more familiar to the Christians of Palestine and Africa than to the Romans. S. Aster ius of Amasea bitterly inveighs against a singular abuse of them. Whenever then they go out dressed, as it were depicted among themselves and pointing out with their fingers the picture on their garments, they follow too at a good distance and keep back not indiscreetly ; for there are lions there, panthers, bears, bulls, dogs, woods, rocks, and hunters, and everything, in short, that exercises the industry of painters expressed in imitation of nature. For as it seems not only walls and houses must be so adorned, but their very tunics too and the cloaks thrown over them. But the men and women of those rich folks that are more religious give the wea- > vers subjects out of the Gospel history: I mean Christ himself with all his disciples, and every one of the miracles in the very way it is told. 8 You will see the marriage at Galilee, and, the waterpots, the paralytic carrying the bed on his shoulders, the blind man who is cured with the clay, the woman who labours under an issue of blood taking hold of the hem, the sinner approach- ing to the feet of Jesus, Lazarus returning to life from the tomb; and whilst they do these things, they suppose that they are acting pious- ly, and putting on garments pleasing to God. 1 It was about the year 400 that the bishop of Pon- tus complained of these walking catacombs, classical Convenience has a large share in funerals as learning insufficient weir as in other human actions, and the antiquary to elucidate ruins 3 . "" who desired to make deductions from a series of coffinplates, would probably arrive at conclusions very derogatory to the respectable deceased. The ancient dead did not undertake to teach theology to remote posterity, and the attempt to reconstruct their tenets from the slabs of their sepulchres, mu- tilated and dispersed, seems not of the wisest. It is imperfect at best, and hopeless without more enlightened erudition from other sources. If a candid traveller were to examine the magnificent ruined abbey churches of Ireland and England, he might with moderate acumen make out that they 1 Serrao de Divit. et Lazar, p. 6. 9 were of no sort of use to the practices of the pre- sent Establishment; but he could hardly understand the perfection of their purpose without some know- ledge of the Catholic Church. He could not mis- take that some deplorable flood of ruin had re- cently swept over the land, and that the variety of sects had not yet repaired its ravages. But he could not learn from the ruins alone that a great living society had never ceased to practise the rites for which those churches were originally designed. But what, if the field of his observations was not for three hundred,, but for eighteen hundred years ? What, if he would track the footsteps of an Apostle in a country that had literally been ploughed up by waves of ruin again and again for fifteen cen- turies at least ? l Our traveller upon the waste of the Roman Campagna, even with Murray in his hand and Horace in his head, would find his chan- ces of discrimination wonderfully small. And if he had been qualified by an University education to 1 The description of S. Gregory the Great, in the year GOO, is well known. The savage Lombard race drawn out of the sheath of its dwell- ing-place has been fattened on our necks, and has cut down and dried up the race of men that in the excess of multitude had risen in this laud like a thick cornfield. For the cities are unpeopled, camps overturned : churches burnt, monasteries of men and women destroyed, farms made desolate of men and stript of every cultivator, the earth lying waste in solitude : no owner inhabits it, beasts have occupied the places hitherto held bv a multitude of men. Dial. b. 3. 10 identify the memorabilia of Roman grandeur, to step out on the road to Brundusium, and exhaust the poetry of his affections upon a race whose pe- rishing had been predicted long before Moses went up to mount Pisg ih, * he might find it convenient to forget what mould of man founded his Alma Mater, and politic to decline the distasteful task of grubbing up the soil for Christian ideas. Tlio value of each spadeful of earth would depend less upon the contents than upon his understanding what he found. He might spell out a name upon a bit of leaden pipe, or be very learned upon the marks of the tilemakers; but cui bono if he knew nothing of the first founder's means and mo- tives for. choosing the spot, nothing of his family affections, nothing of his progenitors or descen- dants: nothing but that once he was and now is not? Ne sutor ultra crepidam. Classical litera- ture is not sufficient for the purpose of decypher- ing Christian antiquity; and whatever sermons may be found in stones, the monuments of the Catholic Church have a language of their own. Whether they were hastily constructed, or studiously framed to suit the discipline of the secret; whether 1 They shall come iu galleys from Italy. They shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish. Xunihpiv. oh. 24. v. -24. 11 stamped on the legend of a royal coin, or printed in the encyclical of the living Pope, they require an initiation and instinct to understand them. And we say in no spirit of controversy, but simply as a fact, that no man who is not of the Church can 'appreciate them. If men will not hearken to the voice of the living Church, how can they catch its echoes in the past ? With the exception of some savages who laid Christian cemeteries, their friends out to dry on little platforms in the constXed open air, or others who ate them at a certain age, 1 mankind in general seem to have put their dead out of sight, if not under ground. Whether they burnt them and put their ashes in urns, embalmed and packed them in a series of painted cases, or gave them coffins of lead or stone, the actual place of deposit was not usually on the very level of the high-way. Catholics did not burn their dead ; 2 but restored them to the earth, whence they came; and incremation was not likely to be recommended by the example of the persecutors who did burn them, and scattered the ashes the Christians venerated to 1 The Recognitions of S. Clement notice, that of the whole world only the Medes solemnly cast out people still breathing to be devoured by dogs; that the Indians burn their dead, and the wives are voluntarily burnt with their husbands : that very many Germans end their lives with a noose . Book 9, chap. 25. " Execrantur rogos, et dainnant ignium sepulturas. Minucius Felix. O.'t. o. II. p. 451. They execrate funeral piles and condemn burial in fire. - 12 the winds and streams. The learned De Rossi tells us that the Pagans made the same crypts and lo- culi as those in the Christian cemeteries, but they were only family vaults, not general, ramifying, well-closed places for worship as well as burial : that among them sarcophagi were in vogue in the days of the Antonines, and that in the fifth cen- tury Macrobius writes urendi corpora defuncto- rum usus nostro seculo nullus est, in our age it is not the custom to burn the bodies of the dead. But from the first the Catholic sleeping places coemeteria were meant to preserve the bo- dies whole, and in most instances singly, and secure- ly, apart from Pagans and heretics, conveniently for the rites of the Church whether at the depo- sition or commemoration. About Rome the Chris- tians dug into the hill- sides as the Etruscans had done before them; but not so much for private se- pulture, as to provide one common place of rest laid out in regular tiers and passages, with eco- nomy of space, and choice of strata, where the rich and noble felt it a privilege to be found among the poor, and all yearned to lie not far from the martyrs of Christ. They were not thereby preclud- ed from monuments or chapels above ground, 1 and 1 See De Rossi's Bullettino dl Archeologia Crist ianu. on the monu- ment of S. Domitilla. Dece.uber 1S05. 13 in case of distinguished martyrdom they were sure to construct such memories, which when persecution had ceased became basilicas. For if the Catholic Church has one stamp of truth more decisive than another, it is that she hallows and consecrates every legitimate human affection. She honours more the call of God in the vow of the virgin, and the or- dination of the priest, but she has set the seal of the sacrament upon the first act of Christian life, baptism, upon the indissolubility of marriage, and the last act of passage to the tomb. The spot where Christian blood was shed for faith, to her was holy ground. She never forgot it; for it was registered by the Church in heaven, and as far as the vicis- situdes of time and the malice of the world al- lowed, she sought to protect, to cherish and make it a monument for ever. Literally aromatibus sepelivit, l she buried with perfumes. She embalm- ed the memories of those holy dead with the pray- ers and incense of her daily sacrifice, stupendous 1 Aromatibus sepelivit. This expression seems to have a technical force equivalent to saying, buried as a saint. De Rossi quotes Prudentius : We will sprinkle, both the inscription and the cold stones, with liquid perfume, as applicable to the tazze, marble vases, placed upon a short- pillar near the tombs of the saints. Roma subterranea, pag. 282. Perhaps in the East such pillars , besides holding the balsamic vessel, were in- scribed. At least S. Asterius says : We, disciples of the martyrs, learn to preserve the true religion even in the extremest dangers by merely look- >> ing upon their sacred thecae as pillars inscribed with letters, and accu- rately manifesting the agony of their martyrdom, 14 monument of love not bound by time or space. Poor Horace had done his best : Exegi monumentiuu acre perennius. 1 In the Church the names of the early martyrs will cease to be repeated only with the Eucharistic sacrifice itself, ending with the world and passing triumphantly to the knowledge of the new names in heaven. 2 Nor did she neglect the meaner memorials of time. Died they in their house? She set up an altar on the very spot. Wit- ness S. Caecilia, SS. John and Paul, S. Pudentiana, and many more. Was it afar off? Her fondness Relies, grew excessive. She begged, she bought, she risked life and limb to get their dear remains, and their possession was made the choice of conquerors and articles of peace. 3 She made much of giving a cloth that had touched them, wool soaked with the oil of the lamps that burned before them, mere dust that gathered over them. She rejoiced in distri- buting their relics to the churches throughout the 1 Ode XXIV, lib. III. 2 See Apocalypse, ch. 3. v. 12 ; cb. 2, v. 17 ; cb. 2:?, v. 4. And Isaias t-b. Go. v. 15. And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect, and tbe Lord God shall slay you. and call bis servants by another x> name, in which be tbat is blessed upo;i tbe earth sball be blessed in God. Amen. 3 The holy Cross was recovered from Chosroes in this way. The crown "f thorns was chosen by S. Louis, who paid the loan to the Vene- tians for it. Childebert, A. D. 542, raised the siege of Sarajros-sa for the stole of S. Vincent, and built the church of S. Ge main lea Pres at Paris to receive it. 15 world, and never did she erect an altar anywhere, that was not enriched with some portion of their blessed remains. Enjoying the sunshine of the Real Presence, she desired that these memorials of His friends should be found there too. Nay, she be- came in love with death and treasured up the in- struments of agony, and set them, too, like jewels at her shrines. People call it superstition. The Church upon earth, who knows her own mind and her Master's, never grows weary of canonizing the sanctity which He has been pleased to perfect. She loves the saints and martyrs, because they mir- rored Him. If she dwells with greater fondness upon the blessed wounds of our Lord, she contemplates with love the sufferings of those who died for Him. She does not forget them, because she knows that He has not forgotten them, and is pleased that they remember her. The leading idea then in any Catholic church, TO bury the dead, a sa- but more evident in the older historical basilicas, cred dut *- is that we are dead to the world and buried with Christ. On Holy Thursday we literally do bury our Lord in the sepulchre and visit the spot where He is laid. In the Mass we repeat the sacrifice, and represent the circumstances of His cruel death. And if He has deigned to be with us all days, even to the consummation of the world, His 16 presence may be said to be, in regard to the mani- festation of His glorified existence and our inabi- lity to bear it and live, even yet swathed and shrouded in the tomb. Man again is a most glo- rious work of His, and our confraternities by keep- ing up that charity of burying the dead which the angel commended in Tobit, honour the Creator in that slime of the earth which He means to raise again from the tomb. Even the natural instincts of the Pagan Romans granted great legal privileges to burial-clubs. These privileges were confirmed by an edict of Septimius Severus A. D. 200. The burial of those bodies that had been once the temples of the Holy Ghost is for Christians so sacred a duty that in the nervous language of S. Ambrose, hu- mandis fidelium reliquiis vasa Ecclesiae, etiam initiata, confringere, conflare, vendere, licet. It Jbilged"!? ^ s a duty of religion, and not of simple convenience, dead. just as prayers for the dead is a duty for the whole Church, as well as for the survivers. Lay this body anywhere, > said S. Monica to her son Augustine ; let not the care of it anyway disturb you: this only I request of you that you re- member me at the altar of the Lord wherever you be. l Intercessory prayer was all the dying 1 She (S. Monica), the day of her dissolution being at hand, be- stowed not a single thought upon having her body sumptuously swath- 17 mother asked, not some peculiar place of sepul- ture. And it was to give opportunity for the kind of prayer for the dead which she requested that Ca- tholics desired to be buried together, and marked the loculus with a hurried sign or more delibe- rate inscription. Now it is not easy, but very difficult, to make those, who think that the reading of the will after the funeral is the chief duty to the deceased, really appreciate the necessities of the Catholic dead. For them to be buried away from the rest was to separate from communion, and withdraw from that jurisdiction which the Pope and bishops exercised over the cemeteries. With the single exception of some Mithraic tombs, De Rossi has found in the ca- tacombs no Pagans, or heretics, who intruded them- selves among the faithful dead. The notion, after robbing the Catholic dead, of dressing up in his clothes, stickling for his name, and insisting upon being buried with him, seems to be almost an idle modern invention. And if that request, which is usually felt to be so urgent, because it comes from dying lips, is to be disregarded as for superstitious ed . . . . but only desired a commemoration to be made of her at the altar, at which she had, without the intermission of a day, rendered her service, whence she knew was dispensed the holy Victim, by which the handwriting that was against us is blotted out. See S. Augustine, t. I, 1. IX. Confess, n. 30, col. 389. 2 18 uses, because it asks for prayer, how can we under- stand the language of S. Cyprian? To the bodies also of those who, although they were not put to torture in prison, nevertheless depart by the outlet of a glorious death, let a more zealous watchfulness be given; for neither their resolution nor their honour is the less, so as to prevent them too from being classed among the blessed mar- tyrs. Finally note also the days on which they depart that we may celebrate commemorations of * them also among the memories of the martyrs. l When the cross was a reality, and the roaring lion physically ready to devour, the heretic was not so eager to assume the Catholic name. What Maxi- minus said to S. Tarachus had few attractions to those without. I will not merely slay thee, that, as I have already said, they may wrap thy relics in linen cloths, and anoint them, and worship them. Or again: Dost thou think, most wicked man, that thy body after death will be venerated and anointed by silly women? But this also shall be my care that thy remains be utterly destroyed. 2 Nor was the boast of S. Hi- lary of Poitiers more inviting. We owe more to your cruelty Nero, Decius, Maxiininian, than to 1 Ep. XXXVII ad Clerum. 2 Passio S. Taracbi et Soc. Ruinart, p. 475, 470. 1ft J. *7 " Constantius ; for through you we have conquered Satan: everywhere was the holy blood of the martyrs received, and their venerable bones arc a daily testimony, while evil spirits howl at them; while maladies are expelled, while wonderful works are seen. l The chief use of the churches then was not to shelter the congregation from the weather, but to provide for the relics, and the commemora- tions of the dead. The Christians met to pray for the living and the dead; and with greater fervour, because the mortal remains of saints were before their eyes, whose intercessory prayers they knew to be most acceptable to God. The reason again for the greater honour to the Greater ho- nour duo to martyrs was not alone for the illustration of the jj Xj?' Church, nor for the romantic circumstances of their deaths. Our Lord himself has pronounced it. No man hath greater love than this that he lay down his life for his friends. 2 They were not merely witnesses of the truth, but of the Author of truth, and especially of His resurrection; that He whom the Jews and Gentiles had conspired together to blot out from the land of the living was neverthe- less a living man, powerful to protect the Church T S. Ilil. lib. II, de Trinit. n. 3, lib. Ill , adv. Constant, n. 8, p. 1243. Ed. Ben. ? John, XV. 1. 13. 20 that had loved Him; and the first martyr looking up steadfastly to heaven deserved to see the glory of God, and to bear witness : Behold ! I see the hea- vens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. If love for God was to be the measure of the admiration of the Church, it was found most conspicuously in the martyrs. The cha- rity which worketh love and unites the soul with God, was to be found among all classes, the beg- gar and the king, the founders of religious Orders and the hermits, the suffering nun and the active apostle; and if it were approved by miracles the Church set it before her children as an inheritance and example, (for it is not the Church, but writers in evil days who have said, that the actions of the saints are rather to be admired than imitated) ; but she gave the first place to that faithful love which was sealed with blood. For that blood was her cement and seed; and that sanctity contained the special token that the world had striven to de- stroy it, and striven in vain. She has hardly watched with the shepherds through the night of the Nati- vity before she celebrates the stoning of Stephen. The cry of the little babe of Bethlehem is upon her ear, and she listens to Rachael weeping for her children, because they are not. The mystic gifts are offered by the kings, and she sings: 21 Crudelis Herodes, Deum regem venire quid times? > Nun eripit mortalia, qui regna dot coelestia. Our God, the coming King, why dost thou, cruel Herod, dread? He snatches not at mortal things who heavenly gives instead. She feels that the persecuting malice of the world is an additional wreath for the champions of Christ, whose kingship was mocked and set at nought by the great ones of the earth; a sign of the world's fear, and a prize for those it hates. That little phial of witnessing blood in the silent passages of the earth was her ruby jewel. The lips of the martyrs, opened by the Holy Ghost, spoke the truth. Hence the Popes were so solicitous to preserve their Acts that they appointed notaries and deacons for that purpose in the several districts, or regions, of the city, and built so much in the persecution! cemeteries, and set ecclesiastics over them. * Hence T Pope Zephyrinus, A. D. 202-218, set Callixtus over the cemetery. Of Pope Fabian, 233-250, the breviary says : Septem diaconis regiones divisit, qui pauperum curam haberent. Totidem subdiaconos creavit, qui res gestas martyrura a septem notariis scriptas colligerent. > He al- lotted the regions to seven deacons to have charge of the poor ; and created as many subdeacons to collect the Acts of the martyrs written by the seven notaries. Pope Cornelius, A. D. 251, 252, testifies that there were forty tix priests in Rome, that is with parishes and cemeteries ; but there were in _ 22 when, owing to the desolating persecution of Dio- cletian, the churches and sacred books had been burnt, and the lands and cemeteries confiscated, we find Marcellus, A. D. 308-310, set twenty five titles, or titular churches, like dioceses within the city for the many Pagan converts, and for the burial of the martyrs, and invited Priscilla to make ano- ther cemetery on the Salarian way. When the subur- ban cemeteries were ruined by the barbarians, the Popes brought the martyrs' bodies into the city. When they had repaired the damages in vain, and the cemeteries were no longer safe, they brought them in greater numbers into the basilicas. Even as late as 560-573, John III restored the cemete- ries of the holy martyrs, and had Masses and lights the city only twenty five basilicas. In the time of Pope Damasus, A. D. 366-384, every title had two priests, and a recently discovered inscription in S. Clement's shows that their colleagues were called Socii. In tlu following inscription from the cemetery of Domitilla we read the jurisdic- tion of those priests : ALEXIVS ET CAPRIOLA FECERVXT SE VIVI IVSSV ARCHELAI ET DTLCITI PRESB. And in this other from S. Callixtus we find the jurisdiction which the Popes themselves peculiarly exercised over that cemetery. Mareelliuus go- verned the Church from 296 to 304. CVBICVLVM DVPLEX CVM AKCISOLIIS ET LVMIXARE IVSSV PP PVI MARCELLIXI DIACOXVS ISTE SEVERVS FECIT MAXSIOXEJI IX PACE SIBI SVISQVE. %HT We may observe here, once for all, that our notices of the cata- combs are chiefly taken from De Rossi's Roma subtcrranca vol. I, and his Itullettino di Archeohnjia Sacnr. 23 supplied every Sunday from S. John Lateran's. It is recorded of Sergius I, who lived in the seventh century, that, when he was a priest, he was un- wearied in celebrating Mass in the different ceme- teries. Gregory III, 731-741, provided a priest to celebrate in the catacombs on the principal mar- tyrs' feasts. It was not only that the martyrs were the earliest saints, but their blood was the seed of the Church, the pledge of fidelity to the last. If she did not honour those chosen instruments of faith, whom should she honour? If she prized chastity, they had died to keep it. If she reverenced old age, her venerable bishops and priests while tortured w r ere admired even by the Pagans. If she needed mira- cles, the martyrs were miracles. If the Holy Ghost inspired her, the Spirit spoke also by their lips. If generous devotedness could move her, these had indeed given up all. If gratitude became her, she must raise her eyes to heaven and to them. Hence the feeling which moved the learned Benedictine Abbot, Gueranger, to ask leave of Pius IX to renew the celebrations in the catacombs at the grave of S. Caecilia. Hence the joy of the Church at the canonization of the victims of the Calvinists of Gor- cum, and the beatification of the martyrs of Japan. About the year 405, the noble Spanish poet Prudentius came to Rome to satisfy his devotion, 24 and has left graphic passages relating to the cata- combs. Two lines of his describe their locality bet- ter than a volume. Ilaud procul extreme culta ad pomeria vallo Mersa latebrosis crypta patet f oveis. > Not far from the last rampart, at the cultiva- ted boulevards, a crypt lies open plunged in lurk- ing pits. And he enables us to j'.idge of the decorations of the crypt, and its purpose; for he tells us that in the cemetery of S. Cyriaca he saw the body of S. Hippolytus, with an altar by it, at which priests celebrated and distributed the divine mysteries ; and that on the walls was a picture of his martyrdom, the faithful gathering his scattered relics, and with cloths and sponges sucking up his blood on the briars and ground. To the confusion of those whose tender piety is scandalized by the sign of the Cross, and much more by the image of the Crucified, who date their new birth from the Holy Ghost, but abhor the emblem of the dove, whose whitewashed walls receive no light from the illumination of the Church, whose dreary devotion denies to Mary the prophetic title Blessed; and who, dating their conversion from the Apostles, neither know nor care to know what became of them when they dispersed to teach nr. _ 4U that penance makes silver of lead, and gold of glass. Besides if human art knows how to mix nature with nature and change what was before, how much more will the grace of God be able to effect still more ? Man has added gold leaf to glass, and in appearance that seems made gold which before was glass. So grace to him who yesterday was unjust and a transgressor of the law makes to-day a servant of God, not only superficially, but also as to the conscience according to God. For if man had chosen to mix in gold the glass would have been made golden ; but avoiding the loss he invented the fitting together and insertion of the thinnest leaf. The vaunters of progress might describe inventions more grandiloquently, but the elegant simplicity of the deacon of Edessi is nearer the truth. sott. I, 190, 197. 27 tioned whether the decline affected symbolism, and the power of representing Catholic religious feeling; just as while the more celebrated painters of religious subjects, since Perugino, have given the natural with greater truth, they have not always depicted the supernatural, and religious affections, with as much force as other hands inferior to them in the mecha- nism of art. If Greek art surpassed Konian, and Pagan art rapidly declined, neither in fancy nor de- sign did Christian art ever come near it. It is not possible that the obscure sect described by Tacitus could ever get artists of any reputation to paint in the dark ; on which account catacombic art, taken by itself, is a fallacious standard. Not possess- ing the early Church pictures, we can only judge by the mosaics, restored and altered, but not chang- ed in character, that Christian Catholic art by no means declined in elaborate ingenious symbolic or- namentation, and ability to represent what it want- ed to inculcate. The drinking fountains of Paris or London , expensive as many of them have been, would not give a fair idea of the appreciation of art either in France or England. Eusebius, A. D. 325-328, says: You might see at the fountains, in the middle of the market-places representa- ar:*ki- fountains. tions of the good Shepherd well known to those acquainted with the divine word, and Daniel with 28 the lions, fashioned in brass. 1 And speaking of a tablet which the emperor Constantine placed before the vestibule of his palace to be seen by all, the same historian says: The saving sign of the Cross is represented as it were resting on his head; but that enemy and adverse wild beast, which, by means of the tyranny of the ungodly, had vexed the Church, he represented under the shape of a dragon rushing headlong down. : And he adds: I am filled with wonder at the powerful understanding of the emperor, who, as it were, by a divine inspiration, symbolized those * things which the words of the Prophet had long before proclaimed. He also says that the house of the woman healed of the issue of blood was shown at Caesarea Philippi, and that he had himself seen the circumstance represented in brass before the door of it. And that it is no won- der, for the images of Peter and Paul, and even of Christ himself are preserved in paintings. 3 In the fourth century, S. Asterius bishop of Amasea gives a minute account of a picture of the martyr- dom of S. Euphemia. This celebrated virgin martyr 1 De Vita Constant. 1. 3, c. 40. - Lib. 3, c. 3. 3 Hist, of Eusob. b, 7, c, 18, 29 - of Chalcedon is represented with her contemporary J t ^ d S. Catharine of Alexandria, in the niche of the Ma- watary. donna in our subterranean basilica. S. Asterius says: Her fellow-citizens and associates in the religion for which she died, admiring her as a resolute and holy virgin, reverencing her sepulchre, and also placing her bier near the temple, pay her honour, celebrating her anniversary as a common and crowded festival. He saw this picture ac- cidently and was affected to tears; and it appears from his description of it, that it must have been an admirable composition. He particularly notices her after sentence of death was pronounced against her. After this there is a prison, and again the venerable virgin in her dark robes is seated alone, stretching out both her hands to heaven, and call- ing upon God, the helper in trouble : and there appears to her whilst in prayer, above her head, the sign which it is the custom of Christians both to adore and represent in colours, a symbol, I think, of the passion which awaited her. The painter then, a little further on, lias lit up, in another compartment, l a blazing fire and has placed her in the midst of it, with her hands stretched out towards heaven; her countenance 1 This seem3 like the exemples in our subterranean basilica of several episodes in our composition. 30 bears on it no sign of sadness; but, on the con- trary, is lit up with joy, for that she is depart- ing unto a blessed and incorporeal life. * l Pope Adrian I, in his letter to Charlemagne concerning holy images, quotes Gregory the Great's letter to the hermit of Ravenna. "We have sent you two cloths containing the picture of God our Saviour, and of Mary the holy Mother of God, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul; and one Cross: also for a benediction, a key which has been applied to the most holy body of S. Pe- ter the prince of the apostles, that you may re- main defended from the enemy. De Rossi shows distinctly, from the type of the two apostles on the sarcophagi, and from the ancient representa- tion of them, that there was a traditional set of portraits with features peculiar to each. Pruden- SlSreh tius, A. D. 405, narrates an incident in his journey pictures. to Rome. I was lying prostrate on a tomb, which a sacred martyr, Cassian, with his body dedi- cated to God, made beautiful. "Whilst with tears I was considering within myself my wounds, and all the labours and bitter pains of life, I turned my face upwards; there was before me, painted in dark colours , the image of the martyr co- 1 Combeiis, t. I, Enar. in Martyr. R. Euphem. p. 207-210. 31 vcrcd with countless wounds , lacerated in eve- s' ry limb, and with the skin minutely punctured. Around him, oh sad sight ! there was a countless crowd of boys who with their pens pierced the wounded limbs... The keeper of the building said ' in answer to my inquiries, ' that which thou seeest, stranger, is no empty or idle fable. The picture tells a history. These are the circumstan- ces which, expressed in colours, have excited thy wonder. This is Cassian's glory. If thou hast * any just or praise-worthy desire, if there be any thing that thou hopest for; if thou be inwardly troubled, but whisper it. The most glorious mar- tyr, believe me, hears every prayer ; and those which he sees deserving of approval he renders effectual. I then ran through the list of my se- cret difficulties; I then murmured forth my de- sires, and my fears, my household left behind in hopes of future good. I am heard. I visit Rome ; I am successful; I return to my home, and I loudly praise Cassian. l S. Paulinus of Nola, who died a year after S. Augustine, in 431, de- scribes a basilica apparently covered with paintings. He says, expostulating with Severus for placing his portrait in the baptistery of his basilica beside 1 Galland. Vo 1 . 8, Ilyn.n 0, r . 452-3. 32 S. Martin of Tours: You did right to have a paint - ing of S. Martin in the place where man is formed anew: he by a perfect imitation of Christ pour- trayed the image of a heavenly being. S. Ni- lus, 448-451, advises his friend, Olympius, who was going to build a church in honour of the martyrs, to represent in the sanctuary, towards the East, one only cross, and cover the building on every side with the histories contained in the Old and New Testament, done by the hands of the most skil- ful painters, in order that they, who are not ac- quainted with letters, and are unable to r'ead the divine Scriptures, may have a remembrancer of the worthy actions of those who have nobly served oM l L al8 the true God. S. Asterius says boldly: Were J.ariyrs. there no martyrs , gloomy and gladless would our life be; for what is worthy to be compared with those solemn assemblies! What so venerable and everyway beautiful, as to behold a whole city pouring forth all its citizens, and repairing to the sacred place to celebrate the pure mysteries of the most true religion! But true religion is both to worship and honour those who have so resolutely endured torments for Him. This bishop of Pontus says: The Gentiles and Euno- mian heretics (new Jews, as he calls them) de- tested the honours paid to martyrs and their shrine. 33 relics. He describes in his own cou.itry, pre- cisely what Prudentius saw in Italy, that on the solemnities of particular martyrs, which were kept by the people, all Rome and the neighbouring provinces went to adore God at their tombs, kiss- ino- their relics. And if w r e would know how O such festivals were kept, in the fourth century, in the East, we have it in S. Gregory of Nyssa. Let us view the present state of the saints, how s. Gregrr, o* Kyssa's descrip- very excellent it is, and how magnificent! For c^f the soul indeed having attained unto its proper inheritance rests gladly, and, freed from the body, dwells together with its compeers. Whilst the body, its venerable and spotless instrument, which injured not by its peculiar passions the incorrup- tibility of the indwelling spirit, deposited with great honour and attention, lies venerably in a sacred place ; reserved as some much honoured * valuable possession unto the time of the regene- ration, and far removed from any comparison with, the bodies which, have died by a usual and common death, and this though they are natu- rally of the same substance. For other relics are to most men even an abomination. Whereas whoso cometh unto some spot like this, where we are this day assembled, where there is a mo- nument of the just and a holy relic, his soul is 3 34 in the first place gladdened by the magnificence of what he beholds, seeing a house, as God's tem- pie, elaborated most gloriously both in the mag- nitude of the structure and the beauty of the surrounding ornaments. There the artificer has fashioned wood into the shape of animals; and the stonecutter has polished the slabs to the smoothness of silver; and the painter has in- troduced the flowers of his art, depicting and imaging the constancy of the martyrs, their resis- tance, their torments, the savage forms of the tyrants, their outrages, the blazing furnace, and the most blessed end of the champion : the repre- sentation of Christ, in human form, presiding over the contest; l all these things, as it were in a book gifted with speech, shaping for us by means of colours, has he cunningly discoursed to us of the martyr's struggles, has made this temple glo- 1 S. Basil also, A. l>. 379, alludes to this same introduction of Christ into the canvass. Rise up now, I pray you, ye celebrated painters of the good deeds of ihess wrestler?. Make glorious by your art the mutilated image of their leader. With colours laid on by your cunning make il- lustrious the crowned martyr by me too feebly pictured. I retire van- quished before you in your painting of the excellencies of the martyr. I rejoice at being this day overcome by such a victory of your bravery. I shall behold the struggle between the fire and the martyrs depicted more accurately by you. I shall see the wrestler depicted made glorious by your representation. Let demons weep at being now also smitten in you by the brave deeds of the martyr. Again let the burning hand be shown them. Lot Christ also, who presides over the struggle, be depicted on > your canvass. 35 rious as some brilliant fertile mead. For the silent tracery on the walls has the art to dis- course, and to aid most powerfully. And he who has arranged the mosaics has made this pavement on which we tread equal to a history. And hav- ing gratified his sight with these sensible works of art, he then desires to approach the very shrine itself, believing that the touching it is a hallo w- ing and benediction. And should some one allow him to carry away the dust which lies on the surface of that resting place, the dust is received as a gift, and the earth is treasured up as a va- luable possession. For to touch the relic itself, if ever by so great a good fortune one could ob- tain leave, how very much this is to be desired, and what a concession to the most earnest sup- plication, they know who have had experience, and have accomplished this desire. For the be- holders, with joy, embrace it as if a living and unfading body, applying it to eyes, and mouth, and ears, and to all the senses; and shedding then a tear of veneration and sympathy for the martyr, as though he were entire and visible before them, they supplicate him to intercede, beseeching him as an attendant upon God, calling upon him as receiving gifts whenever he pleases. This beautiful passage was written before the year 395. 36 Although veneration of the martyrs is based upon spiritual relationship and supernatural mo- tives, even in the natural order a rude inhumanity would appear in not treasuring their remains. We are moved, says Atticus to Cicero, by the very places where the footprints of men we ad- mire, or love, are present. That very Athens of ours does not delight me so much by the magni- ficent works and exquisite arts of the ancients, as by the remembrance of the chiefest men, where one was wont to dwell, where to sit, where to argue: I studiously contemplate their tombs. But our purpose is more with the external mode of honouring than with the sentiment. Granting that Christian art, contrasted with the classical, was never of the highest order, and that (especially in Africa where the cemeteries above ground were more exposed to Diocletian's persecution) it was mercilessly swept away, there is ample evidence that, within fifty years after Constantine gave peace to the Church, able artists had done much to re- pair the damage. It is very true that religious feel- ing is often awakened by inferior external forms but the productions described in such noble lan- guage by S. Gregory of Nyssa and S. Asterius could not have been mere daubs. We shall see that the latter speaks of a picture as resembling the style 37 of an artist whose name he gives, and compares it with the old masters. The Vatican bronze medal- lion of S.Peter and S.Paul, found in S. Domitilla's ., ter and Paul. cemetery, the earliest known representation ol these apostles, shows a good style of execution; and if we consider the rank and riches of the noble con- verts in Piome, it is unlikely that the first Pope, who lived in the palace of a Senator whose daughters were his zealous pupils, or the other apostle who lived in his own hired house, should have failed of competent artists if their portraits were wished for at all. And in the same way, directly the Church Profusion of had breathing time, whatever the style of the pic- centuV tures may have been, it is evident that the bodies of the martyrs and their pictures were honoured together, and that in the fourth century pictorial art in the churches was public and profuse. Naked form and classical outlines were not to be got, nor probably desired; but it is difficult to believe that the decorations of the Church were deficient in poe- try, execution, and effective art. If the chief motive for Church decorative art Disuse of the subterranean was to embellish the places of sepulture and chap- tpfSuc- d els connected with them, and if the embellish- Barbarians. ments themselves, under the pressure of necessity, were confined to symbols, or very simple adaptations of Christian facts, we should expect to find with 38 greater liberty, greater freedom of composition. When the empire became Christian, the sufferings of the martyrs would naturally be chosen for his- torical religious pictures , and the Roman artist would be no longer doomed to the obscurity of the catacombs, but would enjoy the more favourable light and grander dimensions of the basilicas. The Popes themselves were no longer buried in the sub- terranean crypts. Melchiades, A. D. 311-314, the first to sit in the Lateran, was the last to be buried under ground: in coemeterio Callixti in crypta. Sylvester, A. D. 314-336, was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla in an open-air basilica. Mark, A. D. 336, similarly in the cemetery of Balbina outside the Ar- deatine gate, not far from the cemetery of Callix- tus on the Appian way. The Constantinian basi- licas, S. Lorenzo, S. Agnese, and S. Alexander, even cut away many loculi and crypts to make a level. After the death of Julian the Apostate, in 363, De Rossi says, that the use of subterranean cemete- ries visibly declined. In the public distress they were neglected and fell into the hands of private fossors, and, after the year 454, he finds no interment in them at all. The liturgies of the second half of the fifth century constantly refer to burials in the basilicas; and in the sixth century burial was com- mon within the walls of Rome. As for the Pagan 39 emperors, the first direct public attack upon the cemeteries was that by Valerian, in 257, and it only lasted three years ; for his son GaUienus, whose mother, Solinina, was a Christian, recalled it, and ordered the religious places to be restored to the bishops, on which account Dionysius ; bishop of Alex- andria, calls him, more friendly to God. l It is recorded of his contemporary, Pope Dionysius, that he allotted the churches and cemeteries to priests, and constituted parishes and dioceses. In 303, Diocletian burnt and ravaged every thing. De Rossi thinks that from 370 to 373 there was again a fashion to be buried near the martyrs. Perhaps the zeal of Damasus for restorations, and his own recorded wish to be laid by the martyrs, had some- thing to do with it. But the invasions of the barbarians were the real cause of the destruction of the cemeteries. Alaric inarched three times against Rome. The first time he arrived within a few miles of the city, and, deterred by a mysterious power, suddenly retreated. But he appeared a se- cond time, in 408, when he besieged the city, and after reducing it to extremities by famine and pes- tilence, accepted a ransom of 5000 pounds of gold, 30000 of silver, 4000 vestments of silk, and 3000 1 See De Rossi's Bolktlino di Archeoloyia Sacra, for January 18GG, page 6. 40 dyed furs. On the 24 th of August 410 he returned a third time, entered the city through treason at the dead of the night, and the blast of the Gothic trumpet announced to the inhabitants that the bar- barian invaders- had passed through the Salarian gate. Genseric the Vandal, about the year 460, destroyed all Rome and its suburbs, with the ex- ception of the three principal basilicas. Before the end of the fifth century Ricimer the Suevian Goth besieged and destroyed the doomed city, but was obliged to evacuate it by Belisarius. In the ab- sence of Belisarius, Totila, after taking Fiesole, com- menced another siege of Rome in 545. The citizens made a heroic resistance, but suffered cruelly from famine and disease. The Isaurian soldiers, who guarded the Porta Asinaria, no longer able to sup- port the fatigues and privations of a protracted siege, consented to admit the invader by treason, and Totila entered the city in triumph, April 546. He spared the inhabitants for a time, but having learned that the Greeks had defeated the Goths in Lucania, he compelled the entire population to emi- grate into the province of Campagna; and thus, as Procopius narrates, Rome was left absolutely a wilderness of ruin, and desolated mansions; a city without sound or tread; abandoned to the fox and wolf. Belisarius retook the city and rebuilt 41 its \valls. Totila subsequently returned, but was forced to retire with much slaughter. He besieged the city again in 549, and, as before, entered by the Porta Asinaria. He remained in peaceful pos- session until 552, when Justinian sent Narses to renew the war in Italy with greater energy. Nar- ses completely defeated the Goths in a general en- gagement in the passes of the Apennines, and among the slain was Totila himself. Narses then marched to Rome, and the Goths, on his approach to its defenceless walls, retired to the Castle of S. Angelo, which they defended for a short time, but were obliged to capitulate on condition that their lives should be spared by the conqueror. The resting places of the dead were not, of course, spared du- ring those terrible ravages. In 648, 682, the bo- dies of the martyrs were brought in from the suburban towns, such as Porto and Nomentum. Astolphus and the Lombards ruined the cemete- ries in 760. Paul I, who was elected Pope in 757, brought the bodies of the martyrs into the city, be- cause the cemeteries were in decay. Adrian I and Leo III tried to restore them. Paschal I, in 8 17, removed the body of S. Cecily with many others. Sergius II and Leo IV brought in some that were still left. Nicholas I attempted, in 867, some cata- combic restorations, and they were the last. 42 . ,. . From theso brief notices we may arrive at so- A religious "* system cannot - , , . , m-i be conducted veral general conclusions. 1 Inat any attempt to from the cala- combo aiono. cons truct a religious system from the presence or absence of catacombic data alone, is quite falla- cious, owing to the original character and extreme- ly mutilated state of the monuments. 2 d That in so far as art attended upon burial, and that peculiar kind of burial had almost ceased within thirty or forty years after the peace of the Church, we must look elsewhere for it. 3 rd We shall find pictorial art still busy about the dead, and the re- lics of the martyrs removed into the city between GOO and 800, that is in the great basilicas. 4 th Whe- if ft th,. lh chuich ther we look to Christian art for a peculiar class art followed She Martyr* f f artistic ideas, or for religious instruction, it is into the basin- singularly absurd to restrict our inquiries to the more meagre instances of it in the catacombs, and overlook the profusion of it in the basilicas; be- cause if the Christians were fond of painting under all the disadvantages of the catacombs, they would certainly develop their taste upon a grander scale in the basilicas; and if their thoughts are interest- ing to us when depicted in the obscurity of diffi- cult times or persecution, we should expect a full- er utterance when they were at peace and free. Hence, on the religious side, the proper test is not whether what we find in the basilicas is different 43 from the little we may know of the catacombs, but whether the basilicas contradict the catacombs. And in this view even the latest frescoes in S. Cle- S S. Clement's, ment have a peculiar interest ; because if they were JSonlhaT painted when Leo IV was alive, or those relating 1 pictures, and linking Chris- to S. Nicholas, S. Clement, and S. Cyril, soon after linearly Yta- lian school. the events they represent, they are a link in reli- gious art, especially as being votive pictures, by which we can trace the ideas which prevailed when the catacombs had fallen into desuetude. Without a single symbol of the catacombs , or a single fi- gure imitated from them, 1 they contain a distinct, formed, and characteristic school of painting. The ideas elicited from them do not contradict the ca- tacombs. And on the side of art, as compositions, they are superior to any we possess in the cata- combs. With all the defects of drawing and per- spective, the colouring is pleasing, they tell their story well, and they exhibit a grouping and move- ment for which we seek in vain through the ca- tacombs, or indeed in most of the Pagan frescoes which have come down to us. S. John, in the Apocalypse, saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of 1 On the pier that contains the fre.?co of the miracle of Sisinius at S. Clement's mass, there is a painting of Daniel in the lions' den, but its treatment is quite different from that of the same subject frequently fiund in the Catacomb?, 44 God, and for the testimony they held. The basili- cas continued the cultus of the dead. The Church brought their bodies in from the Campagna, and g. AtexMte'i placed them more conspicuously beneath her altars. basilica in When S. Peter's was ringing with the voices of the tens of thousands giving glory to God for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Veni Creator Spiritus intoned by Pius IX, was answer- ed from the Nomentan way. There the ancient Christian basilica was again given to view, the ora- tory at the cemetery. There appeared the altar- tomb of the martyr Pope Alexander. But if we would venerate his relics, we shall find them with an inscription in the more sumptuous crypt of S. Sa- bina on the Aventine. The little loculus in the ca- tacombs, with its phial of precious blood and tiny lamp, gave occasion for the oratory, the oratory for the country church; the danger of the sacred deposit of the Church for the securer and grander basilica within the walls of Rome. There is no lapse or hiatus, any more than there is in the suc- cession and teaching of the Popes. Bosius reckons six cemeteries of the Apostolic age. The first, on the via Cornelia, that of S. Peter's in the Vatican. The Pontifical Book says: Anacletus memoriam beati Petri construxit, et loca ubi episcopi con- derentur. If those bishops of Rome did not 45 - date from S. Peter, they had no date at all. The ancient Acts of SS. Peter and Paul state that their bodies remained a year and seven months in the catacombs, quousque fabricarentur loca, ubi po- sita sunt in Yaticano et in via Ostiensi. * The catacombs were crypts at S. Sebastian's to which alone the name of catacomb, for some time, exclu- sely applied. * Pope Damasus, in 384, gives us ver- ses upon the spot. Hie habitasse prius sanctos cognoscere debes Nomina quisque Petri pariter Paulique requiris. - Thou ought'st know that here the saints did dwell the first of all, Whoe'r thou art that seek'st the name of Peter and of Paul. And of the Vatican cemetery again he writes : Cingebant latices montem, teneroque meatu Corpora multorum cineres atque ossa rigabant. Non tulit hoc Damasus, communi lege sepultos Post requiem tristes iterum persoh-ere pocnas. Protinus aggressus magnum superare laborem, Aggeris immensi dty'ecit culmina mentis. Intima sollicite scrutatus viscera terra Siccavit totum quidquid madefecerat humor : Invenit fontem, pr&bet qui dona salutis. H(ec curavit Mercurius levitajidelis. 8 The streams the mountain girt, and with their tendar rill Of many, bodies, ashes, bones, with moisture fill ; Nor bore this Damasus, by common law who lay When once at rest again sad penalties should pay ; He set to work at once the labour vast surmount, Of bulk immense threw down the summit of the mount; 1 The names of all the other catacomb*, occurring so frequently i.i the Martyrologies and Lives of the Popes, appear to have been confused with this particular spot ; because it always retained its place in the Libri Indulgen tiaru m . ? Carmen IX. 3 Carmen XXXVI, de foutibus Vaticani?. 46 The inmost bowels of the earth explored with care And dried the whole whate'r the moisture wetted there : lie found the fountain that the gifts of safety lends. All this Mercuritu the faithful levite tends. In this particular instance we have the Pope himself describing his care for the cemeteries. At that date (366-384) it was as easy to ascertain a circumstance relating to the coming to Rome and death of S. Peter, as any now relating to the re- ligious revolution by Henry the eighth. The sub- structions of S. Peter's conceal the Vatican cemetery. The new basilica of S. Paul shows that the Popes have not yet forgotten the graves of .either apostle. But the Basilican churches of Rome were some- times built upon the martyr's own house, whether interred there as in the case of SS. John and Paul, officers in the army under the Apostate Julian, or not, as in the instance of S. Clement who was mar- ent tyred in the Crimea. Tradition has always main- )m own tained that the church of S. Clement is upon the housu. actual site of his house. When we visit it, we can- not be blind to the inveterate faith with which Ca- tholics venerate the relics of the dead, and the mag- nificence with which holy Church surrounds the bo- dies of the saints. For reduced, as this Constan- tinian basilica may be said to be in its present state, ptyio of its to mere brick and mortar, whilst we admire the decorations. beauty of the precious marble pillars, we must re- 47 place in imagination what was removed to con- struct the church above ; the noble marble panels of the choir, and especially the two of basket-work -transennce- once probably protecting the relics of the saint ; the various intricate patterns of the rich opus Alexandrinum of the pavement. If we add frescoes from top to bottom, and from end to end, elegant in their ornamentation, and harmonious in colour- ing, deficient indeed in perspective and void of class- ic type, but noble and expressive in telling their story; if we introduce the lights and crowd, and priests at the high altar, we shall conceive no small idea of the Catholic basilica. Nor will it be a hin- derance that the frescoes were not all painted at the same time. Their presence, and the votive charac- ter of the most striking, show that the religious spirit which painted the catacombs was not lost with them, and in this respect the pictures in S. Cle- ment's are unique. If we were in possession of those with which S. Damasus adorned his church of Saint Lorenzo in Damaso, and which were extant four hundred years afterwards, that is about the year 800, we should have an ascertained series of pictures to supply the link which seems wanting in Catholic de- corative art between the catacombs and those com- positions in mosaic, which, though some may be of the sixtli and seventh, are more generally of the 48 its frescoes the liinth and later centuries. Independently however earliest Chri- tloM nowTft of an 7 other interest, the frescoes in our basilica to us a pa- cniiarityin o f S. Clement go far to fill up the gap; for in them their arrange- we have the earliest large wall-paintings of church compositions now left to us, certainly in Koine at least: ingenious in their arrangement and replete with piety. They were designed by worshippers who understood that passage of the psalm : I have loved, o Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. If we agree, from the square nimbus about his head, that Leo IV, introduced in the picture of the Assumption of our Lady, was painted before his death, in 855, we can judge in some degree (even without the pictures lost in the interval, and taking no account of the Crucifixion and other earlier frescoes in S. Clement's) by comparison with Catholic art of the fourth cen- tury, such as the glasses inlaid with gold, and the latest representations in the catacombs, how much has been lost in the lines of drawing, and what pro- gress made in more crowded compositions. Again if we refer the great picture representing the trans- lation of S. Clement's relics, from the Vatican to his own basilica, to the time of S. Nicholas I, who died in 8G6, we shall not think, even by compa- rison with the catacombs, that Catholic art had miserably perished. "We may find a certain analogy, 49 though a less delicate execution, between them and the frescoes by Masaccio in the upper church. But our point of comparison is itself inaccurate, that is between simple symbols and historical pictures. It is observable that the bishop of Amasea, S. Aste- rius, compares the picture of the martyrdom which he saw at Chalcedon between the period of Euphe- mias' death in 307, and his own about 400, with older productions. You would have said it was Excellent com- position of a one of Euphranor's skilful pieces, or of one of - those old painters who raised their art to so great an eminence, making their canvas (tables) well nigh breathe into life. Again the composition itself was large, truthful, and forcible ; and, as far as mere description goes, not unlike more modern arrange- ments. The judge is seated aloft on his throne, looking at the virgin intensely and fiercely. There are the magistrate's attendants, and numerous sol- diers, and men with their writing tablets for their notes, and styles in their hands; one of whom has raised his hand from the wax and looks ear- nestly at the virgin who is being questioned, with his whole countenance bent towards her as though bidding her to speak louder. The virgin stands there in a dark robe, indicating her wisdom by her dress, and is of a beautiful countenance as the painter has fancied her, but, in my judgement, 4 50 beautified in mind by her virtues. TAVO soldiers force her towards the president, one dragging her forward, and the other urging her from behind. One of the soldiers has seized the virgin's head and bent it back; and presents her face to the other soldier in a favourable posture for punish- ment, and he standing by her has dashed out her teeth. The instruments of punishment are seen to be a mallet and auger. At this I burst into tears, and my feelings intercept my words. For the painter has so plainly depicted the drops of blood that you would say they were really fiow- ing from her lips, and you would go your way sorrowing. This picture seems, like several in S. Clement's, to have contained three subjects in one. The Saint then describes the trial and torture, the virgin martyr in prison, and lastly her passion. A little farther on the painter has lit up, in another compartment, a blazing fire, and placed her in the midst of it with her hands stretched out to heaven; her countenance bears on it no sign of sadness, but, on the contrary, is lit up with joy that she is departing to a blessed and incorpo- real life. It may be doubted whether the noti- ces of our imperial or royal academies supply more critical description, and whether the religious piec- es of modern painters present more able arrange- 51 ment and matter for thought. We derive this con- solation, at least, from what we can no longer see and admire, this point of comparison from the early churches of Asia and Home, that upon the largest scale, and with all the available resources of art the memories of the sainted dead were perpetuated for public reverence. The peace of the Church brought with it the fruits of peace, public joy, and hope, and regard for those who fought the good fight. That puritanical iconoclastic mania, which, like eve- ry dereliction from truth, dries up the heart and impoverishes the understanding, never had any place in the bosom of the Catholic Church. When the iconoclastic emperor Leo, in 813, threatened the bishops in his palace, the bishop of Sardes replied ' For these eight hundred years past since the com- ing of Christ there have always been pictures of Him, and He has been honoured in them. Who shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition? It is not without reason that the Christian affec- tion for Mar- Acts tell us, when the great persecution at Jerusa- ElstS'n downwards, il- lem dispersed all, except the Apostles, that devout i^'p^J^ men took care of Stephen and made great mourn- ing over him. The same affection for the saints distinguished the noble Roman matrons in the first three centuries. The very same urged S. Cyril to bring S. Clement's relics to Rome, and Methodius 52 to desire that his brother ^should repose beside them. The very same sent no less a Pope than Gregory the Great to preach in S. Clement's over the corpse of the poor cripple Servulus, who used to lie in its porch. The same affection had carried thither also what remained of the bones of S. Ignatius ground by the teeth of lions in the Coliseum to become the pure bread of Christ. The same laid under the high altar the body of the martyr-consul Clement. The same depicted on the walls the crucifixion of S. Peter, the death of S. Alexius, and the tomb of S. Clement. And what men learned to love and praise, what elo- quence extolled and piety revered, the spirit of mar- tyrdom, the actions of the martyrs and their re- mains, were felt to be no disgrace to the hand of the artist, and no unseemly memorial in the house of God. If it had not been for the malice and ignorance of the enemies of the Church, we should never have heard of anything so absurd as that Christians should not paint the exploits of the heroes of Christ. Saint Ephrem gives the common sense practice of the fourth century in his letter to John the Monk. But those who are yet weakminded need some examples to excite them to imitate and cultivate the same virtue. Take this example. Those who accord- ing to the world show themseleves strenuous in 53 war make images describing the history of the war on walls and in pictures ; ay how these strike with arrows, others inflict wounds, some fly, others make incursions, others using their swords beat their adversaries down like ears of corn. And this they do for the emulation of posterity, and commemo- ration of those who bore themselves bravely in war against opposing enemies. But others paint in domestic oratories the contest of the saints for the imitation of cowardly hearts, and delight of the spectators. LIFE OF S. CLEMENT POPE AND MARTYR. CHAPTER I. S. Peter in Rome His preaching 1 in that city Lineage of S.Clement His birth-place His conversion by S.Peter. 1 HE providence of the universal Ruler, says Eusebius, led, as it were, by the hand to Rome, that most powerful and great one of the Apostles, and, on account of his virtue, the mouthpiece or leader of all the rest, Peter, against that pest of the human race (Simon Magus). He, like a noble commander of God, fortified with divine armour, brought the precious merchandise of the revealed light from the East to the dwellers in the West, announcing the light itself, and the salutary doc- trine of the soul, the proclamation of the king- dom of God. ' In Rome itself the home of Pagan superstition, and mistress of error, ( for she 1 H. E. B. H, c. 14, p. 63-4. 56 welcomed to her hearths and temples the gods and creeds" of every race ) and central seat of military power, the Prince of the Apostles determined to fix his See. l In that great metropolis of the world he decided on founding the fortress of faith, to attack Satan in the stronghold of his tyranny, to light up the dark valley of the shadow of death, and, thence by diffusing the gospel, facilitate the conquest of the rest of the world to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Rome was to the Gentiles what it has been to the Catholic world, no insulated or merely national ca- pital city, but the focus of thought, of civilization, and the most authoritative power. With no theories 1 In the whole range of ecclesiastical history there is not a statement better authenticated, or more satisfactorily proved than S.Peter's visit to Rome, his preaching there, his founding the Roman Church, and his mar- tyrdom in that city. Nevertheless such critics as Marsilius of Padua, John of Janduno, Oldaricus Velenus, Bower, and a few others have denied or thrown doubt upon his having been ever there at all : and a modern philo- logist, Dressel, has carried his prejudices so far as to confound the death of Peter the Apostle with that of Peter the martyr, bishop of Alexandria. But the evidence of writers, Protestant as well as Catholic, is against them. Among the former, Cave, Hammond, Pearson, Grotius, Joseph Scaliger, Blondel, Young, Buddeus, Le Clerc, Kipping, Basnage, Newton , Leibnitz, etc. Among the latter, S. Clement. S. Ignatius, Papias, Cajus, Origen, S. Ire- naeus, Eusebius, S.Leo, S. Jerome, S.Augustine, the Author of the Carmen against Marcion, S. Hippolytus martyr, S. Epiphanius, S.John Chrysostom, S. Gregory the Great, Anastasius the Librarian, S. Thomas Aquinas, S.Bo- naventure, Baronius, Orsi , etc. etc. And yet, within the last year, a few apostate Friars, calling themselves evangelicals, had the effrontery to deny a fact so well attested, and provoke a public discussion on the subject, in the very City of Rome, the result of which has proved how ignorant of church history are those soi-disant evangelicals. See also La Venuta di S. Pietro in Romany D. Cataldo Caprara, Rome, 1872. 57 to suit the imperial mind, with no schemes drawn from family ambition and masked by an hypocritical life, S. Peter, directed by the spirit of God, left An- tioch, and, single-handed, entered the Babylon of human power to preach Christ crucified to its licen- tious, proud, and fanatically idol-worshipping inha- bitants. From the Jewish quarter to that inhabited by the Gentiles the mystery of the Cross spread through the city. 1 The burning zeal and inspired eloquence of the Galilean fisherman were so irresis- tibly impressive that all regarded him as a man mighty in w r ord and work. He was only fulfilling the promise of his Lord : I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist and contradict. 2 Much as has been written about the conversion of Rome a great deal more requires to be added to 1 The learned Dominican Ciaconius, author of the lives of the Popes, says in his biography of S. Peter that he sojourned for some time among the Jews, who, as Philo aud Martial narrate, lived in the Trastevere, be- fore he began to preach to the Gentiles : but, when the fame of his preach- ing became known, Pudens, believing in Christ, received and treated him hospitably in his own palace. For breast-plate take faith, like a grain of mustard believing in the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity. For the mustard seed is altogether round, having no cleft, no angle ; but is entirely round and has a remarkable heat. Relying on that Peter the prince of the apo- stolic order when he had confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and obtained the power of things heavenly and terrestrial. S. Ephrem de panoplia ad Monachos. 5 Luke XXI. 15. it. We read indeed in the Acts of the martyrs how the rich and noble were victims of their faith : most touching the simple innocence with which youthful and delicate virgins, whose names and memories are yet household words among their fellow citizens, gave up all that the world prizes: most admirable the courage (is it for ever gone!) with which illustrious men and noble matrons devoted life and fortune to the assertion of truth, and the burial of the martyred dead. But the rapidity with which the leaven hid in the three bushels of meal, the secret strength of the gospel in the three centuries Christianity groaned under imperial infidels, leavened the whole mass of their autocracy and prepared the civilized world for the freedom and sovereignty of the Church in Rome, the jealousy of their political power which animated the emperors of those days and whetted the rancour of their prefects, and the divine power by which tender souls were changed at once and strengthened to bear the worst persecutions of the state, can only be understood from an intimate acquaintance with the genealogy and connexions of the Patrician fa- milies. Men cry out. says Tertullian A. r. 195-218, that the state is beset, that the Chris- tians are in their fields, in their forte, in their islands: they mourn as for a loss that every sex, age, condition, and now even rank, is going over 5 ( J to this sect. We cannot open the Acts of the early martyrs without perceiving that their rank and estates were aimed at as in much more modern religious proscriptions. Crowds then from every quarter rushed to listen to S. Peter. If miracles also bespoke the presence of an Apostle, we must not forget that the sudden conversion of multitudes upon hearing of his words was one of the greatest. The infidels who try to account for the reception of Christianity by natural causes alone, and believers who ascribe it to the miracles of healing which strike the sense of sight, seem to have overlooked that grace given to speech, which penetrates and makes the soul captive to faith, without striking eloquence, without learned disquisition, without merely human motives and pas- sion, with a simplicity apparently inadequate to its marvellous effects a phenomenon in the lives of many of the saints. Among those who had ears to hear was the noble youth Clement. Zazera thinks that he belonged to the Octavian family. 2 To the Claudian as Hesychius Salonitanus asserts. 3 To the Senatorial and Caesarean family, as Ciaconius, Si- 1 Apol. n. 1, p. 2. 2 See notes of Oldoinus in Vita S. dementis. 3 Paternura illi genus ex antiquissiina Claudiae gentis Neronum fa- rnilia. 60 anda, Burius, Boscus, Audisius and many others maintain on the authority of the celebrated letter of S.Eucherius bishop of Lyons to his kinsman Va- lerian A. D. 427. 1 Also the Recognitions (falsely attributed to S. Clement) published in Greek in the beginning of the second century and translated into Latin by Rufinus priest of Aquileia towards the end of the fourth, represent Clement as related to the Caesars. -< Peter says, no one in truth is superior to thee in race. I replied there are indeed many powerful men come of Caesar's stock (prosapia). For to my father, as to his relation and brought up with him, he gave a wife of an equally noble family by whom he had twin sons before my- 1 Ciaconius, Yitae et res gestae Pontificum Romarorum, in vita S. Clementis. Sianda, Breviav. Hist. Burius, Rom.Pont. Brevisnot. pag. 7. Bosco, Vita dei Somnri Pontefici, in S. Clemente. Audisius, Storia dei Papi, in S. Clemente. Genealogical tree o, As given in De Rossi 's Bulkttino a TITVS FI TITVS FLAVTV u.ror VESPASI TITVS FLAVIVS SABIXVS uxor (Plautia. . . . ?) fFlavius. . . ?\ (t PLAVTILLA) t TITVS FLAVIVS CLEMENS TITVS FLAVITJ V. u.ror ... ) coirjux .... ii.vor t FLAVIA DOMITILLA SABINVS i/.iw IVLIA AV| f i V Y (t Clemens pp. ?) t FL. DOMITILLA VESPASIANVS IVN. DOMITIANVS IVN. 61 self. * In this no doubt tradition was followed. De Rossi remarks that if we were to read in the lives of the saints that Christianity, almost at the death of S. Peter and S. Paul, was so nigh to the imperial throne that the cousin and niece of Domitian were not only Christians, but suffered exile and death for the faith, the incredulous would laugh, and yet he proves it from profane authors alone. He distinguishes Mar- cus Arecinus Clemens twice consul, first A. D. 73, and next under Domitian who had him put to death, from the martyr consul Titus Flavius Clemens son of Vespasian's eldest brother Titus Flavius Sabinus many years prefect of Rome; and he conjectures that pope Clement was the child of an elder son of Sabinus and consequently nephew to the martyr. 2 Others, from a phrase in S.Clement's epistle to the 1 Recofm. lib. VII. Flavian family. cheol. Crist. Eonia Marzo 1865 ITRO SRTVLLA BINYS ILLA TITVS FLAV1VS YESPASIANYS AYG. FLAYIA (Polla vel Petronilla) u.ror FLAYIA DOMIl'ILLA AYG. 1 .. , TYS FLAVIYS YESP. AYG. TITYS FLAYIYS DOMITIANYS AYG. FLAYIA DOMITILLA ores ABBECINA TERTYLLA M.W DOMITIA LOXG1XA AYG. conjux MAKCIA FYRXILLA | 1 IYL1A AYG. ...... t FLAYIA DOMITILLA U.TOT T. Fl Sabini cmjux T.Fl dementis Corinthians, set aside unvarying tradition, and will have him to be a Jew. The arguments adduced by Tillemont, Ceillier, Baillet, Gallicciolli, and others to make him out a Jew or a Greek are so feeble as to excite surprise. They say he calls Jacob our father l and therefore he must have been "a Jew. But these critics should have reflected that when Abraham was constituted a father of many na- tions, 2 all those who were converted to the faith had a right to call Abraham and Isaac their fathers, and to consider themselves fellow-citizens with Ju- dith, the Machabees, and other confessors of the old law. Nor because the priest is of the order of Melchisedech, who was not a Jew, is he therefore according to the flesh of the stock of that royal priest. The alliance between God and Abraham was spiritual : Know ye therefore, says S. Paul, that they who are of the faith the same are the children of Abraham. 3 "With the same acumen by which Tillemont makes him a Jew, Hefele main- tains that he was a Greek and Philippian, because he assisted S. Paul in his evangelical labours among that people. If he travelled with that Apostle in Greece, S. Luke of Antioch did the same, and was 1 Through envy our father Jacob fled from the face of Esau his brother. 2 Gen. XVII. 4. 5 Gal. III. 7. 63 martyred in Achaia. The faith could not be pent up within the narrow limits of Judea, and inde- pendently of the facilities for travelling in the more settled parts of the empire, many Scripture perso- nages fled from the persecutions of the Jews to Rome and Gaul without having been born there. We believe that S.Clement was a Roman, and a noble Roman citizen. Passing from the question of S. Clement's coun- try to that of his parentage, we find it generally ad- mitted that his father's name was Faustinus, or Faustinianus, or Faustus, l and his mother's Mati- dia, or Macidiana, of the most noble family of the Anicii : 2 and that he was born on the first of July, in the consulship of Sextus .Elius, and Cajus Sentius Saturninus, the very day on which Tiberius was a- dopted by Augustus. 3 We read that he had two bro- thers Faustinus and Faustus. S. Zosimus, one of the most illustrious occupants of the pontifical throne, informs us that the noble youth Clement was so affected by the words which fell from the lips of S.Peter that, without any deliberation, he submitted to the sweet yoke of the gospel, and was regene- 1 See Rondinini, de S. Clemeate ejusque Basilica, lib. 1, cap. 1, 4. 2 Maternuin illi genus e gente Anicia. H^sych. Salonitanus. 3 Clemens natus Romae Kalendis Julii, ipso die quo Tiberium Au- gustus adoptavit, Sexto Aelio et Sentio Satnrnino Cos?. 4 Epist. ad Aurelium et episcopos Africaco.s. 64 rated in the waters of baptism. Considering his noble ancestry and accomplished education, a man re- plete with all knowledge and most skilful in the liberal arts, l we are not surprised that he was very dear to S. Peter, and also to S. Paul who calls him one of his fellow-labourers in the mystic vineyard of the Lord, whose names are in the book of life. 2 Eusebius, Origen, S. Jerome, S. Epiphanius, Rufinus, and many other ancient and modern historians do not hesitate to affirm that the Clement mentioned here by the Apostle was the suc- cessor of S. Peter in the apostolic chair : 3 and also the Church, as Martini, the learned archbishop of Florence, observes, seems to favour this opinion by ordering a part of that epistle to be read at the al- tar on the festival of S. Clement. 4 Therefore, con- cludes Rondinini, 5 little or no attention ought to be paid to Oldoinus and a few others who endeavour to controvert and contradict it. But although we willingly adhere to the opinions of the abovenamed holy Fathers and celebrated wri- 1 Oinni scientia refertus, omuiumque liberaliuni artiutn peritis- simus. S. Hieron. Comment, ep. ad Philip. IV, 3. 2 S. Paul to the Philippians, IV, 3. 3 See Calmet's Commentaries on S. Paul to the Philippians, IV, 3. Also Cave, Baillet, Ladvocat, Cesarottij Rohrbacher's universal history, vol. IV, book 20. Audisius, etc. etc. 4 See notes by Martini on S. Paul to the Philippians. 5 Rondinini, de S. Clemente, lib. 1, cap. 1, . 4. 65 ters, who make S.Clement the companion and fel- low-labourer of S. Paul in his apostolic missions, we cannot admit that he was a Canon Regular or a Carmelite, or that he was the first bishop of Velle- tri, or of Gagliari in Sardinia, or of Sardis in Lydia. As for the abovementioned religious Orders which are anxious to add this rare and precious gem to their treasures, it is certain that they have not au- thentic titles for doing so, and that the former, as Rondinini observes, has attempted it inani prorsus conatu, and the latter levi pariter traditione. l With regard to those who assert that S. Clement was the first bishop of Velletri the capital of the Volsci, Oldoinus, quoted by Rondinini, says : Those writers who enumerate S. Clement among the bish- ops of Velletri must have been deceived either by a similitude of name, or by a love of country, for I cannot, as w r ell as I recollect, find that state- ment affirmed by any ancient historian. 2 And to this similitude of name may also be ascribed the mistake of those who, with Phara in the first book of his history of Sardinia, assert that S. Clement was sent by the Apostles, a short time before he was elevated to the Popedom, to govern the church of 1 Oldoinui' annotations on Ciaconius, and his book on the Clements. 2 Roudinini, de S. Cleinente, lib. 1. cap. 1, 18. 5 66 Cagliari. Or perhaps the mistake arose from the passage which Godfrey Henschenius quotes from Car- dinal Sirletti, Clemens qui ex gentibtts conversus fad us est Episcopus Sardomm, ard of which he says in his Acts of Apelles, Lucius, and Clement, here men- tion is made of the Sardi the inhabitants of Sardis the metropolis of Lydia under Croesus, according to the Poet: Quid Croesi regia Sardis. l And the same learned critic in his remarks on these words which he quotes from another very ancient calen- dar, Clemens primus ex gentibus credens episcopus Sar- dicae, says that some writers have erroneously asserted that Clement here mentioned was after- wards raised to the pontifical chair. 2 But we have dwelt long enough on this subject, and our limits do not permit us to proceed with the investigation of assertions which require much stronger evi- dence before the inference drawn from them can be applied to the subject of our inquiries. For the same reason we omit the extracts given by Ughelli, in the sixth book of his Italia Sacra, from a Greek menology of the tenth century pre- served in the Vatican library, in which he con- 1 Horace, book, 1 , ep. 11. 2 One of the writers here alluded to is evidently Raphael of Volterra who in the 19th book of his Commentaries says Clemens Praesul Sardi- censis, postea Pontifex, primus ex gentibus Christianus. - 67 founds the person and martyrdom of Clement of Ancyra with the person and martyrdom of Cle- ment of Rome. CHAPTER II. S. Clement consecrated bishop by S. Peter, and appointed his coadjutor in the apostolic ministry Chronological order of succession of the three first Popes who governed the Church after Peter Opinions of ancient writers on this subject Opinions of modern writers The Ebionite and Marcotian heresies condemned by S. Clement. We now come to facts connected with the life of our Saint, which can be more satisfactorily proved, and are more interesting to the reader. Ciacdnius, on the authority of the epistle of the martyr Igna- tius to the Trallians, tells us that S. Clement was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards on account of his rare merits ordained deacon for the purpose of assisting him in his sacred ministrations. l He made great and rapid progress in the path of virtue, and converted many souls to Christ by the persuasive 1 A Beato Petro baptizatus Clemens, et diaconus sibi assistens ut Ignatius tradit... ordinatus. Ciaconius in Vita S. dementis. De Rossi asserts that out of the seven Roman deacons each Pope chose an archdeacon whose office was very much such as that of the cardinal Vi- car now. 63 powers of his preaching, and the silent eloquence of his example. The Prince of the Apostles observ- ing the excellent qualities of his deacon Clement, ordained him priest, and shortly after raised him to the dignity of the episcopacy and made him his own coadjutor in the apostolic ministry. So ear- nestly and zealously did Clement labour in his vo- cation that Rufinus calls him an apostolic man, nay almost an Apostle. l Clement Alexandrinus styles him an Apostle, 2 a distinction accorded to him by all antiquity, as Isaac Vossius, Godfrey Vendolinus, and many other renowned writers most satisfacto- rily prove. 3 It has not escaped our attention that some histo- rians assert that Clement preached the gospel to the inhabitants of Metz, and afterwards became the first bishop of that city, then one of the most impor- tant and populous in France. Even Audisius, fre- quently quoted by us, refers in his life of our Saint to the origin of this tradition, and says that Cle- ment preached the gospel in France is evident from the acts of Metz, which formed the subject of a work by Paul the deacon a distinguished writer of the middle ages. * Oldoinus also adverts to 1 Ruftnm, de adulteratkme librorum Ori^ini?. 2 Clemens Alaxandriaus Stromat. lib. IV. 3 V ,ssius, Judiciutu de Bar.mba. 69 this in his commentary on the 14 th of October of the Gallican Martyrology. But he says that the Clement here mentioned is not our Saint, but his uncle of the same name and the companion of the Prince of the Apostles during his travels. * Writers of the most remote antiquity are loud in their praise of our holy Pontiff, in whatever sphere of action they regard him. But of all the virtuous qualities with which he was adorned we may say : vdut inter ignes Luna minorcs, 2 that virginal purity shone the brightest. If the book of Recognitions be styled apocryphal , that only means that the name of its compiler is uncertain, and that those who ascribe it to Clement do so without suffi- cient proof. It is however generally admitted that it is a production of the second century, 3 when there still were living eye and ear witnesses of the words and writings of our venerable Pontiff. In the first page of that work we read : I Clement born in the city of Rome, from my earliest age cultivated chas- tity, whilst the natural inclination of mind kept 1 Tres invenio Clenientes Apostolorum temporibus apud probatae fidei auctores. Tertius luijua Roman! Pontificis patruus ab ipsomet Apostolo- rum Principe, cujus fuerat in itineribus comes, Metensis episcopus ordi- r.atus. et ad Gallos missus . 2 Horace, lib. 1, Od. 11. 3 Eo?dem libros saeculo secuudo in lucem prodiisre ferunt. Rondiniiii, de S. Clemente lib. 1, cap. 11, 6. Oiigei also mentions them. 70 me bound as it were with certain chains of anxiety and grief. ] Words which are almost literally repeated in the Clementine homilies. Be it known to you, my Lord, that I Clement who am a Roman citizen and have wished to pass the first age of life with modesty and moderation, when I had taken to heart a thought which had crept in upon me I know not whence, and begat for me frequent musings upon death, I was living with labour and anxiety. 2 And in that part of the letter to the Philadelphians attributed to S. Ignatius martyr, but interpolated by some very early unknown hand, in which mention is made of those who were extolled for having preserved intact the flower of their vir- ginity, we read: Would that I might enjoy your sanctity, like that of Elias, of Josue* of Melchise- dec, of Elisaeus, of Jeremias, of John the Baptist, of the beloved disciple, of Timothy, of Titus, of Evodius, of Clement who went out of life chaste. ^ 1 Ego Clemens in Urbe Roma uatus ex priina aetate pudicitiae stu- dium gessi, dum me aninii intentio velut viaculis quibusdam solicitudinis et moeroris innexum teneret. 2 Xotum sit tibi, Domine mi, quod ego Clemens, qui Civis Rornanus sum, et primam vitae aetatem pudice ac moderate transigere volui, quum animo percepissem cogitationem, quae nescio unde irrepserat, crebrasque mihi de morte meditationes pariebat, cum laboribus et anxietatibus vi- vebam. Utinam fruar vestra sanctimonia ut Eliae, ut Josue filii Nave, ut Melchisedeci, ut Elisaei, ut Hieremiae, ut Baptistae Joannis, ut Dilecti Di- scipuli, ut Timothei. ut Titi, ut Evodii, ut Cleme:itis, qui in castitate e vit.i excesserunt*. 71 And since , as Adelmus , a writer of the middle ages, remarks: S. Clement, even before his conver- sion, led a pure and chaste life, how much more, and to what a greater extent, must those virtues have become the cherished objects of his life after he was regenerated with the waters of bap- tism, and began to practice evangelical perfection. by imitating the example set him by the Apostles, and recommended by our Divine Saviour himself. l This seems a proper place to ask, - who was the immediate successor of S. Peter ? which has occu- pied the attention of some of the most eminent ec- clesiastical historians. Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement: such is the order of the succession of the Popes, as asserted by the tradition and offices of the Church. Linus of Yolterra, Cletus and Clement of Rome, and all three consecrated bishops by Peter. It is said that Clement was instituted by Peter to be his im- mediate successor. 2 If we could admit that S. Peter had no inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that so vital a matter as the form of the succession of the Vicars of Christ was left to chance, that the Papacy instead of becoming an elective (and elective with the special assistance of the Holy Ghost) was on the point of being a delegated power, we might admit 1 See Adelmus. - See Clement's letter to S. James bishop of Jerusalem. - 72 that S.Peter did ordain Clement to be the second Pope; and that his prudence and modesty declined the honour, upon the death of his patron, until after the martyrdom of the two other bishops. We be- lieve, however, that S. Peter did no such thing. If he expressed a hope, a preference, a conviction of his disciple's future elevation to the Pontificate, that has not been a rare foresight or inspiration. If he ordained him bishop, many Popes have done the like. But what is perplexing is that scarcely two authors agree about the precise chronological order of the four first Popes. There are many Sees which can trace their bishops with more or less precision from the first induction by an Apostle. At Smyrna, for instance, S. Polycarp ordained by S. John. S. Igna- tius of Antioch, who succeeded Peter there after the death of Evodius, was a disciple of S. John. S. Ire- naeus of Lyons says of Polycarp: that he not only had been instructed by Apostles, and had con- versed with many who had seen the Lord, but was also appointed by the Apostles bishop of Smyrna in Asia; that he had seen him, 1 and that he 1 I can tell you the very place where the bishop Polvearp sat a^ he discoursed: and his going's out and his comings in, and the character f his life and his boclily appearance, and the discourses which he addressed to the multitude, and lio.v he narrated his daily intercourse with JJm and with others who had seen the Lord : and how he commemorated their discourses, and what were the things which he had heard from - 73 came to Rome under Pope Anicetus. The visit would have been about a hundred years after the martyrdom of S. Peter. S. Irenaeus was made bishop a very few years later, viz, A. D. 177. He was a man remarkably zealous for apostolical tradition, active in the affairs of the Church at Lyons, to which Rome and Roman information were easily accessi- ble, very near to the facts themselves ; one would suppose that of all men he should know the list of the Popes. The blessed Apostles, says he, hav- ing founded and built up that Church, conferred * the public office of the episcopacy upon Linus, of whom Paul makes mention in his epistle to Ti- mothy. To whom succeeded Anacletus, and after him the third from the Apostles who obtained that episcopacy was Clement, who had seen and con- fer red with the blessed Apostles, and who still had before his eyes the familiar teaching and tradi- tion of the Apostles ; and not he only, for many were then still alive who had been instructed by the Apostles. But to this Clement succeeded Eva- ristus, and to Evaristus Alexander. Next to him, them concerning 1 tlie Lord, and concerning 1 his miracles and his doctrine ; how Polycarp having 1 received them from those who had s^en the Word of Life narrated the whole in consonance with the Scriptures. These things did I, at that time, hearken to eagerly, through the mercy of God then shown me, making remembrance of them, not on paper, but in my breast, and by the grace of God I ever revolve them in my mind. 74 thus the sixth from the Apostles, Sixtus was ap- pointed, and after him Telesphoms who suffered a glorious martyrdom; next Hyginus, then Pius, after whom was Anicetus, To Anicetus succeeded Soter, and to him, the twelfth in succession from the Apostles, succeeded Eleutherius who now holds the episcopate. By this same order and succession both that tradition which is in the Church from the Apostles, and the preaching of the truth have come down to us. The singularity is that Cletus is suppressed altogether, and Anacletus, whom the breviary places after Clement, comes next after Li- nus. Tertullian, who was of the same age as Ire- naeus, seems to introduce another confusion and to insinuate, though he does not expressly say, that Cle- ment was next to Peter. Let them make known the origin of their churches, let them unroll the line of their bishops, so coming down by succes- sion from the beginning that their first bishop had for his author and predecessor some of the Apostles, or of apostolic men,, so he were one that conti- nued steadfast with the Apostles. For in this man- ner do the apostolic churches bring down their rolls; as the church of the Smyrnians recounts that Polycarp was placed there by John, as that of the Romans does that Clement was in like inan- ner ordained by Peter, just as also the rest show those whom being appointed by the Apostles to the episcopate they have as transmitters of apo- stolic seed. Another source of confusion (and worse, because it palms off an account of Clement's appointment to succeed S. Peter as if given by Cle- ment himself) occurs directly after the time of Ire- naeus and Tertullian in the pretended epistle of Saint Clement to S. James. The very language is sufficient to convict it of forgery. It is contained in the Cle- mentines, which, according to Gallandius, were writ- ten A. D. 230, whereas Irenaeus died A. D. 202, and Tertullian twenty years after him. The Clementine Recognitions again were written in the second cen- tury, and the Apostolic Constitutions may be set down as of the middle of the third century. Euse- bius, who w r as mads bishop of Caesarea, in 314, says: Linus was the first after Peter to obtain the epis- copate of Rome but in the progress of this work, in its proper place according to the order of time, the succession from the Apostles to us will be no- ticed. And accordingly in book III, c. XI, he says : Anacletus after having occupied the See of Rome for twelve years consigned it to S. Cle- ment. l 1 In Urba vero Roma duodeckn Anacletus annis in episcopatu exac- lis, Sacerdotii celern dementi tradidit. Butler says in his life of Cle- tus. April 26. that Eusebius a Greek easily made mistakes in similar 76 So far the oldest authorities, giving the order of succession of the Popes professedly, set S. Cle- ment in the third place after S. Peter. S. Irenaeus' work has come down to us in a very fragmentary state: whether a copyist conceived Cletus and Ana- cletus to be one and the same person, and so wrote Anacletus instead of Cletus , or Anacletus , by an error of transcription, was left out after Clement, we are unable to determine. As far as the place occupied by S. Clement in the series is concerned, S. Irenaeus supports tradition and the breviary. With regard to Tertullian the difficulty is less; be- cause he was not treating of the collocation of the Popes, but of the apostolicity of churches. He was saying w T hat S. Clement himself says in his first epistle to the Corinthians , preaching through countries and cities, they appointed their first fruits, having proved them by the spirit, bishops and deacons of those who were about to believe. Or as the Presbyter of Africa who lived in the middle of the fifth century says more in detail : For Latin names, and confounded Cletus with Anacletus, Xovntin with Xo- vatian, Pope Marcellus with Marcelliuu.3. But the Latins who had au- thentic records by them, especially the author of the first part of the Li- berian Calendar, whic'a appears in most particulars to be copied from the registers of the Roman Church, could not be mistaken : which authori- ties make it appear that Cletus sat the third and Anacletus the fifth bishop of Rome. it is iniquity to rend unity, tearing, as it were, the garment of Christ, and the nets, as it were, of the fishermen the Apostles : from whose fel- lowship all heretics are strangers; who, having abandoned the peace of communion and of the one bread of God and the Apostles, preach in their not churches but squares ; and do not com- municate in their memories, or, in places de- dicated to their memories: separated from the whole, assume for themselves the name of catho- lie. Whereas in Jerusalem, James, and Stephen the first martyr; at Ephesus, John; Andrew and others, in various parts of Asia; in the city of Rome, the Apostles Peter and Paul, delivering to their posterity the church of the Gentiles (in which they taught the doctrine of Christ our Lord), at peace, and one hallowed it with their blood. l For Tertullian's argument was, that on points of doctrine only apostolic churches de- serve to be heard. On this principle therefore we shape our rule of prescription, that if the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles to preach, no others are to be received as preachers but those whom 1 Iniquitas est scindere unitatem relicta pace communionis, et panis unius Dei et Apostolorum, in suis noa ecclesiis, sad plateis praedi- cant, et eoruui memoriis noa coaiaiunicaat, separati a toto Catkolicum sibi noaien adsciscunt pacataui unamque suis posteris tradentes. 78 * Christ appointed; 'for no man kno\veth the Fa- ther save the Son and he to whom the Son hath * revealed Him. ' * Neither does the Son seem to > have revealed Him to any other than to the Apos- * ties, whom he sent to preach, to wit, that which he revealed unto them. Now what they did preach, that is what Christ revealed unto them, > I will here also rule, must be proved in no other * way than by those same churches which the * Apostles themselves founded, by preaching to them as well viva voce, as men say, as afterwards by epistles. Again he says : But if any here- sies dare to place themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, (that they may therefore seem to have been handed down from the Apostles because they existed under the Apostles) we may say : Let them make known the origin of their churches, let them unroll the line of their bishops etc. 2 It is simply by implication, caused by his mention- ing the notorious fact that Polycarp ordained by John was the first bishop of Smyrna, and that in like manner Clement was ordained by S. Peter, that Tertullian appears to place Clement next to Peter, whereas dealing not with the regular order of succession, but with the ordination, it would have 1 Mathew, XI. 2 Tertullian, de Praescript. advers. haeret. Xo. 21, 32. - 79 served equally to say that Linus or Cletus was so ordained: but the argument is carried incidentally over a longer space of time by mentioning the or- dination of Clement who was the most distinguished of the three. And that such was the scope, and not the order of succession of the Popes, appears from what he says afterwards. Come now, thou that wilt exercise thy curiosity to better purpose in the business of thy salvation , run over the apostolic churches in which the very chairs of the Apostles to this very day preside over their own places, in which their own authentic writings are read echoing the voice and making the face of each present. Is Achaja near to thee, thou hast Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia, thou hast Philippi, thou hast the Thessalonians. If thou canst travel into Asia, thou hast Ephesus. But if thou art near Italy, thou hast Rome, whence we also have an authority at hand. That church, how happy ! on which the Apostles poured out all their doctrine and their blood; where Peter had a like passion with the Lord ; where Paul was crowned with an end like the Baptist's ; where the Apostle John was plunged into boiling oil and suffered no- thing, and was afterwards banished to an island; let us see what she hath learned, what she hath taught, what fellowship she hath had with the 80 African churches likewise. In short Tertullian was speaking of the uninterrupted episcopal succes- sion in all the apostolic churches, l and not of the primacy or the succession of Popes. He was not saying that Linus did not succeed S.Peter, but that the succession in Clement was unbroken. The apocryphal Clementine writings were sure to create fresh difficulties. Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine must first have felt their influence. A. D. 384 , died Optatus, bishop of Milevis in Nu- midia, who agrees with Irenaeus and Eusebius in making Linus the first; but where Irenaeus has set Anacletus he puts Clement. Peter therefore first filled that individual chair which is the first of the gifts of the Church ; to him succeeded Linus, to Linus Clement, to Clement Anacletus. Here Cle- tus again is doomed to disappear from the roll of the early Popes. A. D. 403, S. Epiphanius bishop of Salamis died in the island of Cyprus. He, like Ire- naeus, places Clement in the third place. In Rom 3 Peter and Paul were the first both Apostles and bishops; then came Linus, then Cletus, then Cle- ment the contemporary of Peter and Paul, of whom Paul makes mention in his epistle to the 1 Clear it is that uo one has founded churches throughout the whole > of Italy, the Gauls, Spain, Africa and Sicily, and the interjacent islands, > except those whom the venerable Apostle Peter or his successors appoint- > ed priests. Pope S. Innoceut I, epist. 2o ad Deeentium, A. D. 416. 81 Philippians. And let no one wonder that, though lie was the contemporary of Peter and Paul, for he lived at the same time with them, others re- ceived that epicopate from the Apostles. Whether it was that while the Apostles were still living he received the imposition of hands of the episcopate from Peter, and having declined that office he re- mained unemployed or whether after the death of the Apostles he was appointed bishop by Cletus, we do not clearly know However the succes- sion of the bishops of Rome was in the following order : Peter and Paul, and Cletus, Clement, Eva- s' ristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus. Pius, Anicetus. Here two points are to be no- ticed, that treating expressly, like Irenaeus, of the order of S.Peter's successors, he gives Clement the third place as Irenaeus did. He leaves out Anacle- tus, and refers cursorily to Clement's episcopal con- secration by S. Peter, but without any nomination as successor. Through the mistake of a transcriber Linus has been left out in the order of the succes- sion, although Epiphanius had named him before as next to the Apostles. The next author, Rufinus, priest of Aquilaeia, died in Sicily about A. D. 410. He published and relied upon the Clementines in extenso. S. Augustine died A. D. 430. To prove that no Donatist bishop ap- 6 82 pears in the Roman succession he begins it: To Peter succeeded Linus, to Linus Clement. Here again Cletus disappears. It is worth noticing that both African bishops Optatus and Augustine agree with Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Epiphanius in mak- ing Linus the immediate successor of S.Peter; and it is a fair inference that either they did not take their countryman Tertullian to mean that Clement was that successor, or that they rejected his opinion. So far we have given almost all the ancient autho- rities we know of. But as we are more concerned to fix some placa in the series of Popes for Clement, than to distinguish between Cletus and Anacletus, and as S. Irenaeus and S. Epiphanius were both writing upon the actual Roman succession, and their Sees were nearer to Rome, we prefer their argument which makes S.Clement the third in succession from S. Peter. Peter, Linus, Cletus (or Anacletus), 1 Cle- 1 There exists an historical doubt, which has been fruitful of contro- versy, whether Cletus is different from Auacletus, or not, Critics are di- vided on the question ; but the learned researches of Papenbrock, Laz- zari and other Bollandists, seem to have settled the question by adopting the identity of the two names in the person of the same Pontiff. Accord- ing to their opinion, Cletus, elected the successor of Linus A. D. 78, WAS included in an order of exile against the Christians, enacted, under Vespa- sian, by the governor of Rome. During the reign of Titus, Cletus, return- ing to his See, took the name of Anacletus, or iteiiun Cletus, Cletus again : and thus is reconciled the authority of the ancie:it Fathers and Calendar?, who name this Pope sometimes Cletus, sometimes Anacletus, and scuia- times, as by Eusebiug, Auencleti.?. 83 inent. The same opinion is adopted by S. Jerome. * We shall now say something of modern authors, and their dealings with Linus and Cletus as sitting before Clement. If the Apostolic Constitutions, and Clement's letter to S. James of Jerusalem were not apocryphal, those who give the second place after Peter to Clement would have more weight ; but the older authority of S. Irenaeus would still be against them, and the two oldest authorities after those apo- cryphal writings, viz: Eusebius and Optatus, whilst they agree with the Apostolic Constitutions and Ire- naeus by giving Linus the first place, flatly con- tradict the letter to S. James, which pretends that Peter gave the keys to Clement. The Apostolic Con- stitutions, A. D. 270, say that * Linus the son of Claudia was ordained, by Paul, first bishop of the church of the Romans, but, after the death of Linus, Clement was ordained second bishop by Pe- ter. 2 Rufinus' version of the letter to James says: I make known to you, my Lord, that Simon Peter. who by the merit of true faith, and spreading of entire preaching was designed to be the founda- tion of the Church, on which account also by tlie 1 Lib. de Script. Eccl. cap. XV. 2 Linum Claudiae filium Ecclesiae Ronaanoruiu Episcopuiii primiuu a Paulo ordinatum, po.3t mortem vero Lini Clemeiitem, quern ego Petruf secundum ordinavi. Lib. VIII, c. 47, 84 * Lord's mouth he was surnanied Peter; who was the first fruits of the election of the Lord, first of the Apostles, to whom first God the Father revealed the Son, on whom too he suitably con- ferred blessedness But in those days in which he felt the end of life at hand, set in the assembly of the brethern, taking hold of my hand and rising suddenly, he uttered these words in the ears of the whole Church this Clement I ordain your bishop to whom alone I deliver the Chair of my preaching and doctrine on \vhich account I de- liver to him the power of binding and loosing delivered to me by the Lord, that of all things whatsoever he shall have decreed on earth this be decreed also in heaven. For he will bind what ought to be bound and loose what it is expedient * to loose, as one who has clearly known the rule of the Church. Him then do ye hear, knowing that whosoever has grieved the teacher of truth sins against Christ and exasperates God the Fa- ther of all, on which account he shall also be de- prived of life. l 1 Xotum tibi facio, Domine, quia Simon Petrus, qui verae fidei me- > rito et integrae praedicationis obtentu, fundamentum esse Ecclesiae defi- nitus est, qua de causa etiam Domini ore cognominatus est Petrus, qui fait primitiae electionis Domini, Apostolorum primus, cui et prirno Deus Pater Filium revelavit, cui et competenter beatitudinem contulit ... In > ipais autem dfebus (quibus vitae fiuem sibi irnminere praesensit) in con- 85 It is amusing after the recent definition of Papal Infallibility to read these early assertions of teaching authority. Butler learnedly demonstrates that the Apostolic Constitutions cannot be ascribed to Clement, nor to any Apostle, and Rondinini quotes Epiphanius to prove that the heretics misinterpreted them, as is also declared by the third oecumenical council of Con- stantinople. l For the letter to S.James some quote the epistle of S. Ignatius to the Trallians; but no stress can be laid upon it, because the best critics prove that it also has been interpolated. We have explained before that Tertullian in his book of Pre- scription (c. 32) was speaking of the certainty of Clement's consecration by S. Peter, and not of his place in the list of Popes. And that if Rufinus in his preface to the apocryphal book of the Recogni- tions, which he dedicated to Gaudentius bishop of ventu fratrum positus, apprehensa manu mea repente consurgens, in au- ribus totiua Ecclesiae haec protulit verba Clementem hunc Epis- copmn vobis ordino, cui soli rueae praedicationis et doctrinae cathedram trado Propter quod ipsi trado a Domino mini traditam potestatem ligandi et solvendi, ut de omnibus quibuscumque decreverit in terris, hoc decretum sit et in coelis. Ligabit euim quod oportet ligari, et solvet quod expedit solvi, tanquam qui ad liquidum Ecclesiae regulam noverit. Ipsuni ergo audite, scientes, quia quicumque contristaverit doctorem veritatis, peccat in Christum, et Patrern omnium exacerbat Deum, propter quod et vita carebit. Epist. I Clementis ad Jacobum fratrem Domini, p. 133. T Aliqua in eis haeretici nequiter interpreted sunt. Ab eisdem multa fuere corrupta. 86 Brescia, does certainly place Clement before Linus, just as certainly did lie rely upon the forgery he was editing. That able schismatic Photius A. D. 878, who, if we are to believe Nicetas of Paphlagonia, was a good hand at forgeries himself, says : Some suppose that Clement was the second bishop of the city of Rome after Peter ; but others the fourth, for that Linus and Anacletus intervened as Pontiffs between them. 1 Archbishop Rabanus Maurus of Metz, a learned monk who lived in the middle of the ninth century, adopted the opinion of Rufinus, but with some modifications, as we read in his treatise 0:1 choral bishops, which Labbe inserts in his collection of the councils. In the epistle to James you will find in what way the Church was committed to Clement by blessed Peter, therefore Linus and Cle- tus will not be enrolled before him, because they were ordained by the Prince of the Apostles hini- self to show forth the sacerdotal ministry. 2 He concludes again that Linus and Cletus per- formed the ordinations of priests (which is now the office of the cardinal Vicar and the bishop Vice- gerent of Rome) and that after the martyrdom 1 Clementem secundum post Petrura Urbis Romae episcopum fuisse quidam auturnant, alii vero quartum ; Linum eniiu et Anacletuin inter utrumque Pontifices iutercessisse. Codex CXIf. 2 Vol. VIII, p. 1853. 87 - of Peter not they but Clement succeeded to the honour of the chair. l The whole if this seems to be mere guesswork mixed up with heretical opi- nion. Isidore Mercator, who lived towards the end of the ninth century, agrees in some respects with Rnfinus and Rabanus Maurus. In the first letter of his Collections he adheres to the apocryphal letter to S. James. In the letter he is said to have ad- dressed to Pope John III, 2 lie says: But if Pe- ter the Prince of the Apostles adopted Linus and Cletus his assistants, nevertheless he did not for- mally deliver to them the pontifical power either of binding or loosing, but to his successor S.Cle- ment, who deserved to hold the apostolic See and pontifical power after him by delivery of blessed Peter. Linus and Cletus indeed administered outer matters, but, the Prince of the Apostles, Peter was earnest in word and prayer. For nowhere do we read that Linus and Cletus ever discharged any function of the pontifical ministry as Ordinaries, but only used to do as much as was enjoined upon them by blessed Peter. This again is obviously special pleading borrowed from the account in the Acts of the first institution of deacons: neither they 1 Vol. VIII, p. 1853. 2 X. 559-72. nor Clement could exercise any pontifical powers in Peter's lifetime except by direct delegation. Raba- nus and Mercator rest evidently upon the apocry- phal letter to S. James. Nor are solid reasons want- ing to refute their assertions that Linus and Cletus were choral bishops; on which subject we refer the reader to the learned work of Peter Constant in his preface to the epistles of the Roman Pontiffs. l At the close of the tenth century, Aymon, a monk of Fleury, says in his third book de Christianomm moribus : Some, who have investigated the Chair of the Roman Church say that Linus and Cletus did not sit as Pontiffs but as coadjutors of the sove- reign Pontiff to whom in his lifetime blessed Peter intrusted a dispensation of things ecclesiastical, but himself spent the time only in prayer and preaching. AVhence as ordained by him with so great authority they deserved to be placed in the catalogue of sovereign Pontiffs. But blessed Peter himself constituted Clement as his own successor, as seems besides to agree with the Canons and the epistle of Clement to James. But Clement, who was nourishing in becoming manners so as to be agreeable to Jews and Gentiles, and all the Christian people, had the poor of each of the re- 1 N. 7. 89 gions written down by name, and those whom he had cleansed by the sanctification of baptism he did not allow to become subject to public men- dicity. As our answer to this is already given, we need not here repeat it. Taking S. Peter as the root, it is certain that Linus came next to him and then Cletus; for in fixing this order of succession all the Calendars of the Roman and Italian churches agree, as well as the pictures in S. Paul's on the Ostian way: the Ca- lendars preserved in other churches, the testimony of ancient writers, the Canon of the mass, uninter- rupted universal tradition, and the dearth of facts and arguments, or even probable conjecture to the contrary. In like manner the authorities which assign the third place to Clement are so grave and satisfactory that little or no doubt can remain re- garding it. If Pagi, l Vendelinus, 2 Henschenius, 3 Bianchini, 4 Orsi, 5 Muratori, 6 and others of less ce- lebrity, rely upon the Liberian Calendar, and the opinions of S. Optatus Mile vit anus and S. Augustine to give the second place to Clement instead of Cle- 1 Franc. Pagi ad an. Christi. 2 Vendelinus, Comment, in epistolam dementis. 3 Henschenius, Apparat. ad Chronol. Pontif. exercit. 5. 4 Bianchini, Not. Chronolog. in Pontificat. S. Clementis et S. Cleti. 4 Orsi, Stor. Ecclesiast. 6 Muratori, Anual. d'ltalia, an. 00-67. 90 tiis, weighty and respectable writers though they be, they cannot counterbalance a host of others. The Liberian Calendar is the only one which puts Clement in the second, Cletus in the third, and Anacletus in the fourth place. Clemens annis IX 9 mensibus XI, diebus XII. Cletus annis VI, mensi- > bus XI, diebus X. Anadetus annis XII, mensibus X, diebus III. Ancient and valuable as this Ca- lendar is, it need not be preferred to the agreement of almost all the early writers who have learnedly discussed this subject. Constant remarks in his life of Cletus : the mere antiquity of the Liberian Ca- lendar should affect no one, since it contains many patent errors regarding facts in the early ages. We have already remarked upon S. Optatus and S. Augustine, and preferred to them S. Irenaeus and S. Epiphauius, and we may add S. Jerome. 1 Rondinini asserts that the old authors of ecclesiastical matters bear witness unanimously that Clement succeeded Cletus.* 2 Burius however says : Disputathicmundzts sit quartus, sitne secundus: 3 or taking Peter as the root, whether he was the third or first. In our opi- nion the whole may be traced to the apocryphal letter 1 Irenaeus, adversus haeres. lib. Ill, c. 3. Epiphauius, Tom. I, adv. haeres. (27) p. 107. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. Ill, c. 13. Ilieronymus, de Script. Eccl. c. XV. 2 Rondinini, lib. l,c. 1, . 2. 3 Burius, Elench. not. Roman. Poutif . See c. XXX. - 91 to S.James: the eagerness and veneration with which such documents were received, and the impression, in the absence of decisive authority, which they na- turally produced upon the later writers that there must be some ground of truth in them. Miil est tarn incredibile, quod non. dicendo fiat probabile. l It may have been through this veneration with which S. Clement's writings were received next after the scriptures that S. Jerome, without stopping to dis- tinguish the spurious from the true, remarks : most of the Latins suppose Clement to have been the second after the apostle Peter, 2 that is before C let us. There are many w T ho although convinced by tradition that Clement held the third place and not the second, did not like to contradict S. Jerome. ^Ve do not allude to Henry Hammond who thought that Linus, Cletus, and Clement governed the Church together : the two first the Gentile converts, and the latter the Jews, and, after the death of his col- leagues, both together, an hypothesis by which he tried to defend the Episcopalians against the Pres- byterians, but which by no means pleased his own colleague John Pearson, who repudiates it in his posthumous works, 3 as contrary to the discipline by 1 Cicero. 2 Hieronymus, de viris illustribus, c. XXV. We adhere to the opinion expressed by S. Jerome in his work on Ecclesiastical writers. Ch. 15. 3 Pages 180-181. 92 - which only one bishop should preside over the same diocese. i But we allude to the opinion of Baro- nius, 2 which others maintain, and among them Co- teler, 3 and the Bollandists, * who affirm that Peter consecrated Clement bishop of Rome , and nomi- nated Linus his successor. Clement, however, for rea- sons not assigned, (perhaps because they never ex- isted, though merely alluded to by S. Epiphanius), 5 resigned the pontifical chair to Linus, who was suc- ceeded by Cletus, after whose death he assumed the government of the universal Church. Linus suffered rnaytrdom on the 2 3 rd of Septem- ber A. D. 82, and Cletus glorified God with his blood in the year 92 or 93, and was buried in the Vati- can near S. Linus, where his relics are still pre- served.^ After his death Clement had no excuse for not accepting the government of the Church. The Latin and Greek fathers unanimously attest with what zeal and assiduity he laboured for the salva- 1 Tillemont, note sur S. Clement. * An. 69, n. 43. 3 Const. Apost. p. 31. 4 Propyl. ad Act. Sanctor. p. 15. 5 Adversus haeres. XXVII, n. 6. 6 The beginning of S. Clement's pontificate dates, according to diffe- rent writers, from 90 to 93. Butler says that Cletus governed the Church from 76 to 89. Ciaconius, in his life of Cletus, relates that he was crowned with martyrdom on the 26*l of April 92. Natalis Alexander ad soec. pr. records the same. Baronius, ad an. 1, says in 93. 93 tion of souls. He was adorned with every public and private virtue, and all antiquity is loud in his praise. It is not our scope to describe in what he- roic degree he practiced each virtue, but we cannot refrain from some notice of those writings which constitute his peculiar characteristic. He laboured strenuously to preserve intact and inviolate the sacred deposit of faith, to condemn heresy, and root out vice. S. Epiphauius, writing against the Ebionites, says: There are other books too which they use, as the Itinerary of Peter compiled by Clement, in which book, with the exception of a few words, they have made the rest supposititious : as Cle- rnent himself rebukes them in those circular epis- ties which, written by him, are read in the very holy churches ; from which it is certain that his faith and speech are very far abhorrent from the things which in those Itineraries under his name have an adulterated existence. l He also points out two of these discrepancies. Clement teaches > the observance of virginity, they reject it. He l Sunt et alii libri, quibus utuntur, velut Petri circuitus a Cle- mente coascripti, quo in libro paucis verbis relictis caetera supposuerunt, quemadmoduni Clemens ipse omnibus illos modis redarguit iis epistolis circulatoribus, quse ab eo scriptse in Sacrosauctis Ecclesiis leguutur. Ex quibus constat longe ab iis, quae in circuitibus illis sub eius nomine adulte- rina existant, illius fidem ac sermoneni abhorruisse. S. Epiphanius, adv. hseres. XXX, p. 15. 91 recommends Elias , David , Samuel , and all the prophets, they detest them. ! Nor were Cle- ment's learning and authority confined to the vindi- cation of the orthodox doctrine of virginity against the Ebionites, 2 and the harmony which results from the legal, prophetic and Christian economy as in contradiction to the dreams of the Cerinthians. 3 He likewise condemned the Marcotian heresies. Praa- destinatus, who lived in the fifth century, tells us in his first book on heresy, part 14 th : The four- 1 Etenim virginitateru Clemens edocet, isti repudiant: ille Eliam, Davidern, et Sainuelem, omnesque Prophetas commendat, Ebionitse de- testantur. S. Epiphanius, adv, haerer. XXX, p. 15. 2 Epiphanius says that S. John went into Asia by the special di- rection of the Holy Ghost to oppose the heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus. Ebion seems to have been the father of the Unitarians. After the de- struction of Jerusalem he taught the Christian refugees at Pella that Christ was the greatest of the Prophets, but a mere man, the natural son of Joseph and Mary; an error which he borrowed from the sect of the Nazarenes. He mutilated S. Matthew's gospel , pretended that the legal ceremonies were indispensable, and permitted divorces. The word Ebion, in Hebrew, signifies poor, and seems to allude either to the low and mean opinions they formed of Christ, or to the poverty of this sect. 3 Cerinthus added his share to Ebion's impieties. He defended the obligation of circumcision, and of rejecting the use of unclean meats. lie extolled the angels as the authors of nature, pretending that the world was not created by God, but without his knowledge by some dis- tinct virtue; that the God of the Jews was a mere man preeminent for his virtue and wisdom, pointed out by the dove at baptism, find proceeding to manifest his father hitherto unknown to the world. He seems to have invented the myth that Christ fled away at his passion, and Jesus alone suffered and arose again. The Mahometans have an idea that when Judas betrayed our Lord, as a punishment for his treacheiy his face was changed, and he was crucified instead of Jesus Christ. Probablv this notion was somehow borrowed from the Cerinthiar.s 95 teentli heresy was invented by one Mark, who, denying the resurrection of the flesh, endeavoured to build up that Christ did not suffer truly, but by supposition. Him S. Clement bishop of Rome and most worthy of Christ, confuting by irrefrag- able assertions, and convicting in the Church ba- fore all the people, punished with eternal damna- tion; teaching that our Lord Jesus Christ was truly born and suffered, summing up that by Him nothing was done under a phantastic form, and evidently showing that truth, the enemy of false- hood, could have nothing whatever in itself that was false, just as neither could light have dark- ness in itself, nor blessing malediction, nor sweet- * ness bitterness: and if those might be mingled to- gether, yet did he teach that it is impossible for God to be mixed up with a lie. As Tertullian says in defending S. Luke's gospel and the Apocalypse against Marcion : Wasps build nests : Marcionites too build churches. To trace the architects of these churches, or builders of those nests, is not always easy. But we do not know upon what principle Peter Constant attempted 1 to deprive Clement of the merit of having anathema- tized the idealism of the Gnostics, and vindicated 1 Epist. Romanor. Fo^t. png. 0. 96 the scandal of the Cross, and the resurrection of the flesh. S. Irenaeus says : Before Valentinus there were no Valentinians, nor Marcionites before Mar- cion ; nor in fact any of the other malignant senti- ments enumerated above, before there arose in- ventors and beginners of each perverse opinion. * But the sect called Gnostics, who derive their origin, as we have shown, from Menander, Si- mon's disciple, each of them of that opinion which he adopted, of it he was seen to be the parent and high-priest. l He says, however, that before Marcion, Cerdon taught similar errors under Pope Hyginus, A. D. 139-42. Valentinian at the same date revived those of Simon Magus. Me- nander had done it before him. It does not follow that any of these men were the disciples of Simon directly, but only his followers, and imitators. And as Simon practised magic, so Irenaeus mentions that even in Lyons Mark and his followers used love philters, permitted women to consecrate, and made the chalice seem filled with a red liquor which he called blood. Evidently this Mark was later than Clement ; but it does not follow that a previous Mark and Gnostic principles were not condemned by him. The same remark applies to 1 S. Irenaeus, adv. liaeres, lib. Ill, c. 4. 97 Eusebius, who says that Mark was living when Valentinian came to Rome under Hyginus, and re- mained there under Anicetus. l S. Paul and S. John. S. Ignatius and S. Poly carp encountered similar he- resiarchs long before Hyginus. Even without the authority of Praedestinatus it would be very odd if they had given Clement a truce. In his preface that writer says : In the detection therefore of falsehood, and in the defence of truth, we have followed the footsteps of Catholics, and we have done it that in the first book the ancient su- perstition of heresy may be thorougly laid open. Clement then the Roman bishop, S. Peter's di- sciple, most worthy martyr of Christ, fully ex- plained the heresy of Simon vanquished with Simon himself by the apostle S. Peter. Him fol- lowed five holy orthodox men, and each of them. in his own time wrote down the rise and con- flict and issue of each several heresy in many books and many thousands of lines, which we, by God's assistance, have epitomized in this little book. 2 As the deposit of faith contains with- in itself every dogma before it becomes necessa- ry to ascertain it by precise definition, so every heresy like some fungus contains within itself the 1 Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. IV, c. XI. 2 Apologet. 5. 98 seed which it scatters to generate its kind. S. Cle- ment was not likely to forget the warning of S. Paul. Men shall be lovers of themselves, co- vetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked. Traitors, stub- born, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God; having an appearance of godli- ness but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid. For of these sort are they who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden * with sins, who are led away with divers de- sires: ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of truth. l Nor was the apostolic man who wrote to the Corinthians : Do ye, there- fore, who laid the foundation of this sedition sub- mit yourselves to the priests, and be instructed into repentance, bending the knees of your hearts, learn to be subject, laying aside all proud and ar- rogant boastings of your tongues ; for it is better for you to be found in the sheepfold of Christ lit- tie and approved than thinking yourselves above others to be cast out of His hope. * He I say was not likely, when sitting in the chair of Peter to re- frain from anathematizing a rebel, whether his name was Mark, Marcion or Legion. Seeing the licentious 1 II Epist. to Timothy, chapter III, v. 2, 4, 5, 6,. 7. 99 impieties of one Mark at Lyons no long time after Clement's death, and of that other Manichaean Mark who afterwards went into Spain and seems, by in- stituting the Priscillianists, to have anticipated the Mormons and Agapemone, it is not unlikely that there may have been Marks enough before them, who preferred the flesh to the spirit, and deserved the excommunication of the Church. CHAPTER III. H. Clement's solicitude to hand down to posterity the Acts of the Mar- tyrs He divides the fourteen regions of the city into seven dis- tricts, and appoints seven notaries over them, whence he is said to be the founder of the Prothonotaries called Participantes Ro- man Martyrology Its author Liturgy of the Mass. To the indefatigable solicitude with which Cle- ment fed the flock and extirpated heresy, we must add his anxiety to preserve and hand down to poste- rity the exploits of the champions of Christ. He go- verned the Church under the reign of Domitian, who was for cruelty, as Tertullian says, a piece of Nero. ! Domitian, says Orosius, grew through all the grades of crime to dare by edicts 1 Portio Neronis de crudelitate. (Apologet. 5). 100 * of a most cruel persecution, published every- where, to pluck up Christ's Church that was greatly strengthened in the whole world. * In his persecution, the second against the Church, it was that S. John, after having come miraculously out of the caldron of boiling oil at the Latin gate, was exiled to Patmos, where he had those visions which he recorded in the Apocalypse. Like Herod the emperor feared the advent of the Messiah, and had the descendants of the house of David searched out and put to death. ' But what most exasperated him was to see the number of the Christians, in spite of his sanguinary edicts, daily increasing in Rome, nay in his own family and palace. He had no respect for dignity of po sition or nobility of birth : not even for those of his own kindred. And here we may quote from the Prophet: 3 For there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land, cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood. Domitian beheaded his cousin german the consul Flavius Clement, and ba- 1 Per omnea scelerum gradus crevit, ut confirmatissimam toto orbe Christi Ecclesiam, datis ubique crudelissirnae persecutionia edictis, convellere auderet. (Oros. VII, 10). 2 Eusebius. Hist. Eccl. Ill, 19. 3 Osee, chapter IV, v. 1, 2. 101 nished, to Pandatereia, l his wife Flavia Doniitilla 2 whose sons 3 he had adopted and destined for his successors; and his niece Flavia Domitilla, for having embraced the Christian faith, he transported to the island of Ponza. The persecution spread like a fire throughout the empire, and torrents of noble and innocent blood were poured out to slake the insatiable thirst of that imperial monster. Exam- ples of the most heroic fortitude daily presented themselves to the Christians who were to be immolated, and to the Pagans who ridiculed and scoffed at their madness, and in their scoffing were sometimes converted to the faith by the patience of the martyrs, and condemned to perish by their side. No age, sex, or condition could escape the sword of the ruthless tyrant. Imagine what sweet incense of confession rose up to the throne of God from the lips of those devoted victims, ques- tioned about their faith, tempted by the most de- ceitful promises, racked by demoniacal tortures. But the most cruel punishments seemed light to them, believing as they did in the promise of their Divine Saviour : Fear not them that kill the body, 1 Pandatereia is an island opposite the gulph of Gaeta half-way between Ponza and Ischia, now known by the name of S* Maria. 3 This Flavia Doinitilla was Domitian's sister. 3 Vespasian junior, and Douaitian junior who had for their tutor the famous Quitiilian. 102 - and are not able to kill the soul.... every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father, who is in heaven. 1 That these confessions of the faith, so consolatory to the Christian heart, so dear to God, might not be lost, Clement divided the fourteen regions of the city into seven districts over which he appointed as many ecclesiastics dis- tinguished for learning and piety. Their duty, as Baronius tells us, 2 was not alone to collect the Acts of the Martyrs and the records of their suf- ferings, but also to register the answers they made to their persecutors, when arrested or put on trial, or condemned to death. In them we possess the most luminous practical proof of Catholic truth, for in them the gospel was put in practice before a raging world. Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met to- gether against the Lord and against his Christ. 3 In venerating them we bow our heads to the God of the martyrs, humbled, but consoled to see how frail nature was elevated by grace, how the pro- phetic words of Christ were fulfilled, how his cliil- 1 Matthew, X chap. v. 28-32 * An. 238. * Psalm. II, verse 1, 2. 103 dren, of whom the world is not worthy, preserved to the last the priceless treasure of their faith, how their triumphs eclipsed and have survived the tri- umphs of the Capitol by how much the nearer they were made like to Calvary. how true is the ex- clamation of S. Eucherius bishop of Lyons ! The minds of the children are set in arms whilst the triumphs of their fathers are rehearsed; for from them we understand how much that life eternal should be longed for, which we see sought for through torments, through wounds, through insupportable toils; which we know to have been purchased with the price of blood. l Rondi- nini says of these seven Clementine notaries that their name, and office partly, passed formerly, to the seven Prothonotaries whom they call Participantes ; arid they, increased by Sixtus V, to the number of twelve, were enriched with very notable privileges, especially with the power of conferring, like the most illustrious Universities of the world, the degree of Doctor. These Protho- notaries, in the pendent seal which they annex to the doctoral diploma, are wont to print an image of S. Clement with the epigraph S. Clemens Collegn Prot. Part. Fundator. 1 Homily of S. Eucherius on S. Peter and S. Paul. 104 "Whereas the principal origin of the most ancient Martyrologies is only an epitome of the acts of the martyrs collected by those clerical notaries, S. Cle- ment is called by many writers the author of the Ro- man Martyrology. Bencini in his notes to the life of S.Clement, published by Anastasius, says: Out of these Acts related in the churches the oldest mar- tyrologies and lessons are made up. l And to them may be traced the origin of other martyrolo- gies which even yet deserve to be studied by the learned. Hence Boldetti says : Those notaries dili- gently registered in the ecclesiastical Tables the days that were called Fasti, from which were compiled the Martyrologies, out of which were read, on the day before, the names of the martyrs whose festivals occurred the next day, in order that the memory of their triumph might be celebrated with greater spiritual solemnity on the anniversary of their mar- tyrdom which was called their birth day. 2 In the choirs of monastic Orders the same is done to this day. The Acts were not collected for entertain- ing historical reading, but that, as far as possible, the Church upon earth might join on the very day with the Church triumphant in heaven, where are the souls 1 Acta Martyrum, pag. 541. 3 Boldetti, Osservazioni sui Cimiterii de' Martiri, lib. I, c. XI. 105 of them that were 7 slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. l In addition to the other works which distin- guished our Saint, we must not omit the liturgy of the Mass, of which, according to Baronius, Proclus, Usher and others, he was the author. Baronius writes : Moreover there is a tradition that Clement left in writing the rite'of offering the sacrifice which he had received from S. Peter, to wit the Mass it- self of the Roman church. To which tradition Proclus adheres in these words: Many other di- vine pastors too who succeeded to the Apostles, and ancient churches, explaining the reason of the sa- cred mysteries of that heavenly Mass, have deli- vered the order of the Church in writing : amongst whom first and foremost blessed Clement, disciple and successor of that sovereign Prince of the Apo- sties, who published those most holy mysteries re- vealed to him by the sainted Apostles. So says Proclus, bishop of Constantinople (in 447), of Cle- ment, with whom others of the Greeks who have written commentaries upon the sacred rites equal- ly agree; though some have supposed that by the liturgy of Clement we must understand what are held as written by him of the same most holy sa- 1 S. Cyprianus, Epist. ad Clerum, XXXVII, pag. 114. 106 crifice in the seventh book of the Constitutions, l and in the eighth. 2 But the form of holy Mass which is prescribed to the Latins and the whole Western Church, some things excepted which were added or changed not only by Clement but by the prince of the apostles Peter himself, ancient tradition vindicates to itself, since there is nothing else to point out its beginning and origin. 3 The consent of authors is sufficient to show that Clement had a true zeal to provide for the worship and religious decorum of the Catholic Church, whe- ther he actually committed anything regarding the sacred liturgy to writing or not; nor does it seem more inconvenient that the chief part should be pre- served as a standard in some authentic roll than that the epistles and gospels should be copied. On which account it is not worth while to examine the opinion of Peter Le Brun who maintains that no liturgy was published either in Greek or Latin before the sixth century. 4 If this means publication for general circulation it may be likely enough; for the Christians had seen so many of their volumes com- mitted to the flames, so many scattered to the winds, 1 c. xxv, xxvi, xxvii. C. XV, et seq. 3 Baronius, An. CII, 23. 4 Disputatio liturgica, vol. III. 107 and had smarted so severely for bringing out the treasures of the Church, that common prudence would warn them, even after the peace of the Church, to be chary of diffusing the mysteries. And again if it means that nothing was written down, it would be contrary to human nature among so many literary bishops and priests, even with the utmost religious veneration for secrecy, that no notes or manuscripts should ever be made, and contrary, we may say to the very necessity of the case, so prolonged was the initia- tion of the Church in comparison with modern times. Usher says : In the Arabic catalogue of Chaldaean and Syrian liturgies, which belonged to Ignatius *> the late Patriarch of Antioch, is reckoned 1 one of Pope S. Clement composed in Greek, which one Thomas Harchalanus translated into Chaldaic 407 years after the Nativity of our Lord ; and another of S.Ignatius composed in Greek at Antioch twen- ty seven years after our Lord's Ascension, which James, bishop of Rehanus did into Chaldaic. And Clement is reckoned by thePatriarchProclus among the first who delivered a written exposition of the liturgy to the Church. Bessarion in his book of the Sacrament of the Eucharist thus replies to the Greeks urging his (Clement's) authority: ' Though 1 See Cornelius Schulting, Biblioth. Tkeolog. torn. Ill, p. 1. 108 these words of Clement be usually enumerated among apocryphal writings, yet we are willing to assent to them as true in present circumstances; but that liturgy is a certain part of the eighth book of those which in some Codices bear the title A^sxaX(a? of doctrine, in others of Ataroyoov, or of Apostolic Constitutions written by Clement. l It is obvious however in reference to Proclus who did not write before the middle of the sixth centu- ry, that he has given a merely imaginary account of the long chanted prayers with which the Apostles celebrated the mystic sacrifice, and probably he had no authority for saying that the Apostles themselves dictated the Koman liturgy to S. Clement ; though he may have been correct in saying that S. Basil and S. Chrysostom, to meet the degeneracy of the times, abridged the one they used. Pope S. In- nocent I, who held the See at the beginning of that (5 th ) century, declared that the Roman litur- gy is of apostolic origin, which , it may well be, whether oral or written. Waterworth says in his 1 Usserius, de Ignatii Martyr, epist. Consult also, Liturgia Orientalis by Eusebius Eenaudat, book 3, page 186. Lea anciens liturg. by John Grancolas, page 90. Bibliotheca Orientalis by Simon Assemanni, torn. 1, ex codice "Vitriensi III. Liturgical codex of the whole Church by Lewis Asaemanni, book 4, p. 2. In the 4 vol. part. 1, p. 137, he (Assemanni) and Muratori in his dissertation de rebus liturgicis, completely demolish the assertion of Le Bum. 109 extracts from the fathers of the first five centuries, that from the testimony of several of the fathers there is reason to believe that no public liturgy of any church was written earlier than the middle of the fourth century, and that the Clementine is no ex- ception; for as compiled in the Constitutions it is not known to have been used in any church ser- vice whatever. l But Oldoinus in his notes to Ciac- conius' life of S. Clement enumerates a number of liturgical observances as enforced by S. Clement, and Moroni repeats the same in his erudite eccle- siastical dictionary. It is also said that he was the first to introduce into the liturgy of the Mass the salutation Dominus vobisctim, and the Orate Fra- tres. 2 Non nobis tantas componere lites. All we wish to show from their disputes is that Pope Clement has a traditional claim to zeal for liturgical observance. 1 See the specimens he gives of all the liturgies, referring them to three sources, to wit, that of S. James, S. Mark and S. Peter, besides the Gothic fragments of Spain and Gallia Xarbonensis published by Mabillon in 1685. 2 See Gem. lib. I, cap. 87. - 110 - CHAPTER IV. Zeal of S. Clement to diffuse the Gospel of Clmst ^Missionaries sent by him to France, Spain, and elsewhere His letters to the Co- rinthians, and to Virgins The Book of Recognitions The Clementine Homilies, and Epistle to S. James The Apostolic Canons. Not alone did S. Clement provide with unwea- ried vigilance for the unity of the faith and the decorum of public worship, but like one who heard his Master's words ringing in his ear : And other sheep I have that are not of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. l He spared no pains to maintain uninterrupted the succes- sion of the hierarchy, and propagate the Kingdom of Christ. We read in the pontifical book that he held two consecrations in the month of December in which he ordained ten priests, two deacons, and fifteen bish- ops. He baptized the son of Tarquinius a Roman, 2 initiated him in holy orders, and sent him to France with S. Denys, S. Ursenius, S. Gratianus, S. Satur- ninus, and S. Nicotius. Some modern writers have disputed the authenticity of these facts, but, as Ron- dinini observes, 3 they cannot succeed in subvert- 1 John, c. 10, v. 16. 2 See Roman Martyrology, 11 of August. 8 Book 1, ch. 1, . 5. Ill ing the more ancient authorities. We read in the chronological manuscript of S. Ivo, quoted by Pa- trick Young, that Clement sent Pothinus to Lyons, Paul to Narbonne, Gratian to Tours, and Julian to Mans. Bernard Guidoni cited by cardinal Mai in his Specilegium attests the same. He also sent many bishops to different regions: Pothinus to Lyons, Paul to Narbonne^ Gratian to Tours, Denys the Areopagite to Paris where he suffered niar- tyrdom by decapitation, together with his com- panions on the ninth of October in the ninetieth year of his age. l The Maurist Fathers follow the same opinion. No matter what modern wri- ters may say it is very probable that the mission of the first bishops into Gaul, such as S. Tro- phinus of Aries, S. Gratian of Tours, S. Denys of Paris , S. Paul of Narbonne , S. Austromonius ofClermont, and S.Martial of Limoges, is due to Clement and not to S. Fabian. Nor is it like- ly that these were all he sent, or to Gaul only. Oldoinus and other writers say that he consecrat- ed Eugenius first bishop of Toledo, and that in the second year of his Pontificate, when blessed Mark of Atina had borne the palm of martyr- dom by orders of the president Maximus, he made 1 See Cardinal Mai's Spicilegium, vol. G 7 p. 13. 112 Fulgentius bishop of the same city who presided over the church of Atina thirty one years, seven months and twenty eight days. 1 Atina was then a flourishing city near the Pontine Marshes. If S. Clement earnestly laboured to diffuse gos- pel truth , he knew that it was essential to pre- serve it pure and undenled, and that that could only be done by submission to a divinely consti- tuted authority. A scandalous schism broke out among the Christians at Corinth, in which some of the laity rebelled against the priests, and carried their secrilegious violence to the point of preventing them from exercising the functions of their ministry. Fortunatus, who is mentioned by S. Paul , 2 was sent to Rome to lay the whole matter before the Pope. Clement bitterly deplored the ruin impending over that portion of his flock, and addressed to them, in the name of the Roman Church, a very pathe- tic and instructive epistle. Writing with the effu- sion of the paternal heart he does not forget the firmness without which dignity becomes a bauble and the authority, which is meant to check, a pro- vocation to fresh aggressions. Eusebius styled it an admirable work, 3 and all the Fathers of 1 See Oldoinus, ad vitam S. dementis per Ciacconium. * Corinth, XVI, v. 17. 3 Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. 3, c. 16. 113 the first four centuries spoke of it with admiration. It may give an idea of the difficulty of ecclesiasti- cal researches, since the vast destruction of original documents, that this epistle, which was read in the churches next to the Scriptures, was entirely lost. For several centuries not a trace of it could be found. Baronius deeply deplored its loss, and collected all the extracts he could find of it from the works of Irenaeus, Dionysius bishop of Corinth, and Euse- bius of Caesarea. Fortunately, however, to the great delight of the learned, it was discovered at the end of a very ancient Alexandrian manuscript of the Bible written about the time of the first coun- cil of Nice, by an Egyptian woman named Thecla. Cyril Lucarius the schismatical patriarch of Constan- tinople brought it from Alexandria and presented it to James I of England. The royal librarian Patrick Young published a copy of it at Oxford in 1633. Pages 58, 59, 60 are still wanting. It begins: The Church of God which is at Rome to that of Corinth, to those who have been called and sancti- fied by the will of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, may the grace and peace of Almighty God be increased by Christ Jesus in every one of you. He reminds them of their former peace. At that time your virtues, piety and zeal , your inviola- ble attachment to the law of God, were the ad- 114 miration of all who knew you. You were then submissive to your Pastors, you respected your superiors : you set an exemple of sobriety and modesty to your children, you established and maintained good order within your own families. More ready to obey than command, more eager to give than to receive, you cherished the senti- ments of moderation and humility in your hearts. * Content with the common gifts of Providence for your support in life, you turned your thoughts to God and studied the observance of His holy law. Thus you enjoyed the sweetest tranquilli- ty and peace of mind. Being animated with the purest charity you felt a warm desire and seized every opportunity of doing good. Full of confi- dence and zeal you never ceased lifting up your hands to the throne of mercy, humbly begging forgiveness for the sins of frail mortality. Day and night you poured forth your prayers for the salvation and happiness of your brethren in Jesus Christ that the number of the elect might be speedily filled up. You were then void of ma- lice, your conduct was sincere and blameless. You held in abhorrence the very name of con- tention and discord. You pitied your deluded neighbour , and bewailed his faulty oversights as your own. But how sadly has this prospect 115 changed since then! How clouded and how dis- mal the view which was once so bright and de- lightful! In place of content and harmony, jea- lousy and disunion prevail among you. He puts his hand at once upon the root of the evil, speaks with just indignation of their disgrace, and exhorts the refractory to more generous and cha- ritable sentiments. Wherefore are these conten- tions and swellings and dissensions, and wars a- mongst you? Have we not one God and one Christ, and one Spirit of Grace poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ? Wherefore do we rend and tear in pieces the members of Christ, and raise a sedition against our own body, and come to such a height of folly as to forget that * we are members one of another? Remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said: ' Woe to that man by w r hom scandal cometh: it were better for him that he had never been born than to scandalize one of my elect: it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of my little ones. Your schism hath perverted many, hath cast ma- - ny into dejection, many into doubt, and all of us into grief; and yet your sedition continues .... Take up the epistle of the blessed Paul the 116 Apostle. What did he first write to you at the beginning of tlie gospel? Verily he did by the spirit admonish you both concerning himself and Cephas and Apollo ; because that even then you had formed particularities amongst yourselves, though that your particularity had led you into less sin, for you were partial to tried apostles and to ano- ther who had been approved by them. But now consider who they are who have led you astray, and have lessened the majesty of your much spo- ken brotherly love. It is shameful, my beloved, it is most shameful and unworthy your Christian profession that it should be heard that the most firm and most ancient church of the Corinthians, on account of one or two persons, is in a sedi- tion against the priests Who then amongst you is generous, who that is compassionate, who that is filled with charity? Let him say: * If sedition and strife and schism be through me, I will go and depart whithersoever you please, and do whatever is appointed by the multitude, only let the flock of Christ be at peace with the consti- tuted priests. ' * He exhorts them by the example of God himself to be patient and long suffering and to acknowledge his benefits to all: each in his de- gree. Behold the Creator of the world, and think how patient and gentle he is towards his whole 117 - creation. The heavens, the earth, the oceans and worlds beyond them, are governed by the com- mand of this great Master. Let every one be subject to another according to the order in which he is placed by God. Let not the strong man neglect the care of the weak, let the weak see that he reverence the strong, let the ricli man con- tribute to the necessities of the poor, and let the poor bless God who hath given him one to supply his wants. Let the wise man show forth his wisdom not in words but in good works. Let him that is humble never speak of himself, nor make show of his actions. Let him that is pure in flesh not grow proud of it, knowing that he re- ceived the gift of continence from another. In our body the head without the feet is nothing, nor the feet without the head, and the smallest members of our body are yet useful and neces- sary for the whole. Not content to appeal to the necessary harmony of parts, he warns the ring- leaders to make a voluntary submission and not to incur excommunication. Do you therefore who laid the foundation of this sedition submit yourselves to the priests, and be instructed unto repentance. Bending the knees of your hearts learn to be sub- ject laying aside all proud and arrogant boast- ing of your tongues : for it is better for you to 118 be found in the sheepfold of Christ little and ap- proved, than thinking yourselves above others to be cast out of His hope. He points out to them the source of Catholic and Episcopal power, and that disputes for prelacy and precedence were foreseen and provided against ; and he insists upon the strictness of ritual obser- vance. The Apostles have preached to us from the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ from God. Christ then was sent by God, and the Apostles by Christ.... Preaching therefore through countries and cities they appointed their first fruits (having proved them by the spirit), bishops and deacons of those who were about to believe. And what wonder if they to whom in Christ such a work was committed by God, appointed such as w r e have mentioned when even that blessed and faithful servant in all his house, Moses, notified in the sacred books all things that had been commanded him Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that contentions would arise upon the name of the episcopacy, and for this cause, having a perfect foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid and then gave di- rections in what manner, when they should die, others should succeed them in their public mi- nistry. Wherefore we account that they who have been appointed by them or afterwards by 119 other eminent men, the whole Church consenting, and who have ministered blamelessly to the flock of Christ with humility, peacefully, and not illi- berally, and who also for a long time have been approved by all ; that such are not to be without injustice thrown out of the ministry. For it would be no small sin in us, if we should cast off from the episcopacy those who offer up the gifts blame- lessly and holily. Refusing to sacrifice any bishop to popular clamour or secret prejudice, he speaks of the due order of Church functions. As these things are manifest to us, it behoves us looking into the depths of the divine knowledge to do all things in order whatsoever the Lord hath commanded to be done; at stated times to perform both the oblations and the liturgies; and not at random and disorderly hath He commanded this to be done, but at determined times and hours. And He himself hath ordained by His su- preme will both where and by what persons He wills them to be performed; that all things being holily done, unto all well pleasing, they may be acceptable unto His will. They therefore that make their oblations at the appointed times, are at once accepted and blessed, because that fol- lowing the institutes of the Lord, they sin not. For there are proper liturgies delivered to the 120 - chief priest, and a proper place assigned to the priests ; and there are proper ministrations in- cumbent on Levites, and the layman is adjudged to the appointment of laymen. Let every one of you, brethren, give thanks to God, in his proper station with a good conscience, with gravity, not going beyond the prescribed canon of his liturgy. He desires them to send back his legates to acquaint him of the restoration of peace. Those that have been sent to you by us, Claudius, Ephetus, Va- lerius, Vito together with Fortunatus also, send back to us again with all speed, in peace and in joy; that they may the sooner acquaint us of your peace and unanimity so much prayed for and desired by us. So that we may speedily rejoice at your good order. The authenticity of this epistle is generally ac- knowledged ; but assuming for a moment that it is a forgery, it is, by its adaptation to circumstances, by the moderation and elevation of its language, one of the most skilful literary forgeries ever pen- ned. It is filled with the spirit of papal authority. And viewing it from the ground of Catholic prin- ciples, it would be no small compliment to Cle- ment that so weighty, reasonable, and eloquent a document could be attributed to no less a man. The soul of the priest responsible for the souls of others, 121 the heart of the Christian man, the mind of the Vicar of Christ laying his obligations at the foot of the altar of his Lord ; the spirit of the prelate commanding in the place of the Apostles, the peace- ful order of the ecclesiastic consecrated for his of- fice, are conspicuous in every line of it. It is a pleasure to believe it produced the desired effect. The holy Pontiffs prayers were heard, all dissen- sions ceased, the laity became submissive to their pastors, and peace and concord reigned again in the church of Corinth. A very considerable fragment of a second letter to the Corinthians was found in the same Alexan- drian manuscript. S. Dionysius of Corinth tells us l that it was read in that church, but was not so celebrated among the ancients as the first. It re- commends the faithful to despise the world and its allurements, to subdue their passions, and to keep their minds always fixed on heaven. In addition to those two letters to the Corin- thians our Saint addressed two others to Virgins. AVestein, a Lutheran, found them in a Syrian ma- nuscript of the new Testament, in 1752, and pu- blished them the same year at Amsterdam with a Latin translation, and again in 1757. The authen- 1 L. 1, c. Joviniau. ch. 7. 122 - ticity of these letters was impugned by Henry Ye- nema, a German Lutheran, but his objections, as we read in the Acts of Leipsic, for January 175G, were refuted by Western, who also acknowledges that Clement differed much in his opinion of celi- bacy from Martin Luther. But it has not been proved, says the Protestant writer, that his opinion has been wrong. For, if any one de- nies himself what it is allowed him to enjoy, that he may the better, and the more freely apply himself to the care of the Church, why ought he not hope to receive a great recompense in the life to come? S. Jerome alludes to these letters in his book against Jovinian :* In these epistles which S. Clement, the successor of the apostle Peter, wrote to them, that is to certain eunuchs, almost his whole discourse turns upon the excel- lency of virginity. Butler remarks that they are not unworthy of the great disciple of S. Peter. They expound the counsels of S. Paul regarding ce- libacy and virginity, the practice of which they recommend without diminishing the respect due to the holy state of matrimony. Many other works have been attributed to, and circulated under, the name of Clement, but the uni- ' C. 7, p. 527. 123 versal consent of almost all writers regards them as either apocryphal, or supposititious. These, as well as the genuine works of our Saint, were collected and published by Coteler at Paris in 1G72. We have alluded already to the Book of Recognitions, as a production of the second century. The Cle- mentine Homilies and the Epistle to S. James were got up about the year 230 by some learned and clever unknown writers. Gallandius thinks that the Apostolical Constitutions should be referred to the year 230. They are quoted by S. Epiphanius, 1 and are a compilation of ancient pastoral regulations. Bzovius translated them from Greek into Latin in 1603. Turrianus illustrated them, and Servius and Burius inserted them in their collection of the Coun- cils. They have been erroneously ascribed to Cle- ment, as Pagi, Baronius, Natalis Alexander, Coteler, and almost all modern writers, except Whiston, sa- tisfactorily prove. They comprise eight books, and contain much valuable information, regarding the liturgy, discipline, and practices of the primitive Church, although neither the precise time when they were written, nor by whom, can be ascertained. The Apostolical Canons were thought by some really to have been written by the Apostles. Others 1 Horn. 4-5, 35. 124 referred them to the close of the fifth century. They are a compilation from various synods, and are now generally supposed to be not later than the begin- ning of the third century. They were 85 in all, and were all received by the Greeks in the sixth century. The Latins received only the first 50, and even these with some reserve, particularly Canons, 7, 46, 47, rejecting altogether the last 35. Turrianus, a writer of the 1 6 th century, strains every nerve in de- fence of the whole. Bellarmine, 1 Baronius 2 and Bassenius in his Apparatus sacer think the first fifty to be authentic. Burius 3 admits all but 65 and 84. Natalis Alexander 4 explodes them all together. It is certain that not a single Father, except S. John Damascene, has placed them among the canonical writings. They are not quoted by Eusebius, Jerome, Athanasius, Epiphanius, or any of the early Fathers in their vindication of the discipline of the primitive Church. Of some of them, however, the antiquity cannot be denied, for they were quoted at the Coun- cil of Nice ; but it is admitted that they were adul- terated at a very early period, and that their number was increased to 85 in the ninth century. Whether 1 De script, eccl. in Clemente. ? Ann. in au. 102. 3 Vol. I. Concil. 4 Hist, eccl soecifi prirai 125 any of the Canons drawn up by Clement is comprised or not in these compilations, no one can say. We are content to rest his reputation,, as an author, upon his Epistle to the Corinthians, and his character as a prelate, upon the general approbation of antiquity : an apostolic man, a martyr Pope, whose n#me is registered in the Book of life. The petty disputes of critics about uncertain writings may obscure but not elucidate his career. CHAPTER V. Morality of Roman emperors in the days of S. Clement S. Ignatius of Antioch condemned to death by Trajan His journey to Rome, and martyrdom in the Coliseum S. Clement exiled to the Cher- sonesua by orders of Trajan Condition of the Christians in that penal settlement Fruits of his Apostolic labours among its inha- bitants His martyrdom Miraculous recovery of his body by S.Cyril who brought it to Rome, and deposited it in the Basilica dedicated to him at the foot of the Coeliau Hill. It is the fashion of writers, led away by classical enthusiasm, or rather by their indifference to true religion, to speak, sometimes with apology, sometimes with praise, of the pagan despots, who one after the other possessed the imperial throne of Rome. The epithets, just, humane, and virtuous, are bestowed, upon men who, in the recesses of their dwellings, 126 probably led no more decent lives than the rest of the idolatrous aristocracy, who have left after them obscene pictures, indelicate statues, and a foul my- thology, to justify the reproaches which the mar- tyrs cast upon the infamous vices of the heroes and gods they cherished and adored. True, that the Roman eagle hovered over that cunning, lust, and cruelty, from which at various pe- riods even Christian emperors have not been free, as well as over the reigns of princes less base; and that, as in more modern times, in the courts of emperors and kings, flatterers could be found, by winking at their vices, by dissembling their hypocrisy, by shut- ting their eyes to everything but the external glit- ter of their rule, to prate of justice, benevolence and freedom. But glory based upon a lie cannot endure. l Men who are liable at any moment to be seized and transported to unhealthy exile, by im- perial order, to have their homes suddenly invaded, their means of subsistence confiscated at the plea- sure of the Prince, nay even to be burnt alive in vil- lages by the commander of his troops , to be flayed before the tribunal of the judge, to be hooted and 1 We have seen this in the fate of the Imperial adventurer of France. In a night the fungus springs up, is filled with insects and rots. History will record the fate of foreign potentates in Mexico. Spain and Italy. 127 hunted, and branded as useless members of society, execrated as adverse to civil government, reviled as superstitious wretches, who deserve no mercy but to be driven forth to beg such men, indeed, have learned that, between Pilate and Herod, bet- ween Octavius, who seated himself upon the ruins of the Republic and thought to number the whole world, and Nero who drove his vile mistresses in the imperial chariot, reviling the Christians the while, between Domitian who debauched his own niece, and, as Suetonius and Eusebius say, took the titles of Lord and God, who varied his amusement of im- paling flies by the delight with which lie beheld the most barbarous executions, and Nerva, whose phi- losophic indolence gave the Christians a respite of fifteen months, there were, as in modern crowned tyrants, gradations of vice and brutal power without, scarcely, a single redeeming quality. Nero was a man of taste, loved music and songs, and theatres and their accompaniments, did not disdain races, nor to dress and drive like a charioteer ; if he did not write pamphlets and memoirs, he composed poetry; he had an extravagant passion to make a new Rome which should be built in a more sumptuous manner; he wanted room in particular to enlarge his own palace, which after the destruction of the quar- ters of the city adjacent to it, he immediately rebuilt 128 of an immense extent and adorned with whatever the world afforded that was rich and curious, and no doubt with sumptuous quarters for his imperial guard. Of course lie had no love for Christians. He permitted his satellites to defame them as much as they pleased, though his hypocrisy could not escape the satire of the public ; and the legal officers he let loose upon them rather excited compassion for their sufferings, than respect for themselves or their chief. He was the first that made a general indiscriminate persecution of religion, and thought perhaps that by cutting off the Pope and his fellow-martyr S. Paul to put an end to what he considered a farce and an obstacle to his own arbitrary power. He miserably ended his days by committing suicide. l How S. Cle- ment escaped him, how he got through the first ten years of Dornitian's reign , and especially the next five years after he sat in the Apostolic chair, history does not record. A prince was coming who had some literary pretensions and more ambition : before printing was invented he had his own way of inscrib- ing his name and actions, and got the nickname of 1 Tertullian says, that it was the glory of the Christian religion that the first emperor that drew his sword against it was Xero, the sworn enemy of all virtue. This tyrant, four years after he had begun to persecute the Christians, in his extreme distress attempted to kill himself ; but wanting resolution, he prevailed upon another to help him to take away his life, and perished under the public resentment of the whole empire, and the universal detestation of all mankind. 129 * wall-dauber for his advertisements : lie had his eye upon the East, and promoted foreign expeditions. He lived in incest with his sister. Like Vespasian and Domitian he ordered all who were of the race of David to be put to death ; and, accused of this as well as of being a Christian, the bishop of Jerusa- lem, S. Simon, who was over his hundredth year, was tortured for several days and then crucified. He ori- ginated the third, as Domitian did the second gene- ral persecution. As usual, there have not been want- ing men to style him a just and virtuous prince, and he affected moderation. From the beginning of his reign he prohibited the assemblies of Christians; but he directed his Prefects to punish those only who were legally convicted , and not to go out of their way to arraign them for supposed criminality. He punished informers as well as the accused. Thus he seems not to have adopted espionage, and he rejected anonymous charges as repugnant to the equity of his government, and required for the conviction of those to whom the guilt of criminality was imputed the positive evidence of an open accuser. Trajan espe- cially after he had marched towards the Danube and achieved victories over the Dacii and Scythians, who may be taken as the ancestors of the Russians, she wed his native superstition and policy, out of grati- tudetohis imaginary deities. The next year, A. D. 106, 130 the ninth of his reign, he set out for the East on an expedition against the Parthians and entered Antioch with the pomp of a triumph. What compliments he paid and received from the chiefs and tribes , what respect the Caesar showed for their polygamy and polytheism , we know not. His first concern was about the affair of religion, and the worship of the gods. And for this purpose he resolved to compel the Christians either to own their divinity and to sacrifice, or to suffer death. Of the way in which this excellent and equitable Prince presided at trials, we have a specimen in the Acts of S. Ignatius the Martyr bishop of Antioch. Who art thou, wicked demon, that dare trans- gress our commands and persuade others to pe- rish? Ignatius mildly answered: No one calls Theo- phorus a wicked demon. Trajan said: Who is Theophorus? Ignatius: He who carrieth Christ in his breast. Trajan : And do we not seem to bear the gods * in our breast whom we have assisting us against our enemies? Ignatius: You err in calling them gods who are no better than devils, for there is only one God w T ho made heaven and earth and all things that are in them, and one Jesus Christ his only Son 131 into whose kingdom I earnestly desire to be ad- mitted. Trajan asked: Do you not mean him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate ? Ignatius : The very same : who by his death has crucified sin with its author, overcame the ma- lice of the devils, and has enabled those who have Him in their breasts to trample on them. Do you then carry within you this crucified Jesus ? Asked the Emperor, with a sarcastic smile. Ignatius : Yes, for it is written : ' I will dwell in them and walk among them.' l Trajan then dictated the sentence. It is our will that Ignatius who saith that he carrieth the cru- cified man within himself be bound and conducted to Rome, to be devoured by wild beasts for the entertainment of the people. The holy martyr, having heard the sentence pronounced against him , cried out with a heart full of joy: I thank Thee, oh Lord ! for having vouchsafed to honour me with this pledge of per- feet love for Thee, and to be bound with chains of iron, in imitation of the apostle Paul, for Thy sake. He was then put in chains and consigned 1 Corinth. VI, 1C. 132 to a troop of savage soldiers to be conducted to Rome. On arriving at Smyrna he had an interview with S. Polycarp, the disciple of S. John the Evan- gelist, and addressed most affecting and instructive letters to the churches of Ephesus, of Magnesia, of the Trallians, and to the Christians of Home. He then implored S. Polycarp and others to unite their prayers with his, that the ferocity of the lions might soon present him to Christ ; and with this view lie also wrote to the faithful at Rome, beseeching them not to deprive him of his crown by praying to God that the beasts might spare him, as they did other martyrs. I fear your charity, he says, lest it prejudice me. For it is easy for you to do what you please, but it will be difficult for me to obtain God if you spare me. I shall never have such an opportunity of enjoying God, nor can you, if ye shall now be silent , ever be entitled to the honour of a better work. For if ye be silent in my behalf, I shall be made partaker of God, but if ye love my body, I shall have my course to run out. Therefore a greater kindness you cannot do me, than to suffer me to be sacrificed unto God; whilst the altar is now ready, that, so becoming a choir in love, in your hymns ye may give thanks to the Father, by Jesus Christ, that God has vouchsafed to bring me the bishop of Syria, from 133 the East into the West to pass out of the world unto God. that I may rise again unto Him. Ye have never envied any one. Ye have taught others. I desire, therefore, that you will firmly observe, that which in your instructions you have prescribed to others. Only pray for me that God may deign to give me both inward and outward strength that I may not only say, but do, that I may be not only called a Christian, but be found one; for if I shall be found a Christian, I may then de- servedly be called one, and be thought faithful when I shall no longer appear to the world. Xo- thing is good that is seen. A Christian is not a work of opinion, but of greatness, when he is hated by the world. I write to the churches and signify to them all that I am ready to die for God, unless you hinder me. I beseech you that you show not an unreasonable good will towards me. Suffer me to be the food of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ, whereby I may attain unto God. Rather entice the beasts to my sepulchre that they may leave nothing of my body, that being dead I may not be troublesome to any one. Then shall I be a true disciple of Jesus Christ when the world shall not see so much as my body. Pray to Christ for me that in this I may become a sacrifice to God. I do not, as Peter 134 and Paul , command you ; they were Apostles , I am an inconsiderable person; they were free, I am even yet a slave; but if I suffer, I shall then > become the freeman of Jesus Christ , and shall arise a freeman in Him. Now I am in bonds for Him, I learn to have no worldly or vain desires. From Syria, even unto Rome, I fight wild beasts both by sea and by land, both night and day, bound to ten leopards, that is to say a band of soldiers, who are the worse for kind treatment. > But I am the more instructed by their injuries, yet I am not therefore justified. I earnestly wish for the wild beasts that are prepared for me, whicli I heartily desire may soon dispatch me, and whom I will entice to devour me entirely and suddenly, and not serve me as they have done some whom > they have been afraid to touch; but if they are unwilling to meddle, I will even compel them to it. > Pardon me this matter, I know what is good for me. Now I begin to be a disciple, so that I have no desire after anything visible or invisible, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire or the cross, or the concourse of wild beasts, let cutting or tearing of the flesh, let breaking of bones or cutting off limbs, let the shattering in pieces of my whole body, and the wicked torments of the devil come upon me, so I may but attain to Jesus Christ. 135 All the compass of the earth, and the kingdoms of this world will profit nie nothing. It is better . for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ than to rule unto the ends of the earth. Him I seek who died for us. Him I desire who arose again for us. Pardon me, brethren, be not my hin- drance in attaining to life, for Jesus Christ is the life of the faithful; whilst I desire to belong to God, do not ye yield me back to the world. Suffer me to partake of the true light. When I shall be there, I shall be a man of God. Permit me to imitate the passion of Christ my Lord. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have compassion on me, as knowing how I am straitened. The prince of the world endeavours to snatch me away, and to change the desire with which I desire, with which I burn, of being united to God. Let none of you who are present, attempt to succour me. Be ra- ther on my side, that is on God's. Entertain no desire of the world, having Jesus Christ in your mouths. Let no envy find place in your hearts. Even were I myself to entreat you when present, do not obey me, but rather believe what I now signify to you by letter. Though I am alive while writing this, yet my desire is to die. My love is crucified, the fire that is within me does not 136 crave any water, but being alive and springing within says: Coine to the Father. I take no plea- sure in the food of corruption, nor in the enjoyment of this life. I desire the bread of God which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, and for drink His blood which is incorruptible charity. I desire to live no longer according to men, and this shall be if you are willing. Be then willing, that you may be ac- cepted by God. Pray for me, that I may pos- sess God. If I shall suffer, ye have loved me. If I shall be rejected, ye have hated me. Remember in your prayers the church of Syria, which now enjoys God for its shepherd instead of me. I am ashamed to be called of their number, for I am not worthy, being the last of them, and an abor- tive, but through mercy I have obtained that I shall be something, if I enjoy God. The holy martyr arrived in Rome on the 20 th of December, and was immediately sent to the amphitheatre where he was devoured by lions for the entertainment of the people. Thus it is ever. Whether a S. Ignatius of Antioch, a S. John Chrysostom, a S. Thomas of Canterbury, a Gregory VII, or any exiled bishop of the nineteenth century, is to be persecuted, and if possible, doomed to suffer death, the pretext of crowned tyrants is ever, the well-being, and the entertainment of the people. The Christians, to the 137 lions ! was the shout of the popular diversion then then as now Avar upon Catholic priests and pre- lates was the maxim of men whom God, who waiteth patiently to repay, permits for his own wise pur- poses to disgrace for a while the thrones of the earth. S. Ignatius, as we have said, was instantly devoured by the lions that were let loose upon him, and nothing of his body remained but the larger bones, which, as S. John Chrysostom relates, were religiously taken up and carried in triumph on the shoulders of all the cities between Rome and Antioch where they were laid in a marble urn as an inestimable treasure. Evaristus writes l that at first they were deposited outside the Daphnitic gate, but in the reign of Theodosius the Younger were translated with extraordinary pomp to a church in the city, which had been a temple of Fortune, and which has ever since borne his name. They are now in our church of S. Clement in Rome, whither they were translated when, in 637, Antioch fell into the power of the Saracens. To the bishop of Rome the head of the state adopted that policy of grinding exile which more petty kings, since then, have used, lacking the courage to consummate a greater crime, whilst 1 Hist. eccl. lib. 1, cap. 1C. 138 their works point out the bent of their will. The enemy of the Church could not bear the Sove- reign Pontiff even a prisoner in his own palace : he could not suffer him in Bologna, Ancona, Naples, or in any of the great Italian towns. The decay of nature and the expectation of an old man's death under oppression was not enough for his hatred of the head of Christians. That he had succeeded in planting military colonies in various places, won some victories over men brave, but not numerous enough to defend themselves effectually, and gained fresh cities, was not enough so long- as there was a bishop with the soul of a freeman, and whom the consciences of men voluntarily o- beyed. The greater the virtues, talent and holiness of such a man the more obnoxious to the prince by reason of the contrast of his character with his own : the warmer the affection in which lie was held by the moderate and good, the more jealous the suspicion with which he was watched by the magistrates and their master. Clement was ac- cused of being the leader of what then was called a new sect, and the organizer of their meetings. Accordingly he was cited before Mamertinus the Prefect of the city. As was not unusual with per- sons of noble birth, lie was treated with a certain degree of urbanity. He had only to do what many 139 -- persons nobly born have found it convenient to do, to betray his Sovereign, to renounce his faith, to prostrate body and soul before the ideas and \vill of the Caesar. He had only not to know Christ the King, to give up what he was assured was superstitious excess, and offer incense to the gods, the protectors of the empire. His common sense ought to show him that the stronger were the best judges, and that his private opinions, even if he were consecrated to herald them to the world, ought not to be pushed too far in opposition to the material interests and wishes of so well-judging a prince. l But Clement was the Bishop of bishops, and he assented not to such suggestions. A report of the trial was submitted to the emperor, who or- dered him to be banished to Cherson beyond the Euxine sea. Under an escort of soldiers he set out on his long and dreary journey. If we would l We have in the martyrdom of S. Chrysogonus which the Church celebrates on the day after the feast of S. Clement, an example of this method of persuasion. He was shut up in Rome for two years, and his wants supplied by Anastasia. Diocletian ordered all the Christian priso- ners to be put to death, but Chrysogonus to be sent to him to Aquileia. I sent for you said the emperor to increase you with honours, if you will bring your mind to worship the gods. I do venerate was the answer with mind and prayer Him who is truly God : but the gods who are nothing else but images of devils I detest and execrate. The emperor had him beheaded. It ha$ been well said that there are more ways than one of sacrificing to the infernal deities; and modern iniquity has not been at a loss for victims to the prejudice, passion and injustice, of which those deities are the authors. 140 - knoAv how such prisoners were treated, history fur- nishes us with many examples, and among them that of S. Ignatius already referred to, that of S. John Chrysostom exiled from Constantinople to Comana Pontica in Cappadocia, that of Pius VI from Rome to Valence. If we would know how an imperial jailor can treat his victims, we can read it in Na- poleon the First bullying Pius VII at Fontainebleau, And if we would estimate the only value such men set upon moral and religious authority, we find it where that emperor tells his agent to treat the Pope as a power of a hundred thousand bayonets. S.Helena was the only fit comment, or Sedan. Wicked men grasp power, kings usurp; but God does not always wait for their death to hurl them from unjustly acquired eminence. The Pagan emperors resembled modern kings in their reliance upon brute force, but they were not paracides and did not style him they stript, imprisoned, mocked and murdered, their Holy Father. They despised or hated the Pope as their religious rival. They did not send for his blessing when they wreaked their malice on him. We may doubt whether their injustice was greater than that of royalty in the progress of the nineteenth century: but if they seemed more ferocious, they were certainly less hy- pocritical and mean. - 141 The power and the stones of ancient Rome were literally cemented with blood. When the sentimental traveller visits the Coliseum by moon- light, or deplores the wreck of marble columns, he seldom thinks with what agonies and deaths of slaves those masses were quarried and set up. At that great day when the just will stand with confidence against their oppressors, to Caesar will be given the things that are Caesar's, the dross of the metals he coveted for his filthy pleasures, the armour of his legions, the stones ransacked from every quarter of the world for his buildings and his statues. Perhaps the last of those fallen co- lumns which has been set up again in Papal Rome to bear aloft the image of the Mother of Christ, that pure and immaculate creation who never knew a stain of sin, was hewn and polished and conse- crated by the toil and misery of Christian men. Clement found two thousand Christians doomed to hopeless slavery in the marble quarries of the Cher- sonese. What a consolation commingled with feel- ings of the deepest grief, must it not have been to those martyrs of Christ to see the Supreme Pastor descend into those gloomy prisons! He taught them to bear with fortitude the trials they were subjected to, reminding them that they were not better than their Master, who suffered the 142 direst persecutions, and shed His blood for their redemption ; and that if they would imitate His example, they should share His glory. His admo- nitions produced the desired effect. They submit- ted to the tyranny of their masters, to the seve- rity of their labours, and to the gloom of their prisons, with Christian meekness and fortitude. They were obliged to carry water from a long distance under a parching sun; like another Mo- ses, Clement caused a limpid stream to gush from a rock that was miraculously pointed out to him. This fact is best explained by the Antiphons of Lauds, which are read in the Office for his feast, on the 23 d of November. 1 st Whilst Clement was in prayer, there ap- peared to him the Lamb of God. 2 nd Not by my merits ; the Lord has sent me to you to be a partaker of your crowns. 3 rd I saw upon the mountain the Lamb stand- ing, from underneath whose feet is welling out a living fountain, 4 th From underneath wiiose feet flows forth the living fountain ; the gushing of the stream makes glad the city of God. 5 th All the people around believed in Christ the Lord. The fame of this supernatural event spread 143 throughout that entire region, and the result was that most of its pagan inhabitants embraced the Christian faith, broke their idols, razed, to the ground, the temples in which they were enshrined, and upon their ruins built no less than seventy five churches. When Trajan was informed of the miracles wrought by S. Clement, and the innume- rable conversions made by his preaching, he became so incensed that he despatched his prefect Auphi- dianus armed with full powers to take proceedings against the Christians, and punish their temerity for violating the laws of the empire and insulting the gods, its protectors. Auphidianus on arriving at Cherson caused numbers of its inhabitants to be put to death by various kinds of torture. But seeing that, owing to the persuasive and inspired eloquence of Clement, they met their fate with cheerful resignation, he ordered the Pontiff to be thrown into the sea with an anchor fastened to his neck, The sentence was executed in the pre- sence of an immense crowd. The Christians being grieved that they could not recover his relics, were advised by his disciples, Cornelius and Phoebus, to have recourse to God by prayer, and humbly im- plore of Him to indicate to them the spot where the holy martyr's body lay. As their prayers a- scended to heaven, the sea miraculously retired from the shore : they followed the receding waters, and having gone to the distance of about three miles, they found, to their astonishment, and inexpressible consolation, a marble temple, and within it an urn containing the holy Pontiff's body, while near it lay the anchor, the instrument of his martyrdom. Falling on their knees they returned thanks to God for having recovered so priceless a treasure. For more than two hundred years the sea used to re- tire on the anniversary of S. Clement's martyrdom, leaving a dry path to the faithful for visiting his tomb, which remained accessible for the seven follow- ing days, when it was again covered by the wa- ters, as is recorded by S. Ephraim, the martyr bishop of Cherson, by S. Gregory of Tours, Peter de Natalibus, and many other trust-worthy authors. Trajan thought to disperse the sheep by striking the Shepherd, but he little knew that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. The miracles wrought by S. Clement during his exile, and after his martyrdom, had such an effect on the inhabitants of Cherson that they all embraced the Christian faith, so that, as Bosco informs us, neither Jew, nor Pagan, nor heretic, nor schis- matic, was to be found in any part of that country; and the penal settlement of the Christians became a nursery of Saints. As we stated above, the mi- 145 raculous reflux of the sea continued for more than two hundred years ; but owing to the frequent in- cursions of the barbarians, the primitive inhabi- tants were gradually eradicated, so that, before the ninth century, the whole of that region was re- peopled by a new race of men, and even the very spot, where once stood the celebrated temple of S. Clement, was forgotten, and of the sacred trea- sures it contained nothing was known until they were miraculously discovered by S. Cyril. Not as Pope wrote, in his Moral Essay, * Where London's column pointing at the skies Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies ; do the two great sculptured columns of pagan Rome reflect upon the victims of persecution. The An- tonine column records the rain, in answer to the prayers of the Christian soldiers, who saved the army of Marcus Aurelius from perishing by thirst. Where tier upon tier the sculptured marble gives the exploits of Trajan in minute detail, we see nought to remind us of his vindictive cruelty against the Christian martyrs, but we miss the anchor there. Generally speaking, when the pagan Romans had slain men, they let them be buried : they did not root out their ashes ; they did not destroy their 10 146 sepulchres : to purify, they did not burn down their temples : they did not take much pains to blacken their reputation after death. It was done some- times, but not for long. Neither Nero nor the se- nate built a column to record that the Christians set fire to Rome. Perhaps though they tortured men, they did not wish to boast of it. They did not think their power was built on that. We gaze indeed upon that proud monument of Trajan's triumphs, but the figure which crowns it is that of an Apostle. We look upon the shattered gra- nite pillars of his forum, where Constantine pro- claimed the empire Christian. We smile at the impotent conventions of emperors and kings, and bless the providence of God. In the midst of per- secution the Catholic in Rome has only to look upon her monuments to read the persecutor's fall. We have seen something of one of the first of S. Peter's disciples, a Roman, a Pope, and a Mar- tyr. That first Christian century began with the stoning of Stephen, it ended with S. Clement's exile, and the second commenced with his having been hurled into the sea. We must pass over seven cen- turies to find him again. The ninth century was one of great men, and of great events. It began with a great Catholic emperor, Charlemagne, it ended with a greater Catholic king, Alfred the 147 (n-eat.. Both were self-taught men, and both were full of Catholic instincts. Sir Henry Spelman l thus panegyrizes the character of the Monarch of Eng- land : 0, Alfred, the wonder and astonishment of all ages ! If we reflect on his piety and re- ligion, it would seem that he had always lived in a cloister ; if on his warlike exploits, that he had never been out of camps ; if on his learning and writing, that he had spent his whole life in a college ; if on his wholesome laws and wise ad- ministration, that these had been his whole study and employment. The monarch of France was active in war and in peace, constant at Mass, a linguist and a legis- lator, who began too old ever to write well, yet the friend of Alcuin. He retored the States of the Church, and, in 800, was crowned at Rome, by Leo III, em- peror of the West. It is possible that Alfred stood before the fresco of our Lady's Assumption in S.Cle- ment's; at least if Leo IV, whose figure forms part of the subject, was, as is supposed with the grea- test probability , living , when the painting was executed ; for twice Alfred was brought, by his pious father Ethelwulph, to Rome, and Leo adopt- ed him for his son, and anointed him for future 1 Con. Brit. 148 king. This is no place to dwell on the glories of his reign, but no greater king ever graced the En- glish throne. If he appears less conspicuously on behalf of the Popes, it was for no want of will. He thought Peter's pence no detriment to the realm, and we have recorded the names of the noblemen who carried his presents to Rome. 1 Nor was the ninth century without its missionary Saints. Charle- magne had subdued the Sclavonians by his arms, S. Cyril won them to Christ in the warfare of the faith. It is not uncommon in the lives of the Saints that the child is marked, as it were, by the finger of God, and pointed out for future sanctity ; perhaps that when death crowns the work, men may re- member that it was one of patience and love and not of man's doing. Thus Peregrina, the pious mother of the great bishop ofFiesole, S. Andrew Corsini, dreamt that she gave birth to a wolf which ran into a church and was turned into a lamb; and the young rake actually did retire to the Carmelite church which he did not leave until he had put on the habit of that Order. Thus the Blessed Jane of Aza, the mother of S.Dominic, dreamt that she brought forth a whelp with a lighted torch in his mouth, which set the whole world on fire; and that is the arms of the Order 1 See Asserius, William of Mahnsbury, and Matthew of West minster. in- to this day. From his early youth Constantino Cy- ril of Thessalonica, the son of a senatorial Roman fa- mily, was called the Philosopher from his rare ta- lents and aptitude for learning. Happier than others who had the same title, he dedicated the education he received at Constantinople to God's service in the priesthood. It was not a mean one. He knew Greek, Latin, and the Sclavonian languages, and he learned the Turcic spoken by the Huns, Chazari, and Tar- tars, that he might become the Apostle of their country. In 848, the Chazari, the descendants of the Huns of European Scythia. then settled on the Danube, sent to the emperor Michael III. and his pious mother Theodora, an embassy unlike modern embassies, for it was for priests to teach them the faith of Christ. 1 The empress sent for the patriarch S. Ignatius, and, by his advice, Cyril was charged with this important mission. Recommending his undertaking to God, he set out, and in a short time after entering the field of his missionary labours, he instructed and baptized the Cham together with his whole nation. He then committed his church to the care of pious and zealous pastors, and returned to Constantinople, absolutely refusing to accept the 1 In the reign of D. Sebastian of Portugal Alvaro I. king of Congo sent an embassy for a similar purpose to the Portuguese. 150 rich presents which the new convert and his people wished to bestow on him; while he assured them that he valued, more than all the gifts they could give him, a promise that they would emancipate their Christian slaves, which they accordingly did. 1 Cyril's second mission was to the Bulgarians, in which he was assisted by his brother Methodius. 2 Perhaps the circumstance which led to the conver- sion of Boigoris their king, had something to do with the previous embassy; for his sister had long been a hostage in the court of the empress Theo- dora, and became a Christian there. Her prayers, doubtless, ascended night and day to the throne of God for the conversion of her brother, which is said to have been effected, like many others in our own day, by a picture. Methodius was an artist monk; and when Boigoris asked the emperor for a painter to adorn his new palace, Methodius was selected. The king ordered him to execute a subject which would strike terror into all who saw it, and the 1 Illi (Chazari) pluriini exbilarati, et in fide catholica roborati gra- tias referebant, offerentes philosopho maxima niunera, qui ilia omnia re- apuens rogavit eos, quatenus pro muneribus quotquot captives habereat Ohristianos servituti deditos, dimitterent liberos ; quod protinus est ad- impletum. Qup facto philosophus reversus est Constantinopolim. MS. Blauber. 5 Egressus igitur (cum Methodio germane suo) prius venit ad Bul- garos, quos gratia cooperante suapredicatione convertit ad fidem. MS. Blauber. - 151 good monk thinking nothing more awful than the last judgement, executed it in the most lively colours. The terrors of the scene and the explanation of it had so powerful an effect on Boigoris that he in- stantly desired to be baptized, and took the name of Michael. His subjects hearing of his conversion rose in arms against him and marched to attack his pa- lace ; but he put himself at the head of his army and defeated them. The rebels thus checked returned to their allegiance, and shortly afterwards followed the example of their sovereign by embracing the Chris- tian faith. A thorough convert, this prince sent let- ters and ambassadors to Nicolas I. begging his Holi- ness to let him know what more he should do. l The Pope gave him the instructions he desired, and sent Legates, in 867, to congratulate him on his conver- sion to the faith. He also answered many difficul- ties that were proposed to him, and declared baptism administered,, in case of necessity , by laymen, and even by infidels, to be good and valid. 2 Boigoris Mi- chael renounced his crown in 880, and, putting on a monastic habit, led an evangelical life on earth. The year of his death is unknown. From Bulgaria Cyril and Methodius passed into Moravia, by invitation of 1 Anastas. Bibl. in Nicolao I, et ipse Nicolaus ep. 70. Hincmar etc. 2 See his response ad cousulta Bulgarorum. Cone. t. 7. p. 1542. 152 king Rastices, whom they baptized with most of his people. Augustine, in his catalogue of the bishops of Ulmutz, l and Dubravius 2 assert that S. Cyril was the first bishop of the Moravians. Also, the Bohe- mians, under God, owe their faith to our Apostolic monks. Dubravius writes that Borivorius, or Bori- way, duke of Bohemia, was converted to the faith by hearing the holy missionaries preach, and being baptized by Methodius he invited him to Prague where he instructed his wife Ludmilla, their children, and many of his subjects, and regenerated them with the waters of baptism. Methodius also built at Prague the church of our Lady and several others. Stre- dowski, in his Sacra Moraviae historia , styles SS. Cy- ril and Methodius the apostles of Moravia, upper Bohemia, Silesia, Cazaria, Croatia, Circassia, Bul- garia, Bohemia, Russia, Poland, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Dacia, Carinthia, Carniola, and of almost all the king- doms in which the Sclavonian language is spoken. Pope John VIII, in 879, in his letters to count Spen- dopulk, writes that the Sclavonian alphabet was in- vented by S. Cyril. The Sclavonian letters or alpha- bet invented by Constantine the philosopher that the praises of God may be sung, we justly commend. 3 1 Inter rerura Boheraiae scriptores. Hannoviae 1032. 2 Hist. Bohemiae, lib. 4. 3 Ep. 247 ad Spendopulchrum comitera. 153 The brothers also translated the liturgy and Mass into that tongue. In 1631, the Sclavonian missal was revised by Urban VIII. and his approbation of it was confirmed by Benedict XIV. It was not until after S. Cyril's death that Methodius, who was made archbishop of Moravia, obtained from John VIII. per- mission to use the Sclavonian language in the Mass. Both brothers came to Rome by invitation of Pope Nicolas I. Cyril died there and was buried in the church of S. Clement. It is necessary to know what we may style the family affections of the Church in Rome even in un- happy times, what brotherly rejoicing in the cano- nization of a saint, what devotion in united prayers, what interest the good take even in the trifles of their father, to appreciate the eagerness with which the Roman people received the news of the arrival of the missionary saint, bringing with him the relics of S. Clement. The contemporary bishop of Velle- tri, Gaudentius, has given us an account of the translation of the relics of S. Clement which he witnessed ; and Rondinini thinks that he may have had the account of their discovery from S. Cyril himself. When Constantine Cyril went to Pontus, the present Crimea, to study the language of the Turci for his mission to the Chazari, l he tried in vain to learn 1 The Chazari were a tribe of Turci, the most numerous and power- 154 something about S. Clement's relics. The people, who were not the tribes of Clement's day, but others who had come in since then , could give no information about them; and, for more than five centuries, the miraculous receding of the sea had ceased. He applied to George, the bishop of the diocese, and they agreed to search what they sup- posed to be the original spot. Taking ship on a calm day, under the guidance of Christ, they took their way, to wit, the aforesaid Philosopher, with the bishop, George by name, and the re- verend clergy, and some of the people as well. Sailing then with great devotion and confidence, hymning and praying, they reached the island in ful nation of the Huns in European Scythia. In the sixth century they were divided into seven, sometimes into ten tribes, governed by so many independent chagans, that is chains or kings. They drove the Avare?, and other nations of the Huns, from the banks of the Ethel, now called Volga, towards the Danube, in the reigns of the emperors Mauritius and Tiberius, who both honoured them with their alliance, and two pompous embassies, minutely described by the emperor Con- stantiue Porphyrogenetta in his Pandextae Hist, de Legationibus p.161. From these ancient Turci some thiuk the Turks among the Ogisoian Tartars to be descended, as well as the Tartars of the Crimea. Cos- tantine Porphyrogenetta (1. de regendo imperio ad Romanum filium) and other Bysantine writers, call also the Huns and other northern na- tions, whether of Europe or Asia, by the same name, Turci. The Chazari took possession of the territory bordering on Germany, upon the banks of the Danube, which Porphyrogenetta describes in his time to have had the Bulgarians on the east, the Patzinaciticae (who came also from the Volga) on the north, Moravia on the west, and on the south the Scrobati, a tribe of Bulgarians who lived in the mountains. 155 which they supposed the holy martyr's body to be. Getting round about it then, and searching, with great brilliancy of lights, they began, more and more earnest in their holy prayers, very anxiously, and without intermission, to dig in that mound where so great a treasure was sus- pected to rest. After working there for some time, and with much holy desire, on a sudden, as if God grave some brilliant star, one of the precious martyr's ribs shone forth. At which spectacle all filled with immense exultation, and, not now without some excitement, vying with each other to dig out the earth more and more, his holy head also in due course appeared. And then behold after a little while again, as it were out of some parcels of holy relics, by degrees, and at moderate intervals, the whole was found. And last of all there appeared the anchor with which he had been cast into the deep. After the celebration, by the bishop, of the sacred myste- ries upon the spot, the holy man lifting the chest of the sacred relics upon his own head, bore them to the ship; then transported the glory l to the 1 Deinde Gloriam metropolim transportavit. Rondinini thinks it should be Georgiam. See Rondinini, lib. I, II. Or Gloriam may be a misprint for Georgiam, and if so, the meaning would be - he transported the relics to Georgia the Metropolis. 156 metropolis. On the following morning the entire population of the city getting together, and tak- ing up the chest of sacred relics, went round the town with much thanksgiving, and coming to the greater basilica honorably placed them in it. If any one should suppose that this ac- count is fabulous and incredible, he would betray his ignorance of Church history. When S. Helen recovered the true Cross, it was distinguished, from the other two which lay beside it, by a miracle of healing. S. Ambrose relates how he himself re- covered the relics of SS. Gervasius and Protasius. Whilst I was dedicating the basilica, many began, as with one voice, to call upon me saying: ' Let this be dedicated as was the Roman basilica. S.Am- brose: I will do so, if I can find martyr's relics" and instantly there came upon me an ardour which presaged something. What need of many words? The Lord granted the favour. And though even the clerics were alarmed, I ordered the ground to be dug up before the gates of SS. Felix and Nabor. I met with suitable indications. We found two men of wonderful stature. All the bones entire and much blood. The crowd was great throughout the whole of the two days. In * a word, we translated them when the evening was near at hand to the basilica of Faustus, and 157 on the following day to the basilica which they call the Ambrosian. Whilst we were translat- ing them, a blind man was restored to sight. In the three instances here mentioned, search was made at a particular spot, where the relics were suspected to be. The reclics of S. Cecily were found , by Pope Paschal I. in the catacombs, through a dream in which the saint appeared to him after he had actually abandoned the search as useless. The recovery of the relics of the pro- tomartyr, the deacon S. Stephen, was still more extraordinary. In the year 415, while Lucian, a venerable priest who was attached to a church in the small town of Caphargamala, about twenty miles from Jerusalem, whilst sleeping in a room near the sacristy where he lived in order to guard the sacred vessels, he dreamt that a tall comely old man appeared to him clad in a white garment edged with small plates of gold and decorated with crosses, and holding a golden wand in his hand. Approaching Lucian, and calling him three times by name, he ordered him to go to Jerusalem and tell bishop John to come and open the tombs in which his remains and those of other servants of Christ lay; Lucian asked his name, and he replied: I am Gamaliel l who instructed Paul in the law, 1 Gamaliel was of the sect of the Pharisees, and a legal doctor of 158 * and on the east side lieth Stephen who was stoned * to death by the Jews outside the north gate. His body was left there exposed one day and one night, but was not touched by birds or beasts. I exhorted the faithful to carry it away during the night, and had it secretly brought to my house in the country, where I celebrated his ob- > sequies for forty days, and then buried him in my own tomb. Xicodemus who came to Jesus by night, lies in another sarcophagus. He was expelled the synagogue for following Christ, and then banished from Jerusalem, whereupon he came to my house, where I kept him till his death and buried him near S. Stephen. I also buried there my son Abibas: his body is in a coffin higher up in which I myself was also interred. Lucian, unable to understand the vision, begged of God that if it came from Him, he might be fa- voured with it a second and a third time. And high reputation in his day at Jerusalem. We read in the acts of the Apostles, ch. 22, n. 3, that S. Paul recommended himself to the Jews by saying that he had been his scholar. When the Jews were contriving to put the Apostle to death, Gamaliel dissuaded them by proving that the Christian religion was the work of God. And this he did with such pru- dence that he did not incur the least suspicion of favouring the Naza- renes, as the Christians were then called. He was not then a Christian, but S. John Chrysostom assures us that he embraced the faith before S Paul. See Acts of the Apostlee, ch. V, v. 34. Horn. 20. S Joannis Chrys. in Joan. Ilom. 14. in Act. 159 so it was, Gamaliel appeared to him in a dream a second and a third time, in the same dress as be- fore, and commanded him to obey. Lucian commu- nicated his vision to the bishop of Jerusalem. The search was made, the coffins were found, one of which was higher than the others, and in it lay the bodies of an old and a young man, and one in each of the other sarcophagi. On the lid of the highest coffin, or sarcophagus, were engraved in large letters Gamaliel, Abibas. On the second Clie!icl, the Syriac name of Stephen, or crowned; and on the third Nasucuit, which in Syriac means Nico- demuSj or victory of the people. Lucian immediately sent messengers to communicate the discovery to bishop John, who was at the time assisting at the council of Diospolis. The good tidings filled the heart of the holy old man with joy; and forthwith he set out accompanied by Eutonius, bishop of Se- baste, and Eleutherius, bishop of Jericho, to visit the place where the relics were found. On open- ing the coffin of S. Stephen, the earth shook, a balmy perfume was diffused, such as no one tjiere present ever smelt before, and no less than seventy three persons afflicted with various maladies were cured on the spot. The history of this miraculous discovery written by Lucian, and translated into Latin by Aritus, a Spanish priest and an intimate 160 friend of S. Jerome, is published by the Benedictine monks in the appendix to the seventh volume of the works of S. Augustine. The same is attested by Chrysippus, a learned and holy priest of Jerusalem, as well as by Idatius, Marcellinus, Basil bishop of Seleucia, by S. Augustine, Bede, and several other Fathers and historians of the early Church. S. Au- gustine says that the place where the martyrs of Milan lay hid, was made known to S. Ambrose by a vision. I was there, I was at Milan. I know the miracles wrought. A blind man, l very well known to the whole city, recovered his sight. He ran. (He caused himself to be led to touch the bier with his handkerchief). He came back without a guide. We have not yet heard that lie is dead: perhaps he is still living. He dedi- cated himself to serve during his whole life in that basilica of theirs, where their bodies are. 1 The name of this blind man is Severus. He had been a butcher, but was obliged, by the loss of his sight, to give up his profession. S Ambrose, in his letter to Marcellina his sister, relates that many laine and sick persons were cured of divers maladies by touching the shrouds which covered the relics, and that devils, in possessed persons, confessed the glory of the martyrs, by declaring that they were not able to bear the torments which they suffered iu their presence. He also observes, that the Arians at Milan, by denying the miracles of these martyrs, showed that they had a different faith from that of the mar- tyrs; otherwise they would not have been jealous of their miracles ; but this faith, says he, is confirmed by the tradition of our ancestors, which the devils are forced to confess, but the heretics deny. 161 Paulinus says, in his life of S. Ambrose : To this very day, he (the blind man) lives as a religious in the same basilica which is called the Ambro- sian, whither the bodies of the martyrs were re- moved. The very energy of Augustine's lan- guage shows his belief in what he says. But the festival which the Church keeps on the 3 rd of August for the finding, in 415, of S. Stephen's re- lics is still more remarkable they were disco- vered entirely by a dream several times repeated, and more than ordinary miracles confirmed its truth in divers places. Augustine's friend Evodius, bishop of Uzalis, published two books recording the miracles. * In his own church were perserved two phials of the martyr's blood, and some fragments of his bones, by which several miracles were per- formed, a list of which he had publicly read, and as the name of the person cured was called out, he was desired to go up to the apse that he might be seen by the people. So that here is a case no- torious enough, in which the Church, not satisfied with solemnizing the martyrdom on the 2 6 th of Decem- ber, has appointed a special festival to celebrate a dream and its results. If, as S. Gregory Xazianzen energetically says, such is the veneration of truth, 1 See S. Alfric's Homilies, Vol. I. In festo S Stephani Proto- martyris. 11 162 that a little dust, or some small relic of old bones, or portions of hair, or shreds of a rag, or a stain of blood, are enough to have the same honour as the whole body, the Church does not shirk the marvellous in the discovery of re- lics; but celebrates together the dream vouchsafed from God to do honour to His saint, and to bring blessings on His people in the gifts of healing which followed upon the finding of the relics. Magna et in exigud sanctorum pulvere virtus. Cyril, after having deposited the chest contain- ing S. Clement's relics in the metropolitan church of Pontus, set out for his mission to the Chazari, and, after having converted that people, he returned to Constantinople. On his way he passed again through Pontus, and obtained from the bishop S.Clement's relics, which he always carried about on his mis- sions, and finally brought them to Rome when call- ed thither together with his brother Methodius by Nicholas I. Nicholas died before they arrived, and was succeeded by Adrian II. who being informed that they were not far distant from the city, and had brought with them the relics of S. Clement, went out to meet them together with the Roman clergy and people. 1 Gaudentius, who assisted at 1 Papa Iladrianus exhilaratus valde cum clero et populo procedens illis obviam honorifice eos cum sacris suscepit reliquiis. Ms. Blaub 163 their deposition by the Pope's orders in S. Clement's church, 1 says that they were the instruments of many miracles. 2 In a short time after, Cyril died in Rome, and the Pope had him interred in the Va- tican, with pontifical honours, in the marble sarco- phagus he had prepared for himself, and sealed it with his own ring. The two brothers before set- ting out on their mission to the Bulgarians, had promised their pious mother that if either should die, the survivor would bring his remains to the monastery and there bury them with suitable ho- nours. 3 Methodius, mindful of this promise, beg- ged of Adrian to allow him to take back his bro- ther's remains to his native country. The sequel we give from the Duchesne manuscript: Although 1 Sepelierunt autein corpus sanctum in ecclesia quae in nomine eius diu antea f uit coustructa. Ms. Blaub. 2 Cseperunt itaque ad prsesentiam sanctarurn reliquiarum per virtu- tern omuipotentis Dei sanitates niirabiles fieri, ita ut quovis languore quivis oppressus f uisset, adoratis pretiosis martyris reliquiis sacrosanctis, protinus salvaretur. Quapropter tarn venerabilis apostolicus, quam et to- tius Honiara populi universitas, gratias et laudes Deo maxiuias referentes, gaudebant et iucunflabantur in ipso qui iis post tarn prolixi temporis spa- tia concesserit in diebus illis sanctum et apostolicum virum, et ipsius Apostolorum principis Petri successorem in sede sua recipere, et non sol urn urbem totam, sed et orbern quoque totura Romani imperil si- gnis eius ac virtutibus illustrari. See Gaudentius in Rondinini, pag. 49. 3 Mater cum inultis lacrymis obtestata .est, ut si aliquem ex nobis antequarn reverteremur obiisse contigerit, defunctum fratrem frater vi- vas ad monasterium eum reduceret, et ibidem ilium digno et competenti honore sepeliret. Ms. Blaub. 164 it seemed somewhat grievous to himself, the Pope did not see fit to refuse a petition and desire of that kind, but having closed the body carefully in a marble chest which he sealed with his own ring, after seven days gave him leave to re- turn. The Roman clergy taking counsel with the bishops and cardinals and nobles of the city, came together to the Pope and said: ' Venerable Father and Lord, it seems to us very un\vorthy that so great and magnificent a man, through whom our city and church has had the fortune to recover so precious a treasure, and whom God has designed of his gratuitous compassion to bring to us out of 'such distant foreign regions, and even to take to His kingdom from this place, should be allowed by us to be translated to other parts; but here rather would we have him hono- rably interred... Then Methodius prayed that he might be laid in the church of blessed Clement, whose body found again by his great labour and zeal he had brought thither. The most holy Pontiff, assented to this petition, and, with a great concourse of the clergy and people, with great gladness and much reverence, they laid him, together with the marble chest in which the Pope had placed him before, in a monument, purposely prepared in the basilica of S. Clement, 165 - on the right side of the altar. l That pious office having been performed, Methodius, with a heart laden with grief, set out alone from Rome and returned to Moravia to attend to the duties of his ministry. Having incurred the displeasure of the archbishops of Saltzburg and Metz, by cele- brating Mass in the Sclavonian tongue, they, con- jointly with their suffragans, addressed two letters to Pope John VIII, which are still extant, complain- ing of the novelty introduced by Methodius. The Pope, in 878, called Methodius, whom he styles archbishop, to Rome. He obeyed and gave ample satisfaction to his Holiness, who confirmed him in 1 Tune supradictus frater eius Methodius accedens ad Sanctum Pon- tificem (scilicet Hadrianum II), et procidens ad vestigia eius petiit sa- crum corpus Non est visum apostolico, quamvis grave sibi aliquantu- luui videretur, petition! et voluntati huiusmodi refragari ; Bed clausum diligenter defuncti corpus in locello rnarmoreo et proprio insuper sigillo signatum, post septem dies dat ei licentiam redeundi. Time Romanus clerus simul cum episcopis, cardinalibus et nobilibus urbis. consilio ha- bito, convenientes ad Apostolicum cceperunt dicere: Indignum nobis valde videtur, Venerabilis Pater et Domine, ut tantum tanique magnificum vi- rum per quern tarn pretiosum tliesauruin urbs et ecclesia nostra recupe- rare promeruit, et quem Deus ex tarn longinquis regionibus et exteris ad nos ex sua gratuita pietate perducere, et adhuc etiam ex hoc loco ad sua regna est dignatus assumere, qualibet interveniente occasione, in alias patiamini partes transferri, sed hie potius placet honorifice tumuletur Tune Methodius oravit ut in ecclesia Beati dementis cuius corpus multo suo labore ac studio repertum hue dettilit recondetur. Annuit huiusmodi petition! Prsesul sanctissimus, et concurrent* cleri et populi maxima fre- quentia cum ingeuti Isetitia et reverentia multa, simul cum locello mar- moreo, in quo pridem prasdictua Papa condiderat, posuerunt in monu- mento tid id pneparato in basilica Beati dementis ad dexteram partem altaris ipsins. M>. Duches. - 166 all the privileges of the archiepiscopal See of Mo- ravia, exempted him from the jurisdiction of Saltz- burg, and approved of the Sclavonian language in the liturgy and office of the Church, as it continues to be to this day. He lived to an advanced age, but the year of his death is uncertain. Dubravius affirms that he died in Rome and was buried with his brother in the church of S. Clement, where his relics wrought many miracles. The same is men- tioned by Baronius in his notes on the Roman Mar- tyrology; by Fanciroli in his thesauris dbscondttis Almce Urbis, and by Heinschenius, who, morever, adds, that some portion of his relics were sent to Moravia and enshrined in the collegiate church of Brunne. Walls of ancient basilica. Walls built round the colonnade of subterranean church and cupprrling colonnade of upper church. Foundation of apse of modern church. P CJ] Modern pilasters supporting the vaulting on which rests pavement of uppef church. GROUND PLAN OF SUBTERRANEAN BASILICA. A. Entrance to the subterranean basilica. B. Narthex. 0. Nave. D. North aisle. E. South aisle. FF. Site of ambones and marble en- closure of choir. GGG. Apse of subterranean basilica. II. Supposed tomb of S.Cyril. II. Passage leading to the walls of the imperial, re- publican, and kingly periods, a. Altar, bbbb. Modern pilasters from which spring vaults supporting the pavement of modern church. 1. Fresco of the martyrdom of S. Catharine of Alexandria. 2. Niche of the Madonna. 3 Council-painting. 4. Mutilated figure of our Saviour. 5. Martyrdom of S. Peter. 6. Baptism by S. Cyril. 7. Miracle of Li- bertinus. 8. Installation of Cleim.it by S.Peter. S. Clement celebrat- ing mass, and Mirasle of Sisinius. 9. 10. S. Antoninus. Daniel in the lions' den. 11. Life, death, and recognition of S.Alexius. 12. 13 S.Giles. S. Blaze. 14. S. Prosper. 15. Oniaitixion. 1(3. The Marys at the Sepulchre, descent into Limbo, and marriage feast at Cana. 17. As- sumption of the B. Virgin. 18. Translation of S. Clement's relics from the Vatican to his own church. 10. Miracle at the tomb of S.Clement. 20. Our Saviour blessing according to the Greek rite. 21. 22. Heads of unknown personages. 23. Our Saviour delivering Adam from Limbo. SUBTERRANEAN BASILICA OF S.CLEMENT. CHAPTER I. Basilica Its meaning and purpose Christian churches called basilicas, and why ? Pagan basilicas converted into churches Basilican- design carried out in S. Clement's Oratory of S. Clement replaced by a basilica in the 4th century Diocletian's doings in Nicomedia Churches restored to the Christians by Licinius and Constantine Memoria, technical meaning of Memoria of S. Clement. IHE Greek word Bac^Xr/vj Basilica means a royal hall, and in this sense it is used at the end of the Recognitions of S. Clement, whsre it is stated that Theophilus, the first citizen of Antioch, domus suae ingentem basilicam ecclesiae nomine consecravit, for the reception of S. Peter's chair. It was a covered building, not like the forum, an open place surrounded by covered porticoes. The first great basilica in Rome was built, A. u. c. 568, by Cato the elder (Marcus Portius), whence it was called Portia ; the second was called Opimia ; the third, that of Paulus, built at so great expense, 168 and with such magnificence, that it was called Re- gia Pauli. Julius Caesar built, under the direction of Yitruvius, the basilica Julia, which served not only for the hearing of causes, but also for the audience and reception of foreign ambassadors. It was supported by one hundred marble columns in four rows, and enriched with decorations of gold and precious stones. Pagan Rome contained many other basilicas also, such as the Emilian, the Ul- pian, the Constantinian, etc. Ecclesiastical writers generally use the word to signify a church of great magnificence, and in that sense it is frequently em- ployed by S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Jerome, Si- donius Apollinaris, and several other writers of the fourth and fifth centuries. Some, with the learned Jesuit Alexander Donati, and Rondinini, assert that the ancient churches were called basi- licas from their having been built in the style of the Roman halls, while others maintain that those halls were given to the Church for the celebration of Christian rites, as may be collected from that passage in Ausonius, where he tells the emperor Gratian : The basilicas, which heretofore were wont to be filled with men of business, are now thronged with votaries praying for your safety. These words clearly indicate that at least some of the Roman basilicas were converted into Christian 169 churches. The design of the basilica was simple and grand : oblong in form, with a nave and two aisles, separated by lines of columns from which, in many instances, sprung arches to support the walls that sustained the roof. At the extreme end opposite the door was a raised platform for the tribune, and the apse in which it stood was often ornamented with mosaics. The main entrance to the building was through a portico supported by five or seven columns according to the size of the structure. All these arrangements are still pre- served in the modern basilica of S. Clement, the style of which, we presume, was borrowed from the ancient one. Bottari, l Agincourt, 2 Raoul Rochette 3 and Father March! 4 have maintained that the style of the Christian basilica was borrowed from the chapels in the catacombs. But these chapels were rather modelled after the plan of the ancient Ro- man basilica, as it was natural for the Christians to adopt the designs to which they were accustomed. History, 5 as Avell as tradition, informs us that 1 In his Roma Sotterranea, 6, 3, pag. 75. 5 Histoire de 1'art par les monuments, liv. I, pag. 25. 3 Tableau des catacombes. 4 Monum. delle arti primitive, architettura. 5 See Ciaccoiiius, in Vita S. dementis. Pompeo Ugoni, Sacre Sta- zioni, Chiesa di S. Clemente. Rondinini, lib. II, c. 1 . Panciroli, Tesori nascosti delTalma citta di Roma. Baronius, etc. 170 Clement, shortly after his conversion, erected an oratory in his own palace at the foot of the Coe- lian Hill, to which the catechumens and Christian neophytes used to repair for instruction in the mys- teries of the faith, to assist at the celebration of the sacred rites, and eat of the bread of life. How long this oratory existed after the exile and mar- tyrdom of its founder there is no historical proof ; but judging from the veneration in which the pri- mitive Christians held the abodes of the martyrs, there is every reason to believe that it witnessed and withstood all the persecutions which assailed the Church from Nero to Diocletian, and that it was replaced by a basilica of great size and mag- nificence in the beginning of the fourth century. The first act of Diocletian's sweeping persecution, in 302, was to level to the ground the lofty Chris- tian church of Nicornedia, whilst he and Galerius looked on from a balcony of the palace. The pre- tence was that certain just men hindered the ora- cles of Apollo ; and the emperor Constantine records this in an edict issued by him which is preserved by Eusebius. Thee I call to witness, most high God. Thou knowest how I being then very young, heard the emperor Diocletian inquiring of his officers who these just men were, when one of his priests made answer that they were the Chri- 171 *- stians ; which answer moved Diocletian to draw his bloody sword, not to punish the guilty, but to exterminate the righteous whose innocence stood confessed by the divinities he adored. Lactantius says : When they are sacrificing to their gods, if there stand by one who has his forehead signed (that is with the sign of the Cross), they cannot proceed with their sacrifices. Nee responsa potest consultus redder e vates. And this has been often the chief cause why wicked kings have persecuted righteousness. For certain of ours, who were in attendance on their masters as they were sacrificing, by making the sign upon their foreheads put to flight their gods, so that they could not descry in the bowels of their victims what was to happen. He evidently alludes to what actually happened in 302, when Diocletian was sacrificing at Antioch ; who there- upon compelled the whole court to come and sa- crifice or be scourged, and all the soldiers to sa- crifice or be disbanded. The palace of Nicomedia was twice set on fire, and, like the burning of Rome under Nero, it was attributed to Christian incen- diaries. Eusebius says of the imperial edicts : We have seen with our eyes the sacred temples le- veiled to the ground and overturned from the foundations, the sacred books of divine scriptures 172 burnt in the nridst of the forum. But all the churches were not destroyed, for he says that, under Licinius, many were levelled to the ground, and others were closed by the provincial Presi- dents; and he gives the decree of Licinius and Constantine ordering the churches to be restored to the Christian corporations. And since the same Christians themselves are known to have had not only the places in which they used to meet, but others too which did not belong to each of them individually, but to the body, all these according to the law commemorated by us you will, without any doubt, order to be restored to the same Christians, that is to each body and assembly of them. l It was, therefore, a ne- cessity, at the peace of the Church, to repair the old and build new ones. But now, * says the same Eusebius, who can fully describe the num- berless crowds of men daily taking refuge in the faith of Christ ? Who the number of churches in each city ; who the illustrious concourse of people in the sacred aedes ? whence it happens that now, not satisfied with the old buildings, they erect spacious churches from their founda- tions in every city. And it would have been 1 Book 10, c. 5, 173 strange if Constantino, who owed his empire to the miraculous sign of the Cross, and set it upon his statue in the imperial city, remained indifferent to these buildings. Again Eusebius says: He sup- plied God's churches with many benefits out of his treasury, partly enlarging and raising aloft the sacred buildings, partly adorning the august oratories of the churches with very many votive offerings. The preamble of the decree preserved by the same historian shews that it contemplated a general and public restoration. Since up to this day im- pious presumption and tyrannical violence have * persecuted the ministers of our Saviour. I hold it certain and am evidently persuaded, that the buildings of all the churches, either spoilt through carelessness, or through fear of the assailing ini- quity of the times, are less honourably cared for. It is reasonable to suppose that the oratory of S. Cle- ment was not forgotten in these Constantinian resto- rations. S. Jerome, in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers, informs us that the church built in Rome keeps the memory of his name to this day. l We do not read of any other church having been ever 1 Xominis ejus memoriaui, usque hodie Roruae extructa ecclesia custodit. S. Hieron. Cat. de script, ecclesiast. 174 dedicated to S. Clement in Rome except this one. Be- sides this, the word memoria has a technical meaning-; O ' it does not mean simply the remembrance of his name. S. Augustine writing against Faustus, the Manichean, says: The Christian people frequent * the memorials of the martyrs, with religious so- lemnity, both to excite imitation and that they may share in their merits, and by their prayers be helped ; so however that we sacrifice to none of the martyrs but to the very God of the martyrs, although we set up altars in the memorials of the martyrs. * Again he says: We build to our martyrs not temples as to gods, but memorials as to dead men whose spirits are living with God; nor do we erect these altars on which to sacrifice to martyrs, but to the one God. both of the mar- tyrs and our own, we immolate the sacrifice. 2 So the Pontifical Book records that Felix I. ap- pointed Masses to be celebrated over the tombs and memorials of the martyrs ; and that Anacletus built and put together the memoria of blessed Peter, seeing that he had been ordained priest by blessed Peter ; and also other places, in which the bishops might be buried: but where he himself also was 1 Lib. 20, cap. 21. - De Civitate Dei, lib. 22, c. 10. 175 buried near the body of blessed Peter. l A Pa- gan inscription records that Servilins Troilus, whilst living, provided the memoria for himself and his, and for his wife Ulpia Successa etc. And in another to the Diis Manibus and eternal memory of Q. Vereius Laurentinus, an incomparable man of Lyons, their son records that he laid the said Lau- rentinus and his wife in the memoria which Lau- rentinus had made for his very dear wife. The in- scription at the beginning of this volume records the pagan memoria of Aurelius Syntomus. In the case of the martyr Pope S. Clement there was a special reason why the memoria should be styled the me- morial of his name. The religious inclination of the Christians naturally led them to build the memoria, or memorial over the martyr's body. When the body of S.Boniface was brought from the East in Diocletian's time, Aglae, straightway rising up, took, with her, clerics and religious men, and thus with hymns, and spiritual canticles, and all veneration went to meet the body and laid it five stadia from the city of Rome till she could build him a house worthy of his passion. 2 About T Hie (Anacletus) memoriam Beati Petri construxit, et composuit, duiu presbyter factus fuisset a Beato Petro, seu alia loca, ubi episcopi recondeventur sepulturae. Ubi autem et ipse sepultus est juxta corpus Beati Petri. 2 Ruinart, Acta Mart, p. 290. 176 the same time Primus and Felicianus were beheaded atNomentum (modern Mentana), and thrown into the fields, but the Christians carried them into an arena- rium and afterwards buried them near it. Miraculous cures ensued; and when the persecution of the Pagans had ceased the Christians built a basilica in their ho- nour at the fourteenth milestone from Rome. The martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria were buried on the Salarian w r ay. Many years after, A. D. 284, a mul- titude of Christians were keeping their birth day, that is the anniversary of their martyrdom, when Numerian walled them in, and threw down a mass of gravel on them. Among them were Diodorus the priest, Marianus the deacon, and very many clerics; but of the people neither the number nor names were collected. Ciampini says that small buildings were constructed over the cemeteries or their boundaries, called confessions, memoriae, and rnartyria, (which has been illustrated by De Rossi's recent discovery of the entrance to the cemetery of S. Domitilla) and that the Acts of Chrysanthus and Daria, quoted by Arringhi, show it. There Hilaria, the relict of the martyr Claudius, is described as placing the bodies of her sons in separate sarcophagi; she is taken at prayer at the most holy confession, and in the hands of her captors utters this beautiful prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, whom I confess with 177 my whole heart, unite me to my children, whom from my womb thou didst call to martyrdom, and so expired. Her two maids buried her with the most loving diligence, and built a little church over her, for the place in which she died was her own garden, and, from the time the saints had suffered there, she made it her dwelling place. But in the case of S. Clement, his relics remained at the scene of his martyrdom until S. Cyril brought them to Rome in the ninth century. His memoria. then, was not of the body, but of some other title. The fifth council of Carthage l forbids aedes to be built for martyrs except there be on the spot either the body, or some certain relics, or where the origin of some habitation,^! possession, or passion of the mar- tyr, has been transmitted from a most trustworthy source fidelissima origine. The memory of Cle- ment's name, preserved in the church mentioned by S. Jerome, was that of his traditional dwelling place. This saint and doctor (Jerome), to whom the Church owes the Latin version of the Scriptures, died in 420, only a hundred years after the Christian religion was made free throughout the empire, and we may well suppose that the basilica, which had been raised over S. Clement's paternal house at the base of the hill 1 Can. ]J. 12 178 to which the Etruscan leader Coelius Vibenna had given his name, 1 would not have escaped that in- defatigable restorer of shrines, S. Damasus, if it had need of repairs. De Rossi argues, from the collar 2 of a fugitive slave, that S. Clement's had its pro- prio clero, that is its own clergy, or regularly constituted body of clergy, in the middle of the fourth century. The brand of slavery was abolished by Constantine, and such collars as that above men- tioned substituted instead. Upon this thin bronze- plate, referred to by De Rossi, is engraved, on one side: Hold me for I have fled, and recal (return) me to Victor the acolyte of the dominicum of Cle- ment, 3 together with the Constantinian mono- 1 The Coelian hill lies to the east of the Palatine, and, according to Tacitus (AnnaL, liv. IV, cap. 65) its ancient name had been Querquetu- lanus, from the oaks that covered it ; and that subsequently it was called Coelian from Coelius Vibenna a leader of the Etruscans who catne to the assistance of Rome, and was settled on that hill by Tarquin : or who, ac- cording to Varro (De Ling. Lat., lib. IV), came to assist the Romans against the Sabiues, and was located there by Romulus. The ancients distin- guish the Mons Coelius from the Coeliolus, (Varro, De Liny. Lat., lib. IVj, and antiquarians do not agree as to the precise place of the latter. It is certain that the Coeliolus was in the second Region of the City, and Nardini and Nibby assign it to the eminence on which the church of S.Gregory now stands. Under the church of SS. John and Paul are jancient quarries of tufo lithoide, which supplied building material for the walls of Servius Tullius. 3 In the museum of Lelio Pasqualini, a contemporary of Baronius. De Rossi, in the Bollettino di Archeologia Cristiana N. 4, proves that the above mentioned collar is of the time of Constantine. 3 Fabbretti, Inscr., p. 522, n. 305. 179 gram of Christ. On the obverse side the inscription is I have fled from Euplogius ex-prefect of the city. This inscription is rudely scratched, as if with the point of a knife, and below it is the monogram of Christ encircled by a laurel crown having on one side, and a pal n branch on the other. TENE ME Q FVGI EYP VIA FYG . ET KEB LOGlO EX . OCA ME VICTOR PRF . VRB . I . ACOLIT A DOMIX ICV CLEM ENTIS For our part, we will hope that, if Victor of S. Cle- ment's kept a serf at all, he had him, as S. Paul says of Onesimus : Not now as a, slave, but instead of a slave, a most dear brother , especially to me but how much more to thee (Philemon) both in flesh and in the Lord. l 1 S. Paul to Philem., v. 16. ISO - CHAPTER II. Heresy of the Pelagian Celestius condemned iu S. Clement's S. Gre- gory the Great preaches in it Restored by Adrian I Gifts by S. Leo III, and S. Leo IV Probable period of its destruction and abandonment When discovered Visits, and munificence, of Pius IX Consists of a iiave, two aisles, and a narthex, see ground-plan Alexandria, its interest to the Church S. Catha- rine V. M. etc. etc. etc. We will not infer the primitive respectability of our Clementine clergy from the circumstance mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter, but rather from the fact that Renatus, the priest deputed by Leo the Great, and who fled from the Eutychian latroclnale of Ephesus, twenty ^ years after S. Jerome's death, was titular of S. Clement's. Or from the fact that Pope Zozimus chose this church in 417 for his sentence of condemnation of the Pelagian Celestius : We sat, says the Pope, in the basilica of S. Clement, who imbued with the discipline of blessed Peter, with such a teach- er amended ancient errors, and had such sure confirmation as even to consecrate by martyr- dom the faith he had learned and taught ; viz, that for the sakitary castigation the authority of so great a priest might be an example in 131 present knowledge. l ' Or because the beggar T S. Servulus, lived and died in the porch of this church, and no less a man than Gregory the Great found time, amidst the incursions of the Lombards, the storms and earthquakes on all sides, and his missionary engagements for the conversion of the Angli, to come to this basilica and preach his pa- negyric. We should conclude that both Church and clergy were flourishing in 600. TW T O hundred years after, whatever may have been the cause, the ba- silica was falling into ruin. Anastasius the libra- rian tells us that Adrian I, who died in 795, re- stored the roof. Stephen III, who died in 757, re- stored the basilica of blessed Laurence super San- ctum Clement em , which seems to have been the chapel Sancta Sanctorum, at the Lateran palace, which Anastasius, in his lives of the Pontiffs, fre- quently calls the basilica of S. Laurence and S. Theo- dore. Of Adrian he says : The title of blessed Clement, w^hich w r as even about to fall and be laid in ruins , of the third region, lie made 1 Itesediimis in Sancti dementis basilica, qui imbutus Beati Petri opoetoli disciplines tali magistro veteres eraendasset errores, ratosque profecto habuisaet, ut fidem, quam didicerat et docuerat, etiam ruar- tyrio consecraret, scilicet ut salutiferam castigationem tanti sacerdotis auctorit.is praesenti cognitione esset exeinplo. Epist. S. Zosimi ad Afric.m'F. 182 anesv. One of the columns of the original ba- silica is broken, and perhaps the brick pier in which it and several other pillars of the old church are imbedded, are Adrian's work. Certainly that Pope, who sent his legates to the council against the Iconoclasts, which in its seventh session denned that not crosses only (which Iconoclasts admitted as do the Lutherans) should be set up in church- es, and on the walls and ceilings of houses, but holy images and pictures be honoured with incense and candles, like the gospels and other holy things, would have been pleased to see depicted, on one of these piers, S. Clement saying mass and the mi- racle of Sisinius. His successor Leo III is said to have given several splendid vestments to S. Cle- ment's. Perhaps they were antependiums, or fron- tals, such as that which Anastasius says was given by Leo IV to another church, and upon the altar itself he made a vestment shining throughout with white pearls, and, on the right and left, gemmed tablets having, with disks of gold round about, the distinguished name of the bishop written in full. S. Leo IV deserved to have his portrait painted in the fresco of our Lady's Assumption in our basilica. He shewed that he knew how to use the sign of the Cross ; for by it he extinguished the great fire that broke out 183 - in the Vatican quarter of the Borgo. He might well have said, with David : Blessed is the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands for the battle and my fingers for war. 1 He gave no coun- tenance to the paradox that the Church is not to make use of the secular arm against Church rob- bers ; for after the Saracens had carried off the silver with which Honorius I, in 626, had covered the confession of S. Peter and the doors of the ba- silica, he fortified that quarter of the city ; and hearing that they were on their inarch to plunder Porto, he went down, himself to Ostia to meet the Neapolitan troops. He gave them, his blessing and the holy communion, and they totally routed the infidels. He restored the doors of S. Peter's and enriched them, with .many silver bas-reliefs. To our church of S. Clement he gave six silver salvers, cornucopia-lamps, a silver basin and the regnum of gold which used to hang over the high altar. When Leo died, in 855, the basilica, restored but six years before, must have been in good order. Then came that memorable event, in 867, when the apostle of the Sclavonians, S. Cyril, arrived in Koine with the relics of S. Clement, beside which his own body was one day to be laid. The mi- 1 Ps. 143. 184 racles which followed on the translation of the relics of these saints, and the devotion they excited among the Romans, would naturally lead one to suppose that the pictures relating to them were painted soon after this event, rather than that the piety of in- dividuals was rekindled at a later period. Whether they were painted upon the brick pier, which may be attributed to Adrian I, or on piers constructed at a later period, can only be conjecture. It is a matter of great regret that these paintings of an age from which modern European history may be said to date, the age of Charlemagne of France, and Alfred of England, should be now so damaged, and the history of some of them so obscure. The freshness of their colours when first discovered, shews that the basilica was, for some reason or other, abandoned and purposely filled up, and the modern church built upon it whilst its walls were yet in a highly decorated state. We can suggest but two reasons for this. The great earthquake of 896 which shook the old pillars of S. John La- teran's, and may have reached this church ; or the destruction of this quarter of the city from the Lateran to the Capitol by Robert Guiscard, who came to Rome, in 1084, to rescue the great monk of Cluni, Gregory VII, who died the following year at Salerno, saying : I have loved justice and hated 185 iniquity ; therefore I die in a strange land. A thorough Italian, Tuscan by birth, educated at Rome in the monastery of our Lady on the Aventine, consecrated Pope on S. Peter's day, wounded and imprisoned on Christinas night by a Roman baron, deposed by a mock council, confronted by an ex- communicated antipope, besieged by foreigners in S. Angelo, at last he was driven into exile to end his days in that city where lies the body of the Evangelist whose Gospel ends with our Lord's words: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, * and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold I am with you all days, even to the * consummation of the world. l S. Gregory was a true type of the contest between Christ's Yicar and the ambition of temporal princes. Probably it was in his age that our venerable basilica dis- appeared, and as, though the stones of old Rome would speak again, it appears, once more, in the pontificate of Pius IX. The basilica disappeared and was forgotten, so that, not withstanding the industry of Roman archaeo- 1 Matt. c. XXVIII, v. 18, 10, 20. 186 legists, every record and tradition relating to it was referred to the comparatively modern church built upon its ruins. However the basilican style was fol- lowed in all its details in the latter, which caused it to be regarded by all archaeologists as the most perfect example existing of the early Christian ba- silica. In fact any one who visits the subterranean basilica, will see that the upper church is simply a reproduction of it, though on a somewhat smaller scale. But a particular study of the topography of this part of the city, as well as a minute inspection of the marbles in the choir, induced the writer of these pages to suspect, so far back as 1848, that the church spoken of by S. Jerome, Pope Leo the Great, Symmachus, and Gregory the Great, could not be that described by Ugoni, Panciroli, Rondinini, Nibby and others : and, therefore, that the former must be either beneath, or somewhere near the latter. Just as these conjectures were about to be tested, Rome became the theatre of an unprovoked and sacrile- gious revolution, which caused unheard of abomina- tions within, and the most shocking desolation with- out,- its walls. The contemplated researches were, therefore, deferred, but not abandoned. In progess of time, what had been but conjectures ripened into convictions, and, in 1857, the researches were com- menced by opening a passage through a chamber 187 containing some remains of ancient walls, and thence through another, quadrangular and vaulted. Here, having made an aperture in the wall, and removed a quantity of rubbish to the depth of fourteen feet, we discovered three columns standing erect, in situ. and some fragments of frescoes representing the martyrdom of S. Catharine of Alexandria, and a group of nineteen heads with an equally poised ba- lance and the inscription, written vertically: Sta- teram auget niodium justuni. These discoveries removed all doubt, as to the site and existence of the primitive basilica. It would be tedious to give a detailed account of the progress of the excavations year by year, and the difficulty of removing the immense mass of com- pacted rubbish with which the abandoned basilica had been purposely filled up to make a foundation for the church above, without damaging the walls and whole structure of that church. In fact some parts of the upper church had no foundation but that rubbish, more than one hundred and fifty thousand cart-loads of which had to be carried up the same way that Maximin made the martyrs Thraso and Saturninus carry gravel from the arenaria to build Diocletian's baths, that is in baskets on the shoulders. Suffice it to say that the architect Ca- valiere Fontana succeeded admirably, and without 168 a single accident, in supporting the upper church on brick vaults and arches; and that the lower basilica is made easy of access in its whole extent. From what was hitherto the sacristy of the modern church, a wide and admirably constructed staircase , of twenty three steps of Alban peperino. made in 1866, descends at once to the floor of the subterranean ba- silica. Here the first object that attracts the atten- tion of the visitor is the inscription engraved on a marble slab, which we give in the next page. PATERXAS . AEDES A D . CLE1IEXTE . APOSTOLORY3I . PRINCIPIS . DISCIPVLO . ET . SYCCESSORE SACRO . RELIGIOXIS . CVLTVI . DEYOTAS PETRI . PAVLI . BARXABAE . AFOSTOLOR\H . PRECIBV8 BIXIS . GREGORII . MAGXI . COXCIOXIBYS ET . DEBELLAXDAE . PELAGIANAE . HAERESI S . ZOSIMI . POST . COXCILIO . CELEBRES YENERAXDIS . LYPSAXI8 . SANCTORVil CLOIEXTIS . POXT . FLAYII. CLEMENTIS . YIRI . CONS . IGXATII . AX1IOCHEXI. 1IM. SERYYLI . C . XECXOX . CYRILLI . ET . 3IETHODII . SLAVORYM . APOST . DITATAS TI:MPORYM . IXCYRIA . LOXGO . SAECVLORYM . TRACTV . IGXOTAS FR . JOSEPH . MYLLOOLY . ORD . PRAED . PROVIXCIAE . HIBERXIAE HYJYS . COEXOBII . PRAESES FELICITER . DETEXIT . MEXSE . SEPT . MDCCCLYII AGGESTAS . MACERIES . REMOYERE . IXSTITYIT SACRAE . ARC1IAEOLOGIAE . COETYS . REil . ALIQYAMDIY . COXTIXVAYIT R^ILICTAM . PRAESES . RESYMPSIT . PERFECIT SCALAS . AD . HYPOGEYlt . CONDIDIT ARCYS . ET . FORXICES . SYSTIXEXDAE . SYPERIORI . BASILICAE . EREXIT PECVXIA . AD . TAXTYM . OPY8 . COXLATA A . PIO . IX . POXT . OPT . MAX . ET . ilYXIFICIS . YXIYERSI . ORBIS . LARGITORIBYS PIVS . IX . POXTIFEX . OPTIMVS . MAXDIVS HAXC . DIYI . CLEJIEXTIS . MEMORIAL XOX . SIXE . DEI . XYMIXE . IXYEXTA3I QYATKR . IXYISIT AX. POM. JIDCCCLXVITI. 190 On the walls to the right and left are inscrip- tions by S. Damasus, and of the time of his successor Pope S. Siricius. Of the Damasine inscription only a few letters remain, so few that their meaning cannot be even guessed at, owing to the difficulty, or rather the impossibility of supplying those that are wanting. They belong to three different me- trical lines, and De Rossi thinks that, at least, one of them forms a part of some hexameter verses composed by that Pope in honour of S. Clement. The genius of that most eminent of living archaeo- logists has supplied in italics the letters that are wanting in the other inscription, which is as follows : SIRicio eplSCopo ECCLeswe s. GA . . . . l PRESBYTER s. MARTYRi dementi hOC VOLVIT dedicatum(?) The pieces of marble containing the letters in Da- masine character were found in different parts of the upper and lower churches, and the inscription in a single line shows that they must have originally stood side by side, probably forming a screen si- milar to that in the Chorus cantorum. Thus we have a record of some restoration made in our basilica t Gabinus, or Gallus, or Gaudentius. 191 by Pope S. Siricius who governed the Church from 384 to 398. On a marble bracket near the foot of the stairs is a mutilated statue of S. Peter as the Good Shep- herd. It was found in the old Oratory of S. Cle- ment, and so far as we know it is unique in Rome. Bas-reliefs representing S. Peter in that quality have been found in the Catacombs and on sarco- phagi, but no statue. It is well finished, and of a very good style of art. The drapery is also very fine. The crisped beard and hair, and furrowed cheeks, so well known to Archaeologists as charac- teristic of S. Peter, leave no doubt as to whom it represents. He is carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders. A little farther on are plaster casts of two columns which formerly stood at the high altar in this subterranean church. The foliage, flowers, and birds with which they are decorated are admirably chiseled. The capitals are very handsome, and on the rim of one of them is the following inscription : f Serbus f Dni j Mercurius PB f See Ecclesiae Ca- tholicae off. The originals are in the upper church. We shall refer to them hereafter. The basilica consists of a nave, two aisles, and a narthex. Its entire length is 146 feet. The nave is 52 feet 3 l / 2 inches wide; the width of the north- ern aisle is 18 feet 6 inches, and that of the 192 southern 13 feet 10 inches; the narthex, which runs the whole width of the church is 91 feet 8 inches. From the narthex we enter the north aisle which is divided from the nave by a line of seven columns of various marbles imbedded in a wall, built, for the most part, of the debris of ruined temples and broken statues. These columns are twelve feet high, and eighteen inches in dia- meter; and all stand in their original positions. The first, of verde antiqtte, is of marvellous beauty and very remarkable for its vermillion spots vary- ing its surface of vivid green and pure white: it is considered an unique specimen of its kind in Italy. The second is Parian ; the third and fourth are of Numidian marble ; two others of Oriental gra- nite, and the seventh of settebasi of the rarest qua- lity. Some of these pillars have been stript of their capitals, others retain them, and, although all are valuable and beautiful, they lack unifor- mity both in height and diameter, which shows that they must have been taken from still older edi- fices, perhaps porticoes or Pagan temples. Spring- ing from these columns are arches of early con- struction supporting the northern wall of the upper church. The columns seem to stand on a uniform plinth, running along the aisle, but, in fact, it is a brick wall of the imperial period. The wall 193 opposite this line of pillars was once entirely co- vered with paintings of which only some fragments remain. We admit that we do not possess the necessary technical skill to give an artistic descrip- tion of them as they stand, nor have we much confidence in assigning the age or date of such pictures by mere comparison of hands and styles, seeing the very scanty materials even ^he learn- ed in art possess for that purpose, and the egre- gious mistakes which have been made in classifying pictures so modern as those of the Italian schools. We will rather suggest thoughts naturally arising from the subjects themselves, and where we fail, those more skilful than we can easily correct us. These fragments have more of what is called the Byzantine style than the other pictures of the church. The subjects also are more ancient than the rest, with the exception of the group of scrip- tural subjects at the west end of the south aisle and the heads in the narthex. Hence if we knew that the wall was repaired by Pope Adrian, we might suppose that they were painted by pupils of ar- tists who had fled, some seventy years before, from the image-breaking persecution of Leo the Isaurian at Constantinople. But the niche of the Madonna, the most Byzantine of all, was evidently broken through these pictures after they were painted. 13 194 S. Gregory the Great had been at Constantinople, before 590, and it is not probable that the reli- gious pictures which he sent to various missionary countries were all imported from the East, or that the city of the Popes was devoid of native artists. Whenever they were painted the modern plan of dividing the episodes of one subject into divers pan- els by gilt rectangular frames was not adopted. One large decorated border incloses a group separa- ted only by the discrimination of the spectator's eye. In that of S. Catharine there were six. The eye soon becomes accustomed to this arrangement ; and the perpendicular lettered inscriptions introduced in some places interfere much less with the gene- ral effect than the horizontal scrolls or tablets held by angels, in productions of a later age. The anxiety of these church artists was to tell the story well, because it had a religious interest, and they chose rather to write the saint's name beside him than that the beholder should make a mistake, or be forced to get by heart some conventional system of emblems that he might make out, among the well-draped muscular figures before him , which was which. Alexandria was as dear to Pagans as Mecca is to Mahommedans ; for there was the great temple and monstrous idol of Serapis. In the reign of Ju- 195 lian the Apostate the Pagans again used Pagan stan- dards in the army, and boasted that they would exterminate the Christians. Thirty years after, in May 392, the emperor of the West, Valentinian II, was strangled, in his palace-gardens on the banks of the Rhone, by his Pagan general, Arbogastes, who set up Eugenius as emperor. That same year the Patriarch of Alexandria, clearing out a deserted temple of Bacchus, by a rescript from Theodosius to convert it into a Christian church, found infa- mous figures in the adyta, which he caused to be exposed for public reprobation. The Pagans rose and martyred many Christians. In 394, Theodo- sius, with difficulty, defeated Eugenius. He or- dered the idol of Serapis at Alexandria to be burnt, and two churches were built on the site of his temple. All over Egypt the temples were demo- lished. In those of Alexandria the cruel myste- ries of Mithras were discovered, and, in the secret adyta, the heads of many children which had been cut off, mangled, and superstitiously painted. For the Church, Alexandria had another interest. It was a great school of Chistian philosophy. The method of the blind reading by touch was taught there ; for Dydimus, born in 308, and deprived of sight in childhood, got his letters cut in wood, and became so great a scholar, especially of the 196 - scriptures, that he was set over the school , and S. Jerome profited by his teaching. The cemete- ries that contained the memories of the martyrs to which, on the abatement of Diocletian's perse- cution, the faithful of Alexandria crowded, are now known. The most frequented was that of S. Peter their archbishop, situated in a suburb, where, on account of the martyrs buried there, he had built a church to the Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin. One of these cemeteries contains a painting, perhaps a restoration of the seventh century, of the mira- culous feeding with loaves and fishes, in which S. Andrew has his square nimbus and our Lady is indicated by name. The words eating of the eulogia of Christ, found in this painting, refer to the w r ell known passage of S. Paul: The cha- lice of the eulogia, which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord ? l S. Peter excom- municated Arius whom he had ordained deacon : and the patriarch S. Cyril, who died in 412, the great opponent of Nestorius, who denied the In- carnation, constantly uses the word eulogia for the sacramental species. S. Peter, whom Eusebius 1 Corinth., chap. 10, v. J6. 197 styles a doctor of religion, and a divine orna- ment of bishops, was beheaded with three of his priests, when Maximin Daza, who had been named Caesar by his uncle Maximin Galerius, came to Alexandria, and renewed the persecution in 331. The visitor who has admired in the chapel of S. Ca- tharine of Alexandria, in the upper church of S. Cle- ment, Masaccio's paintings of her life and sufferings, has there a proof of the tenacity of Catholic tra- ditional devotion ; for it is only a repetition of the same subject in the old basilica ; and the rude picture of her martyrdom in the subterranean church is perhaps the oldest representation of it in existence. The great emperor Basil says she was of royal blood, so true a scholar that she confuted and converted the philosophers sent by Maximin to argue with her; they were cast into a fire and then beheaded. Some think that she was the Christian lady mentioned by Eusebius, il- lustrious for birth, wealth and singular learning, who resisted the brutal debauchery of the Caesar. Maximin seeing her ready to die would not behead her, but seized her estates and banished her. Tra- dition says that our Saint was placed bound, between four wheels set with sharp spikes, to be torn asun- der, but was freed by an angel loosening the cords ; that while in prison she converted the persecutor's 198 wife and his general Porphirius, both of whom were martyred. She was always honoured by the Greek Church. When the Saracens oppressed the Chris- tians of Egypt, in the eighth century, her body was translated to the monastery on mount Sinai in Arabia, first built by the empress S. Helen,, and beautified afterwards by the emperor Justinian, as several old inscriptions and mosaics testify. There is an admirable composition, by Masaccio, in the upper church of S. Clement, of her entombment by angels. l S. Paul the hermit of mount Latra in Bythinia, who died in 956, had great devotion to her. In the eleventh century a monk of Sinai, coming for the yearly alms of Robert duke of Nor- mandy, left some of her relics at Rouen. t Monks were called angels and their life the angelic > life. May not some of these legends of angels refer to the early coenobite? and hermits ? Not that I mean to deny in any way that angels have been employed for such purposes, witness what S. Paul says about the body of Moses, and S. Michael contending for it with Satan. 199 CHAPTER III. Pictures discovered iu S. Clement's Temple of Mithras Sarcophagi Monumental and lapidary inscriptions Tile-marks etc. etc. NORTH AISLE. MARTYRDOM OF S. CATHARINE OF ALEXANDRIA. On the wall to the right, a little beyond the second arch, as we enter this aisle, is a painting, representing the martyrdom of the illustrious vir- gin S. Catharine of Alexandria, the colours of which are nearly obliterated. In the wide border, on the left, at the top, is an angel. The first subject is a private audience before Maximin, who is seat- ed between two guards ; a philosopher occupies a lower seat. Maximin and the philosopher are gesticulating with much animation ; the Saint , richly robed , stands intrepidly addressing them. The middle compartment is destroyed ; the stoles of one or two figures remaining on the left of it indicate ecclesiastics. On the right the let- ters f identify the Saint, who is tied, almost naked, to the wheel, which a man is turning, while two 200 - others seem to hold her against it. The judge is seated in advance of the crowd, and a person, perhaps one of the discomfited philosophers , turns away. Three angels, over the judge's head, are flying towards her. Perhaps their number, besides the picturesque effect, is intended to refer to the blessed Trinity, as her contemporary Arius denied the divinity of Christ, whose angel delivered her. The three lower subjects are scarcely visible. On the left she seems haranguing, perhaps, while in prison. In the centre is her beheading, before the judge. On the right a crowd of persons appears advancing, past two columns of a temple in the back ground, towards an elevated figure, but the subject cannot be made out. While standing before these old walls pictured with the cruel sufferings of the martyrs, with the Councils of the Church, the lives of her Saints, and viewing a Christian oratory changed into a pagan den of Mithras , our thoughts revert to the last throes of the declining empire. Nothing can be more dramatic than the closing scene of the Pagan Caesars. Diocletian was forced by Galerius to abdicate, and he died in 314, hearing that Constantine had thrown down his statues with those of Maximin and Max- entius. His own slaves could not bear the stench from the corpulent Galerius swarming with vermin, and he died wretchedly, after publishing an edict 201 in favour of the Christians, whom, during his reign, he so barbarously persecuted. We have seen the boy Constantine present at Diocletian's sacrifices, and Galerius kept him a hostage for his father Con- stantius, ruling in Gaul, Spain and Britain. The young prince ran away, avoided pursuit by starting at night, and, travelling with all speed, he reached his dying father at York in 306. Licinius, whom Galerius had made his imperial colleague, extirpated the whole of Diocletian's family, beheading his mo- ther and widow, and casting their bodies into the sea. Then came that famous march of Constantine on Rome : the Cross in the sky : In this shalt thou conquer; Maxentius in his flight perishing in the Tiber, and Maximin Daza, compelled by Lici- nius to repeal his edicts against the Christians, flying to Tarsus in 313, and dying a withered and dried up skeleton in acute torment, deprived of sight, his eyes starting from their sockets. COUNCIL -PICTURE. Passing the niche of the Madonna for a moment, we find the Greek cross in the medallion at the top of the border of the next picture; and at the foot a hart springing. Flee away, o my beloved; and be like to the roe, and to the young hart 202 upon the mountain of aromatical spices. 1 The subject in the centre of the picture below the win- dow is well nigh totally destroyed. Judging from the crowd arranged in rows, it represented some public spectacle or assembly. On the left are many female heads: some seem religious, and others have their hair gathered in decoraded nets. There are also tonsured men of the Latin rite. On the right the figures appear to be Eastern, and one more promi- nent than the rest, is not unlike a Greek emperor in one of the diptychs. Over what seems the en- trance there is the balance with the words sta- teram auget; and over the large font below it modium justum. A female figure is next to the font, and a lighted taper appears behind it. The words so often quoted by Saint Clement recur to the mind : The city set upon the mount cannot be hid; nor do they light a candle and put it under the modium, but upon a candelabrum that it may shine to all who are in the house, that those who are entering in may see the light. Or those assigned to him in his first epistle to S. James, where he directs the priests, instead of secular judges, to hear the business of the brethern, and adds: Weights, measures, steelyards, keep 1 Canticles, chap. VIII, v. 14. 203 most accurate for every place: deposits faithfully restore. Possibly the subject may have heeii the condemnation of the Pelagians by S. Zosimus. Perhaps the very circumstance that the niche con- taining the Immaculate Mother of God full of grace, and Abraham's sacrifice, the type of the necessity of atonement for original sin, was broken into the border of the picture, may favour this idea. Such heresies usually came from the East. The Pelagians held Unitarian errors, denying original sin, and the necessity of divine grace against which they extolled the philosophical virtues of the Pagans; hence the most direct answer was the divine provision by which the Virgin was filled with grace that she might never be subject, in birth or life, to the least contagion of sin. After the destruction of Jerusa- lem, Ebion and Cerinthus taught that Christ was only a greater angel, born of Joseph and Mary like other men, but surpassing them in virtue and wisdom. What the Apostle who received our Lord's Mother from the Cross thought of this doctrine is appa- rent from the anecdote which Irenaeus heard from the lips of S. John's disciple Polycarp. That S. John going to bathe at Ephesus hurried forth from the bath without bathing, exclaiming : Let us fly for fear the bath fall, as Cerinthus the enemy of truth is within. And that Polycarp, when Marcion 204 once met him and said: Dost thou know us? replied: I know thee as the firstborn son of Satan. To Judaizing Christians the errors spoken of above were readily suggested by isolated texts. For in- stance the Jews murmured at him, because he said: ' I am the living bread which came down from heaven; , and they said : ' Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then said he: ' I came down from heaven? ' l which evidently raises a difficulty, continuing to this day, in the consecration of the blessed Eucharist, for all who deny the teaching authority of the Church. Pope , S Victor, A. D. 192, 202, excommunicated the Ebionites , Theodo- sius the banker , who pretended that Melchise- dec was greater than Christ, and another Theo- dosius, the apostate tanner of Byzantium , who asserted that he was nothing more than a mere man who called himself the Son of God. About the year 400 the Syrian Rufinus at Rome taught his errors to Pelagius. They were of the same bitter root; for evidently if Adam's sin did not prejudice posterity, and children are now born in the same state in which they would have been if Adam had never sinned , and if they, dying 1 S. John, VI, 41, 42. 3=^ L . ' ^~~"^-^^-i- -3^7 -*m*p i THE BLESSED VIRGIN AND CHILD 205 without baptism, inherit eternal life, there was no occasion for the atonement of a divine me- diator. The African S. Augustine, who had expe- rienced the call of divine grace, and personally felt that without it he could not rise from the degrada- tion of carnal sin, wrote vigorously against Pela- gius. S. Germanus of Auxerre, whose life was a perpetual miracle of grace, w r ho on his way to Bri- tain, as Legate of Pope Celestine, blessed S. Gene- vieve then a child of seven years, and foretold the sanctity which made her the patron saint of Paris, silenced the British Pelagians at Yerulan by word and miracle in 429. When Celestine's successor Zo- sinius sent his excommunication of Pelagius and Ce- lestius to Africa and the East, the emperors Hono- rius and Theodosius published an edict throughout the empire banishing those heresiarchs, and con- demning to perpetual banishment and confiscation of their properties, all who maintained their doc- trines. NICHE OF THE MADONNA. We approach the little niche, between the two pictures we have just noticed, with feelings of re- verence, for that little recess (six feet by three, sunk eighteen inches into the wall) contains the representatives of the Christian world : Christ in 206 his incarnate nature and in his glory, his Immacu- late Mother, angels, virgins, martyrs, saints, men instruments of his providence and heirs of his pro- mise. These paintings were at first concealed by others, much ruder, painted upon a coat of plaster which fell away. The Byzantine school is here strongly marked, particularly in the overloaded jewelled head-dress of our Lady, and the decorations of her throne. The artist knew very well that this exuberance of ornament, and the elongated arm supporting the divine child on her lap were not natural. Let us try to see the spirit of his com- position in that mystic art of which Angelico of Fiesole was the best exponent. In the crow r n of the niche a medallion shows our Lord ever youthful and radiant with glory. On the sides are heads of the virgin-martyrs S. Catharine of Alexandria and S. Euphemia of Chalcedon ; and beneath them respectively Abraham brandishing a sword to strike and an angel shielding Isaac. The very difference between the heads of S. Catharine and S. Euphemia with hair flowing down from their jewelled crowns, figuring human nature decked with the jewels of vir- ginity and martyrdom, and the countenance of our Lady enshrined in the mass of ornaments without a single lock appearing, typical of human nature totally transformed by grace, indicates the limner's scope. 207 Our Lady is the chief figure immediately opposite the eye, and occupying the whole front of the niche. Abraham's sacrifice is painted on the side of the niche. The painter does not give a naked Isaac tied up like a bundle and cast upon a heap of sticks. There seems a mystic meaning in the figure of Abraham, which when first discovered had a chalice of blood, in its left hand, since fallen away, and a shower of blood seems falling from a circle above his head. Whether it was an allusion to the passion, or a type of the avenging and destroying angel, whilst the opposite angel of healing, taking Isaac by the hands, points to the true child of sacrifice upon his Mother's lap, we do not say. We are so accustomed to the mere natural outward form, from the days of Raphael downwards, that we are apt to miss the interior life. Not so the Fathers of the Church. They speak of the Mother of God with a tenderness which could not, and ought not to be found in earthly love. They regard her in a triple sense, as the human creature prepared by the perfect union of her will with God's to receive His gifts : as the divine seat richly prepared by grace : and as the Mother, sustaining the human nature she had communicated to her Son. It would also be true to say that they look upon her, after her Assump- tion into heaven, as crowned with glory to be our 208 advocate ; because the interests of the Son are dear to the Mother, dearer as she is placed above the obscurity of earth in the full fruition of divine love, and nothing is so dear to the Son as the salvation of our souls. We see her in the ceme- tery of S. Agnes veiled, with a single necklace on her neck, and her hands outstretched in prayer, an unusual attitude when the Child is seated on her knees. That face, as compared with others of hers in the catacombs, partakes of that peculiar set expression which is characteristic here of the calm, almost stern face, encircled with the halo of glory. The queen hath stood at thy right hand, girt about with variety : all the glory of her, the daughter of the king, in golden fringes girt about with varieties, is from within: virgins after her shall be brought to the king, her neighbours shall be brought to thee. l We see them next to her. The head of our incarnate Lord with its parted hair is marked but by the glory of the Cross ; but theirs are decorated with the triple row of gems, viz grace, virginity and martyrdom, which He bestowed upon them, surmounted by the cross wherein they found their great reward. But all the gifts of grace are signified by the necklace, 1 PS. 44. 209 breastplate, and the immense jewelled headdress with its triple crown borne by our Lady. It has no cross ; for that is beaming about the Saviour's head, sitting on her lap and sustained by her hand beneath his foot. On earth his sufferings were her cross; but now in the peace of glory, totally resplen- dent from his beauty, as he is blessing, the Gospel in his hand, so she who gave the Author of the Gospel to the world has her hand also raised to bless. From that hand nothing but blessing could flow ; and in their own private need or in public distress the saints have held but one language, that she, his Mother, continually intercedes with her divine Son, imploring his compassion for that human nature which through her he was pleased to take. S. Ephrem calls Mary My Lady and he spoke the familiar language of the Church ; just as says S. Peter of Alexandria sixty years before him : Our Lord and God Jesus Christ having been born ac- cording to the flesh of the holy, glorious, Mother of God, Mary our Lady. Many prayers to the martyrs, and for the dead, are scratched in the catacombs ; and it is supposed that, at some spots, where the names of priests are very numerous, they had descended to say mass. On the painting we are now speaking of, the names of two priests are scratched beside the throne, John and Salbius ; 14 210 and between them Rosa, Bituli. Who they were we don't know. S. Euphemia suffered in the same persecution as S.Catharine. She was a chief martyr amongst the Greeks, and her festival is kept ge- nerally in the East. The Council of Chalcedon often mentions her martyrium in that city, and it held its sessions in her church under S. Leo the Great, in 451, to condemn the Eutychian heresy which denied two distinct natures in our incarnate Lord. There was a church of hers in Rome in the days of S. Gregory the Great. We should almost sus- pect from the eastern figures in the Council picture here, and the heads of S. Catharine and S. Euphe- mia on either side of our Lady, that that picture represented the Council of Chalcedon rather than the condemnation of Celestius. S. Cyril, indeed, at Ephesus in our Lady's great church, had condemned, in the name of Pope Celestine, successor of Pope S. Zosimus, the opposite error of Nestorius who maintained a divine and a human person in Christ, and eastern figures would be expected to appear in a picture of the Council of Ephesus. But seeing the inscription lately found among the relics under the high altar which refers to Leo I, the Council is more likely that of Chalcedon. That Council was, as it were, the summing up and anathema of three heresies : the Pelagian which left human na- 211 - ture as it was by itself without grace ; the Nesto- rian which, indeed, admitted original sin, but de- nied the necessity of grace and that God was made man ; and the Eutychian which out of horror to the Nestorians admitted only one nature in Christ, and the author of which wrote to Pope Leo I to complain of his having been condemned and ana- thematized in the Council held by S. Flavian. MUTILATED FIGURE OF OUR SAVIOUR. We pass on to the end of this aisle, and mount three steps leading to the ancient tribune. There, on the right, is a colossal figure of our Lord, the head and shoulders of which were destroyed in building the upper church. He stands with san- daled feet upon a jewelled footstool. Two books are in his left hand, one resting upon the other. They probably represent the Old and New Testament. A little more to the left is a fragment of an inscription of which only the following can be de- ciphered : Quisquis has mei nominis literas lege- ris lector die indigno Joanni miserere Deus. Whoever reads these letters of my name, let him say God have mercy on unworthy John. Who this John was who is begging the prayers of the passing reader, we do not know. Under this, as 212 well as under the southern aisle, several chambers have been discovered, and are supposed to be some of the original chambers of Clement's house. Only three of them have been, as yet, partially explored. When the excavations reached the west end of the north aisle, it was found that this ancient ba- silica stands on the ruins of much earlier struc- tures. Observing that the lower part of the west wall was built of a quality of brick far superior to that above it, the ground was dug to the depth of fourteen feet, and three walls of three different constructions, as well as of three different periods, were discovered. One is of the finest brickwork of the imperial times, and probably belonged to Clement's palace. It forms, as it were, the chord of the apse. Parallel with it, leaving a space of only twenty five inches, is another wall of tufo lithoide, which if it be not anterior to what is called with little truth, in our opinion, the era of the founda- tion of Rome by Romulus, is, very probably, part of the walls of Servius Tullius the sixth king of Rome. Upon this wall is built another of the Re- publican period of colossal blocks of travertine, va- rying in length from eight to ten feet. These walls have been traced 98 feet from north to south : from east to west the travertine wall was traced 410 feet, and the tufo wall upwards of 500 feet, without 213 finding its termination either way. A depth of about 20 feet is still buried in the earth, which shows how low the level of Rome of the kings must have been. l A thorough exploration of the length and depth of these walls could not fail to throw great light on the topography of this quarter of Rome. ANCIENT ORATORY OF S. CLEMENT. Ascending from the intramural passage, just described, to the west end of the south aisle, and turning to the right, we find a spacious staircase of twenty steps, constructed for easy access to the rooms of a fine Roman dwelling-house. Its walls are of imperial brickwork, and the style of the stucco decorations on the vault of the largest chamber induces us to assign them to the age of S. Clement. This chamber is precisely under the tribune of the basilica. In fact it occupies almost the same position under the high altar as the Con- fession of S. Peter does in the Vatican basilica, so 1 Some Archaeologists are of opinion that this portion of the valley between the Coelian and Esquiline hills, was not included within the cir- cuit of the Servian walls, and consequently the tufo wall found here must have belonged to some important building within the city, perhaps the pa- lace of Tarquin, or the Mint in the early days of the Republic. 214 that there can be no doubt that it is the memoria mentioned by S. Jerome in his notice of S. Cle- ment written towards the end of the fourth cen- tury. It was. startling to find in this Christian crypt an altar of Mithras ; but the subsequent discovery of the Mithraeum itself shows that, with the exception of this chamber, it had been deli- berately transformed into a cave for the celebra- tion of the Mithraic mysteries. The chamber forms a part of the oratory and there is no proof that the Christians ever lost possession of it. It was not twenty years after the convert Prae- fect of the City had broken and burnt a cave of Mithras and his images, that S. Jerome speaks of the church in ,Rome still preserving the me- moria of S. Clement : and although we might desire to think that the zeal of Gracchus was exercised upon our Mithraeum, it seems natural to suppose in that case that S. Jerome would mention it in connection with the church. Victor also, the aco- lyte of the dominicum of S. Clement, (see page 179) is a witness that it existed in his time. S. Cyprian says 1 that in the days of persecution the place where Christians assembled for divine worship was 1 Liber de ope re et eleemosina, pag. 482, lit. A. Note 30 ad librura de op. et el., pag. 489. 215 called dominicum. After the fourth, century it is not found in Roman inscriptions. The Emperor Con- stantine would not permit the slave's forehead tc be branded, on account of the divine image, and substituted instead a bronze plate, on one of which Victor's name appears. It is reasonable then to say that, before Constantine's death, in May 337, the clergy of S. Clement's were known to be in possession of his dominicum. Again, S. Jerome wrote about the memoriam dementis after Gratian had ordered the idolatrous temples to be demolished in 382, after Gracchus had destroyed the Mithraeum in 377 l and two years only before they were totally extirpated in 394. If the crypt got into Chris- tian hands, and was merely added to the church after the destruction of the Mithraeum at a pe- riod when Christianity was freed from all fear , it seems likely that the Christians would have pu- rified it, and have re-stuccoed the vault, or even included the whole Mithraeum. But nothing is more natural than that, if this chamber was al- ways under the apse, and did not, like the rest of the Mithraeum, fall into Pagan hands, they 1 Ante paucos annos propinquus vester Gracchus, nobilitateni pa- triciam sonaus nomine, cum Praefecturam gereret urbanam, nonne spe- laeum Mithrae, et omnia portentosa simulacra, quibus Corax, Gryphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Helios, Broinius, Pater initiantur, subvertit, fregit, > excussit ? S. Hieronvnii Epist. VII, ad Laetam. 216 should preserve it as it was. Some of the stuccoes are in a pretty good state of preservation, and not offensive in character, and it was the prac- tice of the Christians, in those days, not to obli- terate imagery without necessity. It is also ve- ry probable that the classical decorations of this vault would have been altered by the constructors of the Mithraeum, had it been in their power. The Eastern rites superseded classical mythology : their struggle in Rome with legalized Christianity, a struggle mostly at private expense, would have been signalized by the destruction of so important an historical site as this memoria. TEMPLE OF MITHRAS. Just beyond the apse of the basilica, the side- wall of the memoria showed three arches filled up with excellent brickwork, and imbedded in it two square pilasters of Parian marble. These pi- lasters have debased Corinthian capitals contrast- ing strongly with the classical style of the stucco vault. The roughly chiseled foliage reminds one of the arch of Gallienus: it shows declining art, and was not executed until about the middle of the third century. Breaking through the brickwork a long narrow passage was found, twenty eight CD .D^ 00 Ed cr; CD CJ> CO CD 217 - feet by six feet ten. A few inches beyond the pi lasters is a fragment of a large column of Xumidian marble sunk into the pavement. Opposite to this was a doorway, also bricked up. On breaking through it a large hall was discovered thirty feet long, twenty wide, and almost entirely filled with earth. The first impression was that this was the real oratory, the vestibule answering to the ambu- lacrum intersecting the well known basilica in the Catacombs of S. Agnese, and, as in that basilica, the smaller chamber under the apse constituting the part reserved for the altar. The circumstance also that there had been a door, at the extreme end, strength- ened the idea. The vault was pierced by eleven luminaria, or skylights, some round, some square, and all decorated with mosaics. Mosaic bands also run around the sides and at the ends. The sim- plicity of the decorations and the absence of Pagan forms, gave strength to the conviction that it was the first Christian oratory. Much of the ceiling however was made of small mineral stones artifi- cially imitating a grotto ; and when the whole was cleared out, as we see it, there remained no doubt that it was one of those caverns in which Mithras, whose altar had been already found, was habitually worshipped. It was evident that it was not originally a Mithraic cave, but a large room changed and adapt- 218 ed to the Mitliraic mysteries. At Ostia, the emperor Commodus gave up the palace crypt to the priests of Mithras. The like had been done here. Along the walls are raised platforms ascended by three steps. They have been found in other Mithraeums, but here there is a peculiarity : they are not level, but form an inclined plane towards the walls. They are six feet wide and three feet three inches from the ground. It is difficult to say for what purpose they served. They may have been occupied by the ini- tiated in the mysteries ; or, as De Rossi thinks, they were triclinia on which the guests reclined while participating in some sacred feast held in this cave, which is by no means improbable; for in the Mi- thraic mysteries there was a profane imitation of the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist. And, ac- cording to the usage and ideas of the ancients, in every feast, even of the mystic kind, the guests used to put themselves in reclining positions. Along the outward extremities of these benches there is a depressed edge on which are five semicircular niches, two on the right hand and three on the left. They were formerly covered with marble, frag- ments of which still remain. In the Mithraeum discovered a few years ago at Ostia, there is a similar edge on which were placed lamps, fire - vases, and small altars of terra cotta. The five semicir- 219 cular niches probably contained the figures or sta- tues called Signa Sacromm, symbolizing the five grades of initiation in the Mithraic mysteries, to which we shall hereafter refer. High up in the wall, at the end of this temple, is a niche, which formerly must have contained a statue of Mithras: and lower down is a small square cavity built of brick. It might have contained water for religious purification, or perhaps served as a receptacle for the blood of victims. Near it, on the floor, there still remains a portion of an altar, and, a few inch- es in front, a small round piece of marble upon which, it is supposed, burned the sacred fire that was kindled and preserved in the two small square furnaces, facing each other in the sides of the bench- es. The learned Cavaliere Visconti thinks that the round piece of marble we are just after noticing, served as a pedestal for the conical shaped stone that was found here representing the birth of Mi- thras. The deity is seen issuing from the top of the stone, which is a well known symbol of Mithras; for, as Lajard and others write, owing to the comparison between him and his symbol, fire, it was said that he had been generated from a stone, from the fact that a spark is produced by striking two flint stones together, which was the way fire was first discovered. Mithras therefore was called 220 5cy's x nsrpog , and hence the stone itself was called his mother. This statue is twenty five inch- es high: the deity from the knees upwards has emerged from the stone; he stands erect and wears the Phrygian cap. The arms from the elbow are wanting. It was broken into three pieces which were found at various periods during the progress of the excavations, and is the only one of the kind in Italy. There was in the beginning of this century a & Another bas-relief was found near the church of S. Vitale between the Quirinal and Viminal hills, and is thus described by the aforesaid Flaminius Vacca: I remember the discovery made in a vine- yard, belonging to signer Orazio Muti, opposite the church of S. Vitale , of a marble idol four palms high, standing on a pedestal in an empty chamber the door of which had been walled up. Around it on all sides there were many lamps 1 See Lajard, 1. c, pi. LXXXVI ; Rouchier, Histoire du Vivarais^ T I, pag. 158-172,204-20G, and Renier, pag. 584-588. * See Mittheilungen der K. K. Central - Commissio zur Erforschung Baudenk-malei, Vienna 1867, p. 119-132. 223 with three becks for lights, and all turned towards the idol who had a lion's head and a human body. Under its feet there was a ball or globe out of which grew a serpent encircling the idol, and entering headforemost into its mouth. lt hands were placed upon its breast, in each of which there was a key, and it had four wings on its shoulders, two pointing towards heaven and two inclined towards the earth. I do not consider it very ancient; for it is not the work *> of a good artist : or if it is ancient, it must have been executed before the era of good art began. Signer Orazio told me that a friend of his had ex- plained to him the meaning of these things. ' The idol, he said, signified the devil, who in Pagan * times held the earth under his feet : the serpent that entwined it and entered into his mouth meant the power of prophecying by giving ambiguous answers : the keys in its hand symbolized do- minion over the world: and the wings ubiquity of presence.' I did my best to see this idol, but signor Orazio having died, his heirs knew not what had become of it. It would not surprise me if signor Orazio, acting on the advice of his friend, sent it to the furnace to have the moisture taken out of it ; for many and many a year it must have been under ground. 224 A somewhat similar Mithraic leontocephalus was discovered, at Ostia, by M. r Fagan in the begin- ing of the present century, and is thus described by Montfaucon : The god is represented as the solar deity, and keeper of the two portals, of which he holds the keys, called respectively thos*e of heaven and earth, or of mortals and immortals. The lion is his symbol; because the sun attains its greatest altitude in Leo, and the serpent that entwines Mithras symbolizes the tortuous and spiral path which the ancients assigned to the sun when above the eclyptic : and the serpent, from the peculiarity of its casting off its slough annually, is symbolic of the ever renewed youth of the sun. The bowl between his feet repre- sents the water which is necessary for the pro- duction of every species of living being, and the serpent putting his head into that vessel reaches the humid element. Thus is indicated that mix- ture of heat and moisture on which the growth of every thing depends. The four wings of Mithras are also solar symbols, and, in general, signify the elevated regions which constitute his domain, while more particularly the two upper pinions refer to the ascending movement of the luminary when he culminates above our hemisphere , and the two lower ones point to the opposite declension. 225 During the reigns of Pius VII and Pius IX, several caves or temples dedicated to Mithras were brought to light at Ostia, besides a great many inscriptions referring to that Persian deity, which is a proof that his worship must have prevailed to a very considerable extent in that once flou- rishing and populous city. Indeed it is generally admitted that it was in Ostia this Asiatic worship first found a home in Europe : that from Ostia it made its way to Rome, and thence was propagated throughout the Empire. According to Plutarch, in his life of Pompey the Great, Mithraism was not known in Europe until the time of the piratic war, that is about seventy years before the birth of Christ. The pi- rates of Cilicia who swept the Adriatic and Me- diterranean seas with their galleys and attacked the Roman fleet at Ostia, were finally defeated by Pompey in the year of Rome 687. After that suc- cessful expedition the fleet returned to Ostia to undergo some repairs, and it is generally believed that it was then the seeds of the Mithraic wor- ship were first sown in that soil. The German and French schools of archaeology, respectively headed by Von Hammer and Lajard , do not agree about the origin of the worship of Mithras. The German school derives it from the 15 226 mythology of India, and the French finds its traces in the doctrine of Zoroaster which is contained in the Zendavesta, l the Bun Dehesch , and other old ceremonial books of the Persians. This latter opinion is more generally received, and followed. The Persians, like other Oriental nations, admit- ted a duality of godhead : the god of good was their Oromazdes, or Urmazd, or Hormizdas: the 1 Zeadavesta, by contraction Zend, or, as it is vulgarly pronounced, Zundawestou, or Zund, denotes the book ascribed to Zoroaster , and containing his pretended revelations; and which the ancient Magians and modern Persees, called also Gaurs, observe and reverence in the same manner, as the Christians do the Bible, and the Mahomitans the Koran. The word, it is said, originally signified any instrument for kindling fire, and is applied to this book to denote its aptitude for kindling the flame of religion in the hearts of those who read it. It has been much disputed, among learned writers, who Zoroaster was, and in what age he lived. Dr. Prideaux, and several others, are of opi- nion that Zoroaster was the same with the Zerdusht of the Persians, who was a great patriarch of the Magians, and that he lived between the begin- ning of the reign of Cyrus, and the latter end of Darius Hystaspis. Dr.Nar- burtan censures Hyde and Prideaux for making an early Bactrian lawgiver t > be a late Persian false prophet. Baumgartea, likewise, represents it as doubtful whether the Persian Zoroaster ever existed. The learned M.Bryant (Anal.Anc. Mithol. vol. Ill, p. 107) observes that there are more personsthan one, spoken of under the character of Zoroaster ; though there was one principal to whom it more truly related. Of men, styled Zoroaster, he saj'S, the first was a deified personage, reverenced by some of his posterity whose worship was called Magia, and the professors of it Magi. This worship was transmitted from the ancient Babylonians and Chaldeans to the Persians, who succeeding to the sovereignty of Asia, renewed under their princes, and particularly under Darius the son of Hystaspes, those rites which had bjen in a great degree effaced and forgotten. The Persians, says this learned writer, originally derived their name from the deity Perez, or Parez, the Sun , whom they also worshipped under the title of Zor-Aster. 227 god of evil was Ariinanes or Hariman, or Aber- man : the former the creator, the latter the de- stroyer, and each of them assisted by genii of the same nature. According to Celsus they believed in the transmigration of souls, and supposed that the souls issuing from the fixed firmament of hea- ven, the residence, of Hormizdas, and passing across the moveable firmament through the seven planets and the constellations of the Zodaic, de- scended to the earth, and, after remaining for some time there, they reascended to the empyrian of heaven by the same path, and assuming different forms during their journey through the planets and constellations, purified themselves from the stains of gilt they had contracted here below. Ari- inanes, the malignant genius, set his snares for them on their journey, and endeavoured to bring them into the kingdom of darkness over which he pre- sides : but to defend them from his assaults there was another divinity called Mithras who was a kind of mediator between man and Hormizdas, and whose principal employment was to offer to the supreme being an expiatory sacrifice for the human race. Though the worship of Mithras had been brought to Rome in the time of Pompey, yet the mysteries of that god were not well known until about the 228 second century. As the Persians had no temples, but celebrated the mysteries of Mithras in caves, as they had learned from their legislator Zoroaster, who first, according to the testimony of Porphy- rius, 1 chose for that purpose a den watered with springs and covered with turfs, so the Romans, after their example, celebrated the same mysteries in dens and caves as is affirmed by Tertullian, S. Ju- stin, Julius Firmicus, S. Jerome, S. Augustine, and other early writers. Moreover we still possess the names of many persons who consecrated caves to that god, as for instance : Deo soli invicto Mithrae Sosiuius spelaeum constituit. Spelaeum Tib. Claudius voti compos dedit. In those caves various objects symbolizing the universe were displayed, especially the moveable 1 De Antro Nymph. Statins addresses the following invocation to the sun. Adsis, o memor officii, Junoniaque arva Dexter arnes ; seu te roseum Titana vocari, Gentis Achemeniae ritu, seu praestat Osirim Fragiferum; sen Persei sub rupibus antri, Indignata sequi torquentem Corntia Mithram. Lactantius (in lib. I Th.), explaining this passage, says. the Persians were the first who worshipped the sun in dens and caves, and that they did so to denote his eclipses. Some of the ancients were of opinion that the bull signified the earth, and that the dagger, which Mithras plunges into his shoulder, indicated that the sun by his rays penetrated the surface of the earth, and rendered it fruitful. > 229 planets in which Mithras was supreme. And as fire was considered by the Persians to be the most pure symbol of Mithras , the rites and religious offerings made to him should necessarily be celebrated in the presence of that element. But although such were the essential constituents of the ancient Mi- thraic worship, in the course of time it underwent different changes in the various nations through which it had been diffused. The Romans confound- ed Mithras with the Sun, as we learn from the inscriptions on the altars and marbles dedicated to him in which he is invariably called : Deu^ sol invictus Mithva. - Soli iavicto Mithrae : In the reign of Adrian the worship of the Sun was substituted for that of all the gods, as is manifest from the inscriptions on the coins of the third century. They exhibit on one side the figure of the Sun and on the other side the epigraph Sol dominus imperil Romani, which proves that Mithraism must have been greatly developed throughout the empire at that time. But it was from the end of the third century to the middle of the fourth that it obtained its greatest number of adherents. During that pe- riod Christianity was embraced by persons of all ranks, and threatened the overthrow of polytheism. The religion of the empire was in danger, and the 230 Pagans and Neoplatonists in order to resist the faith of Christ especially employed the mysterious rites of Mithras, and endeavoured to demonstrate that the worship of the Sun had been the primitive and true religion of mankind. Mithraism was better suited to obtain that end than any of the other religions then practiced in Rome; for in addition to its teaching the existence of a god acting as a mediator and atoning for the sins of men, it imi- tated some of the sacred rites of the Christian Re- ligion, especially the Sacraments of baptism and the eucharist. They sprinkled the initiated with water and presented them with bread and wine, in order, as they said, to regenerate them, and give them a new life. Per lavacrum, si adhuc me- mini, says Tertullian, Mithra signat illic in fron- tibus milites suos, celebrat panis oblationem, et imaginem resurrectionis induit et sub gladio re- dimit coronam. l The priests who were initiated in the myste- ries of Mithras assumed various names, or titles taken from the animals, which, in their solar sys- tem of worship , had a symbolical signification. Thus we find in the writings of the ancients 2 that they were called Coraces, ravens; Hieroco- 1 Lib. de baptismo, c. 5. 2 Porpkyrius, de ab3tinentia,c. 6. 18. S. Jeronyra. Ep.ad Laetara, c. 51. 231 races, sacred ravens; Leones, or Leontini, lions; Per- sia, Heliaca, and the priestesses Leaenae, Lionesses for Mithras had his priestesses too, as appears from a passage in the second book of Justin, where it is said that Artarxarses consecrated Aspasia to the worship of that god. All these priests wore the figures of the animals whose names they bore. The Leontini alone, as Porphyrius seems to insinuate, had a right to assume the figures of any animal they pleased. Hence the mysteries were called Co- racia, Hierocoracia, Leontica, Griphia, Persia, He- liaca. There were stated days for the celebration of those mysteries as we learn from the following in- scriptions found, in the sixteenth century, in a Mi- thraic cave near the church of S. Silvester in Capite. In the consulship of Datianus and Ceralis, (A. D. 358) Victor Olympius of Senatorial rank, Pater Patrum, and Aurelius Victor Augustus, Senator, Pa- ter, auspiciously conferred the Persian Orders, the day before the nones of April. Under the aforesaid consuls, they conferred the Leontic Orders auspiciously, on the 17 of April. On the 24 of April they displayed the Gryphian mysteries. In the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius, Non- nus Victor Olympius, and A.Victor Augentius, both 232 - Senators, conferred the Leontic Order auspiciously on the seventh of March. Under the consulship of Datianus and Cerealis, Nonnus Victor Olympius, Senator, Pater Patrum, in the thirteenth year of his consecration, conferred the Cornacean Order, and on the same day displayed the mysteries auspiciously. l From the foregoing we must conclude that not only had those Festivals their fixed days, but also that their ceremonies were different; otherwise they would not have borne different names on the diffe- rent days on which they were celebrated. And moreover the priests named Coraces presided over the Coracia, the Leontini over the Leontica , etc. The priests celebrated their respective mysteries in the habits which distinguished their Order, that is whereon were painted or embroidered the ani- mals whose names they assumed, or were made of their skins, which must have made them very ri- diculous, as we are given to understand by Arche- laus, bishop of Mesopotamia, who reproached Manes with his having played the part of a buffoon in his celebration of the mysteries of Mithras. The austerities, pains, hardships and tortures to which those persons, who aspired to be initiated in 1 For these particulars, see M. Delia Torre, pajr. 204-221 ; and Chif- flet, De Gemra. A bra. 233 the mysteries of Mithras, were subjected, are almost incredible. Nonnus writes that they were obliged to pass through eighty different grades of trials. l They began with the easiest probations: first of all the aspi- rant took a batli for several days, then he was obliged to throw himself into a fire : next he was confined to a solitary place, where he was obliged to fast, and thus go on through other severer trials or probations until he passed through eighty. And if he survived he was initiated in the sacred mysteries of Mithras. Nicetas writes that 2 in the very beginning of their probation they were obli- ged to fast for fifty days: then they were whip- ped for two whole days, and for twenty put into the snow. 2 Nicetas confirms the statement of Nonnus about the eighty probations, as we learn from a very old Greek manuscript preserved in the Laurentiana li- brary at Florence, which Montfaucon translated into Latin. The Scholiast says that those persons who 1 Hi vero serie quadara suscipiebantur, primuiu quidem levioribus suppliciis, deinde atrocioribus inflictis. Xam prirnum ei diebus multis aperienda est aqua. Deinde necessario ipsi faciendum est, ut se in ignem coniiciat : postea in solitudiue versari, sibique ipsi inediam iiuperare ne- cessehabet; atque itaad alia perge re quo usque LXXX suppliciorum ge- > nera defunctus fuerit. Quibus si supervixerit, tune demum sacria Mi- thriacis initiatur. Nonnus in collectione historiarum, No. o-4-j. 2 In ipso probationis ingressu, per quinquaginta totos dies eos fame cruciaut , deinde duos dies flagris caeduut, turn in nivein vigiuti dies imrnittunt. Episcopus Nicetas ad Naziaiizenuiu. 234 were to be initiated in the mysteries of Mithras were subjected to certain grades of probations. They began with the lightest trials and were by degrees subsequently subjected to the more se- vere. For example they were obliged to fast for fifty days : which if they constantly supported they were whipped for two days, and then were to practice the same kind of trials for twenty two days more: the tortures being increased on the condition that if they bore them patiently, they were finally taught the more perfect mysteries. 1 These mysteries were not less impious than abo- minable ; for human victims were therein offered up, as Porphyrius insinuates. 2 It is true that the em- peror Adrian abolished the custom of offering human sacrifices, 3 but the emperor Commodus restored it, since, according to Lampridius, he polluted the my- steries of that god by homicide. * We cannot of course 1 Qui Mithrse mysteriis initiabantur, quibusdain ceu gradibus cru- ciatus probari solebant: ita ut prinium leviore ptenaruni genere adfi- cerentur, ac deinceps vehernentiore. Exempli causa, primo iuitiandos fame adfligebant quinquaginta diebus, ac si hsec constauter tolerarent, illos biduo caedi curabant, ac deinceps eodern psense genere singulos exercebant viginti octo diebus: eoque pacto auctis cruciatibus, si qui initiabautur haec patienter ferrent, tune deniuui perfectiora rnysteria > edocebautur. Nicetas, Episcopus Pampb. 2 Lib. 4, cap. 50, De abstinentia. 3 Hadrianuni imperatorem prope omnes humanoe hostue mactatic- nes sustulisse. Porphyrius ibidem. 4 Sacra Mitbriaca houiicidio vero polluit. Lampridius in vita Commodi. 235 conclude from this that the homicide was a real sacrifice: but the fact which Socrates relates in his ecclesiastical history (Book 3, c. 2) leaves no doubt that human victims were offered to Mithras ; for he tells us that there was a place in that city (Alex- andria) which had long been abandoned to ne- gleet and filth, wherein the Pagans had formerly celebrated their mysteries, and sacrificed human beings to Mithras. This being empty and other- wise useless, Constantius had granted it to the Church of the Alexandrians : and George, wishing to erect a church on its site, gave directions that the place should be cleansed. In the process of clearing it, an adytum of vast depth was disco- vered which unveiled the nature of their heathen- s' ish rites : for there were found therein the skulls of many persons of all ages, who were said to have been immolated for the purpose of divination by the inspection of their entrails, when the Pa- gans were allowed to perform these and such-like magic arts in order to enchant the souls of men. *> The Christians on discovering these abominations in the adytum of the temple of Mithras, thought it their duty to expose them to the view and execration of all; and therefore they carried the skulls throughout the city, in a kind of triuin- phal procession, for the inspection of the people. 236 The principal festival of Mithras was that of his nativity, which a Roman Calendar, of the age of Constantine, placed on the eigth of the kalends of January, that is on the 2 5 th of December. It is true that the Calendar does not name this god it only says VIII. kal. Jan.n. Invicti. CM. XXIV. 1 The eighth of the kalends of January the birth-day of the invincible, twenty four chariots drawn by horses entered the Circus. But the learned have judged from the epithet Invincible, so often applied to Mithras 2 as we learn from the inscriptions Deo Soli invicto Mithrae Soli invicto Mithrae re- lating to him, that he is here indicated. And the games in his honour must have been very splendid, whereas so many chariots entered the Circus. We must not however infer from this that the Pagans meant to celebrate that festival on the same day that the Church celebrates the Nativity of our Di- vine Lord. They intended thereby to signify that the sun, after having been at a distance from our hemisphere since the autumnal equinox, approaches it and comes after the winter solstice, which falls on that day, to warm and fructify this other half 1 Octavo Kalendas Januarii, Natalis Invicti, Circenses, Missus XXIV. See M. Delia Torre, pag. 219. * See Monsignor De laTurre, De Mithra, c. 11, p. 179 : and Gruter, pag. 33, 34. 237 of the globe: on which account they regarded the 25 th of December as his birth day, and celebrated it as such. Nor must \ve, with Father Harduin, l say that the western Christians, on account of that feast, transferred their Christmas from September to the same day; for S. Augustine , 2 S. Ambrose, 3 the author of the Apostolic Constitutions, 4 S. John Chrysostom, 5 and all the early Fathers prove that the festival of the Nativity of our Divine Lord had been, from the days of the Apostles, always cele- brated in the Roman Church, on the 25 th of De- cember. Of all the temples dedicated to Mithras in Rome our Clementine one alone remains. It is in a very good state of preservation, considering the vicissi- tudes through which it has passed, and the number of centuries it has been buried in the earth. Its interest is enhanced by its being, in all probability, a part of the memoria of the martyr Pontiffs. Clement which was hallowed by the footprints of S. Peter S. Paul , S. Barnabas , and many other illustrious heroes of the primitive Church. When we visit it our thoughts revert to the struggle between Paga- 1 la Autirrhetico de nummis antiquis, pag. 65. a In Psalm. 132, et De Trinit, lib. 4, c. 5. 3 Serrao, 10, 12. 4 Lib. 5, e. 13. 5 Homilia 31, Tom. o, pag. 417. de Natali Christi. 238 nism and Christianity, and the basilica raised above it proclaims the victory of the Cross of Christ over the polytheism of the Roman empire. Let us now take leave of these relics of Pagan and Christian antiquity, and retrace our steps to the basilica built on their ruins. SOUTH AISLE. CRUCIFIXION OF S. PETER. BAPTISM BY S. CYRIL. AND OTHER FRAGMENTS OF FRESCOES. Greatly do we deplore the ruin of the pictures which once covered the whole wall at the west end of this aisle; for the fragments that remain dis- play a beauty and purity of style much beyond the other paintings in this basilica. The subjects appear to have been arranged in two horizontal lines, one above the other; and the figures in panels, singly, or in pairs. The ornamental border, a little above the floor, is a pattern divided into compartments, and in the centre of each compartment is a large globe and four small ones, and birds, like storks, on either side, pecking at what seems to be an undulating stream of light descending from the large globe. On the top line, at the right, two feet tied to a cross indicate S. Peter's crucifixion with his head 239 downwards: beside it is the head of an aged saint tonsured and witli the nimbus. Ou the extreme left are two very beautiful heads of angels. The centre of the lower line shows . in a circle , the ' ' feet of an animal, which, no doubt, was the mystic lamb; for a figure next it, on the right, of which the lower half only remains, extends the hands towards it in the manner of supplication, or adoration, so usual in Christian monuments. There seems to have been a kneeling figure behind this one : then two beautiful angels, and then two saints, standing in order; and what remains of the countenances exhibits great devotion. The subject on the left is quite gone. It had been replaced by a panel of very inferior execution. We say replaced, because it seems scarcely possible that this painting, almost grotesque in character, could be the original one just placed side by side with the other well executed figures. The subject is a crowned emperor seated on a throne under a canopy. S. Cyril, with a nimbus, kneels before the emperor. His name Cirillm, is written vertically behind him. The monarch seems, by the action of his left hand, to be addressing two persons who are standing behind the saint. Most probably it represents S. Cyril's parting audience of Michael III, to whom, in 848, the Chazari of the Danube had sent an embassy for priests, and he is directing 240 the ambassadors to take care of the chosen missio- nary. Were this picture part of the original series, we should suppose that the figure on the right of the lamb with the one on its knees represented a * subject we shall find on a larger scale in the nar- thex; for the spiral columns and their capitals behind the emperor are precisely the same as those on either side of the narthex picture. The subject at right angles to this, on the southern wall, re- presents an archbishop, with the Greek pallium, baptizing, by immersion, a young man of barbaric type. From its position, next to that representing the beginning of S. Cyril's first mission, it probably may be the baptism of the Cham of the Chazari: if not, that of Rastices duke of Moravia, or Boigoris Michael duke of Bohemia : for all these were con- verted by S. Cyril and his brother Methodius. A few steps further on along this wall is a projecting inclosure of brick, which may have been an altar, and which De Rossi supposes to have been the ori- ginal monument prepared to receive the marble chest in which S. Cyril's body was removed from the Vatican where it had been buried at first. LIBERTINUS. No pictures remain along the rest of this wall. At the east end of the aisle, immediately under 241 S. Catharine's chapel, there are rude remains of a group of Benedictine subjects. S. Gregory the Great, who out of his own estates built six monasteries in., Sicily, and took the habit himself in that of S. Andrew which he founded on his father's house at Rome, had true Catholic love for the superna- tural manifestations of God's providence, and has preserved many anecdotes in his Book of dialogues. He particularly mentions S.Benedict's prophecy of the plunder of Monte Cassino, and its accomplish- ment, by the Lombards a hundred years after, be- fore his own eyes; and from his marked love for that saint and familiarity with his order, Mabillon maintains against Baronius that he chose S. Bene- dict's rule for his own monastery. The subjects here were taken from his dialogues, and were there- fore probably painted shortly after his death in 604. Honoratus, an emancipated serf of the Patrician Yenantius, built a Benedictine monastery at Fondi, in Campania, for two hundred monks, of whom he was the superior. He was a holy man, and among the miracles wrought by him was his stopping, by invoking the name of Jesus, a descending mass of rock which threatened destruction to the house. At the upper monastery in Subiaco, even to this day, there is a rock in a similar threatening posi- tion, apparently detatched and ready to fall and 16 242 crush the monastery. S. Benedict appears to have had skill in detecting shams, whether they were dressed to imitate his own monks, or in the more gorgeous habits of secular ambition. As Totila, the Arian king of the Goths, marched through Cam- pania in 542, he sent word to the saint that he would visit him, but played a trick to test his powers. Put off, my son, these robes you wear. and which do not belong to you, said Bene- dict to Riggo who presented himself in the royal purple, attended by three noblemen and a train of pages. He afterwards saw Totila, rebuked him, and foretold his death. Libertinus,, whose story is the subject of two of the paintings just referred to, ap- rears to have lived in the time of Totila. We have in the one with the inscription ubi Abbas Liber- tinus veniam petit where the Abbot begs pardon of Libertinus, an example of how hu- man passions may break out in the peace of the cloister, and how meekness and humility may over- come them. The Abbot who succeeded Honoratus was not favourable to Libertinus. One day, in a rage, the Abbot, for want of a stick, took up his footstool and beat Libertinus severely with it about the head. He went quietly to bed, and early the next morning presented himself at the bedside of the Abbot, who thought that he was leaving the 243 monastery, and that the abrupt departure of so holy a man would not serve his own reputation. Stung with remorse when he saw that Libertinus had come, as usual, to ask for his blessing, before set- ting out on the business of the monastery, he rose, and we see him prostrate on the floor of his cell, while Libertinus gives him the benediction of for- giveness he had asked for. Libertinus had such veneration for the deceased Honoratus that he used to carry one of his clogs or sandals in his bosom. On his journey to Ravenna, a woman with her dead child in her arms seized his mule by the bridle, and insisted that he should re- store the child to life. The traveller could not es- cape, and so strange a demand alarmed his humility. Moved with compassion, he said : Do not weep. At length he alighted, placed the clog upon the child's breast, and whilst he prayed life returned. Laurence, who survived him, told these two anec- dotes to S. Gregory, as well as the following. The monk, w T ho acted as gardener, was annoyed by some one stealing the vegetables. He found out the place where the thief used to get in, and seeing a snake by it told him to keep guard. While the monks were at their siesta, the thief returned, as usual, and seeing the snake, he took fright, and fell, so that his leg became entangled in the hedge. The monk on 244 returning released him, and quietly conducting him to the door of the monastery, gave him some vege- tables, saying: My son, why will you steal? If you want any vegetables, come to me and I will give them to you. If any of our readers are scandalized at this simple conventual gossip with which so great a Pope employed his leisure, and others did not disdain to paint, we recommend to them the more serious remarks of Leibnitz. It is not one of the least prerogatives of that Church which alone has retained the name and character of Catholic, that she alone offers and propagates eminent examples of all the excellent virtues of the ascetic life. In truth, I own that I have al- ways singularly approved the Religious Orders ; the pious associations, and all the praiseworthy institutions of their kind, which are a sort of heavenly militia upon earth, provided that, apart from abuse and corruption, they are directed ac- cording to the rules of their founder, and that the Sovereign Pontiff applies them to the wants of the universal Church. What can there be in fact more excellent than to carry the light of truth to distant nations across the s,eas, and through fire and sword ? To be occupied with nothing but the salvation of souls ; to interdict oneself every pleasure, and even the sweetness of 245 conversation and society, in order to be at lei- sure for the contemplation of supernatural truths and divine meditations; to be devoted to the edu- cation of youth, to give it a taste for knowledge and virtue; to go and carry help to the unhappy, to men lost in despair, to prisoners, to those who are condemned, to all those who are stript of every thing, or in fetters, or in distant regions, and in those services of the most expansive cha- rity not even to be frightened by the terror of the plague. Whoever does not know, or despises, these things, has only a cramped and vulgar idea of virtue; and foolishly thinks to have fulfilled his obligations to God when he has discharged outwardly some worn-out practices with that cold custom which is generally accompanied by no zeal or sentiment. Evidently the learned German philosopher who dwells upon these works of the active and retired religious life would not have stript Communities of their houses, churches, and lands, and would have subscribed to the con- demnation contained in these words of Pope Pius IX : With consummate impudence they do not hesi- tate to assert that divine revelation not only is of no use, but even injurious to human perfec- tion : and that divine revelation itself is imper- feet, and therefore subject to a continual and 246 * indefinite progress corresponding to the progres- sion of human reason. Nor thence are they ashamed to boast that the prophecies and mira- cles set forth and told in Holy Writ are the fan- cies of poets ; and the most holy mysteries of our divine faith the sum of philosophic investigations ; and that, in the divine books of either Testament, mythic inventions are contained, and that our very Lord Jesus Christ, horrible to tell ! is him- self a mythic fiction. * NAVE. The nave is separated from the south aisle by a line of eight columns, of which only five remain. One is broken and imbedded in a brick pier for support. The front and sides of these piers are co- vered with frescoes, which for perfection of preser- vation, beauty of execution, and their ecclesiastical subjects, are the most interesting Christian compo- sitions ever discovered in Rome, or perhaps else- were. The pictures in the catacombs give us in- deed a class of parabolic and scriptural subjects familiar throughout the early Christian world, and some few figures of saints and Popes. But these, 1 Encyclical of June 1862. S. CLEMENT CELEBRATING MASS SISINIUS MIRACULOUSLY STRUCK BLIND 247 besides such figures, give us also well contrived compositions of Roman devotion, and spirited re- cords of historical events in the Church, after the catacombs were disused, and long before modern pictorial art was developed. They appear to have been part of a series painted about the same time, and, when the colours were fresh, the basilica must have presented a brilliant appearance very different from that puritanical baldness, which some suppose, but very falsely, as we have proved in the Intro- duction to these pages, to have been the undefiled condition of church walls in the early ages. INSTALLATION OF CLEMENT BY S. PETER. S. CLEMENT SAYING MASS. MIRACLE OF SISINIUS. Near the high altar, on a pier which is fourteen feet high, nine feet six inches in width, and three feet in thickness, we have a large, and admirably well preserved, series of paintings divided into three hori- zontal compartments. On the highest are nine figures the heads of which were destroyed during the build- ing of the upper church, but the names, inscribed beneath the feet of four of them - LINVS, S. PETRVS, S. CLEMENS PAPA, CLETYS - enable us to understand that the subject represents the installation of Clement by S. Peter. S. Clement is standing on a highly orna- 248 mented throne. S. Peter, having one foot on the step of the throne, is leaning over Clement in the attitude of investing him with the pallium, symbol of universal jurisdiction. Linus is standing behind Peter; on the other side Cletus is next Clement; and both are in their sacerdotal vestments, but without the pallium moreover they occupy lower positions than those occupied by Peter and Clement who are on the same level, so that it would appear that the painter embraced the opinion of Tertullian and others, and intended to represent S. Clement as the immediate successor of S. Peter. But, as we have already observed, that opinion is contradicted by several Fathers of the early Church, as well as by the Canon of the Mass. Ciacconius, Oldoinus and others say that Peter nominated Clement for his immediate successor, but that, either through hu- mility, or divine inspiration, he did not accept of that dignity until after the martyrdom of Cletus. Behind Linus and Cletus are two other priests in the vest- ments of their order, and behind them again two sol- diers in Roman military costume. The central compartment represents the interior of a church, from the arches of which are suspended seven lamps, symbolizing the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. That over the altar is circular in form , much larger than the other six, and contains seven 219 lights, probably typical of the seven gifts of the same Holy Spirit. Anastasius the librarian, who lived in the ninth century, makes mention of this form of lamp, and calls it Phamm cum corona, a pharos with a crown: a crown from its form, and a pharos, or lighthouse, from the brilliancy of the light it emit- ted. * He also says that it was in common use in all the Christian Churches. S. Clement in his ponti- fical robes is officiating at the altar, over which his name - S.Clemens Papa, - Pope S. Clement, is written in the form of a cross. He has the maniple between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. The altar is covered w r ith a plain white cloth, and on it are the missal, the chalice, and paten. The missal is open, and on one page of it are the words Dominus vo- biscum, which the saint is pronouncing, his arms extended, as Catholic priests do, even to this day, when celebrating mass. On the other page Pax Domini sit sender vobiscum, the peace of the Lord be ever with you. These two phrases were intro- duced into the liturgy of the Church by Clement himself and are still retained. On the right of the saint are his ministers, namely two bishops with cro- siers in their left hands, a deacon, and subdeacon. They all have the circular tonsure, and the Pope in 1 Comniendatore De Rossi has published a bronze lamp of this kind of the fifth century. 250 addition to the tonsure has the nimbus, or halo, the symbol of sanctity. On the left of the saint, but separated from him by the altar, is a group of four- teen persons probably representing the congregation. They are all admirably designed and carefully exe- cuted. Two of them have their names - Theodora, Sisinius - written beneath their feet. Theodora wears a rich and gracefully folded dress, and behind her stands a female of noble mien with jewelled head- dress. Moinbritius, James of Yoragine, Panvinius and other early writers inform us that Theodora was the wife of Sisinius, that both were attached to the court of the emperor Nerva, that they were converted to the faith by S. Clement, and afterwards suffered martyr- dom. 1 Sisinius, having intruded upon the myste- ries, is struck blind, and his helplessness is admirably espressed. He grasps the shoulder of a youth who leads him towards the open door, and turns to gaze upon his eyes, whilst another assisting him behind seems to be telling, what had occurred, to Theodora who is looking at him with amazemsnt and commi- seration. It appears that Theodora, who was con- verted to the faith before Sisinius, had been in the habit of frequenting, without her husband's know- 1 c Has inter Sisinius, necnon uxor ejus Theodora, atque alii Ner- > vae imperatoris faruiliares Chri.sto nomen dederunt. See Rondiuini, page 8, . 9. - 251 ledge, the oratory in which S. Clement used to give instructions to the faithful and celebrate the eucha- ristic rites. Sisinius, on a certain day, followed her to the chapel^ to discover what she was doing there. On entering it, he began, as Pagans in those days were wont to do, as well as many nominal Christians in our own, to ridicule the sacred mysteries, and was struck blind by the Almighty in punishment of his sin. But afterwards, repenting of what he had done, through the prayers of S. Clement, and of his pious wife Theodora, he recovered his sight, embraced the Christian faith, and sealed it with his blood. The following fourth stanza, or verse, of the very ancient hymn formerly sung at the first Vespers of S. Clement refers to this fact. Tune convertunlur Christo sacrae virgines, Magnatum sponsae Deo peramabiles ; Sed Theodorae sponsus zelotypio Caecus et surdus factus est continue ; Sed per Clenientera credeus sanus redditur. In the foreground, on the right of S. Clement, and in front of his attendants, are the figures of a man and woman holding in their hands lighted twisted tapers, called by Anastasius kerostota. They are of diminutive size, to indicate their humility, as may be seen in many more modern pictures painted three or four hundred years ago. The man has his name-Beno - 252 written near him, and the woman's name is Mary, as we learn from the following inscription which se- parates this compartment from a beautiful border below it: Ego Beno Derapiza cum Maria uxore mea pro amore Domini et beati dementis P. G.R.F. C. I Beno Derapiza with Mary my wife for the love of God and blessed Clement had it painted for a fa- vour received. It is evidently mere pedantry to look for accurate representations of ecclesiastical costumes in these pictures. The artist has taken the liberty, as all ar- tists do, to suit his compositions: thus the two assis- tants wear the maniple on the right wrist, which is always worn on the left, and S. Clement holds his maniple across the two fore fingers of the left hand. In the lowest compartment there are four figures, one of which is in the attitude of giving instructions to the others who are engaged in dragging a column, and each has his name written near him: Carvoncelle, Albertel, Cosmaris, and Sisinius. The three first are clad in the short tunic, which is a badge of servi- tude. Sisinius wears the toga and paludamentuin of a Roman tribune, and is addressing the men in the following terms : Falite de reto colo palo Carvon- celle, * get behind the column, Carvoncelle, with * a lever. Albertel, Cosruaris trai, Albertel, Cosmaris draw it up. Fili dele pute traite, 253 Sons of - - draw it up. Interpolated under the arches saxa traere meruistis : duritiam cordis vestris (sic). For the hardness of your hearts you have deserved to draw stones. This com- partment may, perhaps, have some allusion to the building of the church of S.Clement. The above phrases may also be referred to the following fact which is recorded by several early writers in their lives of our Saint. On a certain day Sisinius, a noble Roman citizen, went to a church which his wife Theodora was in the habit of fre- quenting, in order that he might discover her mo- tives for going there. He found S. Clement cele- brating mass, and the saint, knowing why he in- truded on the sacred mysteries, like another Eliseus, prayed the Lord to strike him with blindness. Sisi- nius finding himself deprived of his sight as well as of his speech, intimated to his servants to conduct him out of the church, but they could not find the door until Theodora begged of S. Clement to allow them to go away, which he accordingly did. Some time afterwards S. Clement visited Sisinius and re- stored his sight ; but the ungrateful man took the saint for a magician, and ascribing the loss and re- covery of his sight and speech to his black art, or- dered his servants to arrest him and cast him into prison. But a dense veil coming over their eyes - 254 concealed S. Clement from them, and seizing a column that was lying hard-by, they began to drag it along thinking they were dragging their prisoner. The holy man advised Theodora not to cease praying until the Lord should enlighten her busband with his heavenly light ; and while she was praying, S. Pe- ter appeared to her and said : Your husband shall be saved in order that the words of Paul may be fulfilled : ' The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife. ' l Sisinius struck with remorse of conscience for his treatment of Clement, desired Theodora to send for him. He came and instructed him, together with 424 mem- bers of his family and slaves, in the mysteries of the faith, and received them into the religion of Christ. The words falite de reto colo palo Carvon- celle may be a corruption of the Latin fac ibi te retro cum palo Carvoncelle, get behind the column with the lever (or stake) Carvoncelle. Albertcl, Cosmaris,trai, <'Albertel, Cosmaris,draw. Fili dele pute traite, sons of draw it up, to which a voice replies : Saxa traere meruistis : du- ritiam cordis vcstris, you have deserved to draw stones on account of the hardness of your hearts. Other interpretations might be given of these anti- 1 Corinth., VII, 14. 255 qua ted sentences, but we shall leave them to those who are more profoundly versed in philology than we can have any claim to be. The date of this painting has afforded a theme for discussion to some of the most eminent living archaeologists, philologists, and painters : some refer- ring it to the twelfth century, others to the ninth, and others to the seventh. Without pretending to decide so difficult a question, we may observe that even the most modern pictures found here must be anterior to Robert Guiscard's devastation of the city in 1084, when very probably the basilica was aban- doned, and it was found necessary to fill it with earth on account of the immense piles of ruins with which it was surrounded. But it may be objected that we cannot prove that the prefix (if it be a prefix) to Beno's cognomen l or even the cogno- men itself, or any family of that name flourished in Rome before the twelfth century. We reply that this is a negative argument, and consequently proves nothing. Moreover there is a manuscript in the La- teran archives in which mention is made of a fa- mily of that name living in Rome in the eleventh 1 Beno's cognomen has a very Dacian and Barbarian sound: but among the freedmen and their families descended from slaves from every part of the world it would not be difficult to find names equally barbarous. Sec Suetonius, XII Caesarum and Tahiti Annales passim. 256 century, and that same family may have flourished for centuries before. Finally it has been objected that some of the inscriptions are in vulgar Italian, which was not spoken before the twelfth century. To this we oppose the authorities of the learned cardi- nal Bembo and Cesare Cantu. The former, in his work * on the origin of the Italian language, says : It is asserted by some writers that the vulgar Italian language is coeval with the Latin, on the suppo- sition that the common people always had a lan- guage of their own; but it is certain that the vulgar Italian language was spoken shortly after the incursions of the barbarians, and as early as the sixth century. The latter, in his complete analysis of the formation of the Italian language 1 furnishes us with phrases similar to those in our fre- sco, which were in use in the eighth and ninth cen- turies Da ipsa casa - ire ad marito - a scrivere tolli - crotta, faille - granario, orto, orticelle, corte. There- fore taking such examples into consideration perhaps the ninth century may not be too early a period to assign to these paintings. The style of the figures, their execution and drapery, induced the renowned painters Overbeck and Minardi to ascribe them to a much earlier date. 1 Storia universale, schiarimeuti del libro XI. 257 & ANTONINUS. DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN. On the side of this pier, at the top, is the lowest half of a figure of a bishop in a richly ornamented dress, and jewelled buskins. His name, Antoninus, is painted under his feet. It may be Domitian's martyr of that name; or S.Antoninus, or Antoninus Cauleas, patriarch of Constantinople in 893, who laboured to extinguish the Greek schism begun by Photius, 1 and 1 Photius was son of the patrician Sergius and of Irene, daughter of the pious empress Theodora. His parents committed his education to the celebrated Bardas, and so great was the proficiency he made in his stu- dies that he became a prodigy of genius and learning. Poet, mathema- tician, orator, jurist, theologian, and statesman, Photius possessed the most refined intellect ; but his great qualifications were debased by a consum- mate depravity of soul; for he was the most cunning and deceitful of men, and always ready to sacrifice everything to his unbounded ambition. He held two distinguished offices at the court of Michael III, being Protos- palharius and Protosecritis, that is, master of the horse, and chief secre- tary to the emperor. Eeligion, which he always looked upon with contempt, had even-thing to fear from an enemy of such a character. The eastern church, long since fallen from its primitive splendour by the neglect of holy teachings, now only wanted the impulse of an unfriendly hand to plunge it into the abyss of ruin. Photius be- came the instrument of this fearful catastrophe : he adhered to Gre- gory Abestas the schismatic bishop of Siracuse, in Sicily, who had raised a faction against S. Ignatius from the time of his promotion to the patriarcate of Constantinople. The saint had endeavoured to re- claim this prelate, but in vain ; so that at length he condemned and de- posed him for his crimes, in a Council he held in 854. Photius conti- nued to protect him, and being nominated patriarch by Bardas, in con- tempt of all canonical rule, and without even the form of an election, he was consecrated by the bishop of Siracuse, and on Christmas Day A. D. 858, the future author of the great eastern schism ascended the Pa- triarchal throne of Constantinople. Pope S. Nicholas I excommunicated 17 258 held a Council for that purpose, the Acts of which were purposely destroyed by the schismatics. In 84 G, S. Cyril told Pliotius : Your passion against Ignatius deprived you of your sight : and in a series of pictures with which S. Cyril is intimately connected, the patriarch, who proceeded against that schismatic intruder (Photius), aiight be here appropriately in- troduced. Below, in the centre, is the prophet Daniel. He is dressed in Roman costume, and has the sacrilegious intruder. The emperor Basil the ^Macedonian, two days after his accession to the throne removed him from the Patriarchal See, as a disturber of the public peace and S. Ignatius was reinstated. After the death of S. Ignatius, Basil recalled Photius who by his crafty machi- nations persuaded the Legates of Pope John VIII to restore him to his former rank. The eastern bishops terrified into submission by the proofs of the wonderful power so lately shown by Photius, dared not oppose his restoration. Basil wrote to urge the Pope's approval of Photius' nomi- nation, which was granted on four conditions: I 8 *, that on the de;tli of Pliotius, his place shall not be filled by a layman : 2 d , that the Pa- triarch claim no jurisdiction whatever over the province of Bulgaria : 3 d , that the bishops and clerics ordained by Ignatius shall hold their present rank a^.d positions, and suffer no persecution ; 4*h. that Pliotius convene a council to receive the disavowal of his past conduct. The last clause was particularly displeasing to Photius. Ita fulfilment would have cost his pride too dear, and he endeavoured to elude it. But the Pontiff having bean informed of his faithlessness, in the presence of the clergy and faithful of Rome assembled in S. Peter's Church, renewed the ana- themas pronounced against him by Nicolas I, Adrian II, and the eighth general Council. Marinus, who succeeded John VII in the potih'cate. and his successors Adrian III. and Stephen V, also condemned Photius. The letters of this last arrived in the east after the death of Basil the Macedonian in 886, and were delivered to his son and successor Leo the Wise, who immediately turned out Photius, and banished him into a monastery in Armenia, where he died after having lived thirty years in schism. LIFE DEATH AND RECOGNITION OF S.ALEXIUS 259 the ephod on his breast; his hands are outstretched, and his eyes raised to heaven, while two lions gam- bol at his feet beneath which his name - Ss. Danihel - is written. The incorrect drawing of these animals, and of five others in the panel below, show that the painter never saw a lion in his life. In the earliest known painting of this subject, which is in Domitilla's cemetery, the prophet stands on a mount with his hands extended in prayer, but without the nimbus, and the two lions are very natural as well as lively. They seem to have been painted by one who heard the cry : The Christians to the lions. On Chri- stian sarcophagi the saint appears in a state of gla- diatorial nudity, and the beasts, on either side, squatted on their haunches, have not quite lost the ferocious character of their nature, though approach- ing the stiff quaint heraldic character we see here. An ornamental border separates the middle from the lower panel, and shows a good deal of fancy and taste. LIFE, DEATH, AND RECOGNITION, OF S.ALEXIUS. Called from a palace to a pilgrimage, from Koman espousals to a hermit's life, in a hut near our Lady's church at Edessa; in youth's bloom to the austerity of solitary old age; from wealth to privations; in 260 privations to return home, not as the prodigal son, but, that hardest trial of merely human nature, to his birth-place, self-stript of its ties and associations, to parents no longer knowing him as their child, forgotten by all, a mendicant asking for charity, and with no place to lay his head ; this young no- bleman, who lived in the beginning of the fifth century, Alexius, has bequeathed to the city of the Pontiffs an imperishable name. The artist, who painted the subject we are about to treat of, seems to have felt that the sweet odour of grace was wafted from that story of inspired devotion, and to have sought for appropriate ornament. The honey-suckle supplies the border below the picture of his death , the lower panel, of flowers, fruits, and gay birds of paradise, is resplendent in colour and in excellent taste. Above, the angels of our Lady and of the strength of the Church, Gabriel and Michael, censor in hand, stand beside the magnificent throne on which our Lord sits holding in his hands a scroll with the words Fort is ut vincula mortis, strong as the bonds of death. Thus He presides over the life and death of the saint. Saints Clement and Nicholas are there also. Upon the Aventine Hill, the beautiful campanile of S. Alexius, on his father's house, looks down on one side upon the Tiber and the great hospice of San Michele, upon the Ripa 261 - Grande, the port of ancient Rome, and upon S.Fran- cesco a Ripa, built on the ancient church of S. Blaze where the saint of holy poverty, S. Francis, used to live. On the other side upon the ruins of the Forum and Coliseum, and the hills of Latium. The remains of the palace of Pope Honorius III, and of an antique Roman house are on the steep of the hill below towards the river. Honorius confirmed the rule of the order of S. Dominic in 1216, in which year the relics of S. Alexius were found in his church near the Dominican convent of S. Sabina. S. Adelbert of Prague, S. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, mar- tyred at the age of seventy five, in 755, and S. Tho- mas of Canterbury martyred in 1170, lived in the convent of S. Alexius. There, once overlooking the busy grandeur of the world, the palace of the rich, and noble Roman Senator, Euphimianus, held a hid- den treasure - the heart of his only child. Dear lover of the poor he gave incessant alms, and God rewarded him, calling him to a higher state, the greater sacrifice of voluntary poverty. Yet one thing is wanting to thee: sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have trea- sure in heaven ; and come, and follow me. l His chaste soul was vowed to God alone. His parents i Luke, XVIII, 22. 262 urged him to marriage. His heart had already for- saken the world. If men have freedom, they should have freedom to live for religion. Amen, I say to you there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive much more in this present time, and, in the world to come, life everlasting. l He fled. In the eyes of the world he was eccentric or insane ; a son who rebelled against his parents, a husband w r ho aban- doned his bride. The Church, in him, vindicates the right, to make choice of a more perfect state, before the consummation of marriage ; the pilgrim who hated father, and mother, and wife to come to Christ; the ascetic who hated his own soul that he might there- by save it, and shouldered his cross to be Christ's disciple; the saint obedient to grace and faithful to death. And the eye that gazes, from the cloister of S. Sabina, by the orange tree S. Dominic planted there, upon the palm tree w r aving its branches against the tower of S.Alexius, may turn itself within, and the soul ponder how sin is purged by suffering, and by what mysterious compensation young innocence seems to be called upon, in the hardship of a religious life, to do penance for hardened vice. At Edejsa, 1 Luke, XVIII, 29. 263 Alexius was miraculously recognized as a person of distinction, and saintly life. l He returned to Rome and as a pilgrim received hospitality in his father's house, where he spent many years bearing with joy the taunts of the servants. The staircase under which he was allowed to stay is still pre- served over one of the altars in his church on the Aventine. In the central compartment of the painting we see him on his return to Rome, in the garb of a pil- grim, with his wallet and staff, accosting Euphimia- nus who is on horseback followed by two attendants, and evidently asking hospitality of him. Euphimia- nus is pointing with his right hand to his palace (from the balcony of which a lady is looking,) and saying to Alexius: That is my residence, in it you shall find an asylum. During his stay in his father's house he wrote an account of his life, but would not consign the manuscript to any one. At length ; sickness came upon him, and he died holding the manuscript in his right hand with so stiff a grasp, that it could not be removed. At that moment the 1 See Pinius the Bollandist, t. 4, Julii, pag. 209, who couf utes the groundless aud inconsistent surmises of Baillet regarding S. Alexius. Ne- rinio abbot of the Hieronymites at Rome who has fully vindicated the memory of S.Alexius in his Dissertation De Templo et C'oenobio SS. Bo- nifacii et Ale.rii, in 4*', Rome, 1752. Also see Joseph Assemani ad 17 Martii in Caleud. Univ. t. G, pag. 187-189. And Bibl. Orient, t. 1, p. 401. 264 bells of the adjacent church began to ring a joyful peal, of their own accord. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood were seized with astonishment: the phenomenon could not be explained. After a little the news reached S. Boniface who then governed the Church. Euphimianus requested him to come and explain the marvel. The Pope consented, and he went up to the Aventine accompanied by his clergy and cross-bearer. On his arrival at Euphimianus' pa- lace, he was conducted to the staircase where the dead pilgrim lay. He recited a short prayer, and leaning towards the pilgrim he took, without any difficulty, the manuscript from his hand, and blessed him. Euphimianus is standing by with an expression of compassion, not knowing, of course, who the dead man was. A little more to the right of the spectator is depicted his recognition. He is laid on a bier co- vered with a pall, decorated with crosses, and birds holding snow white lilies, symbols of purity in their beaks. His aged parents tear their hair through grief for not having known him, and the bride covers his face with kisses. The inscription below says: The father does not recognize who asks his pity. The Pope holds the scroll which tells his austere life. His interment was celebrated with great pomp by the whole city of Rome. How many parents have wept when the spirit whispers to the young heart: Hear, 265 * my daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thy people, and the house of thy father, and the king will desire thy beauty, for he is the Lord thy God and they shall adore him. l The fi- nal close of the devoted soul is well indicated by the words upon the scroll in the Pontiffs hands: Come to me, all you that labour. ; S. AEGIDIUS, OR GILES. S. BLAZE. On the side of this pier, at the top, is part of a figure with the name Egidius, that is Giles. The celebrated Athenian hermit of this name lived at the end of the seventh century near Nismes, and was greatly honoured in France where he built a monas- tery which became a great Benedictine Abbey, and gave his name to the town of S. Giles. But from the position of S.Giles here in connection with S. Alexius who lived in the fifth century, he may be the Abbot who was sent in 514 by S.Caesarius of Aries to seek, confirmation of the privileges of his metropolitan church, from Pope Symmachus. The election of Sym- machus, at the end of that century, was contested by an Eutychian antipope, and S. Caesarius condemned the Semipelagians in the second Council of Orange i Psalm. 44. " Mathew, XI, v. 28. 266 in 529. S.Alexius lived in the same century with Zosimus and Celestine, whom we have seen condemn- ing the Pelagians, Eutychians, and Semipelagians, and Leo the Great who by his presidency over the Council of Chalcedon may be said to have torn up this class of heresies by the root. In fact, S. Prosper, whose portrait we shall find near this, and for whom S.Leo sent from the South of France to become his secretary, wrote vigorously against the Semi- pelagians. Their error consisted in admitting grace, but stickling for man's own free will as moving to virtuous actions before the call of grace. One might suppose that the life of S. Alexius, so opposed to natural free will, and so inexplicable without the most powerful call of grace, was a practical refuta- tion at the time; that that miracle of grace, the life of a young saint choosing privations and abstinence of every kind, in the very lap of fortune, and wooing of the world, might consume the error in the flames of divine love. It is difficult to account for the selection of the martyr bishop S. Blaze placed below S.Giles, except by a reference again to S. Leo the Great, and the relics under the high altar, among which are those of the Forty martyrs of Sebaste in Armenia, of which city Blaze was bishop. A year after S. Sylvester had gazed from the walls of Rome in the direction of that 267 battle which gave her a Christian emperor, he was chosen Pope, and sent his Legates to the Council of Aries against the Donatists, a sect then seven years old, which pretended that the Catholic Church had failed elsewhere, and was to be found in itspurityonly in Carthage their own local metropolis. 1 But if S.Syl- vester was condemning heresy, and Constantino sup- porting his decisions, Licinius was persecuting Chris- tians, and, in 316, S. Blaze was put to death. Four years afterwards, the twelfth legion, quartered in Armenia, was ordered to sacrifice. Forty stepped out before the governor, Agricola, who had tortured the bishop, declaring themselves Christians; and, like S. Blaze, their sides w r ere torn with iron hooks. Were we to take this image of their bishop, placed beside the sudden call of S. Alexius, as a sufficient reference to their history, no more instantaneous and effective call of grace could be found; for when they were stripped upon the ice to perish by lingering cold, one only apostatized, and his place was instantly occupied. Lord, w r e are forty who are engaged in this combat; grant that we may be forty crowned, 1 The Donatists, in an assembly they held at Carthage, had the inso- lence to unchurch the whole Christian world except themselves, and commanded all, who had been baptized by Catholics, to be again ba p- tized. To prevent so great a sacrilege, Constantino made it a capi- tal offence for anv one to rebaptize another - see Codex Just. tit. Haeret . lib. 2. 268 and that not one be wanting to this sacred num- ber. Such their prayer. A sentinel, moved by a vision of spirits descending and distributing gifts to all except the apostate, threw down his arms, stript himself, and took the deserter's place. S. Blaze ap- pears extracting a thorn from a boy's throat, who is supported by his mother. He was patron of the wool- combers at Norwich, who kept his festival in the last century. In Rome, upon his feast (February 3) ? which is celebrated in the church of S.Maria in Via Lata, where S. Paul was lodged, a relic of his throat is venerated; and also in a church dedicated to him in Via Giulia, persons with diseased throats are touched with another of his relics. The wolf car- rying off a pig, which he is said to have saved by his prayers, refers to a story recorded in his life. S. PROSPER OF AQUITAINE. Passing down the aisle by two beautiful columns of ligio marble, one spiral, the other plain, we must take the picture of S. Prosper of Aquitaine as the only memorial left here of the condemnation of Pela- gianism. A Welshman and Scotchman together were its patrons: Morgan a monk of Bangor who took the name of Pelagius, by the sea, and his pupil a noble Scot, and quondam lawyer, known as the monk 269 Celestius from the skies. But neither was the original inventor of this heresy which denied the necessity of grace. Morgan picked it up at Rome, about the year 400, from Rufinus the Syrian, and then wentoffto Palestine to perfect it. The root of it was disbelief in the divinity of Christ, a heresy vigo- rously maintained by the Xazarenes and Ebionites at Pella whither the Christians had retired before Ves- pasian attacked Jerusalem. Is not this the car- penter's son ? is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: and his sisters are they not all with us? whence therefore hath he all these things? l Ebion and Cerinthus attributed other children to the ever Virgin Mary before the birth of Jesus, as their followers since have done after that event: the whole being nothing else than a denial of the super- natural power of God and the fall of Adam, for if Adam had no grace to fall from, and Jesus were simply such as he, mere man, His blessed Mother needed no fullness of grace, and there was nothing but natural talent to recommend the New Testament to the human race. To follow its precepts became mere matter of choice, and no authoritative worship of the Creator could exist. The crucifixion became 1 Mathew, XII, 55-56. 270 only a natural consequence of opposition to the world, and its victim a virtuous enthusiast. The presence of God in the pillar and cloud had passed away, and was expunged from the tabernacle, by the destruc- tion of the only authorized Temple. The renewal of it by the Catholic Church could only be an illusion, or a trick. Sacraments were superfluous where grace, if they could confer it, w' s not needed. Preaching could only be, at best, of the natural law: Christ a capital philosopher, the best exponent of God the Creator, and of the moral duties of His creatures : heaven the birthright of man, if this world was not to last for ever : eternal hell an unnecessary invention repugnant alike to the affections of man, and his Maker who loved him. In short, as the rites, and ce- remonies of the synagogue, were come to an end, and man ought ^not to go back to all that preceded it, the perfectibility of his reason, and natural appetite for good, would lead him on in an indefinite progress of intelligence, and moral virtues to be happy for ever. This desolating system was a renewal of Sa- tan's old trick: No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. * A. voice from heaven: This is my beloved Son > died away in idle 1 Genesis, Chap. Ill, Ver. 4-3. 271 echoes when men said it thundered, or an angel had spoken. The only answer was the conduct of the Church, which, as each phase of heresy appeared, condemned it in its turn. It is not worth while to pursue the subterfuges of Pelagius and his disciples. At Carthage in 412, and at Diospolis in 415, accused by the exiled bishops of Aries andAix,and in both ci- ties condemned, he adopted that policy, which we have seen in our own day, of private conversations, and letters to friends ; and such a system received its check, when the Bishop of Rome was written to for information with a will to abide by his answer. In 415 the bishops of Jerusalem took this course. In 416 again at Carthage and Milevis; and in 417 Inno- cent excommunicated the tw r o, Pelagius and Cele- stius. Celestius came to Rome. Pope Zosimus, in March 417,, without removing the excommunication, deferred sentence for two months. In 418 a great Council at Carthage renewed the excommunication; Zosimus confirmed it, and sent the sentence, to Africa and all the chief churches of the East. It often happens in the history of the Church, that error is answered not merely by the pen, but by a living saint. Augustine the Manichaean, 1 who 1 The fallen Chaldaean priest Manes had got his notion of two necessarily existing principles, good and evil, creating their like, from Scythianus, the lapsed Arab Christian merchant. 272 at twenty two tested everything by reason, and turned his wit against the Catholics,, was yet to be the converted child of his mother's tears, S. Monica; yet to hear of S. Antony of the desert; yet to hear the child singing take up and read ; to snatch up S. Paul's epistles from the garden bench, and read with smitten heart : Not in rioting and drunk- ness ; not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences .* As yet this African, im- mersed in the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes, was to become a convert, priest, bishop, founder of a religious Order, doctor of the Church, saint. On the grace of Jesus Christ, on original sin, on marriage and concupiscence, on the soul and its origin, are some of the works which, then thirty years a priest, he wrote against Pelagianism. Pelagius was scotched, not killed. In 429, Pope Celestine had sent his two vicars against him to Britain. Both were French. S. Lupus bishop of Troyes, who abandoned the mar- ried state to become a priest, and at the head of his clergy boldly met Attila the scourge of God, and saved his city. S. Germanus bishop of Auxerre, called by compulsion to the ecclesiastical state, for 1 Eom, Chap. XIII, ver. 13-14. 273 he was a military man, when the then bishop shut the church doors upon him and tonsured him. On his journey he received the virginal vow of S.Gene- vieve the future patroness of Paris, and foretold her sanctity. Confounded by their successful preaching, the heretics came to a conference at S. Alban's. It ended by Germanus taking his reliquary from his bosom, and laying it on the eyes of a blind girl who was restored to sight. He ordered the protomartyr's tomb to be opened, placed the reliquary within it, and took a little of the martyr's dust which he used in the consecration of a church at Auxerre. The devil, finding himself checkmated at S. Alban's, carried his warfare to the South of France. Some priests thought that by grace Augustine destroyed free will; and they compromised by granting that supernatural grace was necessary for actions conducive to eternal life but that free will must start the first desire. Like most compromises it was a bad one. Thus, Semipela- gianism, ascribing to the creature alone the begin- ning of virtue, gave the whole to him and not to God. S. Prosper of Aquitaine applied to Augustine who replied, two or three years before his death, by Books on the predestination of the saints, and the gift of perseverance. Prosper went to Eonie about it, and Celestine commended Augustine's doctrine to the bishop of Marseilles and others. When Leo the Great is 274 became Pope in 440, lie called Prosper to Home and made him his secretary. The final overthrow of the heresy was due to S. Prosper; or as he himself des- cribes it in his poem upon the Semipelagians un- grateful to divine grace. l Pestem subeuntem prima recidit Sedes Roma Pctri. quae pastoralis honoris Facia caput immdo quicquid non jwssidet armis Reliyione tenet. > The stealing pestilence, the first cut off R^me Peter's Seat of pastoral honour made Head to the world ; what'er not owned by arms By true religion held. CRUCIFIXION. ! On the pilaster, forming a right angle at the end of the nave, is a group of subjects, if not ar- ranged in connection with S. Prosper to vindicate the doctrine of original sin and sacramental grace, yet happily illustrating them. We turn with pleasure from the discomfited heresies to the Author of grace upon the cross. The painting is old and rude, but true human hearts stand beside it. You are they who have continued with me in my temptations. 2 Our Lady is appealing to her Divine Son. S. John with his Gospel roll stretches a supplicating hand to Him. Could the painter better indicate the words : \Vo- 1 Carmen de ingrali?. 3 Luke, XXII, 28. CRUCIFIXION.THE MARYS AT THE SEPULCHRE DESCENT INTO LIMBO.MARIAGE AT CANA - 275 man, behold thy Son; after that he saith to the disciple: ' Behold thy Mother ; ' and from that hour the disciple took her to his own ? l Mistress of the little house of Nazareth ; Mistress of every Christian home, in the house and in the temple wherever the Cross of Christ is venerated that Mo- ther is found beside it. Our Lord is not repre- sented as dead : there is suffering compassion in His face. This is probably the earliest church picture we have of the Crucifixion, and, if poor in art, there is Christian feeling in the simplicity which gives us the union of those three hearts in the hour of agony and death. Red streams of grace flowed down upon the guilty earth : the appointed Mother stood. That loud cry rent the veil of the useless temple, and so shook nature that the dead came forth from their graves; still she stood. For in that temple she had presented the Child, and for her a prophecy was yet to be fulfilled. His heart was pierced and her's; and as the blood and water flowed that marriage type of Cana lived again before her eyes. The mystery of the Cross was consummated. THE MARYS AT THE SEPULCHRE. DESCENT INTO LIMBO. MARRIAGE FEAST AT CAXA. High up on the pilaster, at right angles with the one we have just noticed, is depicted the open arch 1 John, XIX. i>7. 276 of our Lord's sepulchre with the lamp suspended from it. The angel seems saying to the two wo- men bringing the spices they had prepared : He is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they laid him. l The roll in the hand of her with the alabaster box may refer to the pre- diction Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. * : The last unction of His feet for burial was no com- mon act. It was done with a pound of ointment of rich spikenard of great value, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. If, says Augustine, you will be a faithful soul, anoint the Lord's feet with the precious ointment. But that ointment was that of faith. By faith the just man lives; anoint the feet of Jesus by living > well. Hearken to the Apostle when he says : ' \Ve are the good odour of Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one indeed the odour of death unto death : but to the others the odour of life unto life.' 3 1 Marie. XVI, v. G. Mathew XXVI, v. 13. " Corinth. Chap. II, v. 15-1(5. The. odour of death etc. The preach- ing of the Apostle, which. by it? fraprrant odour, brought many to life, was to others, through their own fault, the occasion of death ; by their wilfully opposing and resisting- that divine call. 277 The subject below the sepulchre is the descent into Limbo, to release the souls which could not be admitted to the presence of God until the merits of Christ's passion had been applied to them. When the women returned from the sepulchre, their words seemed to the Apostlos as an idle dream. But to Adam it was no dream when our Lord entered and raised him by the hand. In his state of glory, in- dicated by the azure cloud in which He is enve- loped, our Saviour, with a grave and affectionate action, is releasing the parents of the human race. Adam presses one hand upon his breast, whilst Eve, behind, extends both in energetic supplication. Adam by his fall had not lost the inherent qualities of hu- man nature, but forfeited the grace with which that nature had been endowed. To recover grace was the whole aim of a virtuous life, and purgatory the means to clear away the faults which marred the aim. So S. Gregory of Nyssa expresses it: Some there are who throughout their life in the flesh regulate their lives in a spiritual manner and free from passion : such we are told were the patriarchs and prophets, and they who lived with them and after them, men who hastened back to the per- feet by means of virtue and the persuit of wisdom. AVhile others, through their entry into the future state, have cast aside in the purgatorial fire their -- 278 propensity to the material, and have returned gladly from an eager desire of good things to that grace which was at first the inheritance of our nature. 1 The most efficacious means to obtain this grace is the sacramental action of the Eucha- rist; and the Catholic painter ends his group of mysteries with its type in the miracle of Cana. The master of the feast who is addressing Christ, is indicated by ARCHITRICLINYS written vertically over his head. Our Lady with the nimbus stands next to him. In the grave look of our Lord, with his eyes cast down, there is an expression becoming the importance of the Sacrament. All flows from the life-blood of Christ. A cluster of Cyprus my love is to me in the vineyards of Engaddi. : AVe preach, says S. Ephrem, the cluster which when squeezed has filled the chalice of salvation with its own liquor. And he represents our Lady saying to the Magi: I do fear Herod the polluted wolf, lest he disturb me and grasp the sword to cut off the sweet cluster yet unripe. For the Daughter of Sion knew what David had sung: Thou hast prepared a table before me, against them that afflict me. Thou hast anoint - De anim. et resurr. , p. G6. - Canticle, 1, 13. 279 ed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebria- teth me, how goodly is it ! l We easily connect, the vintage scenes of the catacombs and the dove with the full cluster of grapes, with the juice poured into the chalice. Christ described in various figures pours himself through the Church: Himself with His grace under the veils of the bread and the wine, but His grace alone in the other Sacraments. Grace is the sap of the Church, the life blood of the mystic vine. Those who reject it, cry with the Jews : His blood be upon us and upon our children. 2 Reject any fact of the divine testimonies, and the connexion of the fact is lost ; but deny the necessity of grace, and the whole of the testimo- nies are whithered, for the Church exists only to distribute it. When treason was at the table upon the very issuing of the great Sacrament of Grace, the words of warning w r ere added. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine ; you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit : for wit h out me you can do nothing. If any one abide not in 1 Psalm. XXII , v. 5. 2 Math., XXVII, v. 25. 280 - me he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. l ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. As we approached wdth reverence that old niche where, in the northern aisle, we found ^he Mother in glory with the Son, here again we greet the sequel and consummation of the triumph of the Cross in her Assumption. Come, cried the Jews blaspheming in the ears of that faithful Mother, let Christ the King of Israel now come down from the Cross that we may see and believe.* 2 Come, let us put the w r ood on his bread, and blot him out from the land of the living, and his name shall be remembered no more. 3 The Church replies : Impleta sunt, quae concinit David Jideli carmine, Dictndo nationibus : Heanarit a lit/no Dcus. * O sacred Wood ! in thee fulfill'd "\Va- holy David's trutliful lay ; "\Vich told the world, that from a tree, The Lord should all the nations swav. 1 John, XV, v. 4-5-0. 8 Mark, c. XV. v. 32. 3 Jerem, II. v. 19. 4 Hyiriu Vexilla regis. ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 281 That triumph would not, in a certain sense, be complete if she who had borne the heat and burden of the day where not beside the throne to share it. S. Alphonsus Liguori, considering why Mary, altoge- ther sinless in soul and body, was yet permitted to undergo the common penalty of death, says that God wished to give the just the model of a sweet and happy death. It is a sweet thought that the Son who gave himself to the human race in the form dearest to their affections, that of the first born child, and had no dearer gift upon the Cross than her he loved so well, was showing S. John, in her, how to die. That living death of her's - the constant antici- pation of Simon's prophecy in the passion of her Son, all those toils and travails she had borne for Him, all those pangs and insults, that patient woman was meekly sharing at the foot of the Cross, so naturally prepared her to minister at the bed of death, and di- sposed her so well to die, that were there nothing supernatural in the invocation of her name, it would rise of itself on dying lips with that of Jesus. As Ire- naeus says : As the human race was bound to death by a virgin Eve, it is saved through a Virgin ; the scales being equally balanced, virginal disobedience by virginal obedience. If Henoch and Elias were translated, that perfect will of Mary was not to lose the merit of obedient even unto death. And if 282 the Collyridian heretics strove to worship Mary, as Gentiles did Astarte queen of heaven, death proving her mortality gave her a triumph in the act. For that pure body (such is the tradition of the Church) was not to know the corruption of the grave, but, reunited with her soul, anticipated the general re- surrection, and abides with God in glory for ever. Before this picture, of nigh a thousand years ago, the theologian must bow his head. It is the earliest known picture of the Assumption ; l and in the fact of her Assumption is contained the reprobation of that heresy which Pius IX has had occasion to con- demn, that life is distinct from the soul. For if the most perfect and privileged creature of divine love, after the sacred humanity of Christ, thus lost life and recovered it by the reunion of the soul, the triumph which the Church celebrates in this circumstance is an evidence of the true faith on this point. Arise, o Lord, into thy resting place ; Thou, and the ark which Thou hast sanctified. 2 The angels and 1 The feast of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin is mentioned, as having been celebrated -with great pomp before the sixth century, both in the Greek and Latin Churches, as appears from the most ancient sacramen- taries extant, with complete calendars, before the time of Pope Sergius, as is clear from the Pontifical ; and before the reign of the emperor Mauritius, as is gathered from Xicephorus, lib. 17, 28. See also Barouius Annot. in Martyr. Mabillon in liturg. Gallic, lib. 2, p. 118. Pagi inBrev. Gest. Rom. Pont, in Sergio u. 20. Martene de Eccl. discipl. in diviu. Offic. c. 33, n. 25. Thomassin etc. ? Psalm. 131. 283 saints, accustomed though they were to the wonders of heaven in which God displays the magnificence of His power ; at the sight of the dazzling beauty with which Mary was adorned as she ascended on high full of grace, cried to their Lord: Who is she that cometh up from the desert flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved. l And if human will w r ould seek to persuade itself that this refers to the beauty of the soul of the just, to what soul so much as to hers ? If it were expedient that their Master should depart, and prepare a place for the Apostles, His mother, surely, would not be left behind, and her place is at His right hand. At thy right hand the queen hath stood in a vesture all of gold, girt about with variety. 2 Our Saviour is above, seated on His starry throne, in a nimbus supported by four angels. In His left hand He holds a closed book, while the right is extended. The design is not unworthy of Beato Angelico. Below, the Apostles, finding the tomb empty, are in various attitudes of emotion and surprise, and all have their eyes fixed on Her who is mounting aloft, and disappearing from their sight. They are in two groups, six on each side of the 1 Canticles, 8, 5. * Psalm. 44. 284 tomb, and two have tlieir hands elevated, probably to indicate the desire they had to follow Her. The beloved disciple, who took his Mother to his own house, holds the Gospel roll with one hand, and places the other before his mouth in a manner re- verential and full of astonishment. S. Vitus, hold- ing a small cross in his right hand, stands at the extreme end to the right. He has his name - SAXCTVS VITYS - written vertically near his head, which is tonsured and surrounded with the halo. We cannot positively affirm which of the saints of that name he represents ; but very probably he was a member of the Order of the Crociferi Cross-bearers, founded by Pope S. Cletus. Or it may be that he was the celebrated S. Avitus archbishop of Yienne in France, who died in 525, and that he is placed near S. John on account of his opposition to the Arians who by denying our Lord's divinity deprived the incarnation of its supernatural value as a re- medy for sin, and by thus degrading the Son to their own level reduced the Mother whom all ge- nerations shall call Blessed, and the Angel sa- luted full of grace, to the condition of any ordi- nary woman. S. Avitus was held in great esteem by Clovis, king of France, while, yet a Pagan, and by Gundebald the Arian king of Burgundy, whose son, and successor, Sigismund, he converted to the 285 Catholic faith. Ennodius, in his life of S. Epipha- nius, says of him that he was a treasure of learn- ing and piety. Perhaps if we may conjecture why a prelate of Yienne is found in the same com- position with Pope Leo IV, A D. 847, 855, the reason is that S. Ado, who was consecrated bishop of that See in September 860, and next year received the pallium from Nicholas I, with the decrees of a Roman Council to check disorders which hadcrept into several churches in France, had lived five years previously in Rome, and from his distinguished cha- racter, and connexions with that See, may have had an influence in the selection of the saint. On the corresponding extremity to the left is Pope S. Leo with the square green nimbus, or glory, to indi- cate that he was living at the time this picture was painted, either by himself while yet a simple priest, (for the halo and pallium might have been added after he had been made Pope), or by a priest of the same name, for the inscription underneath re- cords Quod haec prae cunctis splendet pictura de- core, componere hanc studuit presbyter ecce Leo. That this picture may outshine the rest in beauty, behold the priest Leo studied to compose it. From the inscription Sanctissimus Dom. Leo . . rt. PP. Romanus, Most holy Lord Leo. . . Pope of Rome, it is not easy to determine whether he 286 is Leo III, or Leo IV, for the letters preceding it are almost effaced, and cannot be read. If it be Leo III, it must have been painted before 79 5; if Leo IV, before 847. The latter had been priest of the church of the Four crowned martyrs oppo- site S. Clement's. His feast is on the same day as that of S. Alexius, July 17. The following names are scratched on two narrow fillets running parallel to the inscription under the feet of the Apostles : Hier. Ego Mercurius. Mercurius Presb. Petrus Lu- rissa. Ursus Presb. XXX Novembris obiit Kalaleo. t Salbius Presb. Flori. Florus Presb. S. Theodori. Joannes Presb. de Titu. Ego Rufinus Presb. Ven. Dom. Clemens Presb. Georgius. Ego Mercurius Presb. Probably they are the names of the priests who were attached to this basilica, except that of Florus of S. Theodore's : but at what period they lived we have not been able to ascertain. The priests John and Salbius may be the same who scratched their names in the niche of the Madonna in the north aisle. NARTHEX. Two of the paintings in the narthex, as w r ell as the one we have noticed, at pages 248-9-50, of 287 the miracle of Sisinius, refer to the history of S.Cle- ment. It is not easy to describe them without re- petition. They have this peculiar interest that they are the earliest votive pictures we possess ; or at least that we are acquainted with. No doubt the Catholic custom of giving expression in this way to feelings of religious gratitude for the benefits of Providence, for hair-breath escapes, graces of heal- ing, and answers to prayer , always existed ; and just as Pius IX invoked the help of our Lady when the floor was giving way beneath his feet at S. Agnese, and that most remarkable escape was followed up by the restoration of the church, and by comme- morative pictures; so the authors of these pictures in our church seem to record their great devotion to S. Clement. Who then, says S. Basil of Se- leucia, will not be in admiration of the great power of the Mother of God, and how far she goes beyond whatever other saints we honour ? For if Christ bestowed so much power upon his servants as not only to cure the afflicted by their touch, but to do this even by their shadow, what must we think of the power given to the Mother ? He describes many miracles in answer to prayers ad- dressed to the virgin martyr S.Thecla (who suffered martyrdom in the first century, and he \vrote in the middle of the fifth), so that her church was, in - 238 some way, a public hospital, celebrated throughout the east for curing diseases, alleviating suffer- ings, and casting out demons ; and men went their way from it singing hymns, giving thanks,, and blessing. In the preceding century S. Basil of Cap- padocia says of the Forty martyrs of Sebaste : The afflicted flies to the Forty, the gladdened runs to the same : the former to find deliverance from his troubles, the latter that his more fortunate lot may be continued to him. There the pious rno- the.r is found praying for her children, supplicating for her husband on his journey, and begging health for him when afflicted with sickness. S. Augustine says : This question surpasses the power of my understanding, in what manner the martyrs suc- cour those who are certainly helped by them. He says he was himself a witness of the great glory of the martyrs, SS. Protasius and Gervasius, disco- vered in Milan by S. Ambrose. Nor was the belief in miraculous cures in the fourth century confined to Milan; for S. Asterius of Amacea says: Thus does a father, or a mother taking her sick child * and folding it in her arms, hurry by hospitals and physicians, and fly unto help that knows no- thing of their art; and having come to any of the martyrs, through him she offers up a prayer to the Lord. And he adds, what travellers to Italy 289 - recognize as an evidence of the continuity of Catholic habits in the West: The crowds ofbeg- gars and the swarrns of poor regard the resting place of the martyrs as their common asylum. And if any of them have shared in the sprinkling of the holy water at S. Antony's at Rome, they may witness an exemplification of what S. Paulinus says: You may see not only parents from the country bearing in their arms the pledges of their affection, but even oftentimes bringing in with them their sick cattle. Or they may have been scandalized by the practice mentioned by Theodoret, that those, who faithfully petition,, obtain their requests, the votive offerings, significative of their cures, plainly'testify. For some bring representations of eyes, others of feet, others of hands, some of which are of gold, others of silver. For the God of those martyrs receives the gifts though small, and of little cost, computing the gift by the means of the giver. It is evident that the donors of these three pictures in our church were of the same way of thinking, and wished to record their great devo- tion to S. Clement. One is given by Beno Derapiza, another by Beno with Mary his wife, and another by Maria Macellaria. As they all pointedly refer to S.Clement, all are in the same style and give the same formula P. G. R. F. C. - pingere fecit, had 19 290 it painted : and has te joint gift of the husband and wife shows the motive for their grateful devo- tion to the saint, we suppose them to be the same people. An eminent authority ungallantly suggests that Maria Macellaria was the wife or daughter of a butcher. We feel bound to shed every drop of our ink in her defence ; and if we cannot trace her origin to the Sicilian town of Macella, and cannot prove that she was not Maria of the provision market, and no dealer in meat, fish, or vegetables, we appeal to our fair readers whether Lady Mary and Beno, on the other side of the medallion of S. Clement, have the least look of the slaughter house about them. S. Ambrose says of S. Helen, whom the Jews and Pagans nicknamed Stabularia, a good Stabularia who sought so diligently the will of the Lord, and chose to be reputed as dung that she might gain Christ. A good Ma- cellaria, we think, who did not scruple to paint the penitential spirit of her fear of God upon the walls of our basilica. 1 1 Among the ancients macellum was a provision market, and got its name from Macellus, a thief whose house was pulled down by the censors and the ground used for the sale of victuals. Plautius says: I come to the market ( macellum) ask for fish, they show them dear: lamb dear, beef, veal, dogfish, pork, all dear. There was a very lanr ) macellum on the Coelian, probably near to where S. Stefano Rotondo now stands, and whoever knows how local names are kept up for cen- 291 Maria Macellaria's votive picture is a funeral procession, and there is a difference of opinion whe- ther it is intended for the translation of the relics of S. Cyril or S.Clement. Our own opinion is that it represents the latter. We have spoken of S. Cyril and his missions before. Now we will step a few paces further on and consider first the upright pic- ture referring to the place whence S. Cyril brought the relics of S. Clement. Those who in thought, or in printed articles, have accused Christ's Church of eight hundred years idolatry, have made a mistake in the date. Men are certainly prone to idolatry; and, long after Simon Magus and his Helena, one of turies in Rome, and how nicknames are given, may see that Lady Maria lived thereabouts long after the macellum had disappeared. The Livia macdlum was on the adjoining hill of the Esquiline. The Suburra, which the Roman antiquaries have shifted so often , seems to have been connected with those two hills. There, in the evening, stolen things were sold and ladies walked : the barber dipt and eatables were bought. Birds of the hoarse crowd, their mother's eggs, And yellow Chiau figs the steam among, The plaintive goat's rough progeny, Olives as yet unequal to the cold, Hoary the greens with chilling rime, Think'st thou our country sent to thee ? How diligently dost thou wander boy ! Nought ours, myself except, the fields do bear. What'er the Umbriau bailiff sends to thee, Rustic of Tuscia, or of Tusculum, Or country by third milestone pointed out, The whole for me is in Suburra born. Martial. 292 the most pretentious capitals of Europe saw the goddess of reason, and the streets she presided over reeking with the blood of Christian priests. Eight hundred years after their Master had died for man, Cyril was striving to extirpate that Paganism among the Sclavonians against which in Holland and Ger- many, a century before, so many English and Irish missionaries were spending their toil and blood: for that Apostolic seed which Celestine and Gre- gory had sent to Ireland and England, was to bear rich fruit in the northern regions of Europe. The Vandals of Prussia, the people about the Baltic, the Hungarians and Poles, parts of Germany and Sweden, were to welcome the harbingers of the good tidings a century after S. Cyril. The Norwe- gians, the Swedes, and the Russians, of the ele- venth century, have left us the names of many of their missionary saints, and in the twelfth cen- tury Pomerania, Finland, and Sweden bore witness to the zeal of Rome for conversion. Pagan habits were more inveterate than faith, and relapses fre- quent, though priests and kings watered the ungra- teful soil with their own blood: and the thirteenth age, which saw the reconciliation of the Greeks at Lyons, also saw that Hyacinth who, in March 1218, received his habit from S. Dominic at S. Sabina, and died at the age of 72, on the feast of theAssump- 293 tion of our Lady in 1257, a saint and apostle of the barbarous idolaters of the North. Scarce three hundred years after, was the charge of idolatry made against the Church; and it is evident, were we to accept it, that the unhappy infidels of Europe had been converted from one form of idolatry to another. If we get a little out of this chained cycle of years, we shall find the Jews of Smyrna suggesting that the mangled limbs of Polycarp might be worshipped instead of Christ, and the Centurian, to get rid of their contention, putting the body into the fire. We shall find the Pagan persecutors threatening others to have their remains utterly destroyed that silly women may not wrap them in linen cloths, and venerate, and anoint, and worship them. We are brought back to the first century; to that price- less treasure of the church of Antioch, to what the lions had left of S. Ignatius in the amphitheatre at Rome, and to the relics of Trajan's other victim S. Clement. We see again the Christians weeping on the shore when their venerable benefactor was carried out three miles at sea, and his body an- chored there, as his executioners thought, for ever. Incorrigible idolaters they weep that they cannot prostrate themselves before a dead man's bones. At least they did not need the warning given by S. John Chrysostom in the fourth century: Do not fix thy 294 contemplation on tins, that the martyr's body lies there deprived of the energizing power of the soul, but reflect on this that there reposes in that body a power greater than that of the soul itself, the grace, to wit, of the Holy Spirit, which, by the miracles that it performs, gives proof to all of the resurrection. Eusebius is not ashamed to say of another martyr : The body of the divine martyr was cast up at the gate of the city by the waves of the sea, as though unable to hold it. * In the case of S. Clement, the sea simply receded, and re- peated the miracle every year. MIRACLE AT THE TOMB OF S. CLEMENT. In this beautiful composition we have lost the first finding of the relics of our Saint. High up on the wall, the inscription, now nearly obliterated, only remains - in mare submerse tumulum parat angelus istud the angel is preparing that tomb (to S. Clement) submerged in the sea, refers to the tradition that when Trajan had S. Cle- ment thrown into the deep with an anchor about his neck, and the Christians on the shore wept that they could not recover his body, the sea retired three miles, and it was found with the anchor in a little marble temple prepared by angelic hands. 295 The miracle of the receding waters was repeated, for two centuries, on the anniversary of his mar- tyrdom, and during the octave of his festival, thus leaving a dry path for the Christians to go and venerate his relics. The temple surrounded by the sea full of fishes is seen in the central compart- ment, and within it a marble urn containing the sacred treasure. The urn serves for an altar which is covered with a white cloth, and upon it are two candlesticks with lighted candles. Three lamps are suspended from the vaults, and from the canopy over the altar hang two looped curtains very grace- fully arranged. On the left is a city, from one of the gates of which a procession issues headed by the bishop going to say mass, and carrying a cro- sier in his left hand, while his right is raised to- wards his breast. His assistants clothed in the vestments of their order accompany him, and an immense crowd of people follow behind. The name of the city is designated by the word Cersona, or Cher son, which is written under the arch of the gate. This ancient city has been, long since, de- stroyed, and modern Kertch built on its ruins. Between the bishop and the temple is a woman of comely aspect, and in a graceful dress, carrying in her arms her child who is lovingly embracing her. Again at the altar we see the same woman 296 and child : she is stooping to raise him up, while he extends his little arms towards her. The words, mulier vidua, widow woman, are written in the form of a cross over her head, and puer, or little boy, over the head of the child. Underneath, in one line, is the inscription * integer ecce jacet, repctit quern praevia mater behold unhurt he lies whom his returning mother seeks again. The scene here represented and expressed by this epigraph is recorded by S. Ephrern martyr bishop of Cherson, by S. Gregory of Tours, the blessed James of Vo- ragine, S. Antoninus, and many other early writers. They tell us that when S. Clement was thrown into the sea, about three miles from the shore, the Christians who were spectators of his martyrdom were grieved that they could not recover his body, and begged of God to let them know how it could be found. The Lord hearkened to their prayers, and consoled them by causing the sea to retire to the very spot where the holy Pontiff was drowned. Following the receding waters they found his body enshrined in a marble temple, with the anchor that was attached to his neck. For two centuries, on the anniversary of S. Clement's martyrdom, a si- milar reflux of the sea took place, and continued throughout the octave of his festival, during which, the martyr's shrine was visited not alone by the 297 pious inhabitants of Cherson, but by pilgrims from remote regions. On one occasion, a woman brought her little boy with her to visit the tomb of our Saint, and after having satisfied her devotion she went away thinking that he was following her. Having missed him, she determined to go back to the temple, but after travelling a short distance, she saw the sea flowing in and could not proceed any farther. She then retired slowly before the advancing waters, bewailing her only child whom she thought she had lost for ever. On the follow- ing anniversary she returned hoping to find even the bones of her dear little one, but, to her great consolation and joy, she found him alive at the tomb of the Martyr, and opening his eyes, as if awaking from sleep, he stretches out his little arms to his mother who takes him up and embraces him. This touching fact should teach us that we should never despair of God's protecting providence, and that we should not measure His ways by those of man. Lower down is a medallion of S.Clement, of the finest style of art. He is tonsured and has the nimbus. In his left hand he holds a closed book, and is blessing with his right. On a beautiful bor- der, which is intersected by the medallion, are four doves turned towards the Saint. Beno, the donor of the picture, holds a candle on one side of the 298 medallion; the Lady Mary is on the other side with her little boy Clement, both holding candles in their hands. Little Attilia, the sister of little Clement, has also her candle, and stands with her governess behind her father. Under the medallion-head of S. Clement is painted the very expressive and sug- gestive motto me prece querentes estate notiva ca- ventes seeking me in prayer beware of hurtful things. At the extreme left is the following in- scription showing that this picture was a votive of- fering made by Beno to S. Clement, the patron of his boy. t IN NOMI NE DNI EGO BENO DERAPIZA P AMORE BEATI CLE MENTIS ET REDEMP TIONE ANI MEE PIN GERE FE CIT (sic) In the name of the Lord, I Beno Derapiza, for the love of blessed Clement and the salvation of my soul, had it painted. TRANSLATION OF S.CLEMENT S RELICS 299 TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS OF S. CLEMENT FROM THE VATICAN TO HIS OWN CHURCH. Jhe devotion of the Derapiza family being ac- counted for, we have had at their hands the mira- cle of Sisinius' conversion; and that of the original locality of S. Clement's relics, of a miracle wrought there, and of their own connection with his name. But is there none of an event so important to his church, and so consonant with their devotion, as the deposition of his relics here? The funeral pro- cession may perhaps be the answer. S. Nicholas I invited S. Cyril to Rome. S. Cyril, from the time he had stirred up the bishop of Cherson to recover the relics, took boat and found them, had borne them back to the metropolis and ultimately begged them, always carried them about with him. He brought them to Rome, died and was buried in the Vatican, and was translated to S. Clement's. Certainly there was nothing to warrant the licence which the painter took in representing him carried bodily on the bier wear- ing the pallium , borne by four youths , and two others swinging their censers in the air; because they were only the bones of S. Clement, which were in a marble ark; and even if S. Cyril's body were embalmed, it was similarly shut up in another ark sealed by the Pope. The painter for pictorial effect 300 has not chosen to paint a mere ark. The body is followed by a youth with uplifted hands, incon- gruous if a mourner, but appropriate if hymning the glory of his relics. Nicholas was dead or dying when Cyril arrived, and Adrian did the rest. The anachronism of the painter, in representing Nicho- las with his nimbus accompanying the funeral pro- cession, is deliberate. The cross is borne behind the Pope who is between two eastern ecclesiastics, and two crosiers near them seem to denote two bishops. The one on his right has the nimbus. This might well be Cyril, and the other Methodius ; for, like Nicholas, Cyril was reputed a saint at his death, which followed soon after the deposition of S. Clement's relics ; but Methodius survived him many years, and could not be considered a saint at the time of either translation. The painter has also lowered the pall which covers the body to show the crosses of the pallium on the shoulder , pre- cisely as he gives them on that of the Pope. If the venerable head with the nimbus on the bier is that of Cyril, we have no picture of the recovery of S. Clement's relics; and the saint on the Pope's right, thus supposed to be Methodius, occasions a double anachronism by being sainted with Nicho- las, though he certainly was not till probably fifty years after him: and the eastern bishop on the Pope's 301 left is altogether unaccounted for. The three span- gled banners surmounted by Greek crosses, at the back of the crowd, were most probably intended to carry the imagination to the first mission from Constantinople , and the triple conversion of the Cham of the Chazari, the king of the Bulgarians, and the duke of Bohemia. The artist has shown ingenuity in breaking the line of the procession so as to bring the Pope prominently forward. As the head of the procession arrives, the Pope is celebrat- ing at the altar, upon which is the missal, the pa- ten, and the host. The deacon has the chalice upon a cloth, as we see it in the picture opposite to the temple in the sea. Upon the missal, which is open, are the words per omnia saecula saeculorum pax Domini sit semper for all ages: may the peace of the Lord be ever with you. Over the altar is a large circular lamp, and two smaller ones. The inscription underneath repeats the anachronism f Hue a Vaticano fertur pp. Nicolao hynmis divinis quod aromat'ibus sepelivit. Hither from the Va- tican is borne (Nicholas being Pope) with divine hymns what with aromatics he buried. The notices we have of the circumstances attending the arrival of S. Clement's relics and the burial of S. Cy- ril are too brief and obscure to supply any accu- rate details. That S. Cyril was first buried at the 302 Vatican, and afterwards removed to S. Clement's, they do say. It is most probable that S. Clement's relics were also presented to the Pope at the Va- tican ; but there is no mention of it. The artist clearly chose to represent the subject in his own way, and without strict historical accuracy either in the event or the accessories. The time at which these pictures were painted might be supposed ra- ther soon after Rome was moved by the arrival of the relics than a couple of hundred years after. Be- sides the devotion of the Derapizas to S. Clement, and not necessarily to S. Cyril, there is in the pic- ture opposite the temple in the sea a sufficient exhibition of the devotion of the Romans to the stranger saint. OUR SAVIOUR BLESSING ACCORDING TO THE GREEK RITE. This large votive picture opposite the temple of S. Clement in the sea presents some difficulties : and unfortunately the funeral or liturgical inscription be- neath it is illegible. Whether this was the very an- cient chapel mentioned by Baronius, in which S. Cy- ril's relics were said to be discovered in his time, or why this composition should be found here and the miserably painted actions of his life ( the au- GO g CD CO bo 303 dience of Michael and the baptism) be in the sanc- tuary, who can say? The style is bolder and somewhat more Byzantine than that of the other two pictures in the narthex ; but looking to the larger scale and votive nature of the subject it is not of a different age. It was evidently meant for a grand comme- morative picture of S. Cyril; and was probably an altar-piece, framed as it is between two pillars, and immediately opposite the temple from the ruins of which he removed S. Clement's relics to Rome. And, whether to a person entering by the great door of the basilica, or passing from the church into the narthex and turning to look at the patron saint of the basilica, it is on the right hand, as the place of Cyril's deposition is described by Ba- ronius, Panvinius,, and Panciroli, and where the de- votion of the Romans would naturally place his honourable memorial. In the centre our Lord, re- presented as a young man with parted hair and very little beard, stands upon a footstool. In one hand he holds the book of the Gospels, and with the other gives his blessing according to the Greek rite, a peculiarity appropriate to the saint from the Bosphorus. Two ecclesiastics kneel one on each side : the elder tonsured and bearded, not unlike one of the bishops beside Pope S.Nicholas in the proces- sion, does not aspire to the honours of a saint, for 304 - has no nimbus. His dress is rather that of a phi- losopher, or monk, and in his left hand he holds the Gospel while his right seems to appeal mo- destly to the Saviour. The younger, close-shaved after the manner of the Latins, and wearing a rich chasuble, kneels reverently holding a jewelled chalice upon the cloth which covers both his hands. It is natural to suppose that the elder represents S. Cyril. S. Clement, whose name is written verti- cally behind him, wearing the pallium, precisely as S. Nicholas, and as it is represented on the bo- dy on the funeral bier before described, is very conspicuously presenting him to our Divine Lord; a natural action for one to whom he was in- debted for the finding of his relics and bringing them to Rome. The angel Gabriel stands behind the aged ecclesiastic, whom we suppose to be Cyril, with one hand in the action of prayer, and with the other affectionately shielding the bosom of his client, his hand reaching down almost to touch the Gospel which that client holds in his left hand. This appears a natural action in the angel inter- ceding for a missionary of the- Gospel in the cir- cumstance of his death, pleading for that blessing which our Lord, if he is blessing either of the persons in this picture, is directing to the elder. Were we to suppose that the younger, notwithstand- 305 ing the incongruity of his Latin appearance , is meant to represent Methodius, he is not so pre- sented nor so shielded, and might be simply offering the chalice of his affliction. Behind him is the angel Michael appealing to the Saviour, with his left hand, in behalf of his client, and holding his rod in his right. And he that spoke with me had a measure, a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall. l In the mosaics of S. Agatha in Ravenna, supposed by Ciampiui to have been executed about 400, our Lord is seated giving his blessing, and on either side of him an angel with a rod. If this client is Methodius, we remember his conversion of Boigo- ris-Michael. If we had any doubt that this picture referred to the missionary enterprise of S. Cyril, the figure of S. Andrew on this side, which corresponds to that of S. Clement on the other, would remove it. The Apostle takes no part apparently in the subject of the picture, but with his right hand refers to the Gospel roll in his left. He was the earlier Apostle of the countries traversed by Cyril and Methodius, and the Russians have long gloried that he carried the Gospel as far as the mouth of the Borysthenes, to the mountains where Kiow stands, 1 Apoc.. 21, 15. 20 306 and the frontiers of Poland. Immediately under this picture a tomb of brick was discovered, on 10 th of February 1868, containing the skeletons of two men of more than ordinary size. Could they be those of the brother missionary saints? S. FLAVIA DOMITILLA V. M. On the wall under the luminaire, or skylight, at the south end of north aisle is the head of a female with the halo. It is of a high style of art, and is supposed to have been painted towards the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth cen- tury. According to the learned Father Garrucci, it represents S. Flavia Domitilla. S. FLAVIUS CLEMENT M. Nearly opposite the fresco of our Saviour bless- ing according to the Greek rite, is another head paint- ed on a brick wall of early Roman construction. The abovenamed eminent archaeologist thinks that it represents S. Flavius Clement. It belongs to the old Roman school of painting, and is supposed to have been executed about the year 300. Beneath it is an inscription, scratched on the plaster between the bricks, which has puzzled the ingenuity of paleogra- phers to decipher. -- 307 OUR SAVIOUR DELIVERING ADAM FROM LIMBO. The Saviour of the world having expired ou the Cross, and by His death paid the ransom due to the Divine Justice for the sins of men, descended into the infernal prisons to deliver thence the souls of the just, who were so long debarred from Paradise, their heavenly home. The fresco before us, which is on the right of the hight altar, represents that scene. Our Divine Lord wears a flowing mantle, and is sur- rounded with a cerulean halo. He takes Adam by the right hand and tramples on the demon who is vomit- ing balls of fire at Him. The enemy of the human race, unwilling to let Adam go, holds him by the foot and knee. Hovering in the dark back-ground, are heads and hands, symbolizing, according to ar- chaeologists, the shades, or souls of the disconsolate prisoners. Our Redeemer holds the Cross in His left hand, and behind Him is the monogram C-S- Christus Salvator- Christ the Saviour. Behind Adam, only three fingers remain of a figure which is sup- posed to have represented Eve. The father of the human race is in a standing posture, and there is an expression in his face which says, he has been long enough here. A small spiral pillar sepa- rates this from another compartment to the left. It contains a half figure of a venerable ecclesia- 308 stic of oriental type, holding in liis left hand a gemined closed book, while the right is raised in the attitude of supplication. He wears a gennned chasuble, and an embroidered amice, or cowl, de- corated with five Greek crosses. If we do not very much mistake, this figure represents Methodius, the brother of S. Cyril, who, as Dubravius writes, was interred in the church of S. Clement. It is somewhat singular that Limbo should be found twice in this church, and if the picture raises fresh antiquarian guesses at dates and styles, the middle state of souls is too old and Catholic a doc- trine to be disturbed by its incredulous opponents. S.Cyril of Jerusalem says : Then we also commem- orate those who have fallen asleep before us, first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, that God, by their prayers and intercessions, would receive our peti- tion: then also on behalf of the holy Fathers, and bishops, who have fallen asleep before us, and of all, in short, who have already fallen asleep from amongst us, believing that it will be a very great assistance to the soul, for which the supplication is put up, while the holy and most awful Sacrifice lies to open view. And I wish to persuade you by an illustration: for I know many that say this : 'What * is a soul profited, which departs from this world, either with sins, or without sins, if it be commem- 309 orated in prayer ?../ Now surely, if a king had banished certain persons who had offended him, and their connexions, having woven a crown, should offer it to him on behalf of those under his venge- ance, would not he grant a respite to their punish- inents ? In the same way, we also, offering up to him supplications on behalf of those who have fallen asleep before us, even though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up, for our sins, Christ crucified, propitiating, both on their behalf and our * own, the God that loves man. l SARCOPHAGI MONUMENTAL AND LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS. The sarcophagi arranged along the walls of the narthex were found during the progress of the exca- vations. That on the right,near the bell-tower, con- tains the remains of a man and woman, probably Beno and Maria already noticed; and the one oppo- site it those of a man. The small sarcophagus, vis-a- vis the miracle at the tomb of S. Clement, contains the bones of a little boy, or little girl, each in its natural place. The inscription on it is Pagan, but we know 1 Catech. Mystag. V. (Alit. Catech. 23). n. 9-10, p. 328. 20 * 310 - that the Christians sometimes appropriated , for the purpose of interment, pagan sarcophagi. It is : D. M. JVLIAE 0. FIL. FELICITATI SPIRITO DVLCISSIMO DEFVNCTO AOERVO QVAE VIXIT ANNO VNO MENSIBVS XI. DIED. TRIBVS FECERVNT JVLII VERNA ET FELIOITAS PARENTES SIMILITER ACERVI ET INFELICISS1MI Near the stairs is a large terra-cotta coffin which contained the body of a bishop, or mitred abbot: but the moment it was exposed to the air, the human form disappeared; for it was not thicker than a cobweb. There are three other sarcophagi contain- ing human bones, but they have no inscriptions. Opposite the door leading to the nave is a large marble slab with the following inscription : MIRE INNOCENTIAE IENNARIO V. P. QVI VIXIT AN : LI. MENS V. D XXV. NAM MECVM VIXIT AN: XXV. MEN. V. D. XXV. SINE ALIQVA DISCORDIA AVT CONTROVERSIA . FLO- RENTIA VXOR BENEMERENT1 IN PACE FECIT ET SIBI DEPOSITVS PRID : IDVS IVNIIVRSO ET POLEMIC DP. FLORENTIES NONIS AVG. VIXIT ANNIS V .M X. VIXIT SVPER MARITVM SVVM ANNVS III. M. ILIN PACE 311 De Rossi in his Inscriptiones Cristianae l gives a part of the above ; for the slab was broken, and only about one half of it was found at the time this eminent archaeologist published that work. Ursus and Polemius were consuls in 338. Over a grave, nearly opposite the door that leads to the nave was found the following epitaph. It is now in the wall near the entrance to the narthex. SVBTVS HAC TERRA NRA . SEPVLTA SVNT MEMBRA NEPTIS CVM AVA, DVLCISSA NEPE . VOCATA PETRVS ET DARIA . BIOLA SIMVLQ. MARIVLA CVM HIS QVIB: ADJVNCTIS ALIIS TRIBVS CAL . MAD . OB . DVLCISSA . TEP . GREG . VI. PP. IND : IIIIX. ANN . I . NICL . PP . OB . MARIA IND : M . SEPT . D . XVIII. IHX. Gregory VI governed the Church in 1045. Another slab has an inscription on both sides, one pagan, the other Christian. D. M. M. AYR. SABINVS CVI FVIT ET SIGNVM VAGVLVS INTER INCREMENTA COAEQVALIVM SVI TEMPORIS VITAE INCOMPARABILIS DVLCISSIMVS FILIVS Vol. I. 312 SVRO IN PACE QVESQENTI EVTICIANVS FRATER FECIT IOVINIAN . . . NEOFITO On the floor opposite the picture of S. Alexius DEPOSITVS LEONAS VI . KAL . FEE . IN PACE t PRAESBYTER and various other fragments of inscriptions in Da- masine characters. INNOCENQVAE VIXIT ANN V M. V. This epitaph is of the second century. 313 CLEMES VIXIT AXNIS XXV DIS . MAN CLAVDIAE VITALI . TI CLAVDIANVS SABINIANVS NVTRICI PIEN TISSIMAE M. LVCCIVS . ORESCES VIXIT . AXXIS XXVIH SCIATHIS . MAGIAE . LIBRAE VIXIT . ANNOS . XVIII PROS . POCTAVI . CVBICVL . FECIT FECII . CONIVGI . 8VAE . ET . 8IBI Inserted in the wall of the narthex are seve- ral other inscriptions and fragments of inscriptions, some of which are pagan, and others Christian : also exquisitely sculptured capitals, divers pieces of broken columns, fragments of marble candlesticks ornamental sculpture , pieces of mosaic pavement, and tiles with the names of the makers, and of the Consuls who lived at the time. The following are a few specimens of them. i . . . VLIAE . RYPHOSAE 314 ii LTARQV . T . ERO. . . in APRILIS CX. DOMITI . . . AGATHOBVLI DOL IT RATIOXIS PATRIMOXI APRO ET PAE COS Ann. MFAB LIGYMXI 123 VI APROX ET PA POMPVLI EX ANX'VERI id. VII . . . XPRARMCEST id. . . . IAPROXI COS VIII EXPRS id. IX EARIXI DOMITIAE LVCILLAE 120-125 DOL . . . TSOSSI . IANVAR F MACED id. EXPRSTA. . . MAXIM 315 XI D EX . PR D . L . OF . Q . F . A LSTQVADRETCCRVF Ann. COS 142 XII EX FIGLINIS TONXEIAXIS FLAVIAVRI OP DOL ALLI RVFI 165 xni xiv RDPRIIIOS &3HT3A . . . x v OCVLDIAS XVI t OFICI . EENIGNI f 100 MODEKN BASILICA OF S, CLEMENT. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. IIIE Church of God is a society existing every- where throughout the world, bound by its own laws, acknowledging its own head, comprised, as to some portion or other of its members, within the limits of temporal kingdoms, but bound in conscience by the secular laws of those kingdoms only so far as they agree with her laws, and are accepted by her. It is evident, therefore, that in every case of conflict between the liberties of the Church and the law or practice of any temporal kingdom, the subjects of the Church must appeal to the decision of their own tribunal; that is for the direction of their consciences on the point, to the judgment of the Pope who is their supreme judge in morals. In point of practice, whatever intermediate judgments may be given by theologians, doctors, or bishops, 318 - the last resort is the conscience of the Vicar of Christ. The Church does not judge those who are without ; and whether the Sultan is right or wrong in practising polygamy, whether the government of England is right or wrong in setting up divorce - courts, the Church merely prescribes to her own subjects, that is to the faithful of Christ, that th*ry cannot avail themselves of such relaxations or induce- ments held out by sovereigns and governments to those who obey them. Hence, without going into theories or details, it is easy to understand the prin- ciple of sentences of deposition which the Pope has pronounced, from time, to time, against Catholic sovereigns. He released their subjects from their oath of allegiance, because he is the sole judge of all oaths. He is the final judge of the morals of Catho- lics, and a sovereign is no more exempt from his ex- communication than a slave ; and were the subjects of the sovereign truly Catholic, he would find him- self, as isolated and helpless as the merest beggar in his dominions, when once named as a person excom- municated, and to be avoided. Under what circum- stances, or for what crime, a thief or a king is to be so sentenced, rests entirely with the judgement of the Pope. This, indeed, is a tremendous power; but it is tremendous only because the Church has a real exis- tence, and not one of mere opinion. The atheist is 319 free from it: the infidel is free from it : all who des- pise it, in a certain sense, are free from it ; for, to enforce the sentence,, the Pope has only the word of Him who said : Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord. When the society of Europe was more Catholic, and more free, the sentence of the judicial power of the Pope reached sovereigns in spite of their array of physical force; because men of good will did not choose for their sake to en- counter the vengeance of God. Rebellion, hateful to the Church, was equally denounced with the crimes of the sovereign, which might seem to justify it. The extreme sentence of deposition from the throne was a proof that Christian men were not chattels to be squandered by the caprice of a man mad, or wicked enough , to set at defiance , with impunity, the laws of man and God. We have often heard it asked: What right have Popes to dethrone kings? but few take the trouble to inquire what right have emperors, or kings, to rob, and dethrone Popes. We have heard the cry of vox populi, vox Dei, and have generally seen the omnipotent voice ending in mock elections under loaded cannon. We have heard the wail of suffering populations, and it has risen louder when they found themselves stript the more, the more they were supposed to be enjoying the sun- 320 shine of new liberty, a precious possession of which Brutus seems to have bequeathed nothing to his admirers but the dagger. We have seen nations all professing peace, all anxious for unity, inimitably national, marching hither and thither, strewing the earth with the thousands of their dead, boast- ing of their virtues in the list of which they left out self denial. It is an old story. Let us look at the Germans playing their part under Henry IV. In 1054 Hildebrand had been sent legate to France against simony in the collation of ecclesiastical be- nefices. In 1073, upon the point of being elected Pope, he begged Henry to use his influence against it, telling him that he could never tolerate his scan- dalous crimes. We will take the new Pope's cha- racter from his adversary Du Pin. It must be acknowledged that Gregory VII was an extraordi- nary genius capable of great things, constant and undaunted in their execution, well versed in the Constitutions of his predecessors, zealous for the interests of the Holy See ; an enemy of simony and libertinism (vices he vigorously opposed), full of Christian thoughts, and of zeal for the reformation of the manners of the clergy ; and there is not the least colour to think that he was not un- blemished in his own morals. This is the judgment which we suppose every one will pass on him - 321 who shall read over his letters with a disinter- ested and unprejudiced raind. They are penned with a great deal of eloquence, full of 'good matter, and embellished with noble and pious thoughts; and we say boldly that no Pope, since Gregory I, wrote such strong and fine letters as this Gregory did. To what emperor shall we compare Henry IV ? The bastard of Normandy who swept away the village churches of England to make room for his deer, was a bold soldier; bold in his vices, and not a mere plotting debauchee. To what king? Henry was more like the passionate church-robbing murderer of Thomas a Becket. He caused the seals and crosses of every deceased bi- shop and great abbot to be delivered to him, and sold them to whom he pleased ; but we do not know that he stooped so low as the cabbage gardens, and poor convents of Capuchin Friars, and Franciscan Nuns. Brutish in his life, affecting penitence for his usurpations of the temporalities of the Church, as if he were urged on to draw the sword by his unhappy fate, receiving the letters of the Pope with tears, not ashamed in his insatiable lust even to offer violence to women who had the misfortune to be his subjects ; ever bold to do wrong and, like the drunken sot, never able to do right, personally endowed with the animal courage of the chamois- 21 322 hunter, or the condottiere: to what king shall we liken Henry IV? In an age when Romans wore swords and knew how to use them, when, under the sanction of religion, there was some show of justice in Italy to punish the violation of morality, and a condemnation by the Pope, even though frus- trated by violence, was not yet become mirth for the printers of pamphlets at Paris, or the street preachers of London or Turin, we may imagine a scene that followed in the capital of the Christian world. The Sovereign Pontiff upon his throne was presiding over a Council in the Vatican when a priest from Parma, Roland by name, entered and presented his credential letters. His errand was to deliver two letters from the emperor of Germany and the sentence of a mock Council held by him at Worms. In the name of his sovereign, Roland commanded the Pope to resign the Chair of Peter; and turning to the bishops and clergy bade them present themselves on the festival of Pentecost to Henry IV, who would appoint for them a lawful Pope in the place of the ravening wolf and tyrant Hildebrand. The soldiers and nobles on duty at the Council rushed towards the debased priest, who was scarcely saved by taking refuge at the feet of his Holiness. When this imperial messenger had been removed, and order restored, Gregory 323 opened Henry ? s letter and read it in a loud voice to the bishops. Henry, not by usurpation but by the will of God, king of Germany, to Hildebrand not a Pope but a hypocritical monk. The reading of these words caused such indignation that the Council had to be prorogued to the following day. The question in dispute was simple. In 1075, the Pope directed his legates to summon Henry king of Germany and emperor elect, to Rome, under pain of excommunication for having simoniacally usurped the investiture of bishoprics, and promoted unworthy persons to ecclesiastical dignities. The enraged king ordered the legates out of the country, and he him- self presided over a number of excommunicated si- moniacal bishops at Worms, where cardinal Hugo distinguished himself by his invectives against the head of the Church. Ambassadors were at once dispatched to Italy to persuade the Italian bishops to accept their mock sentence of deposition ; those of Lombardy, and the Marches of Aiicona, were easily gained over, and in their assembly at Par- ma ratified the work of Worms. Henry sent the Romans a copy of the sentence : I Henry, king of Germany, finding that you have forfeited all your rights, and usurped the Papacy, command you to descend from the Chair of that city of which I have been elected patrician and sovereign 324 by the free suffrages of the people. And in another letter he urged them to rebel, and condemn and dethrone Hildebrand the tyrant, the usurper of the Holy See, the betrayer of the Roman empire, and the enemy of the common weal. These were the two letters Roland undertook to present to the Pope. History repeats itself. The only difference appears to be that, the blustering violence of the lansquend is replaced by the impudence of the pe- > tit-maitre of the salon ; the cajoling of the multitude, and the actual use of military oppression, remaining constant quantities in diplomatic permu- tations. In countries that boast of more conspicuous plain-dealing, the statesman writes the pamphlet of the prison-spy; the conspirator is supplied with the passport, the fleet protects the landing of the brigand. In others more jealous of military empire than of liberty or peace, the pamphlet, the plot, and the purse, the advice of the envoy, and the judicious presence of a few troops to preserve order, and countenance fair play, pave the road to the modern ovation, and the ballot-box brings to per- fection what some discharges of artillery, rendered necessary by the inconceivable stupidity of the hu- man race, had begun. The Council which had been so rashly inter- rupted, met again the next day, and Gregory ad- 325 dressed the one hundred and ten bishops and prelates present at it, palliating as far as he could the con- duct of the German king and exhorting him to liberate the bishops and abbots he had cast into prison. The fathers all rose and besought the Pope to unsheathe the sword of Peter, and cut the re- bellious, blasphemous, and tyrannical monarch off from the Church. Standing on his throne, his Ho- liness pronounced this sentence amidst the accla- mations of the Council : Strong in the faith that the Vicar of Christ can loose and bind on this earth whatever should be loosed or bound in heaven, not through any worldly intention but for the safety and honour of the Church, I, the legitimate Pope and Vicar of Christ, excommu- nicate, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Henry king of Ger- many, son of Henry emperor of the Romans, who with unexampled pride persecutes and oppresses the Church : I interdict him the government of the kingdoms of Germany and Italy: I absolve all Christians from their oath of allegiance to him, and prohibit obedience to be rendered to him as king, because whosoever renounced the authority of the Church forfeits the authority he has received from her. It was not the fa- shion of that age for imperial librarians to vilify 326 the life of Jesus Christ: nor could an emperor out- rage the moral sense of his countrymen, with im- punity. When the Frenchman Berengarius broach- ed errors against marriage and infant baptism, and his impiety denied transubstantiation and the real presence, a Council at Paris unanimously con- demned him; and the Catholic king deprived him of the revenue of his benefice, and an archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, wrote an excellent con- futation of the heresy. In his letters to the Ger- mans the Pope stated that Henry was guilty of crimes so heinous and enormous as to deserve not only to be excommunicated, but, according to all divine and human laws, to be deprived of royal dignity. The imperial appetite was not satisfied to pick up vile mistresses in public places. The head of the state was charged with dishonouring the wives and daughters of the prin- ces, with cruel oppression of his subjects, with disregard of public interests, and the murder of many innocent persons. The German princes de- clared in the national Council they held in 1076, that he had wantonly shed the blood of his sub- jects and laid an intolerable yoke on the necks of a free people. In modern days, it would be that he had broken his promise to protect the Church. But then the Germans had not adopted 327 that heresy which lines the royal mantles of the nineteenth century. For many there are who, set over the handling of public affairs, call thern- selves patrons and champions of religion, extol it with their praises, cry it up as most especially suited and useful to human society; neverthless wish to moderate its discipline, to rule the sacred ministers, to put hands upon holy things: in a word, strive to encompass the Church within the limits of the civil state, and lord it over her, who, however is sui juris, and by divine counsel ought to be pent up within the boundaries of no empire, but to be propagated to the utmost bounds of the earth, and embrace every race and nation, to point out to them, and set free, the way of eternal blessedness. In the language of the modern historian Free- men put over themselves Henry as king, on condi- tion that he should judge his constituents with justice, and govern them with royal care, which compact he had constantly broken and disregarded. Therefore, even without the judgment of the Apos- tolic See, the princes could justly refuse toacknow- ledge him any longer as king, since he had not fulfilled the pledge which he gave at his election, the violation of which brought with it the vio- 328 lation of kingly power. * * But the Germans, holding yet to the unity of faith, and unwilling to become mere tools of a military theology, did not think the common Father of the faithful an alien to their welfare; nor did they need to exclude the judgment of the Apostolic See from what af- fected its own supremacy. They had not learned that Cisalpine hypocrisy with which the satellites of rebellion rejoice in the liberty of the Church, whilst they trample its laws and rights under foot, drive religious women from their homes, strip them of all that could be sold, and thrust the clergy and prelates into prison. When such things were done in the eleventh century they were not sup- posed to savour of liberty, but to be acts of violence > against the common conscience ; acts of shame which no pretext or excuse could palliate; nor were kings held to be religious who violated, more conspi- cuously than other men, the common obligations of humanity. If great crimes too often disgraced the throne, men who had not laid aside the tradi- tional respect of the German tribes for chastity, and reverenced the Church which taught and prac- tised it, were not easily to be persuaded that the sceptre in the loathsome grasp of the vulgar de- 1 Muratori, An. dltalia, torn. IV, pag. 245, 246. 329 bauchee gave him a right to proclaim himself to the civilized world as the man of destiny, the sa- viour of the nations, the Caesar harbinger of uni- versal peace. The tradition was not lost, that when the Pope of Rome confronted Attila, the Hun had seen S.Peter and S.Paul standing by him. And if common sense could not teach men that royal power was a great responsibility before God, the words of S. Leo to another prince were not yet expunged from Europe, that the royal power had been conferred upon him not alone to rule the world, but chiefly to protect the Church. l It was the law of the empire that a king or empe- ror who remained a whole year under excommuni- cation was virtually dethroned ; yet if the Germans had acted on their own opinion, as Muratori sug- gests, they would simply have been violating fun- damental law and rejecting the ultimate court of appeal. They sought the sanction of the Pope. Whether the ideas of the men of that age were lo- gical or not, whether the pretensions of the Holy See were rightful or not, there was at least this advantage that there was somebody to appeal to, and that somebody must of necessity have some fixed principles, or he would not be appealed to. It 1 S. Leo III to Charlemagne. 330 was not a common hodge-podge of interests pitched into a congress to be got out of it in what condition they might be, and with no power but the fortui- tous concurrence of interests to enforce a decision ? if it were worth while to enforce it. The Pope had interests to maintain which he believed to be sacred: which Popes have maintained at Fontainebleau, at Gaeta, or when reduced by a robber king almost to the gates of Rome. It is an advantage to have some- thing tangible to defend, and that something is the Cross of Christ which Judas and the Caesars have made more glorious by their treason and their hate. Anxious to get absolution before the years's end, Henry crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and prostrated himself, in the garb of a pilgrim, at the gates of the fortress of Canosa, where Gregory was stopping on his road to Augsburg to preside over the Council in which the question about the throne was to be decided. For three days he was not admitted; judging, by his former duplicity, that the sincerity of his professions was not to be relied on. He receiv- ed absolution on condition that, if his trial before the German nobles at Augsburg were against him, he should renounce all pretensions to the crown. Promising this, the Pope embraced him, and gave him the kiss of peace, after w r hich he prepared to 331 - celebrate mass. At the time of communion, holding the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, Gregory appeal- ed to his Lord as witness of his innocence, and in- vited the king to do the like. Conscious of his guilt he dared not, but promised to do it at Augsburg. Six days after he made a league, with the excom- municated bishops of Lombardy and Tuscany, to make the Pope a prisoner; and not succeeding de- clared war against him. The archishop of Mayence with the bishops of Wurtzburg and Metz, and other prelates, dukes Rodolph, Guelph, Berthold, with the Margraves, counts and barons, assembled at For- cheim, were informed by the papal legates of Hen- ry's perfidy. Rodolph proposed to elect a new king, but the legates suggested that the Pope ought to preside at the election. The nobles maintained that procrastination was detrimental to the vital interests of their country. The legates persisted that the Pope as head of the Christian world should first be consulted. At last the right of election was ceded to the prelates, and Eodolph duke of Swabia was chosen. Otho of Nordheim, Guelph and Berthold approved of the election, the legates sanctioned it, the people acclaimed it ; and messengers were dis- patched to beg the Pope to anathematize the de- throned king. Still Gregory hesitated, hoping for Henry's amendment. At length, in 1080, seeing 332 that he went on adding crime to crime, he excom- municated him anew in a Council at Home, and acknowledged Rodolph. War ensued between the competitors, and Rodolph was slain. In 1081, Henry descended into Italy with a powerful army and besieged Rome, but was repulsed by the people who adhered unflinchingly to the Sovereign Pontiff. In 1082 and 1083 he renewed the siege, but with- out success. In 1084 he returned a fourth time bribed the nobles, whose castles and estates had been ruined in the three preceding sieges, and the gates of the city and fifty hostages were delivered into his hands. The antipope Clement III, Guibert archbishop of Ravenna, titular of S. Clement's, who had been chosen, by Henry's party at Brixen, upon the election of Rodolph, was consecrated at the Late- ran,and in turn he, in the Vatican, crowned his pro- tector who took up his residence on the Capitol as the lawful successor of Augustus and Charlemagne. Gregory took refuge in the Castel S. Angelo; whilst Rusticus, his nephew, defended the Septizonium, an insulated mausoleum built by the Antonines where the church of S. Lucia in Selce now stands, near the basilica of S.Maria Maggiore. Twenty five years before, at the end of Easter, Rome had seen the bishop of Toul, in the habit of a pilgrim, alighting from his horse some miles from the city and walk- 333 ing barefoot to be crowned as Leo IX. To repress the Normans who, after having expelled the Sa- racens and Greeks out of the kingdom of Naples, became very troublesome neighbours to the Holy See, he made over his German lands of Fuld and Bamberg to Henry III, receiving in exchange Bene- vento and its territory. By means of this exchange he hoped to check the Normans, but his army was defeated by them and himself made prisoner. After about a year he was honourably sent back to Rome. In his last illness, he had himself carried before the altar of S. Peter, where he remained prostrate for an hour, then heard mass, received the viaticum and expired. Now, the Norman duke of Calabria, Robert Guiscard, Henry's implacable enemy, advanced from Salerno with an army of six thousand horse and thirty thousand foot. Three days before he reach- ed the gates of Rome, Henry retreated into Loni- bardy, exhorting the Romans to drive back the Normans and persevere in their rebellion on his be- half. In Lombardy the Tuscans gave his army a great overthrow. Within twelve years his eldest son Conrad and his second son Henry rebelled against him. The latter, crowned emperor of Germany, stript him of the imperial insignia and forced him to re- nounce the throne. He took refuge at Cologne, and then at Liege, where he mustered an army against 334 his son Henry V , who defeated him. Reduced to . extreme misery, he supplicated the bishop of Spire to nominate him to the prebend of a lector or precenter in his cathedral church, but was refused. At length abandoned by every one, he implored the bishop of .Liege to afford him an asylum, and there he died in 1106. The antipope Guibert, after wandering through various parts of Italy and Ger- many, died suddenly at Ravenna in 1100 or 1101. Meantime schism and rebellion had wrought their usual calamities. Guiscard fought his way into Rome by the Porta Asinaria on the Naples road, and took up his quarters at the fortified monastery of the four crowned Martyrs opposite S. Clement's. The imperial faction, still strong in the city, rose against the Normans, and a hasty word from the conqueror was the signal for fire and pillage. As Italy has seen the Arab infidels of Algiers imported by the occupant of the throne of Catholic France against the Christian forces of Austria, so the Sa- racens of Sicily formed a large contingent of Guis- card's army, and seized the opportunity of plunder. From the Lateran to Castel S.Angelo, and from the Flarninian gate to the church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, was a scene of wreck and ruin. A great part of the buildings of ancient Rome were then destroyed, and the fragments that remained sup- 335 plied materials for ordinary buildings. Whatever was habitable from the Lateran to the Capitol was swept away. We might surmise that the basilica of S. Clement perished in the general wreck at that time; and that the clear waters which fill the sub- terranean chambers of Clement's palace had filtered through the soil after the destruction of the baths of Titus on the hill hard by. But in the absence of information lost, or possibly existing still in ma- nuscripts of the Vatican and other libraries, though we have searched for it in vain, we have no proof that the churches were then destroyed. The suc- ceding century was one of church restorations. Paschal II, in 1118, re-dedicated S. Adrian's in the Forum, and it is said that he rebuilt that of the four crowned Martyrs. In 1145, Lucius II, placed the Lateran basilica of the Salvatore under the in- vocation of the Baptist and Evangelist S. John, and repaired and consolidated the foundations of S. Croce in Gerusalemme. In 1491 Celestine III made the ceiling of S. Maria Maggiore. But these are all negative indications. On the 1 3 th of August 1199, a conclave was held in S. Clement's, and its titular cardinal Raynerius elected Pope. This was only fifteen years after the devastation by Guiscard's troopers, and it is difficult to understand how in so short a period of time the subterranean basilica ' 336 could be filled up, and a new one built upon its site. But this difficulty disappears when we view the carelessness and evident haste with which the walls of the modern basilica were constructed; and moreover S. Clement's being obnoxious as the title of the antipope, and standing in the valley at the foot of Guiscard's position, it is probable that it was not spared in the fight. But in that case how can we account for the preservation of the pictures whose colours were so wonderfully bright when first cleared of the soil? By assuming that the church was only partially destroyed and im- mediately filled up after the devastation. Those who refer these paintings to the years intervening between 1085 and 1099, do so without a shade of probability; for, as we have already stated , they must have been executed when the circumstances they represent, and the devotion of those saints were fresh and fervent in the minds of the Ro- mans. We confess, however, that in the midst of this obscurity of data, and dearth of positive proof, we can find only two facts of which we are cer- tain - 1 st that the original basilica existed in 1058, as we learn from a monumental inscription lately found in the pavement of the narthex with the names of Gregory Viand Nicholas II; 2 d that the modern church was built before 1299, because the CD < -A C? O VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE MODERN BASILICA 337 tabernacle of the holy oils bears that date, and is an insertion later in style than the rest of the church. MODERN CHURCH. The modern church of S. Clement was restored, by Clement XI, in 1715, as is recorded by this in- scription over the door : ANHQYISSIMAH HANC ECCLESIAM QYAE PEXE SOLA AETI DA3IXIS INYICTA PRISCARY1I YRBIS BASUJCARVlt FORJIAM ADHVC SERTAX EO IPSO IN LOCO AEDLFICATAM AC IN TITYLYJI S. R. E. PRESBYTER! CARDINALTS ERECTAM VBI 8. CLEiTENTIS PAPAE ET 1TARTYRIS PATERXA DOilYS FYISSE CREDITYR A SAJfCTO GREGORIO MAGXO GEHI5TS HIC HABITIS HOiTIIJIS ET SACRA QYADRAGESIJIALI STATIOKE COXDECORATAM CLE1TEN8 XI. PONT. MAX. IPSO AXXIYERSARIAE CELEBRITATIS EJYSDEit 8. CLEiTEXTIS DIE AD CATHOLICAE ECCLESIAE REGIMES ASSYMPTVS IN ARGYilEXTYM PRAECIPYI IN EVM CYLTY8 IXSTAYRAYIT ORXAVITQYE ANNO SALYTI3 MDCCXY. POXTIF. XT. Ground- Plan of extei-nal portico, quadriportico, and modern Basilica, A. Entrance to. B. Atrium, bbb. Quadriporticus. C. Entrance to con- vent. D. Fountain in which the Faithful used to wash their hands before entering the church. E. Nave. F. Choir. 1. 2. Ambones. 3. Ancient marble screens. 4. High altar. G. Presbyterium and tribune. 5. Episcopal chair. 6. 7. 8. 9. Chapels of S. John, of the Rosary, of the Crucifixion, and of S.Dominic, a. Side entrance to the church from the street, b. En- trance to the sacristy and subterranean basilica. 339 This very ancient church which almost alone, unconquered by the damages of time, yet pre- serves the form of the old basilicas of the city, built upon the very spot, and erected to a Title of Cardinal priest of the Holy Roman Church, where the paternal house of S. Clement Pope and Martyr is believed to have been : graced by S. Gregory the Great with two homilies delivered here and the holy station of Lent. The Supreme Pontiff Clement XI elected to the government of the Catholic Church on the very day of the an- niversary celebration of the same S. Clement, in token of his particular devotion to him restored and ornamented it, in the year of salvation 1715, of his Pontificate the fifteenth. We must regret that the restorations are not in keeping with the style of the church ; and par- ticularly that the heavy carved and gilt flat ceiling substituted for the open timber roof, existing in 1 690, presses upon and conceals some parts of the mosaic apse. The stucco ornaments and pictures above the arches of the nave are also of the last century. A series of frescoes is painted over the colonnades that divide the nave and aisles. We give them in the following order. 340 Death of S. Servulus. - - On the right next the door, is depicted the death of S. Servulus by Chiari, a Roman artist, 1654-1727, and pupil of Carlo Maratta. The saint is sitting on a pallet listening to a man who is reading the scriptures : a pilgrim kneels before him, and two other men are earnestly looking at him: his aged mother leans on her staff behind, and an angel is distributing bread to the poor. S. Gregory the Great, in his first Book of morals, l thus speaks of Servulus : In the porch of S. Clement's church, Servulus, whom many of you knew as well as I, passed his days. He was poor in this world's wealth, but rich in heavenly treasures. He was paralyzed from his infancy. His mother and brother attended him, and the alms he received he caused them to distribute among the poor. He was utterly ignorant of let- ters, but he bought the books of the sacred scrip- tures, and had them continually read to him by the pilgrims and other pious persons to whom he gave hospitality, so that he committed them all to memory. In his sufferings he never ceased, either day or night, to give thanks to God, and sing His praises. But when the time arrived for him to receive the reward of his sufferings, the pain 1 Homily 15, n. 4. - 341 attacked the vital parts, and knowing that he was near death, he asked the pilgrims, and those persons whom he had lodging with him, to arise and sing with him the psalms for his death. And while they were singing, he suddenly interrupted them, saying with a loud voice: ' Hush! do you not hear the melodies of the heavenly choir?' And while listening to the angelic chant, he expired. S. Ignatius condemned to death by Trajan. This fresco, by Piastrini, represents the emperor Trajan sentencing S, Ignatius to be sent to Rome to be devoured by wild beasts, in the Colosseum, for the entertainment of the people. Two soldiers are shackling his left hand, whilst he points with his right to heaven , joyfully exclaiming : I thank thee, o Lord, for vouchsafing to honour me with this token of perfect love for thee, and to be bound with iron chains in imitation of the apostle Paul for thy sake. Shipped at Seleucia, sixteen miles from Antioch, bound to ten leopards, ( so he calls the soldiers who guarded him night and day, ) at Smyrna he met the bishop S. Polycarp his fellow- disciple under the Evangelist S. John. To reach Rome before the shows were over, they hurried him again aboard. From 22 * 342 Troas he wrote to the church at Smyrna, styling the heretics who denied that Christ had taken true flesh, and that the Eucharist is that flesh, wild beasts in human shape, and prohibiting all com- munion with them. S. Ignatius parting from S. Polycarp. - The two martyr bishops are embracing each other, and the soldiers hurry S. Ignatius, who is in chains, to the ship in the back-ground. In front of a building behind the saints, is a group of men and women; some of them earnestly conversing with each other. The composition is very good, and tastefully exe- cuted. It is by Triga. S.Ignatius devoured by lions in the Flavian am- phitheatre. Ghezzi of Ascoli, 1634-1721, an imi- tator of Pietro da Cortona, gives the last scene of the holy martyr's life. Ignatius longed to land on the track of S. Paul at Pozzuoli, but a strong gale drove the ship to Ostia. He reached Rome on the last day of the shows, December 20 ; was presented with the emperor's letter to the prefect, and im- mediately taken to the amphitheatre. He had begged Polycarp and others, and wrote the same to the Romans, to pray that he might be devoured at once, lest, as happened to some Christians, the beasts 343 refusing to touch them, lie should lose the crown of martyrdom. A letter of the church of Antioch reveals that the prayer was heard. Thus was > he delivered to the wild beasts near the temple, that so the desire of the holy martyr might be accomplished, as it is written ' to the just their desire shall be given, ' that he might not be burdensome to any of his brethren by the gather- ing of his relics according as in his epistle he had before wished that so his end might be. For only the more solid parts of his holy relics were left, which were carried to Antioch and wrapt in linen, a priceless treasure bequeathed to the holy church through the grace which was in the martyr. Four fierce lions were let loose and instantly devoured him, leaving only the larger bones. We see him kneeling with his arms extend- ed, his eyes raised to heaven: two lions upon him, a third rushing forward, and another looking gently at him. Angels are in the air, one of whom flies towards him with the palm. After being present at this sad spectacle, say the authors of the letter, which made us shed many tears, we spent the following night in our house in watching and prayer, begging God to afford us some comfort 1 Prov. X, 24. 344 by certifying us of liis glory. They add that several saw him in great bliss. S. Clement giving the veil to Flavia Domitilla. The pictures on the left of the nave are all of the life of S.Clement. Sebastian Conca of Gaeta, 1676- 1764, a pupil of Solimene of Naples, and an imi- tator of Pietro da Cortona, painted, near the door, S. Clement giving the veil to Flavia Domitilla, who is kneeling before him. S. Clement causing water to gush from a rock. - This is by Grechino. It represents the miracle at the marble quarries in the Crimea, recorded in the first responsory of S. Clement's festival. At the prayer of S. Clement there appeared to him the Lamb of God: from under whose foot a living fountain flows : the gushing of the stream makes glad the city of God. I saw upon the mountain the Lamb standing. The Christians parched with thirst from their toil in quarrying and cutting the marbles, are gladly drinking. S. Clement cast into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. Odasi of Rome, one of the chief fresco-painters of the day, 1663 - 1734, under the patronage of Benedict XIII, depicted the martyrdom 345 of S. Clement. The Pope is seen on a precipice over the sea, with the anchor fastened to his neck. Two men are holding it, and an officer commands the soldiers to hurl him into the waves. An angel bears the palm above. When he had taken his way to the sea, the people cried aloud: ' Lord Jesus Christ save him. ' Clement was saying with tears: * Fa- ther, receive my spirit. ' l Translation of the relics of S. Clement. His en- trance into glory. "We might expect the last subject to be that of the third responsory. Thou hast given, o Lord, a dwelling to Thy martyr Cle- ment in the sea, in the form of a marble temple prepared by angelic hands : affording a way to the people of the earth to tell forth Thy wonders. But Chiari has chosen the more ordinary translation of the relics. At the head of the saint, laid on the bier in his pontifical robes, there are two torch- bearers, and the Pope and his attendants stand at his feet: angels hover in the air. The same painter has represented the glory of the saint in the large painting on the ceiling over the centre of the nave. SS. Cyril and Methodius. On the wall over the door opposite the apse are the figures of SS. Cyril 1 Becedictus Antiphcn at Lauds. 346 i and Methodius, clothed in their episcopal robes. They wear the Gre3k pallium, and hold in their hands the Greek crosier. All these frescoes are very fair specimens of that feeble, mechanical, and conventional school, of which Carlo Maratta was the chief. CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIXION. Injured as they are, it is a relief to turn to the frescoes in the chapel of the Crucifixion at the east end of the south aisle. There is, at least, a unity in its Gothic conception; and if the costumes are quaint medieval, poetry and good drawing, and sweet expression, yet remain. They are the very opposite of the Academic style; and their Tuscan author, 1402-1443, Masaccio, as Tom- maso Guidi was nicknamed, was a man who gave a great impulse to the art by studying individual forms. Masolino and Fra Filippo Lippi were of his age and school. Unfortunately for himself, the young Carmelite Lippi left his convent, and, after having been captured by a pirate and sold to slave- ry in Africa, became a painter of great repute, and carried off a young lady, Lucrezia Buti, from the con- vent of S. Margaret, at Prato, in which she was being educated. Their son Filippino became a great artist, 347 and finished the frescoes of the Brancacci chapel, in the Carmine at Florence, interrupted by Masaccio's death. Vasari mentions twenty four eminent artists who studied Masaccio's style. His forms were similar to those of his contemporaries, the sculptors Dona- tello and Ghiberti. This is the only chapel he painted in Rome. On the isolated pier to the left, is S. Chris- topher who suffered martyrdom in Lycia under the emperor Decius. He seems to have taken the name of Christopher, that is, carrier of Christ, from the same motive as Ignatius did Theophorus, that is, carrier of God, to express his ardent love and inti- mate union with Christ whom he always carried in his breast. Vida, the poetical bishop of Alba, 1470-1556, quaintly says of him: Christophore, infi.rum quod eum usque in corde gerebas, Pictores Christum dant tibiferre humeris. 1 Christopher, whom thou in inmost heart didst bear Thy Christ, the painters on thy brawny shoulders bare. And it is said that his great stature and wading through the stream represent his courage in his tribulations. But, seeing how very often our Lord appeared to saints in the form of a little child, it is very possible that a lost tradition of some such 1 Hymn. 26, torn. i?, pag. 150. 348 vision applies to S. Christopher. The entrance to the chapel is an introduction to the consideration of the humanity of Christ. Our Lady at prayer, in an arcade, receives the Angelic Salutation : Hail full of grace. * We pass under an arch on which are painted the twelve apostles, and stand before the Crucifixion of our Divine Lord. The eyes raised to heaven are met, upon the vault, by the only sources whence the Christian can learn of the God made man, to wit, the four evangelists with their emblems, and the four doctors of the Church. The still landscape behind the cross represents the repose of that world which its Creator meant for peace. Human passions, and the dereliction of the chosen people, fill the foreground. "What more ought I to have done for thee, and did it not? I planted thee my vineyard most goodly to behold; and thou art made to me very bitter, for in my thirst thou hast given me vinegar to drink, and with the lance pierced through thy Saviour s's side. l Nor is the author of evil absent, nor the quick help given to repentance. The demon violently drags the soul of the reviling thief; whilst an angel receives the soul of the forgiven penitent. The centurion on horseback, clasping his hands, gazes up at the world's 1 Adoration of the Cross on Good-Friday. 349 victim. She to whom much had been forgiven, be- cause she had loved much, embraces the Cross, at the foot of which the beloved disciple stands weep- ing; and the will of the Virgin Mother fails not, but her human nature, worn out by suffering, faints in the arms of the women supporting her. The indivi- duality of the painter's conception is strongly marked in the boy with a basket, and in the group of four men, one of whom is -pointing to the Cross, while the others seem to listen to him. On the wall to the left is depicted the martyr- dom of S. Catharine. The first act of the saint shows her discoursing of the Trinity to the pagan Philoso- phers of Alexandria. She converted them, and the consequence of their conversion is seen in the fiery death they are doomed to suffer, under which the virgin encourages them to perseverance. Higher up, the idol she despised stands upon the pillar before which she is reproving the idolaters. Then from the window of her prison-cell she converses with the empress Maximin, and converts her. The convert is decapited by orders of the emperor, and an angel receives her soul. Ordinary tortures were not sufficient to punish, what seemed to the Pa- gans, crimes so enormous. The wheel, which bears her name, is contrived to tear her in pieces, but an angel descends and the broken engine wounds the 350 executioners. In the presence of the soldiers leaning on their shields, the martyr kneels to receive the last stroke of the executioner, and an angel carries her soul to its reward. A small, but very delicate and graceful design shows three angels laying her body in the tomb on the summit of Sinai. When we praised Masaccio for turning to nature, it w r as not as if he were a mere copyist of living forms : the diffi- culties he had to contend against in painting eastern costumes, certainly not familiar to him, and of using medieval soldiers for Roman legionaries, or spectators in the dress of Florentines, would have overcome the mannered artist who had not his talent for giving expression to the face. The subjects on the opposite side, next the street, have recently been detached from the wall, put on canvas, and replaced, in order to prevent their perishing altogether from damp. The one near the altar represents a flood which inun- dated the city of Alexandria as a punishment for the death of the martyrs. Several persons are seen drown- ing in the waters, while S.Catharine is praying at the window of a palace. We do not know what the others represent, and therefore must leave them unnoticed. We are enabled to fix the date of an inscription on the outer wall of this chapel, near the great door of the church, by the introduction into it, of the 351 name of Pope S.Zachary. He succeeded Gregory III, in 741, and died in 752. The inscription records a gift, by Gregory the titular of our church, of the deutero-canonical and other books of the Old and New Testament. It is as follows : Hisraheliticus dona offerebat populus ruri Alias quidem aururu, alius namque argentum, Quidara qxioque aes, quidam vero pilos caprarurn, Infelix autem ego, Gregorius primus presbyter almae Sedis Apostolicae, hujusque tituli gerens, Curam beati, supreraus cliens dementis, Offero de tuis, haec tibi Cliriste thesauris Temporibus SSini Zacchariae Praesulis summi Per rnartyrern et sanctum, parva munuscula tuum, Clemeutem cujus mentis merear delictis carere, Atque ad beataui aeternaiu ingredi vitarn. Aisti quantum babes, regnum valet coelorum. Suscipe hos Dornine, velut niinuta viduae quaeso, Veteris novique Testamentorum denique libros Octateuclium, Regum, Psalterium, ac Prophetarum Salomon em, Esdram, historiarum illico plenos. Require syllabarum. lector, sequentiam harum. > The last line is engraved on a different quality of marble which shows that the iscription is in- complete. CHAPEL OF S. DOMIXEC. The little chapel of S.Dominic, on the other side of the great door, is incrusted with rich and various marbles. The altar-piece which represents 352 - the saint dying in the arms of angels is said to be by Eoncalli, a follower of Barocci of Urbino ; and the two paintings on the side walls are attributed to Se- bastiano Conca. But, judging from their style, it is much more probable that all three are by Ignatius Hugford who was born in Florence of Scotch parents in 1695, and afterwards became president of the Aca- demy of the Fine Arts in that city. The two last subjects have been repeated by the late Father Bes- son O.P. on the walls of the chapter-room in S.Sisto where they actually occurred. The painting on the right represents S.Dominic restoring to life a mason who had been crushed to death by the fall of a vault, during the building of the convent of S. Sisto. That on the opposite wall represents the same saint re- storing to life the young prince Napoleon Orsini, the only surviving stock of the Orsini family. Theo- doric Apolda, l Fr. Humbert, 2 & third historian quoted by Echard, 3 Fleury, 4 John Longinus, 5 and many others record this miraculous fact to have occurred in the following way. Honorius III, com- mited to S. Dominic the reformation of the nuns in Rome, many of whom then lived without keeping enclosure, some dispersed in small convents, and 1 C. 7, u. 89. a C. 33. 3 T. 1, p. 30. 4 1, 73, n. 32. 5 C. 6, Hist. Poloniae, ad an. 1218. 353 others in the houses of their parents and friends. In order to facilitate the success of this commission, the saint requested that three Cardinals should be ap- pointed to assist him, to which the Pope assented, and named for that purpose Hugolini, dean of the Sacred College, Nicholas bishop of Tusculum, and Stephen, of Fossa Nuova, cardinal priest of the twelve Apostles. S. Dominic, having obtained the con- sent of the Pope, offered to give his own convent of S.Sisto to the nuns, and to build a new one for his friars on the Aventine. The nuns who lived in the small convents were easily induced to embrace the reform, but those of the great convent of S. Mary's beyond the Tiber obstinately refused. The saint repaired thither with the three Cardinals already mentioned and addressed the nuns with such force of reasoning, and so much charity, that they all, except one, promised to obey. But the devil was not to be discomfited so easily. Immediately after the Cardi - nals and S.Dominic had gone away, the parents and friends of the nuns went to S.Mary's to implore them not to take a step which could never be re- called; that, if they did, they would repent it; and that they ought never to abandon their convent which was enriched by so many privileges. Such discourses were too flattering not to please women, who, although vowed to religion, held a certain 23 354 amount of uncontrolled freedom too dear; so they all changed their minds and resolved to remain where they were. On hearing this, S.Dominic return- ed to S.Mary's to say mass, and after he had offered the holy sacrifice he addressed them with tears in his eyes, saying: Can you then repent of a pro- raise you have made to God? Can you refuse to give yourselves up to Him without reserve, and to serve Him with your whole hearts? He went on in a strain of such affecting exhor- tation that after his discourse, the abbess and all the nuns confirmed by vow their readiness to comply with his directions. On Ash-Wednes- day (1218) they took possession of their new con- vent, and while they were assembled in the chap- ter-room with the three Cardinals treating of the rights and administration of the community, a messenger came to inform them that the young prince Napoleon, cardinal Stephen's nephew, had fallen from his horse, near the Porta S. Sebastiano, and was killed. The news so stunned cardinal Stephen that lie fell speechless on the breast of S.Dominic who was sitting by his side. The saint, after in vain endeavouring to alleviate his grief, ordered the lifeless body to be brought to the chapter-room, and told brother Tancred to prepare the altar that he might say mass. The holy sa- 355 orifice being ended, the man of God 'put the broken limbs in their proper places, and, after spending some time in prayer, made the sign of the Cross over the body, and lifting up his hands to heaven, cried out with a loud voice: Napoleon, I say to thee, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, arise. That instant the young man arose safe and sound, in the presence of the three Cardinals, the friars, and nuns, and an immense concourse of people. CHAPEL OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. This chapel, at the end of the aisle opposite S. Dominic's chapel, is dedicated to S. John the Baptist, whose statue , by Simon the brother of Do- natello, is over the altar. On one side is painted the Baptist reproving Herod for having married his brother's wife ; and on the other side his decapitation, and his head given to the dancing girl on a dish. The chapel is vaulted, in a manner rare in Eome, with white glazed terra-cotta sunk panels, in the centre of each of which is a rose in alto-rilievo. The two monuments immediately outside the chapel are very good specimens of cinque-cento work, especially that of cardinal Roverella, which bears the date of 1476. The cardinal is in a re- cumbent posture with two angels keeping watch V 356 - over him, one at his head and the other at his feet. In the arched top of the monument is the Almighty surrounded by angels, and below them the Blessed Virgin with the Divine Infant sitting on her knees. Two angels stand by their side. On the right. S. Peter is presenting the cardinal to our Lord and His Blessed Mother. S. Paul is on the opposite side. Two exquisitely carved candelabra, in bas- relief, form a border for the sides of the monu- ment; and the sarcophagus is highly decorated with very graceful arabesques, and the symbols of the fine arts of which it would appear the Cardinal was a generous protector. At the base of the tomb there are angels, one on each side, admirably o / / */ designed and executed. A little to the right . ' towards the sacristy, is the tomb of John Francis Brusati, nephew of cardinal Roverella, and arch- bishop of Nicosia in Cyprus. CHAPEL OF THE ROSARY. The altar-piece of the Rosary chapel, on the left of the apse , representing the Madonna and Child giving Rosaries to S. Dominic and S. Catharine, is by Conca. It is well designed and admirably exe- cuted. On the wall to the left, S. Francis of As- sisi is depicted receiving the Stigmata on Mount 357 Alverno, and on the right S. Charles Borromeo dis- tributing alms to the poor. Outside the chapel to the left, is the monument of cardinal Venerio of Recanati who died in 1479. The columns sculp- tured with vine-tendrils, and birds pecking at the grapes, are very beautiful. The capitals are ad- mirable specimens of fine pierced work. On the rim of one of them is engraved the name Mer- curius Presb. S. dementis: very probably the same John Mercurius, titular of the basilica, who erected an altar in it under the Popedom of S. Hor- misdas, 514-523, and therefore they must have been removed from the underground basilica. On a pila- ster, opposite this monument, is a pleasing picture, by an unknown artist, of the Virgin and Child, and S. John. The children are playing together, and our Lady, kneeling with her hands joined, earnestly, looks at them. Angels are scattering roses over their heads. On the floor, to the right, is the tomb of cardinal Henry of S. Allosio who died in 1450. PORCH, QUADRIPORTICO, AND VESTIBULE. Having described the modern portions of the church, we will proceed to examine it as carrying out the primitive arrangements of a Christian ba- silica reproduced from the original beneath. First 358 the porch, once painted, is roughly built with four antique columns sustaining a Gothic canopy, three of the columns being of granite and one of cipol- lino, differing in order and diameter, two having Corinthian and two Ionic capitals; the door-jambs are rudely sculptured with tracings of dissimilar designs; there are also remains of other buildings, and the whole is carelessly constructed. The hangings and tapestry at the door of Ro- man churches on feast-days keep up a custom Pa- gan as well as Christian. Pliny says Zeuxis was so rich that he displayed his name woven in gold in the curtains shown at Olympia. And Aristotle gives a minute description of one of purple bought from the Carthaginians, embroidered with animals and gods, which when it was exhibited by Alcis- thanes at the great festival of Juno Lacinia, to which all Italy used to flock, drew all eyes from the others. The iron rod is still in its place for those curtains of which the poet, of the fourth century, Aurelius Prudentius Clemens says : Quae festis suspendam pallia portis ? The bishop of Uzales in Africa, who lived in the fifth century, mentions that be- fore the oratory, in which were preserved the relics of the protomartyr S. Stephen, a veil was placed on which the saint was painted carrying a cross upon his shoulders. From this outer porch we enter 359 the quadriportico which is oblong, being 62 feet by 50, and surrounded on three sides by 16 pil- lars, twelve of grey Bigio marble, three of Nunii- dian marble, and one of Oriental granite. The pavement of the atrium contains many fragments of green and white serpentine, and in the centre of the court is the impluvium to receive the rain. So far we have the usual arrangement of the Roman palace. The fountain at which the Christians pu- rified themselves before entering the house of God, was restored in 1868. In the porticoes of the 5in- cient palaces family busts and other ornaments were fouad. In those of the church were placed pictures. In the fourth century, S. Aster ius, after having pray- ed at leisure in the church, was passing hurriedly through one of the porticoes when he was arrested by a painting representing the martyrdom of S. Eu- phemia. ] It was in the fifth century, when the holy Cross was exposed for public veneration at Je- rusalem , that Mary of Egypt was withheld, from entering a church, by an invisible hand, thrice and four times. Smitten by her bad life she retired into a corner of the court. There she perceived a picture of the Mother of God; and, fixing her eyes upon it. begged her by her incomparable purity to help 1 Combefis, t. I. Enar. in Martyr. S. Euphem., p. 207-210. 360 a lost woman to consecrate her life in penance , and allow her to venerate the sacred wood of her redemption. Then with ease she went up to the very middle of the church, kissed the pavement in tears; knelt again before the picture, and asked the witness of her promise to guide her. She seemed to hear a voice if thou goest beyond the Jordan, thou shalt there find rest and comfort. Weeping and looking at the image, she begged the Blessed Virgin never to abandon her; and followed up her conver- sion by that forty years' solitary penance in the de- sert, which has made her one of the most marvellous penitents in the history of the Church. We might accuse Jerome the austere, beating his emaciated breast in the wilderness, of harshness when he writes : Gird yourselves and lament. l He that is a sin- ner, whom his own conscience reproves, let him gird himself with sackcloth, and lament both his own sins and those of the people; and enter into the church which he had left on account of his sins, and let him sleep in sackcloth, that by austerity of life he may compensate for his past delights. The bishop of Barcelona, S. Pacian, writes about 374: What shall I do now, the priest that am required to effect a cure? It is late for such a case: still, if 1 Joel, 1. 16. 361 you can bear the knife and the caustic, I can yet cure. Here is the prophetic knife : 'Be converted to the Lord your God, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning, and rend your hearts/ l Be not afraid, dearly beloved, of the cutting. David bore it ; he lay in filthy ashes, and was disfigured by a robe of a mean sackcloth . . . I beseech you, therefore. brethren, by the faith of the Church, by my soli- citude for you . . . let not shame overcome you in this work: let it not be irksome to you to make your own, the seasonable remedies of sal- vation ; to humble your minds with sorrow; to put on sackcloth ; to strew yourselves with ashes; to wear yourselves with fasting and grief; and to obtain the help of others' prayers. In pro- portion as you have not been sparing in punishing yourselves, in that same measure will God spare you . . . Here is my promise and pledge, that if you return to your Father by a true satisfaction, by going astray no more, by not adding to your for- > mer sins, by uttering also words of humility and of plaintiveness : Father , ive have sinned be- fore Thee, ive are not now ivortJiy to le called TJiy sons; 2 at once the unclean herd will leave you, and the foul husks their food. He will at once 1 Joel, 2, 12. 3 Luke, XV. 362 clothe the returning sinner with his robe, honour him with a ring, and receive him again to a father's embrace. l Let us now turn to a bishop, who when told that the emperor , who had already done eight months' penance after he had met and repelled him from the church-porch, was again ap- proaching, answered : If so, I tell you plainly I shall forbid him to enter the church porch; and if he think good to turn his power into force and tyranny, I am most ready to under- go any death, and to present jny throat to the sword. S. Ambrose again says: I have known some who in penitence have furrowed their cheeks with tears, have worn them away with con- s' tinual weeping, have cast themselves down to be trodden on by all, and with a countenance pallid with fasting have had the appearance of the dead in a breathing body. * In another place he says : I have more easily found those who have pre- served their innocence, than those who have done penance in a befitting manner. The world is to be renounced, sleep less indulged in than nature demands : disturb it with groans, interrupt it with sighs, set it aside for prayers: a man must so live as to die to the uses of this life , he must 1 Taraen. ad P^enit., n. 0, 12. Gallanu. , T. VII, p. 272-3. 363 deny himself and be entirely changed. If we would turn to S. Augustine the convert of S. Am- brose, we are encouraged by the communion of saints: As regards, daily, momentary, light sins, without which this life is not passed, the daily prayer of the faithful satisfies. 5 But he ad- vises a man who is conscious of deadly sins to come to the prelate through whom the keys are ministered to him in the Church. So that if his sin is not merely to his own injury, but also to the great scandal of others, and it seems to the prelate a thing expedient for the utility of the Church, let him not refuse to do penance in the presence of many, or even of the whole people: let him offer no resistance, nor, through shame, add the, tumour of pride to his deadly mortal wound. Two hundred years before, Tertullian enforced the same practice: Confession is a di- scipline for the abasement and humiliation of man, enjoining such a manner of life as invites mercy. It directs also even in the matter of dress and food, to lie in sackcloth and ashes, to hide the body in filthy garments, to cast down the spirit with mourning, to exchange the sins which he 1 T. II, Lib. II, de Poenit, c. X, n. 96, 430-7. 2 T. II, Enchirid. de Fide. n. 17. 364 has committed for severe treatment ; for the rest, to use simple things for meat and drink ; to wit, not for the belly's, but for the soul's, sake ; for the most part also to cherish prayer by fasts, to groan, to weep, and to moan, day and night, unto the Lord his God; to throw himself upon the ground before the priests, and to fall on his knees before the Altar of God; to enjoin all the brethren to bear the message of his prayer for mercy. l Besides hearty repentance and private penance, the Dinner had in some cases to humble himself, as S. Augustine notices, in the sight of all the people, and beg to be restored to their communion. For in the unity of the Church it never entered men's minds to haggle, and make terms as to the con- ditions on which they would condescend to be re- ceived, but they deplored their separation as an evil intolerable to their own consciences, worth any hu- miliation in exchange for that kiss of peace which they could only deserve by submission to authority. Should any one, having secret sins, yet, for Christ's sake, heartily do penance, how shall he receive the reward, if he be not restored to communion? I would have the guilty hope for pardon: let him beg it with tears, let him beg it with sighs, beg 1 De Poeniteatia, n. 8-12, p. 120. 365 it with the tears of all the people : that he may be pardoned, let him implore. And, in case com- munion has been deferred a second and a third time, let him believe that lie has been too remiss in his supplication : let him increase his tears, then let him return in deeper distress, embrace their feet, cover them with kisses, wash them with his tears, nor let them go that the Lord Jesus may say of him : ' Many sins are forgiven him, because he hath loved much. ' 1 When such was the spirit of the Church we know with what vigour the archbishop repulsed the guilty Theodosius; yet S. Paulinus of Milan relates, in his life of S.Ambrose, that whenever any one confessed his sins to him, he wept so as to compel the penitent also to weep. Sozomen of the Greek Church, A. D. 450, who remarks that it is a sacerdotal law that the things done contrary to the sentiment of the Bishop of the Romans be looked upon as null, has pre- served for us a graphic picture of the public peni- tents. Of auricular confession he says: As not to sin at all, seems to belong to a nature more divine than that of man's, and God has commanded pardon * to be granted to the penitent even though he may often sin, and as in begging pardon, it is necessary 1 S. Ambrose, T. II, L. I, de Poenir., c. XVI. p. 4M. 366 to confess also the sin, it, from the beginning, deser- vedly seemed to the priests a burthensome thing to proclaim the sins, as in a theatre, in the cogni- zance of the whole multitude of the church, they appointed to this office a priest from among those whose lives were best regulated, one both silent and prudent, to whom they who had sinned went and acknowledged their deeds. And, in 460, S. Leo the Great prohibited public Confession. I ordain that that presumptuous conduct, which, I have lately learned, is by an unlawful usurpa- tion pursued by certain persons, in opposition to an apostolic regulation, be by every means set aside. That is, as regards the penitence which is applied for by the faithful, let not a written de- claration of the nature of their individual sins be publicly recited; since it is sufficient that the guilt of their consciences be made known to priests alone by secret confession. 1 The priest, in fact, gave his absolution upon condition of the penitent performing his penance. But, says So- zomen, nothing of this was required by the No- vatians, who make no account of repentance; though among the other sects (heresies,) this custom pre- 1 Ep. CLXVIII, ad universes Episcopos per Campaniam, Samuium et Pisceuum constitutes, c. 2, p. 1430-1. 3G7 vails even unto this day. And in the church of the Romans, it is carefully preserved. For there the place of those who are doing penance, where they stand in sadness, and with signs of grief, is visible (to all.) And when the liturgy of God is at length completed, without partaking of the things which are the privilege of the initiated; with groans and lamentations they cast themselves prone upon the ground, and the bishop meeting them face to face, in tears, falls in like manner upon the pavement, and with loud lament , the whole assembly of the church is drowned in tears. And after this, the bishop raises the prostrate : and having offered up a suitable prayer for the sinners who are penitent, he dismisses them. But privately each one being voluntarily afflicted, either by fasts, or abstinence from food, or in other ways appointed him, he awaits the time which the bishop has assigned to him. But, at the ap- pointed time, having discharged the punishment, as it were a debt, he is freed from sin, and as- sociates with the people in the church. The priests of the Romans observe these things, from the be- ginning, even unto our days. 1 And we have from an African Synod of the fourth century the 1 II. E., Lib. VII, c. 16, p. 299, 301. 368 rationale of this conduct of the bishop, and the place appointed for the penitent. Let the periods of penance be adjudged to penitents, by the de- termination of the bishop according to the dif- ference of their sins: and a priest shall not re- concile a penitent without consulting the bishop except necessity, arising from the absence of the v bishop, compel him: but as to the penitent whose crime is public and most notorious, disturbing the whole church, he shall impose bonds on him before the apsis. 1 S. Basil mentions all the classes of these penitents when he says in his 44 th Canon that the adulterer should be excluded from parti- cipation in the holy mysteries for fifteen years : to spend the first four among the mourners, then five among the listeners, then four among the prostrate, and the remaining two among the standers. The Council of Nicaea directs that persons who fell away without compulsion, as happened under the tyranny of Licinius, if truly repentant, should pass three years among the hearers as believers, and during seven years shall be among the prostrate, and du- ring two years shall communicate without the obla- tion. The Council of Ancyra directs that persons who fell before the idols, but had not eaten the 1 Codex Can. Eccl. Afr. Can. XLII, Col. 1069, Labb. T. II. 369 meats that had been offered to them, should pros- trate for two years , and communicate in the third, without the oblation, in order that they might receive full communion in the fourth year. But the bish- ops have the power, having considered the man- ner of their conversion, to deal indulgently with them, or to add a longer period. But above all things, let their previous, as well as their sub- sequent life, be enquired into, and so let the in- dulgence be measured out. . 3 S. Gregory of Nyssa says: The Canon law for fornicators is that *> they shall be utterly cast forth from prayer du- ring three years, and be allowed to be hearers only for three further years. But, in favour of those who with special zeal avail themselves of the time of conversion, and in their lives exhibit a return to what is good, it is in his power, who has the regulation of the dispensation of the church for a beneficial end, to shorten the period of hearing, and to introduce such men earlier to the state of conversion, and, further to lessen this period also, and to bestow communion earlier, according as, from his own judgment, he comes to a de- cision respecting the state of the person under 1 Can. V, Col. 1456-7. Labb., t. I. 24 370 cure. l Evidently under such discipline persons could not travesty the religious dress and sneak into Catholic churches to commit sacrilege against the Eucharist by receiving it. S. Gregory notices that penitents were not to be deprived of the Via- ticum, but, if they recovered, were to complete their period of penance. Of the practice of the West , S. Innocent I, A. D. 417, writes: As regards pe- nitents, who do penance, whether for more grie- vous or for lesser offences, if sickness do not in- tervene, the usage of the Roman Church demon- s' strates that they are to have remission granted them on the Thursday before Easter. For the rest, as to estimating the grievousness of the transgressions, it is for the priest to judge, by attending to the confession of the penitent, and to the grief and tears of the amending sinner, and then to order him to be set free when he sees his satisfaction such as is suitable : or, if any such fall ill , so as to be despaired of, he must be pardoned before Easter, lest he depart this world without communion. 2 As we passed through the quadriportico to the great door of the church, persons excommunicated 1 T. II, Ep. Can. ad Letoium, p. 119. 2 Ep. XXV, Decentio, n. 10, Galland, T. VIII, p. 589. 371 and utterly cast forth from prayer for a time, weepers, and mourners in sackcloth and ashes, winterers as abiding the elements, would lament their exclusion, and beg for prayers. The vestibule of the modern church being precisely over the an- cient one, the first step into it would bring us among the catechumens and penitential hearers, both of whom were obliged to withdraw before the offertory. They were under the rod of the ostiarius, and hence this place probably got its name Narthex, which signifies a rod. INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. The interior of the church before us is 1 70 feet 6 inches long, by 70 feet 9 inches in width. On either hand the sixteen antique columns separating the nave from the aisles form a perspective to the apse: five of them are Parian marble, and of these four are fluted and one plain; five others of Numi- dian marble, three of granitello, two of Oriental granite, and one of bigio. The pavement is of beautiful Opus Alexandrinum, in varied patterns. More than one third of the nave is occupied by the choir with its paschal candlestick and elevated ambones on either side. At its further end is the shrine of the Martyr to whom the church is dedi- 372 cated, with tli e altar over it, raised in front of tlie bishops throne and the sedilia for the priests. The sight is arrested, at this most important point of a Christian basilica, by the ciborium over the altar and the rich mosaics of the apse. The floor of the church was given up to the laity. We will not attempt to assign the precise places occupied by the other penitents after passing the catechu- mens and hearers in the narthex. Butler says that the prostrate were at the bottom of the nave, and the slanders above the ambones. S. Charles Borromeo revived the separation of men and women; and Ciampini says, the men were in the south aisle, and the women in the north. The Pontifical book says, Pope Symmachus made the Oratory of the holy Cross on the men's side, Sergius I made a golden image of S.Peter on the women's side: Gregory III an oratory next the triumphal arch on the men's side. In the East the separation was made effectual by enclosures with doors. The empress S. Helen would be in her proper place in the women's depart- ment. Theodosius prayed in the chancel till S. Am- brose reproved him for it ; and the emperor's throne was placed in the upper end of the men's apartment next the sanctuary. In the plan which Ciampini gives of S. Clement's he assigns the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament as the Matronaeum, or the place 373 appointed for matrons: and the chapel of our Lady of the Rosary, as the Senator mm, or place for the Senator and other persons of distinction. The object of the separation was not merely to prevent remarks upon bonnets and dress, and glances directed anywhere but to the altar. It was most important for the sacrifice and the commu- nion. The Apostolical Constitutions of the third century direct some of the deacons to attend upon the oblation ministering the body of our Lord with fear, and others to watch the multitude, and keep them silent. During the sacrifice the people were to stand and pray in silence : then to communicate each rank by itself, women with their heads veiled: the doors guarded lest an unbeliever, or one not initiated should enter. S.Hilary says: We must not treat indiscriminately, nor unwisely, and with- out caution, of the Incarnation of the Word of God, and the mystery of the Passion and the power of the Incarnation. l In the nineteenth century when grace is made a jest for flippant lawyers, baptism an open question, ordination a ceremony signifying nothing, theology the staple of lay reviews, and the filth of the divorce court the entertainment of the people, the reticence of the fourth century about the 1 Comiu. iii Mattb., c. VI, n. 1, p. G9G, t. I. 374 mysteries will, doubtless, appear, to the scoffers of religion, antiquated and over nice. S. Ambrose remarks that he was on the Lord's day, after having dismissed the catechumens, expounding the creed in the baptisteries of the basilica. These mysteries which the Church now makes known to thee who art transferred from among the ca- techumens, it is not the custom to make known to the Gentiles; for to a Gentile we do not make known the mysteries concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: neither do we speak plainy * of the mysteries before catechumens. And pre- cisely because the doctrine of the Trinity was not communicated to them, the Lord's prayer was not to be published, nor the Apostles' creed written. A fortiori the real presence was not to be exposed, as S.John Chrysostom says, before Gentiles who might scoff at it, or before catechumens whose curiosity might be roused and ignorance scandalized. In the present day the depths of ignorance cast a dark cloud, indeed, about the consecrated host, but do not prevent the scandal. The ancient prac- tice was effectual. When the catechumen has joined his praise to that of the initiated, he withdraws from the more secret mysteries, and is excluded from Christ's sacrifice. l In the S. Cyril of Alexandria tie Ador. in Sp. et Ver., p. 44o. _ 375 same fifth century, Theodoret says of the divine food, and the spiritual doctrine, and the mystic and immortal banquet which the initiated recognize: These things are plain to the initiated and do not need explanation; for they are acquainted both with the spiritual oil wherewith they had their heads anointed, and with that inebriation which weakens not, but strengthens, and that mystic food which He, who has become bride- groom, as well as a shepherd, sets before us. 1 "We are thus prepared to listen to the ancient disci- pline of the Church, to see the propriety of not tempting ignorant persons by their own ignorance to accept the teaching of the Church without which ignorance is an inheritance ; and even, in the rite, to see the utility of these eastern flabella which excite the derision of the uninstructed, when the chant rises in S. Peter's, and the tiare'd Pontiff is dimly seen in the distance borne onwards upon the shoulders of the faithful to the altar of sacrifice. Let other deacons walk about, and watch the men and women that no noise be made, that no one nod, or whisper, or slumber; and let the deacons stand at the doors of the men, and the subdeacons at those of the women, that no one 1 T. I, in Pi. XXII, p. 740-50. 376 go out, nor a door be opened, although it be for one of the faithful, at the time of the obla- tion. Let one of the subdeacons bring water to wash the hands of the priests, a symbol of the purity of souls devoted to God. Then shall the deacon immediately say : ' Let none of the ca- techumens, none of the hearers, none of the un- believers, none of the heterodox stay; you who have prayed the foregoing prayer depart, let the women take their children. Let no one have aught against any one: let no one come in hypocrisy: let us stand upright before the Lord with fear and trembling to offer/ "When this is done, let the deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar ; and let the priests stand at his right hand - and at his left, as disciples standing by their master. But let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan made of thin membranes, or of peacock's feathers, or of linen, and let them silently drive away the flies, and the gnats, that they may not come near the chalices. l Before we consider the part of the church especially devoted to the clergy, we will ask any of our readers who have been at the ceremonies by the tomb of the Apostle whether if religion is venerable 1 Apostolical Constitutions. 277 by antiquity as well as by precept, tlie things they have seen there, and not understood, deserve to be laughed at? The high altar is separated by marble panels from the laity, the penitents, and catechumens. We have the authority of S.Clement himself, for this separation of the clergy from the lay congregation. He says: There are proper liturgies delivered to the chief priest, and a proper place assigned to the priests : and there are proper ministrations incumbent on Levites, and the layman is adjudged to the appointments of laymen. And we sup- pose S.Jerome speaks of what was the custom in his day, when the church of S. Clement kept his memory still. It is not the same thing to shed tears for sin, and to handle the body of the Lord: it is not the same thing to lie prostrate at the feet of the brethren and to minister, from an elevated spot, the Eucharist to the people. Before we approach that elevated spot, which, in all the ancient basi- licas is nearly the same, a platform, from wall to wall, mounted by steps on either side of the altar, let us examine the choir on a lower level, but raised also, by one step, above the floor of the church. It is paved with Alexandrine work; the entrance gates are enriched with mosaics: the great marble panels are carved with wreaths, and crosses, and one conspi- 378 cuous monogram frequently repeated: and on the jambs supporting them are engraved the fish, the dove, and branches of the vine. The monogram is one of those puzzles of which Symmacus says to his friend : I should like to know whether you got all my letters sealed with the ring in which my name is more readily understood than read. S. Avitus of Vienne, like a sensible man, had his name in full round his monogram, that people might readily make it out. When Roman antiquaries confounded this choir, or schola cantorum, with that of the ba- silica whence the beautiful marble panels containing the monogram had been brought up, they used to say that it (the monogram) meant Nicholazis. CJgonius, Alemannius, and I)u Cange said so; but Ciampini thought it was Johannes, though what John he did not know. The distinguished author of Murray's Guide-Book said John VIII. But the following inscription, recently discovered, upon one of the marble beams under the panels to the west of the Gospel Ambo, enables us to solve this question : Altare tibi ds salvo Hormisda papa. Mercurius Pre- sbyter cum sociis offert. In the Pontificate of Pope Hormisdas, Mercurius the Priest, with his compa- nions, offers an altar to Thee, God. On the ca- pital of one of the exquisitely sculptured pillars that decorates the monument of Cardinal Venerio, near 379 the chapel of the Rosary, at the west end of the south aisle, is another inscription, which runs thus : t Serbus f Dni Mercurius PB. f See Ecclesiae Catholicae off. It is but natural to infer from this inscription that the pillar, at one time, supported the ciborium or baldacchino, which the Priest Mercurius with his col- leagues had erected, and that both ciborium and altar stood in the lower church. S. Hormisdas governed the Church from 514 to 523. Mercurius, Cardinal Priest of S. Clement, was elected Pope in 532, and died in 534, as we are informed by the well known inscription in S. Peter's ad Vincula : Joannes cogno- inento Mercurius ex Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae presbyteris ordinatus ex titulo S. Clement is ad glo- riamPontificatuspromotusetc. Thus, in Mercurius, Pope John II, we have the person whose monogram is frequently repeated in the marble panels of the screen, the classical style of which agrees far better with the sixth than with the middle or close of the ninth century. Moreover the fact of John II, having erected an altar, while he was Cardinal Titular of S.Clement's, makes it almost evident that he would, during his Pontificate, take a special interest in this Basilica, and complete the work he had commenced while he was its Titular. 380 As to the guesses about the period of the destruction of the old basilica and the building of the modern one, it is not improbable that the great earthquake of 896, twenty nine years after the death of Nicholas I. may have shaken the basilica, and perhaps thrown down the roof, when the fres- scoes of S.Clement, S.Alexius and S.Cyril, were fresh upon its walls. In which case the basilica, which was not filled up with casual ruin, but with soil and debris purposely compacted, may have given place to the new church two hundred years before Gregory VII, and Paschal II, and thus it (the new church) was not destroyed by Guiscard at all. Paschal II may have repaired it, and exe- cuted the mosaics of the apse, in memory of his election in it, when he was repairing or rebuilding the four crowned Martyrs. And two hundred years after him, the nephew of Boniface VIII restored the mosaics in the concavity of the apse and in- serted the tabernacle for the holy oils. The erudite author of Murray observes that the blocks of the choir are adjusted in a careless manner ; and that the gospel-ambo being on the left instead of the right hand, as in the basilica of S. Lorenzo, and in some other churches, is another reason for supposing that the choir, was carelessly set up, when removed from the church beneath. But the panels and pave- 331 ment appear to have been carefully removed, and the different parts of the ancient choir accurately copied ; and it is not likely that the builders did not know on which side the ambo ought to stand, al- though, without any haste or want of accuracy in placing the blocks, the settlement of the soil dislo- cated the joints and threw the panels out of the ho- rizontal line. That very careful antiquary, Ciampini, engraves the gospel-ambo of S. Lorenzo without a hint that its position is more correct than that of S. Clement's. We have thought, says he, to note these things first, that as this kind of join- ings of dissimilar parts is everywhere occurring as well in S. Clement's as in the other very old basilicas, persons entering the vestibules of these churches may not stick in over nice animadver- sions, but rather go on with us to the more useful observation of the chief internal parts. An an- cient heretic used to ask: What is the Easter that you celebrate? You are again made to take up with Jewish fables. There is not to be any cele- bration of the Passover; for Christ our Passover is sacrificed. To such a one the lofty spiral mo- saic of our paschal candlestick is an eyesore, and, instead of being lighted at the Gospel, the blest candle ought to be extinguished for ever. That striking of the flint on Holy Saturday, and blessing 382 of the new light in the church ; that prayer Lord God, Father Omnipotent, light never failing, who art the Maker of all lights, bless this light which is blest and made holy by Thee who hast en- lightened the whole world, that with that light we may be enkindled and illuminated with the fire of Thy brightness ; and as Thou wert a light to Moses going out of Egypt, so do Thou give light to our heart, and sense that we may deserve to come to light through Christ our Lord: and the successive lighting of the church-lights when the sun is shining in the heavens, is surely su- perfluous and ridiculous excess. That chant of the deacon has no meaning when he goes up to the gospel-ambo and sings: Now let the angelic host exult: the mysteries divine exult: and for the victory of so great a King the trumpet of salvation sound! Let the earth also rejoice illu- minated with such splendour, and enlightened with the brightness of the eternal King : let it feel that the darkness of the whole world is dis- persed. Let mother Church rejoice, adorned with the brightness of so great a light ; and may this temple resound with the loud voices of the people. Wherefore I beseech you, most dear brethren, who are here present in the wonderful brightness of this holy light, to invoke with me 383 the mercy of Almighty God. That He who has vouchsafed to number me among the Levites, without any merits of mine, would pour forth His brightness upon me, and enable me to perfect the praise of this light. And then follows : Oh surely necessary Adam's sin which by the death of Christ is blotted out ! Oh happy fault which deserved to have such and so great a Redeemer ! Oh truly blessed night , which alone deserved to know the time and the hour in which Christ rose again from worlds be- low. This is the night of which it is written : ' And the night shall be illumined as the day, and the night is my light in my delights. ' And when the ceremony goes on and the conse- crated hand waves the water to the four quarters of the world, and the mystic candle thrice plung- ed in the plenitude of the Holy Ghost within the baptismal font, we cannot think without pain of the thousands of children, who, in some countries where Christianity is said to be part and parcel of the law of the land, are never purified by that wa- ter, and whether baptism is a sacrament at all is a question free to dispute. Ennodius of Pavia, who died in 521, and was styled a glorious Confessor by Nicholas I, wrote two forms of blessing the pas- chal candle in which the divine protection is im- 334 plored against storms and all danger from the malice of invisible enemies. Some attribute the rite to Pope Zosimus A. D. 418: and the Agnus Dei, found with the relics under the altar of our church, may be of that date, for the archdeacon used to bless, on Holy Saturday, wax mingled with oil and impressed with the figure of a lamb, such as was found in the tomb of Mary Stilicho. S. Zeno, A. D. 3G2-383, says of the font : Haste ye, brethren, who are about to be washed. The living water tempered- by the Holy Spirit, and with the pleasantest fire, with soothing murmur now invites you. * And S. Pacian, A. D. 371, says that the justice of Christ must need pass into the human race, Christ be- getting in the Church by means of the priests. Thesa things cannot be otherwise fulfilled than by the sacrament of the laver, and of the chrism of the bishop. 2 And any one who considers that lights were borne hefore the emperors, and the fondness of the Christians for lights, incense, and balsams, in the catacombs, will hardly suppose that so obvious a figure as the descent of light into the illuminative waters was neglected. On either side of the choir are the amlones. The 1 Lib. II, Tract. 35. Invit. 6, ad Font. Galland., T. I, p. 149. 2 S.TIUO de Baptism., n. 3. Galland., T. VII, p. 308. 385 word ambo is said to be derived from the Greek word avecfkuatetVi to go up, which might apply to any other staircase, so that it is possible that ambones may be a colloquial corruption of umbones, that is convex projections, or elevated promontories. They are of remote antiquity. S. Augustine recounts 1 that Vic- torinus, the Rhetorician, read his profession of faith from the ambo. On the east side of the gospel-ambo is a beautiful spiral candlestick, in mosaic, for the paschal candle. The connection between the light to enlighten the Gentiles represented by the paschal candle, and the higher step in the ambo from which the deacon reads the gospel is evident. Ciainpini says that S. Cyprian calls ambo the tribunal. The gospel- ambo in our church has a double staircase, on one side towards the altar, on the other towards the narthex. According to an old Roman ordo, the two accolytes with their candles separated when they reached the ambo, two subdeacons with thuribles, and the deacon with the gospel passing between them ; and going up into the ambo by one staircase, the subdeacons im- mediately descended by the other and there stood. A third subdeacon, preceding the deacon, held in his left hand the gospel to be opened at the mark, and 1 Confessions of S. Augustine, book VIII, c. 11. 23 386 the deacon read on that higher step in the ambo which a subdeacon was not to mount, it being especially reserved for the gospel. The deacon read the gospel with his face turned to the North. The gospel am- bones in S. Lorenzo and S. Pancras are similar to these in S. Clement's, all three having that central projection from which the modern pulpit is taken. In S. Pancras, put up, in 1249 , by Innocent IV, it is ornamented by twisted columns, and supported by a pillar below, as some pulpits are. But Ciampini re- marks that S. Clement's has a double ambo, and that it is an indication of the greater antiquity of the church to suit that very ancient rite of the Roman Ordo, by which the deacon stood turned to the south aisle in which the men were wont to be, but other- wise to the north, a rite not everywhere observed in the eighth and following centuries. The explanation, he supposed to be, is, that if the southern aisle was quite full of men and the middle of the nave also, the deacon turned to the women's side on the north, thus comprising the centre nave as well : but if the men were fewer and the southern aisle held all, then he turned to that side. On the women's side to the north we have another ambo, but lower, with its two marble desks, of which the highest, next the altar, was for the subdeacon who turned towards the altar to read the Epistle without regarding East or West. 387 The altar in S. Clement's is at the west end, but the celebrant,, standing in front of it, always faces the East. The lower desk turned to the East was for the cantor to sing the gradual, responsories, and al- lelujas; and is only found where the subdeacon by turning to the altar had his back to the East, where- as, if he faced the East, a second desk for the can- tor w T ould be superfluous. Anastasius the librarian says it was Celestine I who, before the year 432, had the gradual sung at Mass. Leaving the anibones behind, and returning with the deacon up the choir, the following arrangement is before us ; a porphyry slab with, the inscription : FLAYIVS CLEMENS MARTYR HIC FELICITER EST TVMYLATVS Flavius Clement martyr is here happily buried. Lower down, on the cornice over the transenna, behind which are preserved the relics of SS. Clement and Ignatius, is the following inscription : HIC REQVIESCVXT CORPORA SAXCTORVM CLEMENTIS PAPAE ET IGNATII EPISCOPI ET MARTYRYM. 388 In the basilicas, with some rare exceptions, the "body of the saint was placed beneath the altar pro- tected by transennae ; and at S. Alexander's, on the Noinentan way, were discovered, in 1854, the re- mains of such an altar, and the transennae, with the names of the saints and of the bishop who dedicated it. As we stand below the altar before the slab of the martyr consul Clement, on either hand are two white marble transennae admirably worked, and they were once, probably, in their proper place in the lower basilica. These net- work panels sufficed to admit air to the lamps within, and did not hide the martyr's body from the sight of the worshipper. In the more ancient transennae the interstices were larger that cloths might be passed through them to touch the body ; for the corporeal relics were not then gene- rally distributed. On either side of the shrine, steps lead to the platform upon which' the altar stands : and to know the use of the altar, we must turn to the episcopal chair behind it, raised by three steps above the sedilia, for the priests, diverging from it on both sides. The back of this chair is of white Grecian marble on which the word Martyr in large let- ters is not inappropriately read. The bishop presid- ing there has passed step by step through the four minor Orders, beginning with the door-keeper; then through the holy orders of subdeacon and deacon, 389 before the sacramental seal of the priesthood im- printed an indelible character for weal or woe upon his soul ; and if in rank and order he now possesses the fulness of the priestood, and the Orders necessary for the altar can be conferred by him alone, there is one greater still to whom ad limina apostolorum lie must render an account. Although he has not borne the successive duties of each rank for so long a time as in the ancient discipline of the Church, he began by the denial of himself, and the dedication of his whole will to God. His power and his strength are de- rived from that altar before him, from that Qveiazvpfxw of sacrifice from which they cannot eat who do ser- vice in the tabernacle. l Once he need only have raised his eyes to the silver dove suspended by a chain, which is still preserved, from the ciborium over the altar, to know that there was light, and life, and love : that unspeakable Presence, life of the soul, perpetual health of the mind, the bread of angels, eaten by the priest at that table under the sacred veils, carefully reserved that the triumph of Christ might be consummated in that most glo- rious act when still upon earth He is carried to heal the sick, and give courage to the dying. The ciborium is sustained by four pillars, two of pao- 1 Ilebr., XIII, v. 10. 390 nazzetto and two of marmo scritto, precisely such as were found at S. Alexander's and might be seen in the last century in the church of SS. Peter and Marcellinus. Giampini considered this part known as the Confession so important that he engraved the ciborium of SS. Peter and Marcellinus as well as that of S. Clement. The bishop then was most appropriately placed in that seat where the praetor had decided so many vulgar causes, for between him and the people is no longer the table upon which the death warrant of Christians had been signed, but the altar upon which the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world is immolated. S. John Chrysostom says : When thou art going to approach the sacred table, consider too that the King of all is present there: for, indeed, he is present really, thoroughly acquainted with each one's disposition, and seeing who comes with be- coming holiness, who with a wicked conscience, with impure and foul thoughts, with evil deeds. l And it is precisely because, in the presence of that King, His human court must keep their proper pla- ces so as to discharge their limited service , the whole arrangements of His sacred palace have been made ; not at random , but for his intelligent crea- tures to pay Him suitable honour. 1 T. VI. Iii Illud. Vicli Dom., u. 4, p. 105. 391 The personality of Christ upon the altar is re- flected in the magnificence of that highest place where the clergy are found; and the beautiful and elaborate mosaic with the inscription: Ecdesiam Christi vili similabimus isti Quam lex arentem, sed Crux facit me virentem, The Church of Christ we liken to that vine The law made dry, the cross all green to shine, was meant to teach what, long years after, the Coun- cil of Trent commanded bishops to teach that by means of the history of the mysteries of our re- demption, portrayed by paintings and other re- presentations , the people is instructed and con- firmed in remembering and continually revolving in their mind the articles of faith. Over the heads of the clergy, and out of their sight, whose minds ought not to be distracted from the altar, and whose eyes, looking beyond the altar, fall upon the people for whose souls they are responsible, that symbolical profusion of coloured shapes was to the people a certain image of heaven, and of the con- nection between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven. In the highest centre is a small cross; and in the circle below it the head of our Saviour with the Gospel, a hint expressed also in the inscription ( Gloria in excehls Deo sedenti super thronum, et in 392 terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis, Glory be to God on high sitting upon his throne, and on earth peace to men of good will,* into which the circle falls) that the good tidings were to men of good will, and his eyes vigilant to behold and bless them. The emblems of the four Evangelists express the connection between the prophetic vision of Eze- chiel in the old law and that of S.John in the new. The face of a man signifies Matthew who began to write, as it were of a man, the book of the generation of Jesus -Christ: then Mark in whom is heard the voice of the lion roaring in the desert, the voice of one crying in the wilderness : the face of the calf which sets forth that Luke began from Zachary the priest: the eagle, John who, hasting to higher things, treats of the Word of God. And in the Apocalypse 1 there is the same meaning where it is said, the first living creature like to a lion, and the second like to a calf, the third having the face as it were of a man, the fourth like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures had each of them six wings, and round about and within they are full of eyes, and they rested not day or night saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is to come. The imme- C. 4. 393 diate connection between the church in heaven and the things of earth, between our Lord in glory and the diffusion of his Gospel here, is shown in the apostles, and martyr saints who succeed them. On the right is Peter instructing Clement with the in- scription: Respice promissum, Clemens, a me tibi Christum, Clement, behold Christ promised by me to you. On the left Paul arguing with the deacon S. Laurence, and the inscription : De cruce, Laurenti, Paulo famillare docenti, Paul familiarly teaching Laurence about the Cross. The latter is probably an allusion to some tradition connected with the Oratory of S. Laurence super Clementem at the Scala Santa; we regret that we do not know what it is. S. Laurence , broiled alive in 258 by the enraged Praefect to whom he showed the poor as the treasures of the Church, was taught the scriptures and spiritual life by Xyxtus II. His last prayer was for the conversion of the city ; and he asked it for the sake of the two apostles Peter and Paul who had there began to plant the Cross of Christ, and had watered that city with their blood. It is a pleasing thought that the most beautiful lettered pectoral Cross yet discovered, a gold reli- quary of the sixth century, with the inscription The Cross is life to me, death, o enemy ! to thee, was found in his basilica. The mind of the Chris- 394 tian artist was not satisfied without bringing down the glory of God on high to the predestined places of the earth. And he does it by placing, below S. Peter, Jeremias who mourned over the city that was to be forsaken. The prophet holds in his hand the scroll of Baruch : Hie est Dominus noster, et non aestimabitur alms absque illo, This is our > Lord and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him. The city of Jerusalem is below him. Under S. Paul , he gives the pro- phet of the virginal birth of Christ, Isaias, with the inscription Vidi Domimim sedentem super so- Hum, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne; and below him Bethlehem with the child in the arch over its gate. This part of the mosaic has been very little restored, and was probably exe- cuted by cardinal Anastasius, about the year 1108, whose name is on the episcopal chair in front of the high altar : f Anastasius presbiter Cardinalis hu- jus tituli hoc opus cepit et perfecit. * That por- 1 Anastasius died in 1126 and was buried in His titular Church. In the 16th century the following epitaph engraved on a marble slab was preserved in the portico of the modern basilica : dudum 18 6ANCTE PATER CLEMENS TVA TEMPLA NOVATIT CVIV8 IS HOC TVMVLO PVLVIS ET VMBRA JACENT MORIBV8 EGREGI18 ET VITA PRESBY'lER VRBIS FVLSIT ANASTAS1VS NOMINE DICTVS ERAT VITA DECENS STYDIVMU. PIVM VIS RELIUIOXIS CONSPICVVM MERITIS EFFIC1EBAT EVJf HVNC QVICVMQ. LEGI8 TVMVLVM MEMOR ESTO LEGKSDO DICERE NATK DEI SVBSIDIERIS El. 395 - tion of the mosaic which fills the hemispherical vault of the arch is the most elegant in Rome, and was probably restored, if not made, by cardinal Caje- tan, as is recorded by the following inscription over the gothic tabernacle : Ex annis Domini prolapsis mille duceiitis Nonaginta novem Jacobus collega Minorum Hujus basilicae tituli pars Cardinis alti Haec jussit fieri quo plausit Ronia nepote Papa Bonifacius Octavus Anaguia proles. Therefore it is of the age of Giotto, who -may have designed it, as he did the Navicdla over the door of S. Peter's. Cavallini who executed the Navicella was his contemporary, if not his pupil, and finished the mosaics on the facade of S. Maria in Traste- vere. Gaddo Gaddi, whose son was Giotto's godson and pupil for many years, had a great reputation for mosaics, and was invited to Rome by Clement V. He finished Jacopo da Turitas' mosaics in S. Maria Maggiore, and executed several others relating to our Lady. The repairs in the mosaics of that basilica disco- vered the name of another artist Philippus Rusutus, A. D. 1317. But, as far as we know, none of these works show the elegant symbolism of the apse of S. Clement's. Giotto painted several frescoes in the Loggia of the Lateran, but the only one remain- 396 ing is the portrait of cardinal Cajetan's uncle, Boni- face VIII, proclaiming the jubilee of 1300, still pre- served in that basilica. The hemispherical vault of the apse is the work of a great artistic mind in its conception, and, as regards execution, we know that Giotto improved the art of working in mosaics : and there is a marked affinity of style in the mosaics of the apse to that of the coloured marbles with which he decorated the buildings 'in his pictures and carried to perfection in his Campanile at Flo- rence. Although the mosaics, of S. John in Fonte, at Ravenna, show full-length figures inclosed in ara- besque foliage, they have nothing in common with the graceful curves we see here : and the whole concavity, which is the crown of the work, is so superior, in symbolical style, as well as in drawing, to the rest, or any other mosaics in Rome, that it is easier to refer the design to Giotto, than to ima- gine an unknown artist possessed of similar power. Coming out of the gates of Bethlehem and Jerusa- lem, we have the usual subject of the twelve apos- tolic sheep with the mystic lamb, crowned with the nimbus, in their midst. Above them is the follow- ing inscription which forms the lower border of the florid arabesques of the concavity : 397 Ecclesiam Chrisfi riti similabimus isfi Qiiftm lex arentem, sed Cruxfacit esse virentem; De ligno Christi, Jacobi dens, lynatiique Insupra scripti requies^unt corpore Christi. The Church of Christ we liken to that vine, Which, the law parched, the cross makes green to shine ; 0' th' wood of Christ, of James a tor>th, and of Ignace In body of that Christ have found a resting place. The representation of the Cross excited the devo- tion of the faithful the more from the knowledge that a particle of the true Cross was before them; and the union of our Lord with his saints, and of His passion with theirs, was more than shadowed by placing a relic of an Apostle , and of the martyr Bishop of Antioch, with the true Cross in the ve- ry figure of His body. A broad border, rich with flowers and fruit, goes all round the inner edge of the concavity; and we recognize in it the grapes, and ears of corn, symbolic of the Eucharistic spe- cies. In this border, just over the gate of Bethlehem, is a man with large bunches of grapes; in the crown of the arch is the Constantinian monogram of Christ, and below it, on the right, a hare among grapes. The meaning of the hare, which is often found in Christian monuments, is undecided. On a Siracu- san lamp, round a jewelled cross, is a border of triangles and leaves, and hares running. In another - 398 is one bare, and in another the circular border ter- minates with a flying dove. It is suggested that the hare represents human nature prone to sin : and in the distinction of clean and unclean animals, given in Leviticus ch. XI, it is reckoned among the unclean animals, which the people were prohibit- ed to eat, in order to restrain them from the vices of which these animals are the symbols. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying : Say to the children of Israel : these are the animals which you are to eat of all the living things of the earth. Whatsoever hath the hoof divided, and clieweth the cud among the beasts, you shall eat. But whatsoever cheweth indeed the cud and hath a hoof, but divideth it not, as the ca- mel, and others, that you shall not eat, but shall reckon it among the unclean. The cherogrillus which cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof is unclean. The hare also : for that too cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof. The vine itself, however , was called leporaria, as it were the hare-plant, perhaps from some idea that its leaves had a peculiar attraction for these animals. Here at least , placed in the midst of Eucharistic emblems, the little hare is, more probably, a figure of, the soul leaping to its choice food. By this Eu- charistic border (if we may so call it) the main 399 subject is framed. At the top, the opening of the heavens is indicated by the waving prismatic circle, and the hand in the wreath in the sky is a common emblem of Almighty power. On either side of it are two lambs. In the centre of his composition, the artist no longer dwells upon apostles and mar- tyrs, but goes straight to the Passion. The Cross let down from the hand of the Almighty roots itself upon the earth in wondrous foliage, spreading, as the mystic vine, in bold and graceful curved lines over the whole field. With that higher instinct , which did not suffer him to represent the naked crucifixion as we have seen it by the naturalist Ma- saccio, he places, upon the Cross the humanity of our Saviour, decently and devoutly draped. The Virgin Mother and her adopted Son stand beside it, and on its four extremities are twelve spotless white doves, symbols of the Apostles. For the rest, he fills every part among the graceful windings of the vine with an admirable variety of birds and flowers, thus evidently determined to surround the cross with beauty. Where, as he passos under it, he must give other human figures, he makes them mere accessories, distinct, indeed, but not disturbing the luxuriant harmony in which he sets them. A little hart is feeding at the foot of the Cross; perhaps symbolizing Adam in the garden of Paradise; or it 400 might be that the artist had in his mind the ending of the Canticles : Flee away, my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices. The glad waters are gushing out below from four tongues, symbols of the four rivers which flowed through Paradise, and two thirsty harts, admirably drawn, are drinking from them. That mysterious 47 th chapter of Ezechiel is before us. And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house towards the East: for the fore-front of the house looked towards the East: but the waters came down on the right side of the temple to the south side of the altar. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, son of man. And he said to me these waters that issue forth to- wards the hillocks of sand to the East and > go down to the plains of the desert, shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed. And every living creature that creepeth whithersoever the torrent shall come, .shall live: and there shall be fishes in abundance after these waters shall come thither, and they shall be healed, and all things shall live to which the torrent shall come. The Christian fishes of the catacombs could have no better origin than 401 this torrent of healing waters from the house turned to the East. Whether the artist had intended to make this allusion, or not, he could not have ex- pressed more ably, than he has done, his motto , that the Cross makes the vine dried up by the law vigorously to bloom: its sap gushes out in living streams, and the living creatures draw nigh to it to drink and live. There he lias set the pelicans of the wilderness; and behind them the peacocks of the catacombs, symbols of immortality on ac- count of their longevity ; and on either hand where the streams are drunk up by the earth the good shepherd is feeding his sheep; and the Church, turn- ed away from Jerusalem towards Bethlehem, is doing that office which the ungrateful city refused at His hands; not indeed gathering the little ones under her wings (for she is depicted as a woman,) but distributing to her chickens, symbols of her children, the corn of salvation. And, that the shame- ful circumstances of the passion may not be alto- gether forgotten in the exuberance of the cross growing lilies and the true vine, nigh Bethlehem the time of night is indicated by the owl, and, in that fatal night, the denial of Christ by Peter is repre- sented by the cock below it. But to Jerusalem is turn- ed the lance which, in the hand of a soldier of the Caesar, struck the last blow the faithless people could 26 402 inflict upon the sacerdotal King. Before tliee I opened the sea: and thou hast opened my side with a lance. The subtle delicacy of the artist is astonishing. Of the twelve white birds, sym- bols of the twelve Apostles, the lowest and last, pro- bably symbolizes S. John the Apostle, but, as his martyrdom, though attempted, was not actually ef- fected , the upper half of the dove only appears . and the rest is hid in the verdure of the cross. There are two magpies and various other birds on either side, but we do not know what they sym- bolize. The serpent is indicated, but it is as a beautiful curve, of crimson and gold, terminated by a flower. In another line of subjects are the four great Doctors of the Church with their names. On the right S.Ambrose and Gregory, on the left S. Je- rome and Augustine. S. Clement had been repre- sented with S. Peter already, and there was no oc- casion to repeat him here: but the miracle of Si- sinius is not forgotten. The object which the artist had proposed to himself, to ma,ke the cross the mystic vine, and to surround it with the gladness of the vine, the fowls of the air resting in its branch- es, the living creatures of the earth partaking of its abundance, did not leave space for an ela- borate composition of the miracle. The figures are separated, but the story is fully told. On the right 403 Sisinius is being led by the boy, and Theodora is behind. The Sacrifice is indicated further on by the detached ecclesiastical figure in a stole with a censer, or perhaps the ciborium inclosing the Host ; for in the arabesques at Ravenna a similar object is seen with two deer stooping towards it. On the left Sisinius in full costume, no longer blind, stands turned away with two men behind him. Further on his conversion is finished, for he stands alone making a votive offering of the gospel roll. On the wall beneath is painted our Saviour, and around Him the twelve Apostles separated by palm- branches. The Apostles are standing on the bank of a stream in which are seen various fishes swimming. The Saviour is in the attitude of blessing with his right hand, and in his left He holds a scroll on w T hich are written the words Paceni rneam re- linquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis, My peace I leave you: my peace I give you. "NYe have dwelt too long upon this magnificent mosaic. The brilliancy of the colours,, and the mi- nute delicacy of the objects , are set off by its ground of gold. It would be a mistake to suppose that it was only a newer and more excellent de- velopement of mediaeval art; for the catacombic crypt of Praetextatus with its birds and its flowers, its roses and nests, its grapes, and ears of wheat, 404 . its harvest scenes and good shepherds, gives to its altar tomb as elegant and a more concentrated embellishment. There are some who with too fa- stidious philosophy, and too great a disregard of the mixed nature of man, would soar with the eagle, but not with the steadfast eye of S. John; would have no other vault for their devotions but the myriad constellations of the heavens. But the sim- ple-minded faithful cannot attempt such lofty flights. They need the more domestic images of the Church. When they turn from the labours of their daily life to rest the wearied senses, and find some pleasure in the pictures with which men seek to do some honour to God's house, they have beyond it a gratification which is not confined to the philosopher and is enjoyed by the beggar. APPENDIX. TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS OF SS. CLEMENT AND IGNATIUS. IN the last century, Hannibal Albani, Cardinal Titular of S.Clement's, and nephew of Pope Cle- ment XI, wishing to take relics of S. Ignatius, threw down the high altar, and destroyed the Confession l which existed beneath it. He took the leaden re- liquary oat of the Confession, and had the con- tents carefully transferred to another; but he did not restore the Confession. On the 22 d of June 1727, the Dominican Pope Orsini, Benedict XIII, preached from the gospel ambo in the choir; and after the sermon he himself carried in the procession the reliquary on 1 Confession, ia Church History, is a place in churches, xisually under the high altar, wherein were dep.isitei the relics of the martyrs. 406 his shoulders, assisted by cardinal Albani, and two archbishops, and placed it under the new high altar prepared, by the Cardinal Titular, the year before. Twelve cardinals, four primates, several archbishops, bishops, and prelates, and all the Dominican Friars in Rome with the most Rev. Father Thomas Ripoll, General of the Order, walked in the procession. The excavations of the original basilica of S. Cle- ment discovered, in 1857, by the writer of these pages, and cleared out and restored mostly by public subscription, made it necessary again to take down the high altar. The reliquary was removed on the 10 th of June 1866, and, on Tuesday, the 20 th of No- vember 1867, was opened, and its contents examined by the proper ecclesiastical authorities. The reli- quary contained : 1. Several bones of S.Clement and S.Ignatius. 2. A considerable quantity of earth, or ashes tinged with blood. 3. A glass vase, supposed to be as early as the first century, the inside of which is covered with a deposit of reddish hue. 4. A small phial, of very ancient date, also con- taining coagulated blood. 5. Two crosses, one of wood, the other of metal. The former, at one time, evidently contained some relics. 407 G. An Agnus Dei made of bees' wax, with the figure of the lanib impressed on either side. 7. A piece of stone, or slate, with the inscription REL . SCT . XL. relics of the Forty Martyrs. 8. A marble slab, on one side of which are en- graved monograms, and on the other inscriptions. We give fac similes of both. 410 The monograms may be read thus: CHKISTVS . JESTS . DOMIXVS And the first two lines of the inscription, thus : FLAVTVS CLEMENS MARTYR HIC FELICITER EST TVMVLATYS The third line is in small characters, and has puzzled the learned to decipher it. Yitry says of it : It is easier to say how it should not be read, than how it should be read. l Some decipher it thus - Leo I Doctor Christiaiiitatis auuo CDXL assumptus Pontifex Ecclesiae. Others explain it - Leo I Doctor Xystus martyr VI a Sancto Petro Ecclesiae Rector. Others - Leo I Doctor Christ! 13 mensis VI ad S.Petrum eumdem gestavit If we were allowed to venture a conjecture, we would say that it should be read - Leo I Doctor De- cembris meiise VI auuo sui Poutiflcatus egit. 1 Tertia linea facilius est clicere qudiuodo nori sit legeuda, quam quomodo legeuda sit. .- 411 The ceremony of examining the relics having been gone through, they were kept under seal in one of the ambries in the sacristy until the high altar was prepared to receive them. In 1868, when the altar was re-erected, PiusIX ordered them to be replaced. The Cardinal Vicar, who has the custody of relics in Rome, directed that they should be transferred to a new copper urn. We felt that, in so ancient a church ancient forms ought to be restored. To restore the Confession was impossible; but we obtained permission to put back the reliquary in its proper place, where the Confession once was, and where it was found: and as Cardinal Albani had taken away the lattice that was there, and closed all up with a porphyry slab, we had it removed and re- placed by a transenna of the more appropriate an- cient form. The reverence due to the relics of martyrs so early, and so renowned, in the history of the Church, as Clement first Pope of that name, and Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch: and the re- currence of the feast of S.Ignatius, on the 1 st of February, suggested a triduo of devotions to end , on that day. His Holiness the Pope granted In- dulgences for it. The Cardinal Vicar came to the church on the 29 th of January, and transferred the relics into the new reliquary, on which is the following inscription: 412 - SALVO . BB . D . N . PIO . IX ET . JVSSV . EJVS . C . CARD . PATRIZI EPISC . PORT . ET . S . RTF . RELIQVIAS . IX . THECA . ANTIQVA . DIE . X . JVNII . MDCCCLXVI SVB . ALTARI . MAJORE . REPERTA ITERVM . IH . HAC . THECA . REPOSVIT . DIE . XXIX . JANVARII MDCCCLXVIII Cardinal Guidi Archbishop of Bologna , the most Rev. Father Jandel, General of the Dominican Order. the Community, and a few others were present at the ceremony of the translation. During the whole of that night the Community kept watch by the relics , and Cardinal Guidi , representing Cardinal De Bonnechose, Archbishop of Rouen, and Titular of S. Clement's, consecrated the high altar the next morning. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the pro- cession with the reliquary set out, in the following- order, from the altar of the subterranean basilica which was brilliantly illuminated. The cross and banner of the Order followed by all the Dominican Fathers in Rome, the General coming last next the bier, which was covered with red velvet, and over it a pall of crimson silk and 413 gold, open on one side to show the inscription, and ornamented on the other side with the monogram of Christ, copied from the porphyry cover of Con- stantine's sarcophagus at Constantinople. The four bearers, in rich vestments, were : The Most Rev. Father Leo Salua 0. P. The Very Rev. Father V. P. O'Doherty 0. P. The Very Rev. Father Paul Stapleton 0. P. The Very Rev. Father Joseph Mullooly 0. P. The following dignitaries of the Church, wear- ing gold mitres and copes, walked beside the bier: His Grace, the Most Rev. R. L. E. Antici-Mattei, Patriarch of Constantinople. His Grace, the Most Rev. P. R. Kenrick, Arch- bishop of S. Louis. His Grace, the Most Rev. F. X. De Merode, Arch- bishop of Melitene. His Grace, the Most Rev. P. De Yillanova Ca- stellacci, Archbishop of Petra. 414 After the bier came in cappa magna : His Eminence Cardinal De Reisach. His Eminence Cardinal Barnabo. His Eminence Cardinal Pitra. His Eminence Cardinal Bilio. His Eminence Cardinal Mertel. His Eminence Cardinal Guidi. The Procession was closed by His Grace, the Most Rev. P. Brunoni, Archbishop of Taron. The Right Rev. J. A. Goold. Bishop of Mel- bourne. The Right Rev. F. Marinelli, Bishop of Porphy- rus ; and several other Prelates , whose names we cannot recal to mind. The Swiss Guard of the Pope walked beside the bier, and a Company of Zouaves kept the line of the Procession. It was followed by a great num- ber of the Regular and Secular Clergy, who, ac- companied by an extraordinary crowd of people , formed , as it were , a supplementary procession ; and all seemed to profit by the following invita- tions addressed to them from the doors of the church of S. Clement : 415 QVI . TRIDVANIS . SVPPLICATIOXIBVS SAXCTORVM . CORPORA IX . HAC . BASILICA . QVIESCEXTIA YEXERATVRI . COXFLVITIS FIDEM . AVGETE PETITE . ACCIPIETI3 HEIC . VBI APOSTOLORV^I . CHRISTI . ET . SVMMORVM . POXTIFICVM EXIXAE . AD . DEVM . PRECES . OLDI . ASCEXDEBAXT COXVEXIEXTES . EX . OMXIBVS . MVXDI . PLAGIS . FIDELES SAXCTORVM . IX . AEDE . D . CLEMEXTIS . QVIESCEXTIVM SACRAS . EXVVIAS . VEXERATVRI SCIXDAXT . CORDA . SPE3I . AVGEAXT . EXAYDIEXTVR The quiet kneeling reverence with which the reliquary was welcomed, as it moved above the cor- tege of Prelates towards the Coliseum , was most impressive. It was a picture of old Christian Rome to see that simple chest , containing nothing but the bones of men who had died for Christ, rising over the flashing steel, and plumed helmets glistening in the sun, and the crimson habits of the Princes of the Church, seventeen hundred years and more after the martyrs had passed through the waves of 416 the Euxine sea. and the jaws of the lions of the Caesars, slowly nearing, with no sound but the Li- tanies of the Saints, the lofty ruins of the Flavian Amphitheatre, and descending into its midst. There in the centre, by the plain wooden cross, but not on the areia, where S. Ignatius, Trajan's victim, was given to the lions ; for time has heaped up moul- dering decay, age after age, upon it, as if to hide, from human eyes, the hellish rage and cruelty of which men are capable who hold imperial power, and has draped with moss, and grass-green shrubs, and gay flowers, the tiers of seats up to which the conquered gladiator cast an imploring look for life, and where that ferocious race made the silent sign that they might enjoy the sight of the blood gush- ing from his heart : there the Procession made a pause. Doubtless angels looked down from the battle- ments of heaven upon the scene, and there too the hymns of martyrs ceased, when- here the Magnificat Antiphon rose upon the still air : Hie est vere Martyr , qui pro Christi nomine sanguinera suum fudit , qui minas judicum non timuit, nee terre- nae dignitatis gloriam quaesivit, sed ad coelestia -> regna pervenit ; and the clear voice of the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna put up the prayer for all. Look down upon our weakness, Omni- potent God, and because the weight of our own 417 actions is heavy on us, may the intercession of Thy blessed Martyr and Pontiff Ignatius protect us. So it passed through the theatre of pagan diversions, and, returning by the Lateran road , entered , through the great door , the church of S. Clement, amid the hearty Te Deum laudamus : Te Dominum confitemur : * and proceeding at once into the choir, t^e relics of the Martyrs were laid in the Confession, and the marble transenna fixed before them. Every day of the triduo there was a high mass y and vespers, in Gregorian chant, a sermon and be- nediction. The Most Rev. Father De Ferrari 0. P. preached, on the first day, the panegyric of S. Cle- ment. He dwelt on the genealogy, conversion, learn- ing, piety, exile, and martyrdom of the saint; and on the discovery of his relics by S. Cyril who brought them back to Rome and deposited them in the church built on his paternal house, and dedicated to his memory. On the second day, the Very Rev. Father Capri 0. P. treated of the martyrdom of the Consul Flavius Clement, of the holy life and saintly death of the cripple Servulus, who used to beg alms in the porch of our basilica, and of the missionary labours , and zeal of SS. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of Sclavonia. And on the third day Car- dinal Guidi 0. P. eulogized the virtues of S. Ignatius, 27 - 418 Bishop of Antioch. one of the most illustrious and heroic martyrs of the early Church. His Eminence pointed to the Roman empire in its luxurious and cru'el capitals of the West and East, Rome and An- tioch, Rome filled with idols, Antioch pervaded by Judaism, though with a 1 large Christian population: the Caesars vainly drowning S. Peter and S. Paul in their own blood, vainly bandying from East to West, and vice versa, their successors Clement and Ignatius, proving the unity of the Church in their very act : vainly sacrificing these and thousands of other lives, for apostolic blood watered the tree of faith, and on every side fresh heroes bore the Cross and conquered. He spoke of the spirit of Judaism never spent, and at work now in modern Europe. He called upon the Romans especially, again to kindle the fire of faith, again to rally by the shrines of the martyr saint : and gravely warned them if they failed. Then pointing at how faith, far from being extinguished, was lighted anew by the violence of the world; how the meek and suffering were the chosen champions of Christ, he asked to whom, in this our day, had God given these precious relics? To the poor and humble Dominican Friars of Ire- land, to the children of that long suffering race whose faith no persecution of government could crush, nor any repentance of rulers adequately re- 419 ward. There, beneath the altar, in that little chest, was their consolation, their hope, and their reward. And so as the evening- drew in, and the lamps and candles in the old church grew brighter, again the Te Deum pealed, and a man, who has had no small part in the Pontificate of Pius IX, once a soldier, now an archbishop, Monsignor De Merode, slowly approached the altar, and lifted up in benediction the Body of our Lord before which every Catholic head and heart must bow. THE END. An anonymous friend has scut us the following lines which, presuming on the tenter's permission, we insert in this place. THE SCEPTIC'S DREAM. It was the Festival of S.Clement. I was at Rome, and wandering with a friend among the stately ruins of the Colos- seum. The gentle autumnal breeze brought to our ears the sound of distant church bells. It is time to go to S. Clement's > said my friend, < are you not coming with me? > < Xo, thank > you, > I replied, < the church itself is interesting, I grant > you, from its ancient architecture and frescoes, but as a > work of art alone, at least to me. The legendary meanings > of the paintings on its walls, are to me as mythical as the > history of Romulus and Remus. Xo, I leave such puerilities > to women and children. > < I will not attempt to argue > with you, > was the answer, but, > opening his English Prayer-book, < having seen you at the English Service last > Sunday. I fancied you might venerate a church in which the > remains repose of a Saint commemorated by our Communion, > and he pointed to the line in the Kalendar, marked Xov. 23, S.Clement Bp. and Martyr. My dear fellow, > I answered, 422 all Communions are much the same to me. I went to church > last Sunday because the rest of my party did so; but you must not take for granted in consequence that such is roy > habit. Christianity may have effected much, I do not say it > has not, but civilization has done more, and we of the 1 9 th > century, the age of free thought, cannot again put ourselves > in leading-strings. Look at these piers, was this gigantic pile erected by Christians? After all, we are a set of pigmies > compared to those whom you would term our less enlighten- > ed progenitors. The very stones of Rome have a voice. > < Yes, > he answered, < but like the writing on Balthassar's > wall, there is only one true interpretation. > So saying, he left me, and Sitting down on a stone, half worn away by the knees of pilgrims, I lazily watched the daws and listened to their cawing, as they flew in and out of the upper arches, until overcome with drowsiness, I fell asleep, and dreamt, and this was my dream: I dreamt that I was alone, pacing up and down one of the aisles in the church of Clement, when suddenly, I felt, without at first seeing anything, that some one was near me. I turned my head, and saw that, close beside me, stood a shadowy figure, whose features I could not distinctly discern, the whole form being enveloped in a kind of mist; but a voice, different from any I had ever known, fell on my ear: < Even > the stones of Rome speak. > it said, < come with me, and I > will tell you what they say. > An unseen power seemed to constrain me to follow my conductor, and I hastened after the 423 shadowy form, down the flight of steps which led to the sub- terranean church. You reject as false all you cannot see with s your bodily eyes, > it said, < is it not so? All unwritten tra- > dition is the same to you a collection of idle tales ; and > much even that you see, you declare to be interpolated, if it ? does not exactly agree with your own ideas of what is rea- > sonable. Am I not right? > I bowed my head in assent. < You consider Romulus and Remus as mythical personages ; > you doubt whether such a patriot as Horatius Codes ever ? existed, except in the poet's brain ; but you believe, do you > not, that there wjtere such monarchs as Xero and Trajan ? > I bowed again. < Why do you believe in them? Perhaps > they - perhaps none of the so called Caesars ever really > lived. > I murmured something about the testimony which not one, but several histories gave to their existence, recording their deeds, entering into minute descriptions of their very characters - also, that even the buildings in Rome added further confirmation. < Yet you have allowed the doubt to enter into j> your mind, whether Christianity itself is of divine origin, > and you actually sneer at those who venerate with reverential > affection, the martyrs who won their crown by embracing > death in its most terrible shapes, rather than apostatize. > < I never sneered at a martyr himself, in whatever cause, > I hastily answered. < truth, self-devotion, self-denial, must al- > ways command respect. > < Look on this, then. > the figure replied, < but first cast from your mind scepticism and frivo- > lity, which as poisonous exhalations interpose between you - 424 > and the truth. Here you see the installation of S.Clement, > the fellow labourer of S.Paul, as Bishop of Rome; here again, > he is celebrating the Holy Eucharist: see the altar, paten, > chalice, the very words in the open book, the same as those > used daily in the Service of the Church. Will not what has > been accepted alivays and everywhere have a little weight > with you in helping to prove the truth of Christianity? You > have seen these before, you have admired the depth of ex- > pression in the faces, the freshness of coloring, the grace of > the drapery, but those they represented were to you as > myths. Yet not in one, but in many books, these Acts of > the martyrs are recorded, and now these walls, decorated > by the art of more than a thousand years ago, corroborate > their testimony. You admire self-denial in the abstract; > here you find it in reality. Here S.Alexis, leaving bride and > parents and affluence, goes forth to lead a life of self-abne- > gation,and putting his hand to the plough, until death, looks > not back. Here again you have the apostolic words fulfilled > and the unbelieving husband converted by the believing wife. > Look down below into the chambers, turned by S. Clement > into a retreat for prayer; he, the noble Roman, forsaking the > gorgeousness of an imperial court, to labor with Paul the > aged, one who wrought with his own hands for his living, > and a prisoner. Is not that self-devotion? Walk round and > rjimd this ancient Basilica, you will find the same story on > each fresco; all unite in silently but effectually preaching > the same doctrine death to the world, in order to attain 425 > to life in that which shall never pass away. Above us, but > beneath the high altar, repose all that is mortal of S. Clement > and S. Ignatius. Why were they martyrs? Because they > loved the truth better than their lives. Because the ancient > Romans, the conquerors of the world, delighted to see an > aged man, against whom not a whisper of slander could > be breathed, torn to pieces by wild beasts, or as he him- / *- > self e/pressed it : ' I am the wheat of Christ. I must tliere- > fore be ground and broken by the teeth of wild beasts, > that I may become His pure and spotless bread.' A few years > ago, and those blessed relics were borne in triumph through > the arena, once flowing with his blood, and the stones which > echoed to 'Death to the Christians' resounded to the glorious > TeDcion. "What has effected this change, from bloodshed to > peace, from the cry of the heathen persecutor to the trium- > pliant song of the Christian? Has civilitation ? No, a thou- > sand times no. A Fisherman of Galilee, a Jew of Tar- > sus, a few disciples, some of them weak women and > striplings have won a grander victory than ever did Alex- > ander or Augustus. Rome conquered the world, but they > conquered Rome. And your boasted reason, what does it > say? Does it not bow to the Almighty Power which alone > could effect this marvellous change? Is not Christianity > divine? Do not the very stones of Rome attest it? Do > not the walls of San Clement c, and of the Colosseum, suffice > alone, without any other proofs, to bear requisite testimony > to the truth, which the Church, watered by the blood of 426 martyrs, teaches? Oh! wretched, miserable doubter, be \ > sceptical no longer You admire him who dies, for a prin- > ciple, however faulty; venerate those who looked for no s> applause of man, but an unfading wreath in Heaven. You profess to love truth. Think of those who sealed their testi- * mony to it with their blood, sooner than throw a few grains > of incense before an imperial image. You feel your heart > glow within you, while listening to the histories of Cle- > ment, and Cyril, and Alexis, and their patient self-denial. 5 Waver then no more, unstable mortal. Learn from these > old walls and decaying paintings the eternal truths they eloquently, though silently proclaim , and years hence, > may be, in your distant home, far away from this City > of martyrs, you will remember with thankfulness as the Feast of S. Clement comes round in the Church's year, the > lesson they taught you. Yes, these very walls, hidden for > centuries, have now, as it were, been brought to light to add yet a testimony to the awful fact, in this age of in- > consistency and incredulity, fast gliding from the mind of man, that v this sphere is not to revolve for ever, that a > pagan morality is not sufficient to cleanse its corruption, > that the most virtuous heathen that ever lived lacked that > consoling faith in a Communion of Saints, which sheds a > soft, benignant light on the dreariest path trod by a Chris- > tian, and so died, as he lived, without that peace, which > the highest honors of earth fail to bestow. > The voice ceased, and I awoke. The sky was still a cloud- 427 less azure, the daws were still cawing above me, all around appeared the same, I alone was different, and as I walked from the great amphitheatre, I turned once more for a last look at the central Cross, that holy symbol so dearly loved by the early Christians, that even on their very tiles they engraved it; and I felt that I too had been conquered by its power, on the spot where the martyrs won their crown. Made co-heirs with Christ in glory, His celestial bliss they share; May they now before Him bending Help us onward by their prayer; That, this weary life completed, And its fleeting trials past, We may win eterual glory In our Father's Home at last. Rome, Nov. 24th, 1872. INDEX. A Adelmus - 71. Adrian I. - 30 41. Aglae - 175. Alaric - marches against Kome - is deterred from entering - marches again in 408 - 39 - returns the third time and en- ters it by the Salarian gate - 40. Alexander I. P. and M., Eventius and Theodulus interred on the Xomentan way by Severina - 3 - Basilica of Alexan- der discovered on the JSTomentan way in 1844 - 44 - relics of in a sumptuous crypt, in the church of S. Sabina on the Aventine - ib. Alexander Natalis - 92 note, 123 124. Alexius S. - painting of in S. Clement's - 260 - convent of on the Aventine - 261 - account of his life - 262 to 265. Alfred, the great, of England - 147. Ambrose S. recovers the relics of SS. Gervasius and Prota- sius - 156 362 365 374 Anacletus P. - 73 74 75 76 80 81 82. Anastasius - 104 249. Andrew S. Ap. interred by Maximilla - 3. Anicetus P. - 72 74 81. Apostolic Constitutions - 75 - not by S. Clement - 85 373. Aromatibus sepelivit explained - 13. Art Christian - 27 - Eusebius quoted on drinking fountains - ib. - restoration of after Constantino gave peace to the Church - bronze medallion of SS. Peter and Paul found in INDEX. A Adelmus - 71. Adrian I. - 30 41. Aglae - 175. Alaric - marches against Kome - is deterred from entering - inarches again in 408 - 39 - returns the third time and en- ters it hy the Salarian gate - 40. Alexander I. P. and M., Eventius and Theodulus interred on the Xomentan way by Severina - 3 - Basilica of Alexan- der discovered on the Nomentan way in 1844 - 44 - relics of in a sumptuous crypt, in the church of S. Sabina on the Aventine - ib. Alexander Natalis - 92 note. 123 124. Alexius S. - painting of in S. Clement's - 260 - convent of on the Aventine - 261 - account of his life - 262 to 265. Alfred, the great, of England - 147. Ambrose S. recovers the relics of SS. Gervasius and Prota- sius - 156 362 365 374. Anacletus P. - 73 74 75 76 80 81 82. Anastasius - 104 249. Andrew S. Ap. interred by Maximilla - 3. Anicetus P. - 72 74 81. Apostolic Constitutions - 75 - not by S. Clement - 85 373. Aromatibus sepelivit explained - 13. Art Christian - 27 - Eusebius quoted on drinking fountains - ib. - restoration of after Constantine gave peace to the Church - bronze medallion of SS. Peter and Paul found in 430 S. Domitilla's cemetery - 37 - good style of - ib. - paint- ing of the martyrdom of S. Euphemia V. and M. of Chalcedon - 28 - Prudentius describes a painting of the ma> tyr S. Cassian - 30 31 - Eusebius quoted on early Christian art - 28 - on tablet of Constantino - ib. - after the peace of the Church, revived in the basilicas - 42 - votive paintings in the subterranean church of S. Clement, bolder in com- position than those found in the catacombs - 43 - a link of ancient Christian art with the early Italian school - ib. - a church picture of the 4 th century - 49. Assemarini, Simon - 108 note. Assemanni, Louis - 108. Asterius S. Bp. of Amasea, quoted - 7 - describes a painting of S. Euphemia V. and M. of Chalcedon - 28 29 - also the festi- vals of the martyrs - 32 49 288. Atina. a city near the Poritine marshes - 112. Audisius - 60 68. Augustine S. - 16 17 note - 161 174 276. Augustus - 63. Aulus Plautius - 5. Auphidianus puts the Christians of Cherson to various kinds of torture and death - 143. Aurelia Marciana - 2. Aurelius M. Syntomus epitaph - ib. Aymon - 89. Baillet - 62 64 note. Baronius - 92 105 123 ib. 166 241 282 note. Basil S. (A. D. 379) prais? of the martyrs - 34 note, 108 368. Basilicas - 25 in Rome under Pope Cornelius (A. D. 251) - 21 note - each title had two priests under Pope Damasus - 22 note - on the destruction of the suburban cemeteries bodies of martyrs transferred to the city - ib. - in the third century Rome had 46 churches -21 n.- Christian burials take place in, about the middle of 5 th century - 38 - of Alexan- der P. and M. discovered on the Nomentan way in 1854 - 44 - meaning and purpose of basilica - 167 - basilicas 431 of Pagan Rome - 168 - Christian basilicas - il). - some of those of Pagan Rome converted into Christian church- es - design of - 169 - modern of S.Clement - ib. - ancient of - see Clemcnfs. Bassenius - 124. Belisarius - compels Ricimer, the Goth, to evacuate Rome - 40 - expels Totila from that city - 41. Bellarminus - 1'24. Bern bo, cardinal - 256. Bencini - 104. Beno de Rapiza and his wife Mary - 252 298 299. Berengarius - 326. Bessariou - 107. Besson, Father - his paintings in S. Sisto - 352. Bianchini - 84. Blaze S. - 265 - patron of the wool combers of Norwich - 268 - relic of, in S. Maria in Via lata - ib. - another in his church in the Via Griulia - ib. Boigoris, king of the Bulgarians - 150 - his conversion to Christianity - ib. - sends letters and ambassadors to Pope Nicholas I - 151 - abdicates in 880, embraces the monas- tic state - ib. 240. Boldetti - 104. Bollandists - 92. Boniface S. - 175. Bosio, quoted - 44. Brun Le - 108 note. Burial of the Christian dead - see Dead. Burius - 60 90 123 124. Butler, Alban - 75 note, 85 92 122. Bzovius - 123. Calendar Liberian - 90. Calmet - 61 note, Callixtus S. - cemetery of on the Appian way - 38. Cantu Cesare - 256. Caprara Cataldo - 56 note. 432 Carmen against Marcian - 90. Carthage - 5 th Council of - 6 177. Catacombs, a name for some time exclusively applied to the crypts at S. Sebastian's - sec Cemeteries. Catharine S. of Alexandria - 29 194 199 349. - her body translated to Mount Sinai in Arabia - 350 - painting of her martyrdom - ib. Cave - 64 note. Cecily S. -relics of found by Paschal I- 157. Celestine P. - 272 273. Celestius, condemned by Pope Zosimus - 180 205 269 271. Ceillier- 62. Cella, or cella memoria, explained - 5 - memories after perse- cution become basilicas 13 174 to 177. Cemeteries, Christian, why constructed - II - no Pagans or he- retics interred in them - 12 - Mithraic tombs occasionally found in - ib. - Pope Zephyrinus sets Callixtus over them - 21 note - cemeteries and lands confiscated under Diocletian - 22 - forty six priests attached to, in 251 252 - jurisdiction of priests and Popes over - 21 note - suburban, when ru- ined by barbarians, remains of the martyrs removed from, into the city - 22 - Pope John III (560 573) restores them, has them furnished with lights, the holy sacrifice offered up there on every Sunday - ib. - habitual practics of Ser- gius I of the VIII century, whilst a simple priest, of ce- lebrating in, recorded - 23 - Gregory III (731 741) on the principal feasts of the martyrs provides for the offering of the holy mass in - ib. - at the instance of the Benedic- tine Abbot, Gueranger, Pius IX revives the old custom of celebrating the holy sacrifice at the grave of S. Cecily - ib.- Prudentius (A.. D. 405) quoted on the cemetery of S. Cyriaca -23 24- the Christian cemeteries profusely paint- ed - 25 - varied and beautiful representations of our Sa- viour, his blessed Mother and the saints - of the miracles of the Old and New Testament - many typical of the holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments - in fresco and on glass, found in - ib. note - destruction of those above ground in Africa under Diocletian - 26 - subterra- nean -fall into disuse - 37 - Melchiades last buried in - 33 - 433 after the death of Julian the Apostate, use of visibly de- clines - ib. - first public invasion of by Valerian (A. D. 257) lasts three years -39 - Gallienus orders the holy places to be restored to the bishops - ib.- again destroyed by Astolphus and the Lombards in 760 - 41 - restorations of by Adrian I. and Leo III - ib. - bodies of S. Cecily and other martyrs removed from by Paschal I in 817 - ib. - others again by Sergius II and Leo IV - last restorations of by Nicholas. 1 - ib. - Six of the Apostolic age reckoned by Bosio - 44 - bo- dies of SS. Peter and Paul, for nineteen months, rested in - 45 - cemeteries of Alexandria - 196. Cerdon - 96. Cerintlms - 94 note, 140 179. Cesarotti .- 64 note. Christopher S. - 347. Chrysanthus and Daria - 176. Chrysogonus S. M. - 139 note. Chrysostom S. - 103 158 293 374 390. Churches - use of -19 -see Cella and Basilica. Ciacconius - 57 59 67 109. Ciampini - 176 305 381 385 386 390. Cicero - 91. Classical learning insufficient to elucidate Christian ruins - 8. Clement of Alexandria - 63 note. Clement, Marcus Aricinus, twice consul - 61 - put to death un- der Diocletian - ib. Clement S. Pope and M. - origin of his family according to Zazera, Hesychius Salonitanus, and other writers - 59 - the Kecognitions falsely attributed to - 60 - translated into Latin by Rufinus - ib. 8 - born problably of an older son of Titus Flavius Sabinus, many years prefect of Rome - 61 - genealogical tree of the Flavian family - ib. - according to Tillemont, Ceillier and others of Greek or Jewish extrac- tion - 62 - this opinion controverted - ib. - Avas a Roman no- ble citizen - 63 - his father called Faustinas or Fausti- nianus - ib.- his mother Matidia or Macidiana - ib.-w&s born on 1 of July, Sext. Elius and C. S. Saturninus consuls - ib. - had two brothers - ib. - converted by S. Peter - ib. - was companion and fellow-labourer of S. Paul - 64 - mentioned 23 434 - in Epistle of S. Paul to the Philippians, ch. IV, v. 3 -ib.- was not a Canon Regular, nor a Carmelite, nor first Bishop of Velletri, nor of Cagliari in Sardinia, nor of Sard is in Ly- dia - these opinions refuted - 65 66 - is baptized and or- dained deacon by S. Peter - 67 - converts many souls to Christ by precept and example - ib - ordained priest, raised to the episcopal dignity and appointed coadjutor iti the Apostolic ministry - 68 - by his zeal and earnestness in the ministry he earns for himself the glorious title of apo- stle - ib. - not Bishop of Metz, as asserted by some writers - ib. - in this instance mistaken for his uncle 69 - noted for purity of mind and chastity of body - 69 70 71 - letter to James. Bishop of Jerusalem - ib. note - was he the im- mediate successor of Peter? - ib. and following pages - opi- nions of ancient writers on this subiect - ib. - of the mo- derns -89 - succeeds Linus and Cletus in the line of Popes - ib. and following pages - the Ebionite and Marcotian he- resies condemned by - 93 and following pages - divides the city into seven districts, and places over them as many ecclesiastical notaries, to collect the Acts of the Martyrs - 102 - considered to be the founder of the Prothonotaries, called Participantes - 103 - styled by many writers the au- thor of the Roman Martyrology- 104 -leaves in writing the form of offering the holy sacrifice of the mass, as delivered to him by the apostles - 105 - his care for the liturgy of the church - ib. and 106 - zeal for the diffusion of the Gos- pel - 110 - sends missionaries to France, Spain and else- where - ib. - S. Denys, the Areopagite, to Paris - S. Photinus to Lyons - S. Paul to Narbonne - S. Gratian to Tours - S. Julian to Mans - S. Austronomius to Clermont - S. Tro- phimus to Aries - S. Martial to Limoges - S. Ursinius, S. Nicotius, S. Saturninus to other parts of France - 111 - consecrates Eugenius first bishop of Toledo in the 2 nd year of his Pontificate - ib. - his epistle on the occasion of the schism at Corinth - 112 - its authenticity - 113 - second epistle to the Corinthians - 121 - two others to virgins - ib. - other works attributed to - 122 - is accused and cited before Mamertinus, the prefect - 138 - banished to Cher- son - 139 - finds two thousand Christians condemned to 435 - forced labor in the marble quarries there - 141 - cheers and consoles them with the hope of the life to come - 142 - provides them with water in a miraculous manner - il). - merciful effect of this miracle on the Pagan people - 143 - they destroy their temples and erect 75 Christian church- es on their ruins - ib. - he inspires and animates the mastyrs to suffer, as it becomes Christians to suffer - is himself cast into the sea, with an anchor made fast to his neck, by order of the prefect Auphidianus - ib. .- the Christians implore of God the recovery of his body - ib. - miraculous result of their pleading - ib. - the receding of the waters -ib.- the marble temple - the finding of his body - and the instrument of his martyrdom - 144 - annual re- currence of the reflux of the sea, for two centuries, on the anniversary of the Saint's martyrdom - ib. - remains discovered by S. Cyril - 145 154 - brought to Eome and honorably placed in the basilica of his name at the foot of the Caelian Hill - 162 - oratory of - 173 - memoria of - 174 213 - basilica of erected about the beginning of fourth century - ib. Clement S. - subterranean basilica of - votive paintings dis- covered in - bolder in composition than those found in the catacombs - 43 - a link of ancient Christian art with the early Italian school - ib. - basilica built upon his own house - 46 - style of its decorations - ib. - its frescoes the earliest Christian compositions now left to us - 48 - peculiarity in their arrangement - ib. - homily of S. Gre- gory the Great on S. Servulus in - 181 - restored by Adrian I - ib. 182 193 - donations of Leo III to - 182 - ruin of accounted for 185 186 - all records of it disappear, or are forgotten - ib. - discovery of -ib.- architect employed in its restorations, Cavaliere Fontana - 187 - inscription facing entrance to - 189 - description of - 191 -paintings in - the martyrdom of S. Catharine of Alexandria - 194 199 - the Council for condemnation of Celestius - 201 - the Madonna niche - 205 - fragmentary figure of our Sa- viour - 211 - crucifixion of S. Peter - baptism by S. Cyril - and other remnants - 238 239 - Libertinus - 240 - two anecdotes of the subject of this painting - 243 244 - in- 436 stallation of S. Clement by S. Peter - 247 - S. Clement saying mass - 249 - miracle of Sisinius - 250 251 - S. An- toninus - 257 - Daniel in the lions' den - 259 - S. Alexius - ib. and following pages - S. Egidius , or Giles and S. Blaze - 265 266 267 - 8. Prosper of Aquitaine 268 - Cru- cifixion - 274 - the Marys at the sepulchre - 275 - descent into Limbo - 277 - marriage-feast at Oana - 278 - As- sumption of our blessed Lady - 280 - miracle at the tomb of S. Clement - 294 - translation of relics from the Va- tican to S. Clement's - 291 299 - our Saviour blessing ac- cording to the Greek rite - 302 - head of a female - 306 - supposed to be a portrait of Flavia Domitilla - head of a man - ib. - thought to represent S. Flavius Clement M - our Saviour releasing Adam from Limbo - 307 - Sarco- phagi, and monumental and lapidary inscriptions found in - 309 and following pages - Conclave held here in 1199 - its titular Cardinal Raynerius elected Pope - 335. Clement S. - modern church of - 337 - the most perfect model of early Christian basilicas - 186 - preliminary remarks on - 339 - was erected before 1299 - restored by Cle- ment XI in 1715 - 337 - inscription - ib. - paintings on walls of nave, executed in the last century - 339 - death of S. Servulus, by Chiari, described - 340 - condemnation of S. Ignatius, by Piastrini - 341 - his parting with S. Po- lycarp, by Triga - 342 - his devouring by the lions, by Ghezzi of Ascoli - ib. - S. Clement giving the veil to Flavia Domitilla, by Sebastian Conca of Gaeta - 344 - the same causing water to flow from the rock, by- Grechino - ib. - S. Clement cast into the sea, by Odasi of Kome - ib. - translation of relics of S.Clement, by Chiari- 345- on the ceiling of nave, the saint's entrance to glory, by the same artist - ib. on the end wall of nave, SS. Cyril and Metho- dius, in episcopal robes, of the Greek rite - ib. - the chapel of the Crucifixion and S. Catharine of Alexandria, painted by Masaccio, described - 346 and following pages - ancient inscription outside this chapel - 351 - chapel of S. Dominic - ib. - the altar-piece by Eoncalli - ib. - the paintings on side walls by S. Conca, or Ignatius Hugford - 352 - chapel of Blessed Sacrament - 355 - vaulted with glazed terra-cotta 437 sunk in panels - ib. - statue of S. John the Baptist, by Simon di Donatello - ib. - the cinque-cento monument of cardinal Roverella, and that of his nephew, Francis Brusati, des- cribed - ib.- chapel of our Lady of the Rosary - altar-piece, by Conca - monument of cardinal Venerio of Recanati, outside it, described - 353 357 - porch, quadriportico anu vestibule - discipline of the church therein - 357 and fol- lowing pages - interior described - 371 and following pages - monogram - 408- ambones, choir, and apsidal mosaic -385 and following pages. Clement, Titus Flavius Sabinus, many years prefect of Rome - 61. CletusS-71 74 76 79 80 81 86 87 88 89 - suffers mar- tyrdom ( A. D. 92, 93 ) - interred in the Vatican - 92. Column, Antonine - 145 - Trajan - ib. Collyridian, heretics - 282. Combefis - 30. Confession - public - prohibited - 366. Constantine - 26 28. Cornelius S. Pope - Cereale and Salustia with twenty others interred by Lucina. in a crypt on her farm, on the Appian way - 4 21 note - under Pontificate of Cornelius ( A. D. 251, 252 ) 46 priests in Rome connected with parishes and cemeteries, and only 25 basilicas - ib. note. Coteler - 36 works of S. Clement collected and published by - Paris 1672 - 123. Constant, Peter - 88 95. Cyprian S. quoted - 18. Cyril of Alexandria S. - 374. Cyril Lucaris - 113. Cyril S. Constantino of Thessalonica - discovers the relics of S.Clement - 145 154 - carries them with him on his missions -162- apostle of the Chazari -ib.- converts that nation - ib. - on his second mission to the Bulgarians, is attended by his brother Methodius - 163 150 - conver- sion of Boigoris - 151 - they pass into Moravia and bap- tize king Rastices and most of his people - ib. - Cyril first Bishop of the Moravians - 152 -apostle of the-Scla- vonians - ib. - Sclavonian alphabet invented by - ib. - 438 with his brother, they translate the liturgy and mass into that language - 153 - comes to Koine on the invitation of Nicholas I - carries the relics of S. Clement with him - - ib. - dies in Home - ib. - is interred in the Vatican - translated to the church of 8. Clement - 161 - condem- nation of Nestorian heresy by - 210 - painting of - 239 299 300 to 306. D Damascene, S. John - 124. Damasus S. - 22 note, 45 - his church - 47. Dead - the Christian - burial of. a sacred duty - 15. - S. Am- brose quoted on this point - 16 - prayer for - ib. - litur- gies of tho second half of fifth century record burial of - in the basilicas - 38 - burial of, usual in Kome in sixth century - ib. - custom of burial nigh to the martyrs' tombs, revived by P. Damasus, from 370 to 373 - 39. Diocletian - his persecution - 21 - sacred pictures destroyed during - 22 - burns and ravages the holy places in 303 - 39 196 200 201. Dionysius Pope - 39. Domitian -beheads his cousin-german, the consul Flavius Cle- ment - 100 - banishes his own sister, Flavia Domitilla, the wife of Flavius Clement, to the island Pandatareia - 101 - he exiles his niece, Flavia Domitilla, for having embraced the Christian faith, to the island of Ponza - ib. - his per- secution - ib. Domitilla - inscription from cemetery of - 22 note. Donatists - 267. Dream, Sceptic's - from 421 to 427. Dubravius - 152 166. Dydimus - 195. E Ebion - 203 - Ebionites - 93 94 - excommunicated by Pope S. Victor - 204 269. Eleutherius - 74. Eimodius of Pavia - 383. Ephraim S. Bishop of Cherson - 144. - 439 Epiphanius S. Bishop of Salamis - 64 80 - quoted - 90 92 93 note, 123. Epitaph of M. A. Syntomus and Aurelia Marciana - 2. Eugenius, emperor - 195. Euiogia- 196. Euphemia S. of Chalcedon - description of a painting of- by S. Asterius Bp. of Amasea - 28 29 206 210 - church of at Home - ib. Euphimianus - 261 264. Eusebius. quoted on early Christian art - 27 - on tablet of Constantino - 28 64 75 80 90 97 100. Eutychiau P. and M. interred in the cemetery of Callixtus three hundred and sixty two martyrs himself; buried there - 5 note. Eutychian heresy, condemned - 210 211. Evaristus - 73 81. Eventius and Theodulus Mm. - 3. Evodius, Bishop of Uzalis - 161. P Fabian, P. (A. D. 236 250) appoints seven deacons in charge of the poor of the several districts of the city, and ordains as many subdeacons to collect the Acts of the Martyrs - 21 note. Flaminius Yacca - 222 223. Fontana Cavaliere - 187. Fountains. Christian - 27. Gallandius - 30. Galerius - 200 201. Gallicciolli - 62. Gallienus, orders the holy places to be restored to the bish- ops - 39. Gamaliel - 157. Gaudentius Bp of Brescia - 85. Genseric the Vandal (A. D. 460.) destroys Borne and its sub- urbs, excepting the three principal basilicas - 40. 440 Germanus Bp of Auxerre, legate of Pope Celestine to Bri- tain - 205 272. Gervasius and Protasius MM. - relics of discovered in Milan by S. Ambrose - 288. Gnostics - 96. Gracchus - 214 215. Gratiti - 20> 286. Grancolas - 108 note. Gregory S. the Great, quoted - 9 note - his letter to the hermit of Ravenna, quoted by Adrian I when writing to Charlemagne on holy images - 30 186 340. Gregory III - see Cemeteries. Gregory S. of Nyssa - 33 - his description of a Christian shrine - ib. and following pages - 161 277. Gregory of Tours - 144. Gregory VII - 181 184 320. Gueranger, Benedictine Abbot - see Cemeteries. Guiscard, Robert - 333. H Hammond, Henry - 91. Hefele - 62. Henry IV of Germany - 320 and following pages. Heinschenius - 66 89 166. Hilaria - relict of Claudius M. - 176 Hilary S. quoted - 18 373. Honoratus - 241. Honorius emperor - 205. Horace - 66 69. Hyginus - 74 81 96 97. I Iconoclastic Mania - 51. Ignatius S. Bp of Antioch - part of letter to Philadelphians attributed to - 70 130 - condemned to the wild beasts by Trajan - 131 - conducted to Rome - 132 - his interview with S. Polycarp at Smyrna - his letters to various church- es - ib. - his letter to the faithful at Rome quoted - ib. - 441 to 136 - devoured by lions in the Coliseum - ib. - his relics borne with religious veneration through all the cities be- tween Rome and Antioch and deposited there- 137 - trans- lated to the church of S. Clement - Rome - ( A. D. 637 ) - tb. Innocent 1-80 note - declares the Roman liturgy of Apos- tolic origin - 108. Irenaeus of Lyons on S. Polycarp - 72 - made Bishop (A. D. 177) - 73 - quoted - ib. 74 76 80 81 90 96 97. Isidore & creator - 87 88. Jerome S. - 7 25 64 83 90 122 186 360. John III - see Cemeteries. John VIII - 153. Justa, a pious and religious matron, inters the body of the martyr Restitutus on her farm, on the Nomentan way - 4. E Kerostata - 251. Labbe - 86. Ladvocat - 64 note. Lan franc - 326. Leo the Great prohibits public Confession 366. Leo III - 41 182, Leo IV - 41 182 183. Leo emperor ( A. D. 813 ) - 51. Licinius - 201. Lucian priest finds the relics of S. Stephen protomartyr - 157. Lucina, two ladies of the name - their devotedness to the burying of the martyrs - 3 4. Lupus Bp of Troyes - 272. M Mabillon - 109 241 282. Macrobius - 12. 442 Mai Cardinal - 111. Marcellus P. ( A. D. 308 310 ) sets apart within the city, twenty five titular churches for Pagan converts, and burial of the martyrs - 22 - invites Priscilla to erect another on the Salarian way - ib. Marcotian heresies - 94. Mark ( A. D. 336 ) buried in cemetery of Balbina - 38. Mark and his followers at Lyons - 96 98 99. Mark the Manichean - 99. Martene - 192. Martini - 64. Martyrology. an Epitome of the Acts of the Martyrs - 104 - see S. Clement. Martyrs - honour paid to - and why - 19 - praised - 23 - festivals of - 32 - shrine of, described by S. Gregory of Nyssa - ib. - praised by S. Basil - 34 note. Mary S. of Egypt - 359. Masaccio (Tommaso Guidi ) -346. Maurist Fathers - 111. Maximilla - 3. Maximinus - 18 199 200. Melchiades - 38. Memoria - 174 175. Mercurius Cardinal, afterwards John II - 378. Methodius S. brother of S. Cyril of Thessalonica. assists in the conversion of the Bulgarians - 150 - his painting of the last judgement - ib. - Borivorius, duke of Bohemia, baptized by - 152 - builds several churches at Prague - ib. - Apostle of the Sclavoniaus - ib. - assists his brother Cyril to tran- slate the liturgy and mass into their language - 153 - obtains leave of John VIE to celebrate mass in the Sclavoniau language - ib. 162 - comes to Rome under Nicholas I - ib. - after S. Cyril's death becomes Archbishop of Moravia - 165 - his archiepiscopal See of Moravia is exempted from the jurisdiction of Saltzburg by John VIII - 167 - dies in Rome and is buried in church of S. Clement - ib. - portion of his relics sent to collegiate church at Brunue in Moravia ib. 301 305 - ib. Minucius Felix - 11. 443 Mithras - Temple of described - 217 and following pages - one at Ostia under the Emperor Commodus -218- Statue of - 219 220 - altar of - ib. and 221.- Flaminius Yacca quoted - 222 - Montfaucon descrides a Mithraic leontocephalus - 225 - Ori- gin of worship of - 225 and following pages - brought into Rome under Pompey - 227- various symbols of - 228 329 - Priests and Priestesses of-230 231 -Mysteries and celebration of -ib.- what the initiated were subjected to - described by Nonnus - 232 233. - Human victims sacrificed to - 235 - the temple here described, only ona, at present, known in Ko- me - 237. Monogram 179. Muratori - 89 103 328 329. N Narses, after the defeat of Totila, marches upon Rome, which the Goths surrender to him - 41. Nestorian heresy condemned - 210. Nibby - 186. Nilus S. - his advice to a friend, who was about building a church - 32. Nimbus, square -signification of - 285. Nonnus 233. Oldoinus - 64 65 68. 109 111. Optatus, Bishop of Milevis, in Numidia - 80 82. Origen - 69 note. Orsi - 89. Pacian S. - 360 384 Pagan tomb 1. Pagi - 89 123 282. Panciroli - 166 186. Paschal I discovers the relics of S. Cecily - 41 157. 444 Paul, the deacon - 68. Paulinus S. of Xola, quoted - 31 32 161 289 365. Pearson John - 91. Pelagius - 205 210 268 271. Peregrina, mother of S. Andrew Corsini 148. Peter S. comes to Rome and fixes his See there - 56 - his preaching - ib. note, 57 - who his immediate successor - 71 - consecrates Linus of Yolterra , Cletus , and Clement of Eome - ib. - memoria of - ib. Peter and Paul SS. traditional likeness of - 37 earliest medallion of - ib. Peter de Natalibus - 144. Phara - 65. Photius - 357 note. Pin du - 320. Pius I - 74 81. Polycarp - 74 78. Pomponia Graecina - 5. Praedestinatus - 94. Primus and Felicianus MM. - 176 - basilica of - ib. Priscilla - cemetery of, on Salarian way - 22 Sylvester ( A. D. 314 336 ) - buried in - 38. Proclus P. of Constantinople - 105 107 108. Prosper S. of Aquitaine, secretary to Leo the Great - 268. Prudentius 6 note - sec Cemeteries an incident on his way to Rome - 30. Pudentiana S. - church of - remains of several martyrs and sponges impregnated in their blood, found in - 3. R Rabanus Maurus of Mentz-Mayence - 86 87 88. Raphael of Volterra - 66 note. Rastices duke of Moravia - 152. Relics of saints and martyrs - veneration and love of the church for - 14 15 52. Religious system cannot be constructed from the catacombs alone - 42. Renaudot Eusebius - 108 note. 445 Kicimer, the Goth, towards the close of the fifth century be- sieges and destroys Rome - 40. Rohrbacher - 64 note. Kondinini - 63 64 69 note, 85 90 103 186 250. Rossi, Commendatore de - 12 13 17 26 30 60 61 67 note, 240. Ruh'nus - the Recognitions translated into Latin by - 60 68 note. 81 87. Ruinart - 3. Sardes. Bishop of - his answer to the Iconoclastic emperor, Leo - 51. Sceptic's dream - from 421 to 427. Schulting Cornelius - 107. Sebaste, in Armenia, forty martyrs of 266 288. Semipelagians - 266 273. Sergius I - see Cemeteries. Servilius, Troilus - 175 - memoria of - ib. Sen-ins - 123. Servulus S. - 181. Severina, wife of count Aurelian - 3. Simon S. of Jerusalem - of more than a hundred years - tor- tured and crucified - 129. Sirlctti Cardinal - 66. Sisinius - 43 162 -conversion of - 166 - embraces the Christian faith and seals it with his blood - 163 403. Sisto S. - his church - paintings in chapter-room by Father Besson. a French Dominican 352 - subjects of explained - ib. Sixtus 1-74 81. Sixtus V increases the number of Prothonotaries from se'ven to twelve and confers additional privileges on - 103. Solinina, a Christian, mother of emp. Gallienus - 39. Soter - 74. Sozomen - 365 366. Spelman, sir Henry - 147. 446 Stredowski - 152. Stephen S. protomartyr - 157 - miracles wrought at finding of his body 159. Subiaco - Monastery in - 241. Sylvester ( A. D. 314 336 ) buried in cemetery of Pris- cilla - 38. Symmachus - 186. Symphorosa S. and her seven children suffer martyrdom under the emperor Adrian ( A. D. 120 ) - 3. Telesphorus - 74 81 Tertullian - 25 note, 58 74 quoted - 75 77 78 79 85 95 363. Thecla, an Egyptian woman, transcription S. Clement's let- ter to the Corinthians found by - 113. Theodora, mother of the emperor Michael III - 149 250 403. Theodoret - 289. Theodosius emp. - 195 205. Theodosius, two of this name - their errors - 204. Tillemont - 62. Tomb, pagan, description of - 1 - Christian, adaptation of - 2. Totila takes Fiesole and lays siege to Kome in 545 - 40 - enters it by treason, April 546 - ib. - drives the people into the Campagna - ib. - expelled by Belisarius - ib. - returns again, but is routed with much slaughter - 41 - attacks the city a third time, in 549 enters by the gate Asinaria - keeps pos- session of it till 552 - slain in the engagement with Narses in the passes of the Appenines - ib. - 154. Tullius Servius - 212. Turrianus - 23. U Ughelli - 66. Ugoui - 186. Urban VIII revises and approves the Sclavonian Missal of SS. Cyril and Methodius - 153. 447 Usher - 105 107 108. Uzales, Bishop of - 358. Valentinian - 96 97. Valerian ( A. D. 257 ) - invades the cemeteries - 39. Vendolinus Godfrey - 89. Venema Henry - 122. Victorinus - 385. Vossius Isaac - 68. w Waterworth - 108. Western - 122. Whiston - 67. William of Malmsbury - 148. Young Patrick - 56 113 - translation of S. Clement's letter to the Christians at Corinth by - 114. Zazera - 59. Zephyrinus P. (A. D. 302 218) sets Callixtus over the ceme- teries - 21 note. Zosimus P. S. - condemnation of Celestius by - 180 203 205 271 384. Permissu Superiorum. AWEMCLI' TVS PRO VI N o TV i t-