Short history of the early church . beendeposited in the museum of St. John Lateran, theVatican, and otlier places in Rome. Some have driftedinto other parts of Europe. The Christian Museumof the Berlin University contains the best collectionof memorials from the catacombs to be found outsideof Rome. These, with other objects illustrating Chris-tian history, have been gathered through the energyand zeal of Professor Piper. 6. De Rossi. The descent into a catacomb is througha church or chapel, which has been built over the en-trance. The passages vary in size and length. Theaggregate extent is
Short history of the early church . beendeposited in the museum of St. John Lateran, theVatican, and otlier places in Rome. Some have driftedinto other parts of Europe. The Christian Museumof the Berlin University contains the best collectionof memorials from the catacombs to be found outsideof Rome. These, with other objects illustrating Chris-tian history, have been gathered through the energyand zeal of Professor Piper. 6. De Rossi. The descent into a catacomb is througha church or chapel, which has been built over the en-trance. The passages vary in size and length. Theaggregate extent is a matter of conjecture. De Rossi,the greatest of all the later explorers and writers inthis rich department, supposes the length of the pas-sages of all the catacombs to be equal to the length ofthe entire Italian peninsula. Marchi reaches an esti-mate of a third larger. It is not likely that all thecatacombs have been explored. As late as 1848 themagnificent catacomb of Prsetextatus was discovered, THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. loa. KOMAN CATACOMBS. while m 1874 De Rossi discovered the catacomb ofSt. Petronilla, a small but very rich storehouse of se-pulchral Christian art. No approach to the probablenumber of fixed paintings, carvings, and inscriptionswhich have been taken from the catacombs can bemade with safety. In the Lateran Museum, in the sar-cophagi alone, there are two hundred and seventy-sixscriptural carvings. 6. Familiarity with the Scriptures. The catacombswere continued as places of burial down to about , when the West Goths plundered Rome. Theytell the story of the faith and usages, and especiallyof the Scriptures, down to that date. Every part of theOld Testament was known to the Christians. Theword-pictures of the Old Testament are everywherereproduced in rude frescoes. Koah in the ark, the of-fering of Isaac, Moses taking off his shoes, the transla- 110 SHORT HISTORY OF THE EARLY CHURCH. tion of Elijah, Daniel in the lions den, and the threeHebrews in t
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