Monuments of the early church . e crypt a special inscription in his honor. Those who-ministered at the altars of Christ are probably unnameddeacons and presbyters; and the sacerdos of the next versemay refer to the Roman bishops who were buried here (usingthe singular for the class), though de Rossi understands Mil-tiades, who was the first pope to enjoy the peace given byConstantine. The confessors from Greece are unknowTi,but they may have been Hippolytus and his companions. 76 CEMETEBIES The last lines seem intended as a rebuke to those who dis-turbed the bodies of the martyrs in their zea
Monuments of the early church . e crypt a special inscription in his honor. Those who-ministered at the altars of Christ are probably unnameddeacons and presbyters; and the sacerdos of the next versemay refer to the Roman bishops who were buried here (usingthe singular for the class), though de Rossi understands Mil-tiades, who was the first pope to enjoy the peace given byConstantine. The confessors from Greece are unknowTi,but they may have been Hippolytus and his companions. 76 CEMETEBIES The last lines seem intended as a rebuke to those who dis-turbed the bodies of the martyrs in their zeal to be buried nearthem. Damasus was in fact buried in a little basilica connectedwith the cemetery of Domitilla, in which he prepared also thetombs of his mother and sister. For himself and for them hecomposed inscriptions. This chapel has not yet been dis-covered, but a small fragment of an inscription found nearthe church of SS. Cosma e Damiano was recognized by deKossi as belonging to Damasuss inscription to his sister, the. Fig. 24. — Decoration of the ciypt of S. Januarius, catacomb of Praetextatus. Third century. text of which was known. This piece was again lost, and hasbeen rediscovered in the course of the excavation of the awakens surprise that it is not inscribed in the customaryDamasian letters; but this is explained by the fact that thesister died before Damasus became pope and before he had•adopted the type of letter which is associated with his name. De Rossi has traced the author of these beautiful letters,which though frequently imitated in a later age were neverprecisely copied. On the marble which contains the inscrip-tion to S. Eusebius, discovered in S. Callistus, there is at eachend a line of smaller letters which read from top to bottom:Damasis Pappm cidtor atqve amatot Furuis Dionysius Filocalussc7ibsit — Furius Dionysius Filocalus the reverer and lover of AFTER THE FOURTH CENTURY 77 Pope Damasus wrote it. This famous personage was thesec
Size: 1797px × 1391px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectchristi, bookyear1901
