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>The Catacombs 
Picture
of the Roman Catacombs
The catacombs are places that always fascinated
visitors. Going back to the first century, Christian Romans did not have their
place to burry their dead. Until Christianity's acceptance, the Ancient Romans
forbade, nor offered a piece of land for Christians to bury bodies in Rome. So
before the catacombs, Christian and Jewish had to resort to other pagan common
cemeteries. Saint Peter was buried on one on Vatican Hill in the great public
"city of the dead" (know as "Necropolis") and Saint Paul was
buried in one along the Via Ostience.
In the second century, Christian
were granted small pieces land outside of Rome's precincts and started creating
subterranean burial places. It became more practical and less costly for Christians
to develop underground cemetery complexes than buying open-air properties.
There
were about sixty catacombs near Rome mostly along the Appian Way. The ancient
Roman catacombs usually started with family tombs but the newly converted Christians
did not reserve places and were open for other "brothers and sisters"
in faith to be buried around the same tombs. By the purchase of new land
and by gifts, the catacombs eventually expanded to be impressive subterranean
complexes of the dead. Sometimes a catacomb cemetery was directly managed by the
new emerging Church itself for community purposes. The Saint Callistus (Callixtus)
catacomb was a good example were they also put into ground the first Roman bishops
and created a Crypt of the Popes. The persecution of the early Christians
were not always equally cruel and universal. There were some higher times of persecution
followed by calmer peaceful periods. During the difficult times, the catacombs
were sometime used as a temporary place to celebrate the Christian Mass and the
Eucharist. However, they were not used as secret hiding places like seen in movies
and novels. In 313 A.D. finally came the edict of Milan ratified by the
emperors Constantine and Licinius which gave freedom to the Church. So the Christians
became free to have places of worship, build churches inside and outside of Rome
and profess their faith. They could also buy properties without the fear to have
these confiscated. The catacombs then became pilgrimage centers and shrines of
the martyrs into all parts of the Empire. The catacombs were still used
as normal cemeteries until the 5th century. Then the Church started to create
basilicas for saints and martyrs and buried the dead mostly above the ground. Around
the 8th to 9th century, because of repeated pillage by the Goths and Lombards
barbarians, the Popes ordered to take out the relics from the catacombs to place
them in more secure places inside the city's churches. The catacombs then were
mostly abandoned to the exception of the Saint Pancratius and Saint Lawrence ones.
Over time, vegetation and landslides blocked the entrance to many catacombs and
were mostly forgotten throughout the Middle Ages. It is only later, in the
beginning of the 17th century, that scientific studies of the catacombs, led by
Antonio Bosio started. He was named the "Columbus (discoverer) of the underground
/ subterranean Rome. Then in the 19th century was made more systematic exploration
of the catacombs by Giovanni de Rossi who brought to light the wonders of the
Saint Callistus (Callixtus) catacomb in particular. Giovanni de Rossi is known
to be the founder and father of Christian Archaeology.
Priscilla, St. Agnes, St. Callixtus,
St. Sebastian, and Domitilla are the five catacombs that are normaly open to the
public. They are open all year, except on New Year's day, Easter and Christmas.
All catacomb are closed for one day per week and for one month during winter.
Find hotels, apartments,
bed and breakfasts near Roman catacombs >
See our Rome resources
section to find where are located some of Rome's catacombs.
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