Baruffa, A, Le Catacombe di S. Callisto. Librerie Editrice Vaticana, 1992.
Baruffa, A, The Catacombs. The fascination of an Unknown World. LEV, (n.d).
http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/catacombe.php
Catacomb of St. Callixtus Rome
Know your Christian Origin. Share your Faith. God is for many, for He belongs to many. - Don Paulino SDB
venerdì 17 febbraio 2017
Conclusion
As we end the visit to the Catacomb, we realised the enormous and profound meaning and sacredness of the place. Those who were buried underground were not just ordinary people but most of them were martyred and they are the first followers of Christ in the early days of Christianity here in Rome. The galleries, cubiculum, tombs and the arts excavated and painted underground demonstrates the great architectural and engineering capability, intelligence and artistic mentality of the first Christian community. Nothing but our admiration to this founders of the early Church here in Rome.
The Persecution and the Meaning of Martyrdom in the Bible
“If the world hates you, you know that it
hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love
its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you...
If they persecuted Me, they will
also persecute you... because they do not know Him who sent Me."
John
16:1-4
“These things I have spoken to you, that
you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues
[today it might be from churches]; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills
you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you
because they have not known the Father
nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may
remember that I told you of them."
John
17:14-18
"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are
not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You
should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil
one."
John
12:42-44
"Nevertheless even among the rulers
many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him,
lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."
Matthew
10:16-20
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the
midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But
beware of men, for they will deliver you
up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues....But when they deliver
you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given
to you in that hour what you should speak; for
it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."
Romans
8:35-39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present
nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
Why Persecutions and Martyrdom?
If Rome was polytheist and tolerating all types of religion why the Christians where persecuted? While most of the citizens and entire Roman Empire was generally pagan and polytheist, Christians introduce new religion that is Monotheist. They rejected to adore and gave incense to the roman gods and believe in God Trinity. They refused to take part in the military services or frequenting public places and live a pagan life style. This irritates the romans including the Jewish community who also considered Christians as their enemy (heretics). Therefore they influenced the common civilians and the upper classes against the Christians, accusing them with all shorts of false accusations. In short Christians were accused of disobeying the decree of the emperor and refused to serve the roman deity.
Another reason why the Christians were persecuted
was for political advantage of gaining the sympathy of the people to reach the
power and at the same time to confiscate the lands and belongings of the
wealthy roman citizens and aristocrats who converted to Christianity. This
was seen in the case of St. Cecilia and Valerianus (the husband) who were martyred
because of the ambition and personal greed of the Prefect of Rome.
One basic reason why the Christians were
persecuted was because of a noble cause they defended, that they defended the
social justice and the equality among people in the roman society. The
Christians believe that all human beings are equal because they are children of
God, including also the women and slaves. This principle was not approved and
tolerated by the roman society, in particular manner by the Emperors. For this
reason they accused the Christians as an underground political movement against
the state. The Pope and the hierarchy of the Church were persecuted, with
the intention that once they were killed the number of Christians will
naturally be diminished and weakened. However the history demonstrated that, the more the Christians were
persecuted and martyred the more they flourished and became numerous. This will justified the prophecy of Jesus
when he said: "…they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will
deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and
governors, and all on account of my name.
This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand
how you will defend yourselves. For I
will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to
resist or contradict. You will be
betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put
some of you to death" (Luke 21:12-16).
By enduring the persecution the
Christians believe and testified in the promise of Jesus to his disciples: "Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you
when they revile and persecute you,
and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven..." (Mt 5,10-12).
The martyrdom of the Christians was fortified by the conviction given by
testament of Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians: "But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and
not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in
the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4,7-11).
Etichette:
martyrdom,
Persecutions,
social justice
Persecutions of Christians
The history confirmed that the persecution against the Christians in Rome was started with Emperor Nero. He took advantage of the popular hatred against the Christians by the roman citizens by burning part of the city of Rome to build his ambitious residence Domus Aurea. It was in his time that St. Peter and St. Paul the two main pillars of the Church were martyred (67 AD and 68 AD).
The persecution of the Christians
actuality was not programmatic and sequential, there at times when they live in
peace under few roman emperors. The fieriest persecution came under the emperor
Decius, Valerius and Dioclesianus.
During the persecution particularly during
the time of Emperor Valerian, many thought that the Christians took refuged in
the catacombs in order to escape the persecution. However there was no evidence
that could demonstrate that the Christians were hiding underground during
difficult moments of persecution.
The Christians did not used the Catacombs
to be their hiding place, because the Catacombs were a public cemetery and
known to the public authorities including the emperors. The main reason was
because the Roman law protected all types of cemeteries and necropolis
including that of the Christians. Respect towards the dead was highly observed
and it was prohibited under the law to live side by side with the dead. The temperature
underground is 15 degree Celsius and there is high humidity underground, more
or less 90% all the time.
One thing was certain that during the persecution, especially during the
time of Emperor Valerian under the decree of the emperor it was prohibited to
perform any gathering in Domus for
any religious services such as Eucharist. Therefore the Christians decided to
gather on Sundays underground in the catacombs to celebrate the Holy Eucharist.
Probably meetings, gatherings where held underground and the sacraments of
baptism were imparted to the newly converted members of the Church, as narrated
in the "Passion of St. Cecilia" during the time of Pope Urbanus I and
Pope Sixtus II.
Christian Cemetery
Few unsolved questions raised by the pilgrims. Why Christians opted for a separate cemetery apart from
the necropolis? Were Christians hiding underground during the persecution? Why
Christians were persecuted? What does martyrdom mean to us today?
The first Christian community opted for a
separate burial site first and for most for a very simple reason: Economic
condition of the people. As you visited the necropolis (City of the death) you
will be aware that it was a very expensive burial places. In fact the poor
people, including the Christians were not afforded to buy and pay for the tombs.
Toward the end of the second century the Church thought of having a burial site
dedicated to the poor people in order to be buried in a dignified way. Pope
Zeferinus I started to acquired the first land here in this site and was then
declared as the first official cemetery of the Church dedicated solely to the
poor Christian community. It is also part of Church ministry of Charity, to
help the poor and the needy and the orphans. The Catacomb of St. Callixtus was
supervised directly under the jurisdiction of the Pontiff himself. As we know
that the Pope assigned Callixtus to be the first administrator of this place.
Latter he was elected as Pope Callixtus I as the successor of Pope Zeferinus.
The second reason why the Christians did
not want to be buried in necropolis, because they didn't want to be cremated,
for cremation was common among the romans. The Christians would like to preserve
the biblical tradition, like that of Christ. And even the Bible expresses
explicitly about the resurrection of body in the end of time.
sabato 11 febbraio 2017
The Crypt of Martyrs Calogerus and Parthenius
According to Depositium Martirium Calogerus and Parthenius both were martyred around the year 354 and were buried in the cemetery of St. Callixtus in the region called Eusebius.
Instead in the book of Baruffa, it is
stated that there is no exact knowledge about the identity and the origin of
the two martyrs. Presumably they were victims of persecution during the time of
Diocletian in 304.
De Rossi found graffiti in the area of
Pope Caius and Eusebius in a simple family tomb where both martyrs name were written (Cf. Le Catecombe di San Callisto, 104).
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