ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN ROME.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 209, 6 April 1877, Page 3

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN ROME.

Very recently (says the Tablet) some very interesting discoveries have been made in the Catacombs upon the Nomentan way. It has now been decided upon archaeological groands that what was vulgarly called the cemetery of the catacombs of St. Agnes, ia really the famous Coenieterium Ostrianum. The real cemetery of St. Agnes lies under and around the actual Church of St. Agnes. It is known from the Acts of the Martyrs and from archaeological traditions that St. Peter used to baptise converts in the Coemeterium Ostrianum. In the first years of the sixteenth century, Bosio, whom De Eossi styles the Columbus of the Catacombs, visited and thoroughly examined this Ccemeteriuni Ostrianum, and placed upon record the fact that he had seen on the apse of a crypt some letters painted in red and very beautifully executed which, however, he had great difficulty in deciphering, in consequence of the condition of the walls. Although, as is well known, the Basilica, so-called, of this cemetery and its contiguous crypts have been long since excavated, within ten metres of the Basilica, there remained unexamined another crypt which had been filled up with rubbish, apparently on purpose. A few years ago Mgr. Crostarosa, the owner of the vineyard over these catacombs, was induced to make fresh examinations by the writings of Commendatore de Rossi, who very sagaciously conjectured that this cemetery was the one in which St. Peter had baptised, and in which would be found the crypt, with the words painted on the apse to which Bosio referred. The careful examinations instituted by Mgr. Crostarosa were directed with a view to discover a lucernarium, or ground opening, to admit light to the catacomb. His search was successful. The water had caused the ground to sink at the mouth of the lucernarium. He discovered the shaft of masonry, followed it, cleared it of rubbish, and, at a depth of twenty-five or twenty-six feet, found a very remarkable chapel, with an episcopal chair cut of the tufa, and immediately opposite to this is a short column of masonry, on which used to burn, the oils placed before the shrines of the martyrs. These oils are referred to in the code preserved in Monza, and written by the Abbot John, who had been sent to Rome to procure relics by Theolinda, a Bavarian princess, the Queen of the Lombards. The Pope of that day refused to allow the bodies of martyrs to be removed, but allowed the abbot to make a collection of the oils which were burnt before the shrines. To return to the lately discovered chapel : Upon the apse of this chapel, and directly over a large tomb, were found the red letters recorded by Bosio. They are but faintly discernible, but happily were deciphered by the good eyes of a promising young Archaeologist, Signor Mariano Armellini. The letters, as far as they yet have been made out, are as follows : — Sane . . Pc (with part of tbe t) S. Emer .. . iana. The remainder of the word Emerentiana can be very faintly, if satisfactorily, made out. The portion which is legible is, however, quite enough to show that the inscription has reference to St. Peter and to St. Emerentiana, the foster sister of St. Agnes, who was buried in this cemetery. The matter is still under investigation by the archaeologists, who wish, before pronouncing a definite judgment, to examine more thoroughly all which regards this most interesting discovery. ________________