CHAPTER III.

THEIR HISTORY FROM A.D. 310 TO A.D. 850.

Gradual disuse of burial in the Catacombs—Other cemeteries not subterranean—Purchase of graves, especially near the tombs of saints—Basilicas built over some of these—Work of Pope Damasus and of Furius Dionysius Filocalus—Burials ceased in the Catacombs in 410—Injuries inflicted by the Goths—Restorations by subsequent Popes—Fresh injuries by the Lombards—Consequent translations of the bodies of the Saints, and gradual neglect of the Catacombs—Those only were visited to which churches or monasteries were attached, especially the cemetery _ad Catacumbas_, which has now given its name to the rest 41