lid. These very ancient sacred vessels are considered by Bottari to

have been used for carrying the Blessed Eucharist round the neck (_Roma Subterranea_, tom. i. fig. 11); and Pellicia confirms this by many arguments (_Christianæ Eccl. Politia_, tom. iii. p. 20).

[148] Door-keepers,--an office constituting a lesser order in the Church.

[149] “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?”

[150] “While the wicked draw nigh me, to eat my flesh, my enemies that trouble me have themselves been weakened and have fallen.”

[151] “If armies in camp shall stand together against me, my heart shall not fear.”--_Ps._ xxvi.

[152] The guardian genius of the place.

[153] Blind.

[154] The rack was used for a double purpose; as a direct torment, and to keep the body distended for the application of other tortures. This of fire was one of the most common.

[155] There are many instances in the lives of martyrs of their deaths being the fruit of prayer, as in St. Praxedes, St. Cæcilia, St. Agatha, &c.

[156] “In peace, in the selfsame, I will sleep and I will rest.” _Ps._ iv. 9.

[157] For Thou, O Lord, singularly hast placed me in hope. _Ps._ v. 10.

[158] The penitentiary system of the early Church will be better described in any volume that embodies the antiquity of the second period of ecclesiastical history, that of _The Church of the Basilicas_. It is well known, especially from the writings of St. Cyprian, that those who proved weak in persecution, and were subjected to public penance, obtained a shortening of its term,--that is, an _indulgence_,--through the intercession of confessors, or of persons imprisoned for the faith.

[159] This is related in the Acts just referred to.

[160] See Piazza, on the church of _Santa Maria degli Angeli_, in his work on the Stations of Rome.

[161] The last cardinal of the extinct title of St. Cyriacus’s, formed out of a part of these Baths, was Cardinal Bembo.

[162] Michelangelo. The noble and beautiful church of Sta. Maria degli Angeli was made by him out of the central hall and circular vestibule, described in the text. The floor was afterwards raised, and thus the pillars were shortened, and the height of the building diminished by several feet.

[163] See the account of St. Pothinus, _Ruinart_, i. p. 145.

[164] _Ruinart_, p. 145.

[165] “Si dignus fueris, cognosces.” _Ib._

[166] Acts of St. Justin. _Ruinart_, p. 129.

[167] This is mentioned as the extreme possible extension.

[168] _Ib._ p. 56, Acts of St. Felicitas and her sons.

[169] p. 220, Acts of St. Perpetua, &c.

[170] pp. 219 and 146, Acts of Lyonese Martyrs.

[171] Acts of Lionese Martyrs, p. 219.

[172] _Asinus portans mysteria_, a Latin proverb.

[173]

“Christ’s secret gifts, by good Tarcisius borne, The mob profanely bade him to display; He rather gave his own limbs to be torn, Than Christ’s celestial to mad dogs betray.” _Carmen_, xviii.

See also Baronius’s notes to the _Martyrology_. The words “(Christi) cœlestia _membra_,” applied to the Blessed Eucharist, supply one of those casual, but most striking, arguments that result from identity of habitual thought in antiquity, more than from the use of studied or conventional phrases.

[174] Such a celebration of the Divine Mysteries, by a priest of this name at Antioch, is recorded in his Acts. (See _Ruinart_, tom. iii. p. 182, note.)

[175] “I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.” _Gal._ ii. 20.

[176] See the Acts of the Martyrs of Lyons, _Ruinart_, vol. i. p. 152 (where will be found the account of the martyrdom of a youth of fifteen), and those of St. Perpetua and Felicitas, p. 221.

[177] See the Acts of St. Felicitas and her seven sons, _Ruinart_, vol. i. p. 55.

[178] _Hist. Eccles._ lib. viii. c. 7.

[179] Euseb. _ibid._ See also St. Ignatius’s letter to the Romans, in his Acts, _ap._ _Ruinart_, vol. i. p. 40.

[180] The amphitheatre could contain 150,000.

[181] This was an ordinary device. The underground constructions for its practice have been found in the Coliseum.

[182] The martyr Saturus, torn by a leopard, and about to die, addressed the soldier Pudens, not yet a Christian, in words of exhortation; then asked him for the ring on his finger, dipped it in his own blood, and gave it back, “leaving him the inheritance of the pledge, and the memorial of his blood.” _Ap._ _Ruinart_, vol. i. p. 223.

[183] He is commemorated on the 11th of August, with his father Chromatius, as has been already observed.

[184] About 800_l._

[185] We give equivalents in English money, as more intelligible.

[186] Called thence St. Adauctus.

[187] “Membraque picta cruore novo.” _Prud._ περι στεφ iii. 29.

[188] The reader, when visiting the Crystal Palace, will find in the Roman Court an excellent model of the Roman Forum. On the raised mound of the Palatine hill, between the arches of Titus and Constantine, he will see a chapel of fair dimensions standing alone. It is the one to which we allude. It has been lately repaired by the Barberini family.

[189] The fountain before described.

[190] See the Acts of St. Sebastian.

[191] The _coup de grace_, the blow by which culprits were “put out of their pain.” Breaking the legs of the crucified was considered an _ictus gratiosus_.

[192] The great sewer of Rome.

[193] “If thou hadst known, and in this thy day,” etc. _St. Luke_, xix. 42.

[194] “Ecce quod concupivi jam video, quod speravi jam teneo; ipsi sum juncta in cœlis quem in terris posita tota devotione dilexi.” _Office of St. Agnes._

[195] Jan. 21.

[196] In or near the forum stood several arches dedicated to Janus, and called simply by his name, near which usurers or money-lenders kept their posts.

[197] 1600_l._

[198] “Mecum enim habeo custodem corporis mei, Angelum Domini.” _The Breviary._

[199] “Incessu patuit Dea.”

[200] “Duplex corona est præstita martyri.” _Prudentius._

[201] “Ingressa Agnes turpitudinis locum, Angelum Domini præparatum invenit.” _The Breviary._

[202] The Church of St. Agnes in the Piazza Navona, one of the most beautiful in Rome.

“Cui posse soli Cunctipotens dedit Castum vel ipsum reddere fornicem

* * * * *

Nil non pudicum est, quod pia visere Dignaris, almo vel pede tangere.” _Prudentius._

[203] “Non intorto crine caput comptum.” Her head not dressed with braided hair. _St. Ambrose_, lib. i. _de Virgin._ c. 2. See Prudentius’s description of St. Eulalia, περι στεφ hymn. iii. 31.

[204] “Solvitur acris hyems, grata vice veris et Favoni.” _Horace._

[205] Pudicitia.

[206] St. Ambrose, _ubi supra_.

[207]

“Æterne Rector, divide januas, Cœli, obserratas terrigenis prius, Ac te sequentem, Christe, animam voca, Cum virginalem, tum Patris hostiam.” _Prudentius_, περι στεφ 14.

[208] This was the usual practice, to behead out of the gate, at the second, third, or fourth mile-stone; but it is clear from Prudentius and other writers that St. Agnes suffered at the place of trial, of which we have other instances.

[209] Prudentius.

[210] St. Ambrose.

[211] Prudentius mentions that a sudden fall of snow shrouded thus the body of St. Eulalia lying in the Forum. _Ubi sup._

[212] Red paint.

[213] Revenge.

[214] “[The tomb] of Dionysius, physician [and] priest,” lately found at the entrance to the crypt of St. Cornelius, in the cemetery of Callistus.

[215] “Qui verbo suo instaurat universa.” _The Breviary._

[216] Eusebius, in his account of Serapion, teaches us that this was the manner of administering Holy Communion to the sick, without the cup, or under only one kind.

[217] Persons freed from slavery retained the title of _freedman_ or _freedwoman_ (_libertus_, _liberta_) of the person to whom they had belonged, as “of Augustus.” If they had belonged originally to a free class, they were liberated as _ingenuus_ or _ingenua_ (well-born) and restored by emancipation to that class.

[218] Phil. ii. 7.

[219] Isaias vii. 14.

[220] “Cum arcam suam, in qua Domini sanctum fuit, manibus indignis tentasset aperire, igne inde surgente deterrita est, ne auderet attingere.” “When she attempted to open, with unworthy hands, her chest, in which was the holy (body) of our Lord, she was deterred from daring to touch it, by fire rising up from it.” _De Lapsis._

[221] See Martenne, _De antiquis Ecclesiæ Ritibus_.

[222] So in the eastern liturgies. Fortunatus calls the Blessed Eucharist, “Corporis Agni margaritum ingens.” “The huge pearl of the Body of the Lamb.” Lib. iii. car. 25.

[223] De morte Satyri.

[224] St. Aug. Tract. cxviii. in Joan.

[225] Tertullian (who lived earlier than two hundred years after Christ, and is the oldest Latin ecclesiastical writer) _de Corona Milit._ c. 3.

[226] Audientes.

[227] Genuflectentes.

[228] Electi and competentes.

[229] These will be found, particularly in the baptism of adults, joined with repetitions of the _Our Father_.

[230]

“Agnæ sepulchrum est Romulea in domo, Fortis puellæ, martyris inclitæ. Conspectu in ipso condita turrium Servat salutem virgo Quiritum: Necnon et ipsos protegit advenas, Puro ac fideli pectore supplices.” _Prudentius._

“The tomb of Agnes graces Rome, A maiden brave, a martyr great. Resting in sight of bastioned gate, From harm the virgin shields her home; Nor to the stranger help denies, If sought with pure and faithful sighs.”

[231] St. Ambrose said Mass in the house of a lady beyond the Tiber. (Paulinus, in his Life, tom. ii. _Oper._ ed. Bened.) St. Augustine mentions a priest’s saying Mass in a house supposed to be infested with evil spirits. _De Civ. D._ lib. xxii. c. 6.

[232] Isaias xxxv. 1, 2.

[233] The ceremony employed after desecration.

[234] Euseb. H. E. lib. x. c. 5.

[235] In the East, some governors, wearied with wholesale murders, adopted this more merciful way of treating Christians towards the end of the persecution. See _Eusebius_.

[236] This scene is described from reality.

[237] Eusebius, _ubi sup._

[238] The law of retaliation, such as was prescribed also in the Mosaic law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” &c.

[239] Clinical baptism, or that of persons confined to their beds was administered by pouring or sprinkling the water on the head. See Bingham, book xi. c. 11.

[240] A. D. 303.

[241] The religious who lived in community, or _common life_, were so called.

[242] A. D. 303.

[243] Confession of sins in private was made before baptism. See Bingham, _Origines_, b. xi. ch. viii. § 14.