Page 148 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

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in memory of the celeb ated martyr whose name it bears, has a handsome portico, and contains some good pictures and paintings. It is, however, more remarkable r being the principal entrance into the catacombs which lie in its neighbourhood. The catacombs are subterraneous streets or galleries, om four to eight et in height, om t\vo to ve in breadth, extending to an immense and almost un­ known length, and branching out into various walks. The confusion occasioned by the intersection of these galleries resembles that of a labyrinth, and renders
it di cult, and, without great precaution, dangerous, to penetrate r into their recesses. The catacombs were originally excavated, in order to nd that earth or sand, called at present, puzzolana, and supposed to rm the best and most lasting cement. They llowed the direction of the vein of sand, and were abandoned when that was exhausted, and oftentimes totally rgotten. Such lone, un equented cave s
af rded a most commodious retreat to the Christians, during the persecutions of the three rst centuries. In them, there re, they held their assemblies, cele­ brated the holy mysteries, and deposited the remains of their martyred brethren. For· the latter purpose they employed niches in the sides of the walls, placed
l there the body, with a vial lled with the blood of the martyr, or perhaps some of the instruments of his execution, and closed up the mouth of the niche with thin bricks or tiles. Sometimes the name was inscribed, with a word or two importing the belief
and hopes of the deceased; at other times, a cross, or the initials of the titles of our Saviour interwoven, were the only marks employed to certify that the body enclosed, belonged to a Christian. Several bodies have been und without any inscription,
RE DING LESSONS.