Commodilla, Cemetery of

COMMODILLA, CEMETERY OF. - Near the via Ostiense: entrance on the present-day via delle Sette Chiese. The name is found in the index of cemeteries (v.). The martyrs venerated in it were Felix, Adauctus, Merita and Nemesius, recorded by the itineraries. In honor of the first two Pope Damasus composed an epigram, and a fragment of it was found again in 1720 by Boldetti, when he happened to penetrate into the cemetery. This was explored by the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology from 1903 to 1906.

The cemetery is composed of two levels of cemetery galleries. One part of the first level reused an earlier pozzolana quarry, which had its entrance at ground level at the bottom of the valley. In one of these galleries the martyrs Felix and Adauctus were buried; later, demolishing the right-hand part of the gallery, a small basilica was built to honor their tombs. In their honor an inscription was placed in the time of Pope Siricius, found mutilated during the excavations. To the same period belongs the first embellishment of their tombs. Among the paintings that decorate the walls, the scene of the traditio clavium is notable: the Lord seated on the globe hands the keys to St. Peter, behind him was St. Adauctus, then St. Merita; on the other side St. Paul, St. Felix, St. Stephen. Furthermore, almost life-size, the painting of the Madonna enthroned with the Child between Sts. Felix and Adauctus, who presents as advocatus the deceased woman named Tortora, a widow, as the affectionate metrical inscription placed beneath the fresco by her son recalls.

The third notable painting is that of the evangelist Luke, who has the instruments of a physician; a painting that was executed (668-85).

The frescoes are covered with graffiti by visitors of the end of the 7th and of the 8th century, mostly presbyters; one of these wrote «non dicere illa secritta abboce» (G. Celi, Di un graffito di senso liturgico nel cimitero di C., in Nuovo bull. di arch. crist., 12 [1906], pp. 239-52). To the right of the historic crypt, entirely occupied by tombs in the floor, two galleries remained intact with the inscriptions in place from the end of the 4th century. Peculiarities of this cemetery are a series of rectangular shafts in which the corpses were placed one on top of another, also using the two long side walls.

The frescoes are covered with graffiti by visitors of the end of the 7th and of the 8th century, mostly presbyters; one of these wrote «non dicere illa secritta abboce» (G. Celi, Di un graffito di senso liturgico nel cimitero di C., in Nuovo bull. di arch. crist., 12 [1906], pp. 239-52). To the right of the historic crypt, entirely occupied by tombs in the floor, two galleries remained intact with the inscriptions in place from the end of the 4th century. Peculiarities of this cemetery are a series of rectangular shafts in which the corpses were placed one on top of another, also using the two long side walls.

Sandro Carletti