CRYPT. — The Romans used the term crypta (from the Greek κρύπτω, “I hide”) to refer to a covered and underground ambulatory; Christians employed it to denote one or more galleries of an underground cemetery. A graffito inscription on the plaster of a loculus in the second tier of the cemetery of Priscilla reads: undecima crypta secundia pila Glegori (O. Marucchi, Di alcune iscrizioni recentemente scoperte nel cimitero di Priscilla, in Nuovo Bull. d'arch. crist., 10 [1904], p. 207); St JEROME writes: solebam diebus dominicis... crebrogue cryptas ingredi (In Ezechiellem, 12, 40: PL 25, 48). Inscriptions speak of crypta noba (G. B. De Rossi, Roma sott., III, Roma 1877, pp. 424, 547; n. 2; M. A. Boldetti, Osservazioni, Roma 1720, p. 53).
The tomb of St LAWRENCE is situated in a crypt, that is, in an underground space where later the popes ZOSIMUS (418), SIXTUS III (440) and HILARIUS (468) were buried.
Today the term c. is commonly used to denote that space, usually situated beneath the presbyteral zone of the church. The c. may vary in shape and size: even the small cell beneath altars built ad corpus may be called a c., though the preferred terms for this are martyrium or confessio — that is, the place where the relics of a confessor of the faith are deposited. The sacellum communicated with the church’s nave through the fenestella confessionis. Such spaces grew progressively larger, and their vaulted ceilings were supported by one or more rows of columns connected by cross vaults. Thus, from the small cell beneath the altar, one passes to extensive areas occupying the entire presbyteral zone, often extending into much of the nave, attaining the grandeur of true and proper underground churches.
As regards the confessio of altars, its functional and formal derivation must be sought in the heroa of the Hellenic world or Asia Minor, which indeed had their ἐσχάρα, that is, an altar with its corresponding βάθρος, bilicum, cataracta or pit for offerings. This analogy is found in the favissa of a Roman temple, that is, the chamber beneath the cella which probably served to store votive objects and could be either a pit, thus very similar to the heroa — a typical example being that of Locri Epizephyrii (Reggio Calabria), thought to date from the 5th century B.C. — or consist of multiple rooms forming a complex structure, as in some Roman temples.
The earliest type of crypt is the so-called semi-annular crypt, consisting of a corridor running internally along the curved apse, intersected on the axis of the system by another corridor facing the nave of the church. At the end of this is the reliquary cell, which often has two fenestellae confessionis: one at the end of the central corridor, the other opening onto the church’s nave. Access to the semi-annular corridor is via two staircases located at its extremities, in the corners formed by the transept wall and the lateral walls of the raised presbytery, walls that are set precisely at the springing of the apse curve.
These crypts are normally semi-subterranean relative to the nave and have a roof formed by slabs that also serve as the flooring of the raised presbytery. It is precisely a complex of similar, but squared-off, chambers that is excellently preserved in the favissa of the Capitolium of Leptis Magna from the Severan period.
The earliest example of such crypts is that of the basilica of St PETER in Rome, dating at least to the time of GREGORY the GREAT but possibly even earlier. The prototype is the only one among similar monuments that explains the form of the structure by which it was evidently intended to approximate, even internally, as closely as possible, the monument of the Apostle. In derived monuments, such a complex arrangement of spaces is not justified, since the tombs did not pre-exist the crypt, as at St PETER, but were instead placed there at the time of its construction.
The crypt of St PETER was already known from a drawing by BALDASSARRE PERUZZI, transcribed by De Rossi and by Rohault de Fleury; it has been brought to light during recent excavations beneath the basilica. From this monument derive many similar ones in Rome and others in north-eastern Italy and beyond, such as those of St SEVERINUS in Cologne, St HERMANN in Regensburg, the collegiate church of Werden, the church of St LUCIUS in Chur, the Frauenmünster in Zurich, St LUZI in Chur, and St MAURICE in the Valais (Switzerland). The crypt of the ancient church of Canterbury would also have been semi-annular; it is known only through documents and would have been “quandam partem ad imitationem Ecclesiae beati Apostolorum principis Petri.”
The chronology of crypts is shown in the following list: St PETER: mid-5th or 6th century; St PANCRATIUS: HONORIUS I (625–38); St VALENTINE (this monument differs somewhat from the others): HONORIUS I; St CHRYSOGONUS: GREGORY III (731–41); St MARK: HADRIAN I (772–95); St PRAXEDE: PASCHAL I (817–24); St CECILIA: PASCHAL I; St MARY of VESCOVIO (Sabina): 9th century; the Assumption basilica at Torcello: 9th century; St NICHOLAS de’ Calcarari or a’ Cesarini: 9th century; St APOLLINARIS NEW (Ravenna): 9th century; the Four Crowned Martyrs: LEO IV (847–55); St STEPHEN of the Abyssinians: LEO IV; St APOLLINARIS in Classe (Ravenna, 1173); St SABAS: 13th century.
Oratory crypts generally date later, excepting the burial in the Agro Verano of St LAWRENCE, whose original form cannot, however, be determined, and that of St SEBASTIAN on the Via Appia: the former is Constantinian, the latter certainly not later than INNOCENT I (401–17). Next comes the crypt of St MARY in Cosmedin, a true small hypogeal basilica with three naves, which GIOVENALE dates to the late 8th century (Hadrian I). Possibly similar was that of St ANGEL in Pescheria, unfortunately poorly preserved, attributed also to Hadrian I, and in Brescia that coeval part at least within the apse curve of St SALVATOR. Of the same type, but somewhat later (9th century), is the crypt of the church of Agliano in Brianza and that of the collegiate church of St ORSO in Aosta. Also ancient, but of a different type, are the crypts of St ZACHARY and the basilica of St MARK in Venice (the latter perhaps 9th century, extending beneath the nave and reaching the side apses), that of St VINCENT in Prato in Milan with three naves, and that of St MICHAEL in Capua.
BIBL.:
G. B. DE ROSSI, Roma sotterranea cristiana, Roma 1864–77;
G. B. DE ROSSI, Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae, I–II, Roma 1857–61;
J. WILPERT, Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV.–XIII. Jahrhundert, Freiburg 1916;
J. WILPERT, Die Katakombenheiligen, Freiburg 1903;
A. KING, The Shrine of St Peter and the Vatican Excavations, London 1957;
G. TESTINI, Le catacombe e gli antichi cimiteri cristiani in Roma, Roma 1958.
But from these examples extended to the presbyterial area alone, the structure of the confessio develops enormously. A forest of columns comes to support the floor of the presbytery, as at Gurk in Austria (from 1174 with 100 columns) and soon also of the transept. Thus in S. Stefano in Verona with its very raised presbytery, in S. Zeno also in Verona, in S. Francesco in Ravenna of the 9th–10th centuries, likewise in Pavia and in S. Miniato in Florence of the 11th century, in S. Pietro in Tuscania, in the cathedral of Civita Castellana, in the duomo of Sutri with a three-aisled confessio perhaps dating from the early 13th century, in S. Francesco in Perugia of the 13th century, in Ancona in the “confessio of the tears” of the duomo. In the Marches a notable three-aisled confessio is found at Offida in the church of S. Maria della Rocca, and many are found in Apulia, such as in S. Nicola in Bari of the 12th century, in the cathedral of Bitonto also of the 12th century, in the duomo of Trani of the 12th–13th centuries, whose confessio is attributed to the early Middle Ages and is noteworthy for being entirely hewn from rock rather than constructed. Still to be recalled are the Byzantine-style confessio known as the grotta della Candelora at Massafra and the small confessio of S. Stefano at Vasta, besides the confessio of the cathedral of Otranto of the 11th century. But more than elsewhere the structure of the confessio develops in Emilia, where in the duomo of Piacenza one counts as many as a hundred columns supporting the vaults. This succession of aisles – in the confessio of the duomo of Parma (12th century) there are eleven – marked by columns and covered by groin vaults, recalls the interior of mosques with the difference that in the latter the roofing consists of simple barrel vaults.
As the semi-annular confessios had already introduced into churches new scenographic elements such as steps and recessions deriving from the difference in level, so in more evolved monuments, beginning also in the 9th century, the interior of the church is enriched with steps far more grandiose than those (duomo of Parma) and with a completely new element, namely the pontili: a series of arcades that place in communication the nave of the church with the confessio, that support the raised floor of the transept and of the presbytery, as in the grand and characteristic example of the duomo of Modena of the 12th century (Lanfranco) or the other already mentioned, of S. Zeno in Verona or in Tuscany in the duomo of Fiesole or in the abbey of S. Godenzo.
In the 13th century the use of the confessio begins to disappear. In later centuries one will limit oneself to transforming existing confessios, which especially in the 17th century will alter the original character of austerity with revetments of polychrome marbles and stuccoes. A rare and sumptuous example of a confessio built ex novo in the 17th century is that of SS. Luca e Martina (Rome), erected by Pietro da Cortona when the body of the Saint was discovered (1634), and the same artist’s confessio of S. Martino ai Monti, also in Rome.
By the name of “hermit confessios” are indicated natural or adapted grottoes that served as dwellings for Basilian monks in southern Italy from the 11th to the 13th centuries, and that present no architectural character but are often decorated with interesting Byzantine frescoes. - Vedi tavv. LIII-LIV.
Bruno Maria Apolloni Ghent