GENEROSA, CEMETERY OF. - It is located at the sixth milestone of the Via Portuense, in the locality once called *ad sextum Philippi*, near the grove of the Arval Brethren. It originated in the *praedium* of a matron named Generosa, from the burial of the martyrs Simplicius, Faustinus, and Viatrix in a private hypogeum, which later developed into a cemetery for the rural Christian community of the area. The cemetery is mentioned only in the *Liber de locis sanctis Martyrum*: “Iuxta viam vero Portuensem, quae et ipsa in occidentali parte civitatis est... Simplicius, s. Faustinus, s. Beatricis dormiunt”; the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* adds the detail of the distance from Rome: “milizio VI”. According to the *Acts*, the martyrs Simplicius and Faustinus belong to the persecution of Diocletian. Their bodies remained in the cemetery until the time of Leo II (682-83), who had them transferred to S. Bibiana, in a rough
GENEROSA, CEMETERY OF - Christ seated, between the saints Beatrice, Simplicius, Faustinian - Rufinian. Fresco (6th century) found in the crypt of the cemetery church of G. - Rome.
Sarcophagus, now preserved in the sacristy of S. Maria Maggiore, bears the following inscription: “Martyrres, Simplicius, et Faustinus / Qui passi sunt in flumen Tibere et posi / ti sunt in cimiterium Generoses supra / Filippi”.
The cemetery, forgotten for many centuries, was rediscovered when excavations were carried out in the years 1858-64 near the grove of the Arval Brethren and the temple of Dea Dia; the same excavations also revealed the Basilica erected by Pope Damasus (366-84) near the martyrs’ tomb. The cemetery galleries dug into the hillside are not extensive and, for the most part, display the characteristics of a rural cemetery. Several loculi are still visible, some with consular dates; one is graffito dated to the year 372. The Basilica built by Damasus is at the same level as the galleries; its length is 15 m, the central nave is 6.30 m wide, and the right aisle is 2.75 m wide; no traces remain of the left aisle, which has disappeared, nor of the roof and much of the perimeter walls. The structure was surveyed by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology in 1868; restoration work begun in 1901 and resumed in 1935 remains unfinished. A fragment of an *exsultet* in filocalian letters, with the words (Fau)STINO VITATRICI, belongs to the Basilica. Access to the historic crypt of the martyrs is through a passage opened to the right of the apse, in which, above the cathedra, a small window allows a view into the interior of the sanctuary. In the 6th century, on the wall raised to reinforce the crypt itself, a fresco was executed depicting in the center the Saviour with a cruciform nimbus, in the act of speaking and holding the book of the law; to the left are the saints Viatrix, Simplicius, and to the right the saints Faustinian (Faustinus) and Rufinian, identified by their names; the last figure seems to have been added for symmetry and perhaps out of devotion by the patron. Almost adjoining the apse is an arcosolium, the only one in the cemetery, built of masonry and dating after the year 384, as inferred from the date of that year inscribed above a form, partially covered by the wall of the arcosolium. In the lunette of the arcosolium is a nearly effaced figure of an orant; on the right wall are the sacrifice of Abraham, the Good Shepherd, and below, a sheep; on the left wall is a representation of the flock, later concealed by a wall added subsequently. De Rossi wished to see in this arcosolium the tomb of the martyr Viatrix.