LUCERNA. - As regards the typology and use of l.: V. ILLUMINAZIONE NELLE CHIESE ANTICHE.
At times the l. has assumed a symbolic meaning. Thus, for example, in certain inscriptions the lighted l. has been represented, as in the epitaph of a Ianuaria (cf. G. B. De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, III, Roma 1877, p. 353 and pls. 27-29 no. 22) and in two tombs at Panfilo (cf. E. Josi, Il cimitero di Panfilo, in Riv. di arch. crist., 3 [1926], p. 79 and fig. 13, p. 89 and fig. 18). In the first and third examples, according to G. B. De Rossi, the l. expresses the soul presenting itself to Christ bearing a lighted lamp, as in the Gospel parable of the ten virgins, or the wish that the soul praemia lucis habeat (cf. G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. Christ., I, Roma 1857-61, no. 412); in the second example it is the signum of the name of the deceased Lucernio.
On a marble slab from the Cimitero Maggiore, the deceased is scratched as an orant between her two patron saints; the one on the right holds a lighted l. in his hand. G. B. De Rossi explained the scene by the vision recounted in the Acta of the African martyrs Lucio and Montano of 259, in which it is said that Christ is lucerna pedibus nostris et qui est sermo scilicet Dei (Una visione narrata dai martiri africani del III sec. e un graffito simbolico trovato nel cimitero Ostriano, in Bull. d'arch. crist., 3ª serie, 5 [1880], p. 67 and pl. III).