MODICA. - It is the ancient Mutyka in Sicily, presently in the diocese of Noto. Christianity penetrated it very early and is attested by a hypogeum discovered in the Trepiedi district beneath a plateau.
The hypogeum contained a canopy tomb and 38 large graves, one of which, still sealed, contained the corpse of a little girl. Among the limestone inscriptions may be noted those of an Aitales, who had the church built, in the district of the Hortensi, and his tomb at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century. A second epigraph commemorates a Zosimo who died in the fifth consulate of Arcadio and Onorio, that is, in 399. A third, with the monogram, belongs to a Christian Agata who died 14 days after the calends... A fourth epitaph is that of a Crisiforo who died at the age of 60; a fifth, greatly mutilated, contains mention of a presbyter. A second hypogeum is now used as a warehouse.