Cemetery of Praetextatus

CEMETERY OF PRAETEXTATUS. - Located at the 2nd mile on the left of the Via Appia (currently the entrance is at Via Appia Pignatelli 1). The name appears in the Depositio martyrum for the tombs of the martyrs Januarius on July 10 and Felicissimus and Agapitus on Aug. 6, all three remembered in the same cemetery by the Leonine Sacramentary and by the Hieronymian Martyrology, which always indicates in P. the pope Urban (May 25) and the martyrs Quirinus (Apr. 30), Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus (Apr. 14) and Maior (May 10).

Damasus adorned the tomb of the martyr Januarius (A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Vatican City

1942, p. 151 ff.), composed a poem in honor of the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus (ibid., pp. 152-56), the remains of an epigram in honor of St. Quirinus are probable (ibid., pp. 157-60). There is also another fragment of an unknown Damasan poem in Philocalian letters (ibid., pp. 156-57). A marble fragment found in the cemetery mentions Januarius, Felicissimus, Quirinus, Maior (R. Kanzler, Scavi ora fatti nel c. di P., in N. Bull. arch. crist., 15 [1909], pp. 45, 121 and pl. 1, 2). The Itineraries of the 7th century add above ground a martyr Zeno (R. Valentini - G. Zucchetti, Codice topografico della città di Roma, II, Rome 1942, pp. 85-96, 111, 149). The last restorations to the sanctuaries of the cemetery were ordered by Adrian I (772-95). The cemetery was visited in the 15th century by Pomponio Leto and his followers; A. Bosio descended into it, it was devastated by M. Boldetti; the explorations from 1847 to 1857 were followed by G. B. De Rossi, who there conceived the idea of Roma sotterranea and with Fr. G. Marchi gave a report of the excavations in Civ. catt., 1st series, V (1851, II), pp. 621-24.

The cemetery consists of an open-air burial area, originally used for pagan burials because of the great number of sarcophagi found there, which later, broken by the peasants, were used to close light-wells and landslides (M. Gütschow, Das Museum der Prätextat-Katakombe, in Atti della Pont. accademia rom. di arch., 3rd series, Mem., 4 [1938, 2]). In the Christian burial area are indicated the tombs of the martyrs Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus, in an oratory or in a transformed mausoleum, near which pope John III (561-74; cf. Lib. pont., I, pp. 305-306) lived for some time. The underground cemetery is made up of various nuclei of hypogea, originally separate from one another, then enlarged and connected together. The oldest region (2nd century) originally consisted of a descending stairway to a gallery and to a large cubiculum frescoed with the Good Shepherd in the vault and a large table tomb in the back wall, and tombs in the side walls decorated with the scenes of the Resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord conversing with the Samaritan woman, the Hemorrhissa and the Crowning with thorns, interpreted by some instead as the Lord after the Baptism in the Jordan. The whole region was then deepened and extended; in a third phase formae were made in the floor and one of these belonged to a Urania daughter of Herod, and sarcophagi were placed in the cubiculum, today in the Lateran Museum.

A second region (3rd century) to the east of the first is formed by its own stairway and by an extensive network of galleries, also deepened and with some polyandria; a third of the same century by a large gallery (called later spelunca magna) onto which opened rich cubicula with entrances of characteristic architecture, similar to that of the above-ground mausoleums. One of them had the vault and walls containing niches lined with marble for sarcophagi, with frescoes representing the seasons and their symbols, Jonah cast into the sea, the Miracle of the spring and the Good Shepherd, cut by a later loculus in which was scratched the inscription: (Maxi)mi refrigeri (per refrigeret) Iannarius, Agatopus (per Agapitus) Felicissimus martyres, that is "may the martyrs Januarius, Agapitus and Felicissimus give refreshment to the soul of Maximus" (G. B. De Rossi, Scoperta d'una cripta storica nel cemetero di P., in Bull. arch. crist., 1 [1863], p. 15 ff.). In this cubiculum G. B. De Rossi held that the tomb of the martyr Januarius could be recognized, having found in its vicinity fragments of the great dedicatory inscription of Damasus (G. B. De Rossi, Iscrizione damasiana scoperta dinnanzi la cripta quadrata nel cemetero di P., in Bull. arch. crist., 1 [1863], pp. 17-22). Another cubiculum also presents the same external architectural decoration, while the interior was lined with marbles and mosaics. M. Armellini, G. B. De Rossi and P. Styger held that the two martyrs Felicissimus and Agapitus, deacons of Sixtus II, had been deposited in two loculi of the great gallery, then decorated, protected by a marble transenna; the opposite wall was cut to build an apse there. There is furthermore a second very regular level with its own stairways; an intermediate level with scratched inscriptions of the year 384; a region of a first level in which is notable the arcosolium where a Celerina was buried beyond the middle of the 4th century, there Susanna is depicted as a lamb between the two wolves indicated as the elders (seniores).

The inscriptions provided with a consular date range from 273 to 475. Some epitaphs have revealed names of presbyters: Aphrodisius, Lucentius, Antipater, Innocent; two fragments indicate acolytes, one a fossor; a "Quintus lactearius" belonged to the domus of a Lateranus; not a few were the nobles deposited there. In a graffito one reads the invocation: Deus Christus Omnipotens refrigeret spiritum tuum (God Christ Almighty give refreshment to your soul). An inscription of 405 recalls a certain Superbus, so called only in name, whom the blessed saints knew as innocent and gentle. An Aurelia Marula begs her gravediggers ut massa calcetur; if they do so the Lord will answer their prayers. - See pl. CXXXVI.

Enrico Josi