SORIANO AL CIMINO, CEMETERY OF. - From the Etruscan Surrius vetus, destroyed by the Romans, derives the medieval Surrianum on the slopes of the Cimini Mountains (province of Viterbo).

S. preserves the fortress, one of the most important in Latium, built in 1278 by Pope Nicholas III, of the Orsini family, which held possession of the town, later passed to the Colonna, to G. Vitelleschi, and to the Church. S. is also famous for the "sasso menicante" (also mentioned by Roman writers), a block of trachyte weighing about 170 tons, balanced in oscillation atop a vertical cliff.

The small town had its own bishops until the 7th century, when it was united with the see of Bomarzo. A short distance from S. was the ancient Ferentum (v.), where a martyr Eutychius is venerated on May 15. Of this saint there is a legendary Passio (BHL, 2779-80); it has been thought to identify him with the Eutychius venerated in a church of the diocese of Ferentino mentioned by Gregory the Great (Dialogues, III, 28: PL 77, 316); an inscription, believed to be from Tarquinia, commemorates "a certain Euticius confessor depositus viii Kalendas septembris in pace Christi" (CIL, XI, 3516); G. B. De Rossi proposed recognizing the martyr in the priest Eutychius of the acts of the martyrs Valentine and Hilary (Bull. di arch. crist., 2nd series, 5 [1874], pp. 101-18); there is also a Eutychius in the Passio of the martyrs Nereus and Achilleus (BHL, 6060, 19-20); but no identification can be made. On the side of the hill a Christian cemetery has been found, part of which was destroyed to erect a basilica in which Eutychius is venerated. The cemetery was built from a central nucleus, from which several galleries branched out, with the characteristic that the tombs, unlike those of the Roman cemeteries, are closed with mortar and stones in the manner of masonry; moreover they are not dug into the walls, but built against the walls themselves and covered with lime, on which the epitaphs were scratched or painted. Among these, notable is that of Apra, of the year 359, "Eusebio et Ypatio cons(ulibus)". The cemetery was seen by G. Marangoni and by M. Boldetti, who drew a plan of the basilica and the galleries. Of the ancient basilica an inscription (8th-9th centuries) recalls the decoration of shining marbles, placed above the tomb of the martyr Eutychius by Bishop Stephen: "Stephanus vates tibi mar/tur Eutici speclatae marmoris dedi".

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: s. Gregorio Magno, Dialoghi, I, cap. 9: PL 77, 189-200; III, cap. 38, ibid., 316-18; Acta SS. Maii, III, Anversa 1680, pp. 458-64; M. Boldetti, Osservaz. sopra i cimit. dei S. Martiri, Roma 1720, pp. 590-91, con tavv.; Germano di S. Stanislao, S. Eutizio di Ferento e il suo sant. posto nel territ. di Soriano, Roma 1883; id.; Memorie arch. e crit. sopra gli atti e il cimit. di S. Eutizio di Ferento, ivi 1886; M. Armellini, Gli antichi cimit. crist. di Roma e d'Italia, Roma 1893, pp. 647-51; Lanzoni, I, pp. 433-536.

Carlo Carletti

@incollection{ec11_soriano_al_cimino_cimitero_di, author = {Carletti, Carlo}, title = {Soriano Al Cimino, cimitero di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {989--990}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/soriano-al-cimino-cimitero-di} }

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Soriano al Cimino, Cemetery of

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