VINDICATIO. — A term suggested by a text of St. Ottato of Milevi (De schismate Donatistarum, I, 16: PL 11, 917), by which it was intended to denote a kind of official recognition of martyrdom, according to the interpretation given by G. B. De Rossi to the siglum IVᵃ in the inscription of Pope Fabiano, in which the siglum itself appears to have been added to the slab at a later time.
But after the discovery of the epitaph of Pope Ponziano, in which the same siglum was likewise found to have been added subsequently, it was thought that it should be understood as nothing other than the practice, which became established from 258 onward, of writing on the tombs of witnesses to the faith the honorific title martyr, as is found in full in the inscription of the martyr Giacinto, although the year of his martyrdom is not known. Certainly, the practice of affixing this honorific title is later than the translation of the relics of Pope Cornelio, who died in exile in 253, since on his slab as well the title martyr was added in full after his deposition in the cemetery of Callisto. The texts known concerning such a V. Church, where the bishops often had to remain vigilant in order to suppress abuses by the Donatists.