apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS. 519
same time Paschal removed to the same place the bones of Valerian, Tiburtius, and
Maximus, and those of Urban and Lucius the '
pontiffs '.
In the year 1599 Sfondrati Cardinal of S. Caecilia, at that time engaged in
restoring the Church, opened the graves beneath and behind the high altar, and
discovered the sarcophagus as deposited there by Pope Paschal. Within the sarcophagus,
enclosed in a coffin of cypress wood, was the body of a young woman lying
on the right side, her knees slightly drawn and her face turned towards the ground.
Her dress, inwoven with gold thread, was stained with blood. At her feet were the
linen cloths saturated with blood, as described by Paschal. The modern statue by
Madema is intended to represent the attitude of the body as it was found. The body
was seen among many others, including Pope Clement himself, by Baronius (Annal.
ann. 821, §§ xv, xvi) and by Bosio [Historia Passionis S. Caeciliae, Romae 1600),
both of whom have left descriptions. At the same time the remains— or what seemed
to be such— of the other bodies deposited there by Paschal were found.
There seems no reason therefore for questioning the identity of the body discovered
at the close of the sixteenth century with the body removed from the Cemetery of S.
Xystus by Paschal and deposited there as that of S. Cecilia nearly eight centuries
before. But can we trace it farther back than this
The recent discoveries of De Rossi in the immediate proximity to the Crypt of
S. Xystus {Rom. Sotterr. Ii. p. 113 sq) enable us to give a partial answer to this
question. Leading out of the papal crypt, he found another chamber, to which the
passage had been blocked up. It contained a large niche which was empty. Above
this was a picture of a female saint, dressed in rich robes betokening noble birth.
At her foot were written the names of several priests and of a ' scriniarius '. Below
this picture is another of a bishop, bearing the name s. vrbanvs. By
its side are
some letters which De Rossi fills in with great probability [deJcori
.
[ca]ec . [m]ar.,
i.e. ' decori Caeciliae Martyris '. In this same chamber were found also the fragments
of an epitaph which, by supplying the missing letters, gives the name SEnxiMlOS .
nPAI[TEH2T]AT02 KAIK[IAIAN02]. This . inscription he judges from the style to
belong to the beginning or middle of the third century. In the same chamber also
he found another inscription [octa]vivs
. caecilianvs v. c. . [in . pa]ce deposit
.
. (where v. c. stands for '
Vir Clarissimus ')
with the .
monogram ^
Moreover in other parts of the —
Cemetery of Callistus more especially in the Crypt
Lucina— of
were found other memorials of Christian Crecilii and Cocciliani from the end
of the second century onward ;
and above ground in this very region were columbaria
and other sepulchral monuments of the heathen Csecilii from the time of Augustus
{Rom. Sotterr. I. p. 310 sq, II. pp. 137 sq, 361 sq).
There can be very little doubt therefore that we have discovered the place from
which Paschal removed the body — or what he supposed to be the body — of
S. Cecilia in the 9th century. Indeed De Rossi, drawing his inference from the
names themselves and from the character of the writing, believes that the priests
and the scriniarius, whose names appear at the foot of the saint, are the persons who
witnessed the discovery and removal of her remains on this occasion. This is evidently
the locaUty intended in the Acts, where Pope Urban is stated to have buried Ccxcilia
'
inter alios collegas suos episcopos, ubi sunt omnes confessores et martyres depositi '
{§ 26).
But if so, what inferences may we draw from the tomb and its surroundings
The answer given by De Rossi is as follows ;
that Cecilia was, as she is represented
in her Acts, a lady of noble birth that the land here
; belonged to her gens that some
;