Catacombs

Underground excavations, used as receptacles of the dead, as in Egypt, at Rome, Malta, Naples, and Syracuse. Those of Rome were constructed in the 2d, 3d and 4th centuries, served as places of refuge in times of persecution, abound in Christian symbols and inscriptions, and are thought to contain 6,000,000 bodies. The old quarries under Paris, now used as charnel-houses, bear this name. These underground ceme teries of the early Christians, found at Rome and Naples, continued a mode of burial adopted for the ashes of slaves and freedmen in pagan Rome, but in still humbler fashion. Long narrow pa ages were excavated in the rock, with cavities on either side just large enough to admit the body, which were closed by slabs after the burial. In the case of distinguished martyrs or prelates these sepulchers were enlarged into small chapels, which were used for religious services during the first Catacombs of the Capuchins at Palermo. Later an Museum. The most interesting catacombs are those of St. Calixtus, which contain also the graves of St. Cecilia and of the Popes of the 3d century. Their use was gradually abandoned during the 4th century, but it survived as late as the 8th.