INTRODUCTION
As you leave Rome, half a mile from St. Sebastian Gate, you reach the "Quo
Vadis?" Church, then the Pretextatus and St. Sebastian Catacombs and, farther
on, the tomb of Cecilia Metella. In the middle of this archaeological area, contained
within the Appian Way, the Ardeatina and the Vicolo delle Sette Chiese (the Lane
of the Seven Churches) there extends the "Callixtian Complex", a large
area of nearly 90 acres of land, half of which occupied by catacombs. The galleries,
sometimes in four levels, are 12 miles long. The tombs are numerous, perhaps half
a million.
This complex developed from different nuclei over the centuries. Some have been even joined to one another. Here are the names: the Cemetery of St. Callixtus, the Crypts of Lucina, the Cemetery of St. Soter, the Cemetery of St. Mark, Marcellianus and Damasus and lastly the Cemetery of Balbina. Of all these the ones that concern us most are the Crypts of Lucina and the Catacombs of St.Callixtus, which formed a single cemetery from the second half of the 4th century.
The Catacombs of St. Callixtus are the most important and imposing of the about sixty catacombs of Rome. They may be considered as "the cradle of Christianity and the Archives of the primitive Church", because they illustrate the usage and customs of the early Christians, the "Credo" (the religious beliefs) they professed and the history of martyrdom.
They were founded around the middle of the second century as a result of various grants and donations by private landowners, who, having converted to Christianity, gave their tombs and estates to their brothers in faith for burial sites. At the beginning of the third century, these catacombs fell under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome.
The pope St. Zephyrinus (99-217) entrusted the administration of these initial catacombs to the deacon Callixtus. Callixtus had to provide a tomb for each Christian, including the poor and the slaves, so that each brother would have a worthy burial. On Zephyrinus' death, Callixtus was elected pope. He enlarged the catacombs, which became the official cemetery of the Church of Rome and which took from him their name.
The most ancient parts of the Catacombs of St.Callixtus are the Crypts of Lucina and the Area of the Popes and of St. Cecilia, which keep the most sacred memories of the place (the Crypts of the Popes and of St. Cecilia and the Cubicula of Sacraments). The other areas are named after St. Gaius and St. Eusebius (end of the 3rd C.), the Western Area (first half of the 4th C.) and the Liberian Area (second half of the 4th C.).
