PRINT EXCERPT IN ENGLISH FROM THE BOOK: VOCI DAL PROFONDO

Into the Depths...

When we find ourselves with a large shop facing the entrance to a park we already see from the outside what is to be found within. But what awaits the visitor who comes to the catacombs for the first time? Let us take the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus as an example.
The scene is almost idyllic: surrounded by the greenery of palm tress, eucalyptus, pines and cypress, there is a garden with a bubbling fountain. Around a small courtyard some quite old small and unremarkable buildings, which in season are brightened up by the multicoloured bougainvillaea: The entry area of the Catacombs of S. Callixtus, pope and martyr, with its historic centre is a little paradise, a true haven of peace.
In the depths beneath, is to be found another haven of peace, the first "official" cemetery of the Christians of ancient Rome. Some small plots of land, used for private burial, were handed over and put at the disposal of the community of believers in the Second Century, and so made this enterprise possible.
Living together and sharing their possessions was the heart-felt need of the Christian community even with regard to the dead. All of us – the living, the dead, the saints themselves who already dwell with Christ having borne witness with their blood, – belong to each other in Christ.
Here, underground, near the tombs of their dear ones, the Christians prayed with happy memories of the dead. It was different for the pagans, for whom death was the end of everything. For the Christians the deceased, although they had already returned to their Father's house, were still part of the community. They had already passed in advance through the dark threshold, the dark door of the sleep of death which one day, sooner or later, will open for all of us. Death does not break the bonds of love, only changes them.
By the tombs of the martyrs, the Christians loved to express their admiration for the courage they had shown, asking their help for this own dear departed and for a happy ending to their own lives. These witnesses to the faith. children, youth, adults and old, had preferred to sacrifice their lives themselves rather than deny their belief in Christ Jesus. In prison, or under cruel torture, exposed to the ferocious beasts in the arena for the entertainment of contemptuous spectators, condemned to inhuman and forced labour or to exile, they were and remain convincing and exemplary "witnesses'" (this is what the greek word “martyr” means) to the purity and credibility of the Christian faith. Now they themselves are close to God: and that is why many faithful chose to be buried near them as they awaited the resurrection of the body.
Community of goods and of life: such faith, dedication and, above all, the Christians' love of being together, brought about these enterprises. Here in the Catacombs of Callixtus, this place where there rest together about 500.000 people, a network of galleries extends for about 20 kilometres under a surface area of only 15 hectares! To give an account, and above all to relive spiritually this most unusual product of the life and faith in times long ago, we must not remain above on the surface. The catacombs reveal their “originality", the mystery of their being, only to those who are prepared to descend into their depths - in the literal as well as the figurative meaning of the expression. It is there that the eyes and ears of our hearts must be opened. Thus is often in life, and not just in the case of catacombs…

Some think that if the galleries in the Christian catacombs of ancient Rome, which are dug on various levels, were placed end to end, they would stretch for at least 200 km. Sometimes they are 8 metres deep, excavated from top to bottom. The “fossors", that means miners or diggers, had always to examine the volcanic pozzolana carefully to decide in which direction to continue the digging. Besides this, they always had to remain directly below the surface area of the plot above. And then there remained the principal purpose of the work: the creation of hundreds of thousands of tombs, not only in the walls of the galleries but also in family cubicles and in crypts.
The tombs are in rows. Many were made for only one person, but sometimes, as we can see from the depths, therein was more than one person. Probably they had died together or belonged to the same family. The many small tombs, are a telling reminder that infant mortality was dreadfully high in ancient Rome.
Most of the tombs, called “loculi”, i.e. “place”, were not decorated, but only closed with bricks, slabs of terra-cotta or even of marble. At first they carried only the name of the dead person. Much later, the symbols of faith and other data were added, however, most remained anonymous. The corpses were laid down on their backs and wrapped in sheets. Thus we understand why the Christians called these burial places “coemeterium” (the origin of the word cemetery!), i.e. “dormitory", in contrast to the pagans who used the term “necropolis" i.e. "city of the dead".
On the walls and ceiling we can still see the marks of the picks with which the fossors cut the tufo. The loosened earth was carried to the surface in buckets or leather sacks or drawn up through the "lucenari"( a kind of shaft or vent) left open for light and ventilation. There must have been several hundreds of thousands of tons of material excavated in this way and carried to the surface above the catacombs!
The tombs, galleries and staircases speak of the "community": not only of those who reposed here, but also of those who laboured. Working together for themselves and one another, they proved to be in "communion". These underground cemeteries proclaimed in an obvious way the strong sense of "communion" i.e. love. United by this link, they felt they belonged to one another, inseparably bound in and with Christ. They were brothers and sisters in faith, responsible for one another in this life as they journeyed towards the final goal. Each of these catacombs became eventually a powerful witness to the strength lived in this unifying love. A witness which, in its silence, invites the visitor to reflect sincerely on the most important themes of life.

From the book of Rainer Korte: Voci dal profondo. Meditazioni sulle Catacombe cristiane di Roma.
Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 1998. Pp. 14 – 19. English translation by John H. Parker, FMS.