adorned with gems, and even the earliest examples of the Madonna is bedizened in Byzantine style with at necklace of pearls.* The following engraving from D'Agincourt illustrates the tasteless drapery and coiffure which awakened such intense patristic indignation. The simplicity of the funeral rites of the primitive Christians is indicated by the character of the sepulchral monuments of the Catacombs. No "storied urn or animated bust," nor costly mausolea, were employed to commemorate those who slept in Christ. A narrow grave, undistinguished from the multitude around save by the name of the deceased, or by the emblem of his calling, or symbol of his faith, and most frequently not ere." Cyprian suggests that the Almighty might not recognize them at the resurrection. They should not dye their hair or clothes, as violating the saying that "thou canst not make one hair white or black;" and God had not made sheep scarlet or purple.-De habitu Virginum, 14– 16. "Nevertheless," says Clement, "they cannot with their bought and painted beauty avoid wrinkles or evade death." Tertullian denounces their flame-coloured heads, "built up with pads and rolls, the slough perhaps of some guilty wretch now in hell.”—De Velendis Virginibus, ii, 17. "One delicate neck," he says, "carries about it forests and islands "— saltus et insula; that is, their price.-Ibid., i, 9. At the court of the Eastern Empire, effeminacy and oriental luxury still further degraded the Christian character. Clement of Alexandria denounces with indignation the extravagance and vice of the so-called Christian community of that city. The wealth that should have been devoted to the poor was expended in gilded litters and chariots, splendid banquets and baths, in costly jewelry and dresses. Wealthy ladies, instead of maintaining widows and orphans, wasted their sympathies on monkeys, peacocks, and Maltese dogs.-Pæd., iii, 4. “Riches," he adds, "is like a serpent which will bite unless we know how to take it by the tail."—Ibid., 6. He compares the Alexandrian women to an Egyptian temple, gorgeous without, but enshrining only a cat or crocodile: so beneath their meretricious adorning were concealed vile and loathsome passions." The sumptuary laws of the Theodosian code prohibited the use of gold brocade or silken tissue, (x, tit, 20; xlv, 10.) ་་ * See Fig. 90. See also oranti in Fig. 82. even by these, sufficed, in the earlier and purer days of the church, for the last resting-place of the saints. As Fig. 129.-Bellicia fedelissima virgo qve vixit annos xviii, (sic.) Belicia, a most faithful virgin who lived eighteen years. wealth increased and faith grew cold, more attention was given to the external expression of grief or regard for the departed; and the chambers, at first rudely hewn from the tufa, became ornamented with stucco and frescoes, and lined with marble slabs, and the inscriptions became more turgid and artificial. The superstitious veneration paid to the relics of the saints in later days led to the adornment of their sepulchres; and during the period of the temporal supremacy of Christianity, the posthumous ostentation of the rich was manifested in their costly monuments.* sarcophagi and funeral All immoderate grief for the departed was regarded as inconsistent with Christian faith and hope. "Our brethren are not to be lamented who are freed from the world by the summons of the Lord," says Cyprian, “for we know they are not lost, but sent before us. We may not wear the black robes of mourning while they are already clothed with the white raiment of joy. Nor may we grieve for those as lost whom we know to be living with God." Nay, the day of their death was celebrated as their Natalitia, or their true birthday—their entrance into the undying life of heaven. The primitive believers were not, however, insensible to natural affection, as many of the inscriptions already given fully prove; but they were sustained by a lofty hope and serene confidence in God. The early Christian burial rites were entirely different from the pomp and pageantry of grief which characterized pagan funerals. When the spirit had departed, the body was washed with water and robed for the grave in spotless white, to represent, Chrysostom suggests, the soul's putting on the garment of incorruption. In later *This lapidary extravagance was censured, as seeming to imply that the sepulchres were the receptacles of the souls rather than of the bodies.-Ambr., De Bono Mortis. + Cypr., De Mortal., 20. See also Augustine's pathetic account of the death of his mother, Monica-Premebam oculos ejus et confluebat in præcordia moestitudo ingens, etc.-Conf., ix, 12. times costly robes of silk and cloth of gold were employed for the burial of the wealthy, against which practice Jerome strongly inveighs. "Why does not your ambition cease," he exclaims, "in the midst of mourning and tears? Cannot the bodies of the rich return to dust otherwise than in silk?" The body was also frequently embalmed, or at least plentifully enswathed with myrrh and aromatic spices, after the manner of the burial of Our Lord. This was especially necessary in the Catacombs on account of the frequent proximity of the living to the dead. We find frequent allusions to this practice in the Fathers. It was a pagan reproach that the Christians bought no odours for their persons nor incense for the gods. "It is true," says Tertullian, "but the Arabs and Sabeans well know that we consume more of these costly wares for our dead than the heathen do for the gods."§ The nearest relatives or pious friends bore the corpse to the grave, and committed it as the seed of immortality to the genial bosom of the earth, often strewing the body with flowers, in beautiful symbolism of the resurrection to the *Father Marchi found, along with some charred bones, supposed to be relics of St. Hyacinth, some threads of gold tissue, as if the martyr's remains had been wrapped in this costly material. He also perceived an aromatic odour on opening some graves. Occasionally large lumps of lime have been found bearing the marks of the linen in which they were wrapped. Its caustic nature would hasten the destruction of animal tissue. An cadavera divitum nisi in serico putrescere nesciunt.-Vit. Pauli. Arringhi has a chapter on the subject, (lib. i, c. 23,) Cadavera unguentis et aromatibus condiuntur. Non corpus odoribus honestatis.—Ap., Minuc., p. 35. Jerome urges the substitution of the balsam of alms-deeds and charity. § Thura plane non emimus, etc.-Apol., 42. "You expect your women will bury your body with ointments and spices," said the heathen judge to the martyr Tarachus; to prevent which he condemned him to be burned. fadeless summer of the skies.* In times of persecution the privilege would often be purchased with money of gathering the martyrs' mangled remains, and bearing them by stealth, along the pagan "Street of Tombs," to the silent community of the Christian dead. Instead of employing the pagan nænia, or funeral dirge, and præficæ, or hireling mourners, the Christians accompanied the dead to their repose with psalms and hymns, chanting such versicles as, "Return to thy rest, O my soul;" "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."§ Frequently, as will be hereafter seen, the agape or eucharist was celebrated at the grave. The heathen buried their dead by night on account of the defilement the very sight of a funeral was supposed to cause. The Christians repudiated this idolatrous notion, and, except when prevented during times of persecution, buried openly by day, that the living might be reminded of their mortality and led to prepare for death. We have thus seen the immense superiority, in all the * In later times similar rites were paid to the tomb. "We will adorn the hidden bones," sings Prudentius, "with violets and many a bough; and on the epitaphs and the cold stones we will sprinkle liquid odours."—Cathem., x. See Euseb., H. E., vii, 16 and 22. They were often denied the privilege.—Ibid., v, I. Eutychianus, a Roman Christian, is said to have buried three hundred and forty-two martyrs with his own hands. † Ψάλλοντες προπέμπετε αὐτοὺς, κ. τ. λ.-Constit. Apos., vi, 30. Ilymnos et Psalmos decantans, etc.-Hieron., Vit. Pauli. § Chrys., Hom., 4, in Hebr. The following inscription indicates that the corpse was sometimes brought to the Catacombs some time before burial; probably immediately after death, as in Italy it is now taken to the church. Pecora dulcis anima benit in cimitero Marturorum, vii, idus Jul. Dp. Postera die-“Pecora, a sweet soul, came (was brought) to the cemetery of the martyrs on the 9th of July; was buried the following day." |