History - Roman Catacombs

[TheBlindSpot]

Hey there everyone, not sure if this is the best forum for this but I thought I’d start here.

Do any of you have some recommendations on a really good Catholic resource on the Roman Catacombs, the history of them, their use etc.

I’ve been to the Vatican site and read their post on it, but I was hoping for a more in-depth “guided tour” style. A Catholic resource being preferable.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Exiled_Child]

Hey there everyone, not sure if this is the best forum for this but I thought I’d start here.

Do any of you have some recommendations on a really good Catholic resource on the Roman Catacombs, the history of them, their use etc.

I’ve been to the Vatican site and read their post on it, but I was hoping for a more in-depth “guided tour” style. A Catholic resource being preferable.

Thanks in advance!

This is always a fun site:

sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-lorenzo

 

[GEddie]

There are several catacombs, which though outside the Vatican, are administered by it as shrines.

They were used as necropoli in Imperial times; there are hundreds of feet of underground tunnels, with rows of body-length niches in the walls, where the dead were placed. All human remains were removed long ago, however, the oil-lamps once used by mourners remain, as do frescoes and inscriptions on the walls.

Because the Roman guard would not follow into them, Christians would use them as gathering places, hence the term “catacombs” used stereotypically for churches in hiding.

In at least one of them, a modern underground chapel has been excavated for liturgical purposes.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[TheBlindSpot]

Yeah I was hoping there was a good back that delves into the details of the various ones and whatever historic record there may be for Masses and services held to honor the martyrs, all the various martyrs that were buried there, during times of roman persecution were they used as a sanctuary etc.

 

[Benedictus]

The catacombs are very fascinating, but their use as secret gathering places to escape persecution is almost entirely myth. Their use developed for a unique mixture reasons: burials being prohibited inside the city walls, Christian burial vs. pagan cremation, etc.