SUMMARY - St. Cecilia and her family may typify the connections wealthy Christian families had to the formation and survival of the Church in the first three centuries. While masses of poor Christians kept the faith going, those with wealth provided the physical means with which to sustain and reinforce the faith of all ancient Christians.
This page is mostly conjecture based upon disparate and contradictory information obtained from both electronic and non-electronic sources. The links for the former will eventually be reflected herein, as will the bibliographical references to the latter. In the meantime, visit the terminology, bibliographical cross reference and bibliography pages. Another online Christian History site has more information.
As with most discussions regarding Church history before the 4th century, what little we know is based upon records extant outside Rome that survived the great persecutions of ?164?, 235, 250, 258 and 303 when almost everything associated with Christianity (including leaders, buildings and especially written records) was destroyed. Many martyrs dying before around 310 A.D. are known today because their word of mouth notoriety survived the destruction of the written records referencing them. Some are known by name, with their history completely lost, only because inscriptions to them have been found in the catacombs. The uniqueness and similarity of their burials made the most revered martyrs stand apart from the thousands of other burials.
The destruction of those knowing the facts of the lives of the martyrs, mostly during the 3rd century, coincident with any written, factual records means that even the oral histories became corrupted with each retelling. That there should have been many more martyrs in the 2nd century than we know about indicates that such destruction could have begun as early as the 4th (of 10) persecutions begun in 164 by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Both Popes Anicetus (155-166) and Soter (166-175) died during his reign but are not indicated to have been martyrs. That could be because they weren't or because their records were lost - along with those of almost everyone else martyred in the 2nd century!
is one of the few ancients honored with a Church dedicated to her in the Trastevere section of Rome. The date of her death is in contention. Many, including the pre-eminent researcher Geovanni Battista de Rossi (1822 ~ 1894), said it was 177. That was during Emperor Marcus Aurelius' reign and may have been when martyrdoms began in earnest with ?Christians being exposed to wild animals in the Coliseums for the amusement of pagan audiences? Some give both 177 and 230 but then state she was buried near the Crypt of the Popes, which only began to be filled when Pope-Saint-martyr Fabian moved the bodies of Pontian (230-235) and Anterus (235-6) there after he took office in 236. (It's more likely that the opposite is true - the Popes were buried next to Cecilia's crypt, long after she was entombed therein, because Cecilia's was the most ostentatious of the Callistus complex - in other words, it was the raison d'être for construction of the underground crypt complex of the cemetery itself.)
Among the very few Saints referenced in "The Volume Library", a comprehensive home 'table top' encyclopedia of information in one volume published by Educators Association of New York from 1921 ~ 1927 (?and beyond?), is this Saint Cecilia. Even the more notorious Saint Lawrence, of the same era as she is not listed. The listing has:
"Cecilia (se-sil'i-å), Saint, a
Roman lady of high descent, of the second or third century, who suffered
martyrdom for her faith. From
her skill in singing she is chosen the patroness of musicians and
especially of sacred music."
Some confusion involves the reference in her martyrology to a "holy man" named Urban, who was the
first buried in the Crypt of the
Popes but wasn't the Pope who
served from 223-230. This Urban lived contemporaneously with
Cecilia and was probably buried after her in the nearby dormitory-like
crypt reserved for Christian friends of the family. He may have
been the only non-martyr buried in
that most ancient complex in the Calixtus catacomb.
After both their deaths, her family donated the already developed
cemetery and underground crypt area to the Church. It became their
first 'MATERIAL' treasure - a completely developed cemetery and underground crypt area. The adjacent
crypts of Lucina and Cecilia, now both combined into the St.
Callixtus complex, along with the catacomb of Cyriaca 3 miles away on the Via Tiburtina, may have been
among the very first underground burial sites built for wealthy
Christians. Along with others almost entirely surrounding Rome, and
elsewhere throughout the Mediterranean, these private burial sites
gradually expanded into the underground cemeteries for all Christians -
the catacombs.
Cecilia's family is said to have given the cemetery to the Church during the term of Pope Victor I (189-199). The digging of the extensive network of catacombs may or may not have began during the term of his successor Pope Zephyrinus (199-217). The custom of placing bodies underground, below normal above ground cemeteries began with families with the wealth to hire the diggers.
Deacon, later Pope Calixtus' superintendency over this "treasure" of the Church seems to have begun the process where galleries were created and used to bury the bodies of Christians routinely martyred since Nero began the persecutions in the year 64. An analysis of those 'first' bodies should show whether the process was initially open to 'all' or just to those who hadn't the family or resources to have their bodies preserved in any of the other seemingly innumerable private underground burial sites extant at the time. It should be noted that many of the bodies originally buried in the catacombs were subsequently removed by invading hoards and/or relic seekers, but there may yet be undiscovered, pre-4th century burial sites that still contain bodies upon which the necessary tests could be made.
Those burial practices would seem most logically to have begun about 60 years after the persecutions began, or about the year 124. That's because 60 is the presumed longevity of a wealthy individual having been raised under the 'new' Christian belief of resurrection. In other words, even though the deceased person may not have been born a Christian, it can be safely assumed that their children were. It was the children who were raised with the belief in the impending resurrection of all Christian souls - emulating that of Christ, himself. Upon the demise of one or another of their parents, or their parents' siblings, from whatever cause, and in light of the coincident desecration of "above ground" Christian burial sites by angry pagans, it became necessary to hide bodies merely for the sake of preservation for resurrection. Wealthy Christians had the means, motivation and legal right to begin digging underneath their already existing cemeteries to build these more secure burial places, which after all, were not unlike the tombs built for wealthy Egyptians for centuries if not millennia.
So, the Church under Pope-Saint-martyr Fabian (236-50), facing two deaths of the highest leaders in as few years - with pagans looking more intensely at Christian activities in general - needs a really secure hiding place -- and fast. The Church cemetery already had this compact crypt near the revered Crypt-Shrine of St. Cecilia. Only her patron Urban had been placed in it, so it had room for at least 11 more bodies. Duh, what would you do? That small place became the famous Crypt of the Popes.
Subsequently, to facilitate visitors after Christianity became legal, a
passageway** was made going directly from the rear of the Pope's crypt to that of Cecilia.
A look at the diagram of the area indicates that this passageway was not
designed into the original catacomb
complex built for the family. None of the other half-dozen crypts
in this most ancient area are connected to each other except by the
passageways they share.
** One of the blind passageways going nowhere seems to
be an unsuccessful attempt to connect a large rectangular room to the
crypt of Cecilia. It doesn't appear to be one of the blind
passageways meant to confuse interlopers. In fact, those so-called
blind passages may have just been mistakes left unfilled to help confound
interlopers. It's doubtful the diggers had enough time to prepare
too many useless tunnels. Like most other efficient and successful
businesspeople, they converted those negative mistakes into positive
blind alleys helping to accomplish their primary objective - the securing
of Christian bodies for eventual resurrection. (Some of
'non-conforming' passageways could have been dug by grave robbers of
centuries ago.)
Outside one of those
other ancient crypts was found the laudation to 66 year old QVIRIACE (Cyriaca) of a wealthy Dasumian family.
And, within 200 feet, in another ancient gallery-passageway, was also
found the Car Kyriaco ... inscription on a fragment laying on the ground.
It's also obvious the diggers needed a place to rest, secure their
tools, take meal breaks and accomplish the other routine functions
involved with long hours on any job. The large rectangular room (N)
outside the crypt of Cecilia (O) looks like just such a spot. When
the work in that part was completed, it would have been converted into
its intended function as a basilica or gathering place for large
groups. That's pretty much how modern construction projects are
accomplished. There's no reason not to believe the same techniques
were used 17 hundred years ago in the 3rd century.)
