CYRIACA CEMETERY - ROME, ITALY Pages 32 and 33 of the Northcote & Brownlow (year 1869) translation of Giovanni Rossi's (years 1864 & 1867) Roma Sotterranea ... discuss the neglect to obliviousness of the catacombs from the 8th to 16th centuries - until 1578 when Augustinian Friar (and marvel of his age for learning and industry) Onuphrius Panvinius published "Ceremonies of Christian Burial and the Ancient Christian Cemeteries": He expressly states that only three of them were at all accessible, -- that at St Sebastian's, that at San Lorenzo, meaning (as is clear from his description) the single gallery which may yet be seen from the window of the chapel of St Cyriaca in the Basilica itself, and that of St Valentine on the Via Flaminia, which lay under property belonging to his own order. VIII. VIA TIBURTINA . . . 19. Cemetery of St. Cyriaca.  ..., she was the widow who buried St. Laurence (martyred 6 Aug., 258) on her property "in agro Verano".  In 1616 Bosio saw in this cemetery an altar, a chair, and an inscription, with a dedication to St. Laurence.  ...  Many important or interesting epitaphs have been found in this cemetery, among them those of a group of Christian virgins of the fourth and fifth centuries (De Rossi, Bullettino, 1863).  In the fourth century Constantine built here a basilica over the tomb (ad corpus) of St. Laurence; here were buried Pope Zosimus (418), Sixtus III (440), and Hilary (468); in one of these three niches, later vacant, lie buried the remains of Pius IX. In 432 Sixtus III added ... A discussion (and drawing) of the excavation of part of her cemetery is contained at Bill Thayer's site, which reproduces a chapter of "Pagan and Christian Rome" by Rodolfo Lanciani, published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York, 1892.  The chapter reproduced on that page, written more than a century ago, provides a good overview of the cemeteries, catacombs and Christians of Rome. In what may be the greatest resource regarding this is: ...  The whole book is now usually known as the "Chronographer of A.D. 354".  Besides this ancient papal catalogue, the book contains an official calendar, civil and astronomical, lunar cycles, and a Paschal table calculated to 412, a list of the prefects of Rome from 253 to 354 (the only continuous one known), a chronicle of Roman history, the "Natalitia Caesarum", and other useful contents, which have caused it to be styled "the oldest Christian Almanac".  It contains numerous traces of having been drawn up for the use of the Roman Church, and hence the value of two of its documents for the cemeteries.  ... [ This may have been prepared by Administrator-Pope-Saint Damasus to record the information obtained from both excavations and the eyewitnesses who managed to survive the FINAL Great Persecution of Diocletian begun in 303.  The preparation of the Depositio Martyrum may have been the primary purpose of all those efforts. ] (Again, quoting from The Catholic Encyclopedia, the next highlights the "famous" description.) . . . ... several famous martyrs and their cemeteries. . . . Page 103 of the Hertling book has: "...  In the Liber pontificalis there is a reference which may be very old to the property of a pious woman named Cyriaca which had been confiscated by the fiscus, or treasury, during a time of persecution.  ("Silvester", p 182) Without doubt this estate is to be identified with the land containing the cemetery of Cyriaca under St. Laurence in the Agro Verano."   Page 175 of the same book shows the following inscription from the cemetery of Cyriaca of the year 400:  "Soteris has in her lifetime bought (this tomb) from the fossor Celerinus for herself and her husband Vernaculus"; ...', indicating that someone was (still) at the confiscated, post-persecution cemetery after Constantine I had already built the small ?Basilica? of St. Laurence next to or above it.   The cemetery is indirectly referenced on page 106 of "The Decline of Rome", by Joseph Vogt: "It is significant that Rome itself was dignified by several churches over and above those built directly after the victory at the Milvian Bridge; ..., and Laurence the Deacon, a victim of Valerian's persecution, all had churches built over their tombs.  ..." Notables buried in the catacomb of St. Cyriaca: St. Laurence Treasurer, ?next in line to become Bishop of Rome? when martyred on August 10th, 258 when Emperor Valerian succeeded in killing off most of the leadersuip of the Church, including St. Cyprian the Bishop of Carthage. Zosimus Pope: 417 - 418 Sixtus III Pope: 432 - 440 Hilarius Pope: 461 - 468 PIUS IX Pope: 1846 - 1878 CATHOLIC HISTORY - Roman catacombs also mentions "St. Ciriaca" cemetery on the road to Tivoli.   CYRIACUS CEMETERY - SUBURBAN ROME, ITALY III. VIA OSTIENSIS At Roman sites - Mosaic - Rome, S. Costanza, ..., there is: "We have also preserved in the Chigi Library some mosaic from the ." (The Chigi Library in Rome undoubtedly has many ancient artifacts which could aide our research efforts.) RELICS . . . Parts of these Martyred Saints: ..., Valerian, ..., Cyriacus, Sixtus, Bishop & Martyr, Christopher, Boniface, ...

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