The Catacombs of San Callisto
In burying their dead in underground cemeteries outside the city walls, the early Christians were obeying the laws of the time: it was not because of persecution. So many saints were buried that the catacombs became shrines and places of pilgrimage.
The vast Catacombs of San Callisto are on four different levels and only partly explored. The rooms and connecting passageways are hewn out of volcanic tufa. The dead were placed in niches, known as loculi, which held two or three rooms were decorated with stucco and frescoes. The area that can be visited includes the Crypt of Santa Cecilia, where the saint’s body was discovered in 820 before being moved to her church in Trastevere.
The Catacombs of San Sebastiano
The 17th-century church of San Sebastiano, above the catacombs, occupies the site of a basilica. Preserved at the entrance to the catacombs is the triclia, a building that once stood above ground and was used by mourners for taking funeral refreshments. Its walls are covered with graffiti invoking St Peter and St Paul, whose remains may have been moved here during one of the periods of persecution.
The Catacombs of Domitilla
This network of catacombs is the largest in Rome. Many of the tombs from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD have no Christian connection. In the burial chambers there are frescoes of both Classical and Christian scenes, including one of the earliest depictions of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Above the catacombs stands the basilica of Santi Nereo e Achilleo. After rebuilding and restoration, little remains of the original 4th-century church.
