Latin graffito with an invocation of the holy spirits of unnamed martyrs, probably the souls of popes and martyrs buried in the cemetery of Callixtus. Found in the lower part of that cemetery, via Appia, Rome. Probably late 4th-early 5th c.
Evidence ID
E04683
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
rogo asspirit[a]
sancta ma[r]tures
[in mente] abete pro Salutium
1. p]eto a spirita sancta de Rossi, rogo asspirit[a] Ferrua
'I ask you, O holy spirits, martyrs, keep [in mind] Sallustius!'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9533.
Cult PlacesPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Pilgrimage
Visiting graves and shrines
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Source
Graffito in cursive script. Letter height 9 cm. Scratched in the plaster, on a wall in Area A4 in the lower part of the cemetery of Callixtus.First published by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1867. Revisited, and published again by Antonio Ferrua in 1964.
Discussion
The inscription certainly invokes popes and martyrs, buried in the cemetery of Callixtus. Other similar invocations usually address just the 'holy spirits.' Here they are additionally described as 'martyrs.'Dating: Antonio Felle (in EDB) dates the graffito to the late 4th-early 5th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB17809, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/17809
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 4: Coemeteria inter Vias Appiam et Ardeatinam (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1964), no. 9533.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), comments to no. 2347.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 385, and Tav. XXXI.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
25/01/2018
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | Certain |
---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04683 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04683