Latin epitaph for a woman who was arguably buried ad sanctos. Found in the cemetery of Feilicitas/Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Dated 390. [provisional entry, description needed]
Evidence ID
E07498
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Constantia que et Bonifat[ia]
[h]ụius quia bene pro meritis vi[ge]-
[b]at gratia facti ad sanctọ[rum]
[lo]c̣um in pace quiescit que ḅ[ixit]
[an]ṇ(os) p(lus) m(inus) XXXIII d(eposita) die VI non[(as) - - -]
[d(omino)] n(ostro) Valentiniano Aug(usto) IIII et Ṇ[eoterio]
v(iro) c(larissimo) cons(ulibu)s
'Constantia also called Bonifatia lived and merited well, whose gratitude for such a deed is that she rests in peace near the place of the saints. She lived more or less 33 years. She was buried on the 6th day before the nones [of - - -] in the consulship of our [lord] Valentinan Augusts for the fourth time, and N[eoterius] of clarissimus rank.'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23425 = EDB20374.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Burial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Source
Marble plaque. H. 0.63 m; W. 0.85 m; Th. 0.03 m. Letter height: 0.05 m.Found in the pavement of the surface basilica at the Cemetery of Felicitas/Cemetery of Maximus. [description needed]
Discussion
Paola de Santis (2010, p. 73 note 316 and p. 152 note 823) list the cases where the formula ad locum sanctorum appears in epitaphs in Rome, and Aquileia. She, however, doubts that the expression denotes a burial ad sanctos, and opts for the meaning 'buried with the other faithful (sancti = fideles)'. It is true that at an early period the entire community of Christians could be termed sancti, but in the epitaphs cited the phrase seems to stress a particular dignity of the places of burial, based on their closeness to the tombs of the martyrs. These epitaphs are also interpreted as testimonies to burials ad sanctos by other scholars, including Yvette Duval.The consular date specified in the inscription is AD 390.
De Rossi noted that the inscription used phrasing from Christian verse inscriptions of the city of Rome, but was not truly composed in verse. For the phrase gratia facti, see Vergil Aeneid VII 231-232: nec vestra feretur / fama levis tantique abolescet gratia facti.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB20374.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/20374
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 23425 (with further bibliography).
Further reading:
De Santis, P., Sanctorum Monumenta: "Aree sacre" del suburbio di Roma nella documentazione epigrafica (IV-VII secolo) (Bari: Edipuglia, 2010), 73 note 316, 152 note 823.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
30/03/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Uncertain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E07498 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07498