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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Very fragmentary Latin epitaph once considered as just possibly referring to a martyr whose name is lost, or *Chrysanthus (chaste man and martyr of Rome, S00306). Now lost, but seen in the Catacombs of Saint Saturninus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably late 3rd/early 4th c. [provisional entry]

Evidence ID

E07516

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

[- - - b]eati
Ch[ - - -]

2. Ch[risti martyris] Torrigio, Ch[rysanthi? de Rossi

'[- - -] of the blessed Ch[- - -]'

Note: Torrigio suggested that the inscription referred to a 'martyr of Christ' supposedly mentioned in line 2 (Ch[rist martyris]), while de Rossi restored line 2 as the name Chyrsanthus. It is not clear whether he meant the martyr of Rome Chrysanthus, or an ordinary deceased.

Text:
ICVR, n.s., IX, no. 24238a = EDB18337.

Cult Places

Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

On a fragment of a marble plaque. There is no published description. Seen by Torrigio in March of 1629, in the Cemetery of Saint Saturninus on the via Salaria. Now lost.

First published by Antonio Ferrua in 1982, in
Rivista di archeologia cristiana, from the notes of de Rossi, based on Torrigio’s report.

Discussion

Antonio Ferrua notes that it is very unlikely that the inscription referred to a martyr.

Bibliography

Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB18337.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/18337

De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A., Mazzoleni, D. (eds.),
Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 9: Viae Salariae coemeteria reliqua (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1985), no. 24238a (with further bibliography).

Ferrua, A., "Visite del Torrigio alla catacomba di S. Saturnino",
Rivista di archeologia cristiana 58 (1982), 35.


Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

06/04/2019

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00060Martyrs, unnamed or name lostUncertain
S00306Chrysanthus and Daria, chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, and companion martyrsUncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E07516 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07516