Displaying the Sacred Past: Ancient Christian Inscriptions in Early Modern Rome

Author(s): Ann Marie Yasin

Source: International Journal of the Classical Tradition , Summer, 2000, Vol. 7, No. 1
(Summer, 2000), pp. 39-57
Published by: Springer

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 Displaying the Sacred Past:
Ancient Christian Inscriptions in
Early Modern Rome*
ANN MARIE YASIN

This article looks at the history of collecting early Christian inscriptions from Rome and its
relationship to the study and presentation of classical epigraphy. The epigraphic collec-
tion gathered by Marco Antonio Boldetti at the church of S. Maria in Trastevere exempli-
fies the increasing visibility of Christian inscriptions both in academic writing and in the
actual walls of churches around the city. Yet, the motivations for collecting and the mecha-
nisms for displaying the early Christian inscriptions were fundamentally conditioned by
their perceived value not only as historical documents, but also religious objects.

Before entering the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, the visitor passes through the
architecturally transitional zone of the portico where a motley collection of fragmentary
inscriptions covers the walls (figure 1 [p. 40 below]).1 The irregular scripts and images
of the fragments stand in sharp contrast to the clean proportions of the portico's architecture
(figure 2 [p.41 below]). Moreover, as in many church atria and cloisters around Rome,
the pieces are displayed with no identifying information or apparent organizational
scheme whatsoever. Originally, these objects were ancient funerary inscriptions which
served to mark the graves and provide memorie for the deceased at the tombsites. Their
arrangement as a collection in an above-ground, public, architectural setting, however,
has fundamentally supplanted the commemorative function of the individual slabs.

*This paper is based on a talk presented at the Fourth Meeting of the International Society
for the Classical Tradition at the University Tiibingen, July 31, 1998. I am very grateful to
Danny Richter, Ingrid D. Rowland, Ilaria Romeo, Linda Seidel, Amy Papalexandrou, Robert
S. Nelson, Shane Butler and, last but not least, Wolfgang Haase for their generous advice on
earlier drafts of this paper.
Abbreviations used:

CBCR Corpus basilicarum christianarum Romae, Citth del Vaticano: Pontificio istituto di
archeologia cristiana, 1937-77.
DACL Dictionnaire d'archdologie chritienne et de liturgie, Paris: Letouzey & And, 1907-51.
DBI Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960-.
RAC Rivista di archeologia cristiana
1. General descriptions of the church include: Carlo Cecchelli, S. Maria in Trastevere [Le chiese
di Roma illustrate, n. 31-32], Roma: Danesi-Editore, 1933 (on the inscriptions in the portico
Cecchelli writes, "ft senza fallo ii primo museo epigrafico cristiano e, come tale, merita molta
attenzione .. . " p. 77); Mariano Armellini, Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX, vol. II, Roma:
Ruffolo, 1941, pp. 783-96.

Ann Marie Yasin, University of Chicago, Department of Art History, 5540 S. Greenwood Av-
enue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 7, No. 1, Summer 2000, pp. 39-57.

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40 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

Figure 1. Church of S. Maria in Trastevere, Rome. Inscription collection installed inside

portico (photo: author).

It is tempting to approach the inscriptions in light of recent discussions of spolia,

the re-use of earlier architectural or decorative elements in monuments of later genera-
tions. Constructing a new monument out of spoliated fragments provides a direct and
tangible means of invoking the past, and scholars have recently begun to explore the
new meanings that these reused objects convey in their subsequent lives.2 Indeed, in
the church of S. Maria in Trastevere itself, the re-use of antique capitals in the twelfth-
century nave has become a case study for examination of this practice.3 One scholar
has argued that while early medieval Italian churches employed spolia to create differ-
ent visual impressions-from chaotic and indiscriminate to organized and hierarchi-
cal-in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they functioned to mark a division of the

2. In interpreting the uses of spolia, scholarly debate has most often revolved around ideologi-
cal versus non-ideological (i.e. need-based) re-use of ancient materials. Bryan Ward-Perkins
has recently provided a very insightful consideration of the limitations of this either-or
formulation of the problem: "Re-using the Architectural Legacy of the Past, entre iddologie et
pragmatisme," in: The Idea and Ideal of the Town between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle
Ages, ed. G. P. Brogiolo and Bryan Ward-Perkins, Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 225-44. Additional
bibliography as well as a discussion of the use of spolia in Byzantium can be found in a
recent article by Helen Saradi: "The Use of Spolia in Byzantine Monuments. The Archeo-
logical and Literary Evidence," International Journal of the Classical Tradition 3 (1996/97):
395-423.

3. Arnold Esch opens his famous essay on spolia with an examination of this church: "Zur
Wiederverwendung antiker Baustiicke und Skulpturen im mittelalterlichen Italien," Archiv
fiir Kulturgeschichte 51 (1969): 1-64.

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Yasin 41

Figure 2.
designed

church i
Maria in
nal pagan

4. R. E. Ma
37-45.
5. Dale Kin
(1986): 379
the image
have read
who migh

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42 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

By contrast, the inscriptions in the atrium formed a collection which began to be

set up at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the express intention of provid-
ing access to Christianity's past. The historical context of contemporary excavation,
collection and display of early Christian antiquities informs us of a wide range of
meanings for these transplanted early Christian tombstones. Immured as broken frag-
ments, the inscriptions' presentation emphasizes their function not only to recall but
also to preserve deliberately the remnants of the past. In this paper I suggest that the
epitaphs were significant to their eighteenth-century audience both as historical docu-
ments of early Christianity, and as tangible, sacred possessions-they were valued as
physical objects which preserved both the glory of the martyrs and the history of the
Church by making them visible and accessible.
First, it is important to contextualize the rediscovery of early Christian inscrip-
tions within contemporary intellectual trends. As early as the ninth century, the texts
of certain Roman Latin inscriptions had begun to be copied and disseminated through
collections of syllogae.6 In the fifteenth century, scholarly examination of classical
inscriptions became increasingly widespread, yet humanist scholars focused nearly
exclusively on pagan texts. Compilers such as Poggio Bracciolini and Ciriaco d'Ancona
concentrated mainly on inscriptions which appeared on tombstones or the ruins of
large public monuments such as gates and triumphal arches.7 Only at the end of the

6. The Einsiedlensis collection provides a well-known early example of Roman inscriptions

compiled by an anonymous traveler to Italy. On the Einsiedlensis manuscript specifically,
plus older bibliography, see Gerold Walser, Die Einsiedler Inschriftensammlung und der
Pilgerfiihrer durch Rom (Codex Einsidlensis 326). Facsimile, Umschrift, Lbersetzung und Kommentar,
Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1987. This and other compilations of inscriptions which
have come down to us are discussed by Marucchi who links them to a broader revival of
learning in the Carolingian period (Orazio Marucchi, Christian Epigraphy: An Elementary
Treatise with a Collection of Ancient Roman Inscriptions Mainly of Roman Origin, trans. J. Armine
Willis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912; reprint Chicago: Ares Publishers,
1974, p. 38ff.; orig: Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni
cristiane principalmente di Roma, Milano: Ulrico Hoepli Editore, 1910, pp. 35ff.). For a more
comprehensive treatment of the medieval and humanistic manuscript tradition of epigraphic
texts, see G. B. De Rossi, Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores, vol.
II.1, Roma: P. Cuggiani, 1888.
7. F. Saxl provides a thought-provoking essay on the motivations behind the humanists' choice
of monuments and subjects ("The Classical Inscription in Renaissance Art and Politics.
Bartholomaeus Fontinus: Liber monumentorum Romanae urbis et aliorum locorum," Jour-
nal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 4 [1940-41]: 19-46). On scholarship in this period
in general, see Eric Cochrane, Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renaissance, Chicago
and London: University of Chicago Press, 1981; and R. Weiss, The Renaissance Discovery of
Classical Antiquity, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966, esp. chap 9: "The Rise of Classical Epigra-
phy" (pp. 145-66). Poggio not only made his own collection of transcribed inscriptions, but
also supplemented it with those he discovered circa 1417 in a copy of the Latin Anonymus
Einsiedlensis manuscript (J. E. Sandys, Latin Epigraphy: An Introduction to the Study of Latin
Inscriptions, 2nd ed., Cambridge: University Press, 1927; reprint: Chicago: Ares Publishers,
1974, pp. 20-22; Marucchi, Christian Epigraphy pp. 41-42). For an overview of Poggio's
manuscript discoveries, see L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to
the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature, 3rd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991, pp.
136-140. The attribution of one early humanist compilation, the Sylloge Signoriliana, which
predates Poggio's sylloge, remains disputed (see liro Kajanto, "Poggio Bracciolini and Clas-

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 Yasin 43

fifteenth
tions and
This inte
coveries of the time. While it is clear that certain catacombs were known and visited in
the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, nothing approaching scientific investigation
had as yet been attempted.9 Antonio Bosio's use of late antique and medieval literary
evidence and his systematic investigation of Roman roads led to his discovery of
catacombs on an unprecedented scale beginning in 1593.10 But in Bosio's monumental
work, Roma sotterranea, published in 1632 (Roma), as well as in the studies of his
immediate successors, we do not yet see large-scale appropriation and decorative
reuse of early Christian tombstones."11 Thus, while Bosio and his contemporaries were
indeed innovative in treating the catacombs and their contents as subjects worthy of
scientific investigation, only in subsequent generations did early Christian inscriptions
take on additional value and come to be incorporated into the fabric of church build-
ings. In the sections which follow I explore how this reappropriation marked a
significant shift in the definition of these objects in eighteenth-century Rome.

sical Epigraphy," Arctos 19 [1985]: 19-40). An overview of epigraphic scholarship in this

period including extensive bibliography on Poggio, Ciriaco and others can be found in Ida
Calabi Limentani, Epigrafia Latina, 4th ed., Milano: Cisalpino, 1991, pp. 41-44, 115-17, plus
additional references at pp. 453-57.
8. Fra Giocondo (1443-1515) included some early Christian inscriptions in his sylloge and
Pietro Sabino, a student of Pomponio Leto, completed a manuscript collection of early
Christian inscriptions in 1495 (see Weiss, Renaissance Discovery, pp. 150-51, 157).
9. The sporadic visitation of the Roman catacombs in the medieval period was inspired more
by religion than scholarly pursuit (see J. Osborne, "The Roman Catacombs in the Middle
Ages," Papers of the British School at Rome 53 [1985]: 278-328). In contrast, after several
centuries of relative neglect, by the end of the fifteenth century the catacombs began to be
frequently visited and explored by members of the Roman Academy. See especially G. B. De
Rossi, "L'Accademia di Pomponio Leto e le sue memorie scritte sulle pareti delle catacombe
romane," Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana ser. 5.1 (1890): 81-94, and G. Ferretto, Note storico-
bibliografiche di archeologia cristiana, Citth del Vaticano: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1942,
chap. 6, "Le catacombe romane nel secolo XV e l'Accademia Romana," pp. 73-80. W. H. C.
Frend provides an overview of the history of Christian archaeology in this period in The
Archaeology of Early Christianity. A History, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996, pp. 1-40.
10. For a summary of Bosio's career, discoveries and writings see G. B. De Rossi, Roma sotterranea
Cristiana, vol. I. (Rome, 1864) pp. 12-39; H. Leclercq, DACL vol. II,1 (1908) s.v. 'Bosio', cols.
1084-93, and more recently, Lorenzo Spigno, "Considerazioni sul manoscritto vallicelliano
G. 31 e la Roma Sotterranea di Antonio Bosio," RAC 51 (1975): 281-311, and id., "Della
Roma Sotterranea del Bosio e della sua biografia," RAC 52 (1976): 277-301.
11. That sculpted sarcophagi (and some small precious objects such as decorated lamps) were
however coveted and collected at this time is immediately apparent from Bosio's book (e.g.
"Questo Pilo fir~ ritrovato nel cauare i fondamenti della Basilica di S. Pietro l'anno 1592 & hora si
vede in vna Casa priuata h Monte Giordano, nella quale habitaua gia Mondigno Giusto, Auditore di

Rota; & hora vi sta l'Ambasciatore di Bologna...," Roma sotterranea, p. 65; "Dal Vaticano fit
trasportato questo Pilo al Giardino delli Serenissimi Medici, nel Monte Pincio; doue hore si vede
posto in vn viale per vsofontana ... ," Roma sotterranea, p. 103).

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44 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

Documenta historiae

The new zeal for catacomb exploration witnessed in the late seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries was part of a broader revival of interest in early church history.
This was the period in which monastic scholars across Europe initiated encyclopedic
projects to assemble authoritative versions of patristic and hagiographic texts. The
Benedictine monks of the Abbey of St. Maur (Maurists) under the direction of Jean
Mabillon compiled lives of monastic saints, the first volume of their Acta sanctorum
ordinis s. Benedicti appearing in 1668.12 A similar project (familiarly known as the Acta
sanctorum) had been undertaken by an association of Jesuits, the Socidt6 des Bollandistes,
who endeavored to gather vitae of all the Catholic saints and publish them in chrono-
logical order according to their feast days.'3 In addition, several scholarly academies
such as the Accademia Fisico-Matematica di Roma founded in 1677, investigated natural
science as well as church history and their members included prominent men of medi-
cine, philosophy, mathematics and archaeology.14
With the integration of ecclesiastical history and Christian archaeology into long-
established fields of scholarly inquiry came also the adoption of new methodological
approaches. In his influential essay on early-modern antiquarianism, Arnaldo
Momigliano suggested that the strictly philological methodology of earlier historians
came to be supplemented, and eventually dominated in the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries by the use of numismatic, epigraphic and archaeological remains.15
Building on the work of sixteenth-century antiquarians, authors such as Giovanni
Ciampini and Francesco Bianchini considered ancient buildings and artifacts more
reliable sources of history since they were actual vestiges of the ancient past as op-
posed to texts which had been altered, rearranged, and lost in their transmission from
antiquity to the present.16 For example, in his 1690 book Vetera monimenta in quibus

12. For the most extensive discussion of Mabillon's career and methodology see Henri Leclercq,
Mabillon, 2 vols., Paris: Letouzey & An6, 1953-57. Other useful summaries include Leclercq
in DACL (vol. X,1 [1931], s.v. 'Mabillon,' cols. 427-724) and David Knowles, "Jean MabiUllon,"
in: id., The Historian and Character and Other Essays, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1963, pp. 216-19 (orig. pub. in Journal of Ecclesiastical History 10 [1959]: 153-73). A more
extensive treatment of the Maurist Acta sanctorum project can be found in Knowles, Great
Historical Enterprises, London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1963, pp. 43-6. See also
Momigliano's "Mabillon's Italian Disciples," in: id., Terzo contributo alla storia degli studi
classici e del mondo antico, vol. I, Storia e Letteratura 108, Roma: Edizioni di storia e letteratura,
1966, pp. 135-52 (previously unpublished lecture, 1958).
13. The first volume of this massive Acta sanctorum project appeared in 1643; however, they
only published the first volume of December saints in 1940. See Hippolyte Delehaye, L'oeuvre
des Bollandistes h travers trois sikcles 1615-1915, 2nd ed. Bruxelles: Societd des Bollandistes,
1959, and Knowles, Great Historical Enterprises, pp. 1-32.
14. S. Grassi Fiorentino, in DBI vol. 25 (1981) s.v. 'Ciampini, Giovanni Giusto,' p. 139; See also
Christopher M. S. Johns, Papal Art and Cultural Politics: Rome in the Age of Clement XI,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 23.
15. "Ancient History and the Antiquarian," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 13
(1950): 285-315 (reprinted in: id., Contributo alla storia degli studi classici, Storia e letteratura
47, Roma; Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1955, pp. 67-106).
16. In general, on the privileging of non-literary sources by sixteenth-century antiquarians, see
Momigliano, "Ancient History and the Antiquarian" and Cochrane, Historians and Historio-
graphy, pp. 423-35. This tendency can be widely observed in scholarship across Europe; see

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Yasin 45

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46 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

examples illustrate the adoption of this archaeological mindset in the study of church
history as well.
The heightened value placed on archaeological artifacts of the early church was
also reflected in the foundation of a new papal office. By establishing the position of
Custodian of the Sacred Relics and Cemeteries (Custode delle ss. reliquie e dei cimiteri),23
the Church asserted stricter control over access to the archaeological material in Rome's
newly rediscovered catacombs.24 The Custode was responsible for overseeing the ar-
chaeological investigation of Rome's cemeteries, and thus would have received privi-
leged access to all newly discovered early Christian antiquities. Under Clement XI this
position was held by Marco Antonio Boldetti who, as it turns out, was also canon of S.
Maria in Trastevere for more than 40 years.25
Boldetti's writings, published in 1720 as Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' Santi Martiri,
ed antichi Cristiani di Roma, participated in the contemporary convention of employing
archaeological artifacts for historical ends.26 His book was an attempt at a kind of
history of early Christian ritual practice based nearly exclusively on material evidence
from the catacombs. The chapter headings of Boldetti's book reveal the way in which
he saw his project as surpassing a mere catalogue of Christian antiquities: lib. I cap.
XXX, "[In this chapter] it is shown that the blood of the martyrs was placed by the
pious ancients at their tombs as the most certain and infallible attestation to martyr-
dom;" lib. III cap. VI, "Various rites to be practiced in the solemn translation of the

23. This office was established by Clement X in a brief of 1672: "Diversae Ordinationes circa
extractionem Reliquiarum ex Coemeteriis Urbis, et Locorum circumvicinorum, illarumque
custodiam, et distributionem" (Bullarium Romanum, Roma: H. Mainardi, 1733 [reprinted as:
Magnum bullarium romanum. Bullarum privilegiorum ac diplomatum romanorum pontificum
amplissima collectio, Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1965], vol. 7, pp. 161-2).
For a history of the office and transcriptions of relevant documents, see G. Ferretto, Note
storico-bibliografiche di archeologia cristiana, Citth del Vaticano: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana,
1942, pp. 201-05.
24. Other efforts include Clement XI's 1701 renewal of earlier decrees which prohibited the
export of antiquities from Rome (see Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes from the Close of the
Middle Ages, vol. 33, St. Louis: B. Herder, 1952 (reprint s.1. [Wilmington, N.C.]: Consortium
Books, n.d. [1977?]), pp. 508-09; orig: Geschichte der Piipste seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters,
vol. 15, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder & Co., 1930, pp. 367-68). A subsequent edict of 1704
stressed both early Christian and pagan antiquities and mandated that all new discoveries
of paintings, stuccos, mosaics, inscriptions and other materials be reported to specific offi-
cials (printed in Carlo Fea, Dei diritti del principato sugli antichi edifizi publici sacri e profani in
occasione del panteon di Marco Agrippa, Roma: Fulgoni, 1806, pp. 76-8).
25. So comfortable was Boldetti in his positions as Custode and canon of S. Maria in Trastevere
that he reputedly turned down Clement XI's offer of a bishopric (Giammaria Mazzuchelli,
Gli scrittori d'ltalia ciod notizie storiche, e critiche intorno alle vite e agli scritti dei letterati Italiani,
vol. 2, pt. 3, Brescia: Giambatista Bossini, 1762, pp. 1449-51); for general biography see
Leclercq, DACL, vol. II,1 (1908) s.v. 'Boldetti (Marco Antonio),' cols. 974-76, and N. Parise,
DBI, vol. 11(1969) s.v. 'Boldetti, Marcantonio,' pp. 247-49.
26. Full title: Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' Santi Martiri ed antichi Cristiani di Roma. Aggiuntavi
la Serie di tutti quelli, che sino al presente si sono scoperti, e di altri simili, che in varie Parti del
Mondo si trovano: con alcune riflessioni pratiche sopra il Culto delle Sagre Reliquie, Roma: Presso
G. M. Salvioni, 1720. The publication of Boldetti's book was announced in the Giornale de'
Letterati d'Italia, vol. 33, part 2 (Venezia, 1722), pp. 504-05, and a summary provided in the
Acta Eruditorum (Lipsia, 1722), pp. 513-24.

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 Yasin 47

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Some were skeptical of the sanctity of the individuals buried in the catacombs.
The famous French Maurist Jean Mabillon was convinced that the remains of most of
the true martyrs had been translated in the early years of the Church and that the
masses of newly discovered Christian tombs must therefore belong to the ordinary
dead. Deducing from historical sources that the late antique and early medieval trans-
lations of martyrs' relics from the Roman catacombs had made authentic sacred re-
mains so rare that by the ninth century there were not enough of such holy remains to
fill demand, Mabillon began seriously to question the profusion of relics in the seven-
teenth century.29 He eventually published his views in 1698 in the form of a letter,
Eusebii Romani ad Theophilum Gallum Epistola de cultu sanctorum ignotorum.30 In this
work, Mabillon subjected artifacts from the catacombs to the same academic scrutiny
that he had applied to historical documents in his De Re Diplomatica (1681), the text
which elevated him to a position of preeminence among European scholars.31

27. Lib. I cap. XXX, "Si dimostra, che il Sangue de' Martiri fu collocato da gli antichi Fedeli a'
loro Sepolcri per attestato il pii certo, ed infallibile del Martirio"; lib. III cap. VI, "Diversi
Riti da practicarsi nelle Traslazioni solenni de' Corpi, e Reliquie di Santi, e nelle Processioni
colle medesime."
28. Osservazioni, pp. 327-495.
29. Mabillon cited a particular incident in which pope Gregory IV was forced to decline a
request for relics by the Archbishop of Mainz, due to a shortage of holy remains in the
catacombs (Leclercq, Mabillon, vol. 2, pp. 713-15).
30. As Joseph Urban Bergkamp points out (Dom Mabillon and the Benedictine Historical School of
Saint-Maur, Washington D.C.: The Catholic Univ. of America, 1928, p. 89, n. 6), only the first
of the two printed editions of this letter are given in the most commonly cited source, the
Vetera Analecta edition of 1723 (Paris). The text of both editions, however, is reprinted in
Dom Thuiller's Oeuvres posthumes de Mabillon et de Ruinart, Paris: F. Barnaby et al., 1724, vol.
I, pp. 213ff. On Mabillon's reaction to the cult of relics see Leclercq, DACL, vol. X, 1 (1931),
s.v. 'Mabillon,' cols. 609-19, id., Mabillon, vol. 2, pp. 712-50, and Knowles's summary of the
situation ("Jean Mabillon," pp. 230-31).
31. Knowles, "Jean Mabillon," pp. 222-24. Mabillon was vigorous, for example, in his examina-
tion of early monastic charters in terms of writing, style, signature, etc. in order to establish

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48 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

As part of this debate, Boldetti positioned his book in direct response to the
contemporary doubts regarding the legitimacy of early Christian martyrs' relics com-
ing from Rome. In his introductory remarks addressed to the reader he says that he
had written the book so that the truth about relics could be understood, despite criti-
cism that had arisen, "as result of a letter (which has also circulated among us) written
by the most erudite Father Jean Mabillon under the name of Eusebius Romanus to
Teofilus Gallus about the cult of anonymous martyrs either not understood by many
or understood in a sense different from that given by the Author."32
With his Osservazioni appearing in the midst of international controversy regard-
ing the validity of Roman relics, Boldetti himself makes little distinction between the
mass of tombs in the catacombs and the burial spots of the Christians martyred under
pagan persecution. Indeed, contrary to Mabillon and his supporters, he seems to have
believed that nearly all bodies interred in the catacombs belonged to holy martyrs.
One indication of this assumption can be seen in his table of "Nota de' Corpi de' SS.
Martiri" which illustrates the various symbols signaling the identification of a martyr's
tomb, including palm branches, glasses, birds and urns (figure 3 [p. 49]).33 Likewise, he
interprets many of the vessels he finds associated with the tombs as containing martyrs'
blood that had been collected by pious Christians and deposited at the saints' tombs.34

a working methodology for distinguishing authentic and spurious documents (see Knowles,
Great Historical Enterprises, pp. 46-8).
32. "Protesto poi, aver io intrapreso una tale fatica altrettanto piul volontieri, quanto mi giova sperare,
che la veriti, che in essa si prendono a discoprire, potranno facilmente capirsi da persone eziandio di
minore intelligenza, come dedotte dalla pratica difomiglianti materie: non ostante qualunque sinistro
concetto, che contro le Sagre Reliquie de' Cimiterj di Roma avessero queste formato a cagione di una
Epistola (divulgata anche fra noi) scritta gih dall'Eruditissimo P. Gio. Mabillone sotto nome di
Eusebio Romano a Teofilo Gallo sopra il Culto de' Martiri Anonimi, da molti o non capita, o in altro
senso diverso da quello dell'Autore interpretata" (unpaginated, 2-3rd page of "L'autore a chi
legge"). That criticism still raged over Boldetti's incorporation of antiquities, including
certain inscriptions believed to be pagan, is evident from Marangoni's defensive text of
1744, Delle cose gentilesche e profane transportate ad uso e adornamento delle Chiese (Roma). This
entire book reads as a justification for the use of pagan spolia (broadly defined) in Christian-
ity. Marangoni cites precedents from Scripture and early Church history for appropriations
of all sorts (e.g., cap I, "Che il trasferirsi le Cose Gentilesche al culto del Vero Dio, e
conforme alla Ragione ed alla Divina Scrittura"), from symbols (cap. XII ff.), feasts and
rituals (cap. XXIV ff.), to the title of pontifex maximus (cap. XXXVII), and physical monu-
ments such as obelisks and the Vatican's bronze pigna (cap. LXIX).
33. Osservazioni, lib. 1, cap. XLVI, pp. 248-49.
34. Cf. lib. I cap. XXXIII: "Che gli antichi Cristiani, per collocarvi il Sangue de' Martiri, adoperarono
ogni sorta di vasi e di vetro, e di terra, e d' altra materia, e i loro frammenti, quantunque fossero
fattura de' Gentili, ed avessero gib ai loro usi servito," Osservazioni, 162ff. Boldetti's view supported
the decree of the Congregation of Rites from 1668 which declared that a grave marked with
palms or small vessels stained with blood could be considered to contain (or to have
contained) the remains of a confessor of the faith. Mabillon's challenging of this decree was
deemed risky by his colleagues and caused him to delay publication of his views for nearly
a decade. Mabillon was not however alone, as Daniel van Papenbroeck and others had also
begun to question the role of the palm as a clear-cut symbol identifying a martyr's tomb
(Leclercq, Mabillon, vol. 2, pp. 715-16; Bergkamp, Dom Mabillon, pp. 85-98). Mabillon's
caution is especially understandable in light of the violent criticism Papenbroeck suffered
for his writings, including an accusation of heresy by the Spanish inquistion (Leclercq,
DACL, vol. XIII, 1 [1937], s.v. 'Papenbroeck (Daniel van),' cols. 1345-58).

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 Yasin 49

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Figure 3. First page of Boldetti's tabulation of martyrs' tombs from three catacombs
which were opened in 1672 (Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' Santi Martiri ed antichi
Cristiani di Roma, Roma: Presso G.M. Salvioni, 1720, lib. I. cap. XLVI, p. 248) (photo:
courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, the University of Chicago Library).

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50 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

By arguing that a particular tomb belonged to an early Christian martyr, Boldetti

was able to emphasize the entire grave assemblage as sacred since it had come into
contact with the saint's body. Even in the sections of his book devoted to relatively
straightforward cataloging of the artifacts from the catacombs, Boldetti regularly stresses
the connection between the objects and the bodies of the saints. His overemphasis is
particularly prevalent in his treatment of the inscriptions. So pervasive is the link he
sees between the corpse of a saint and his or her tombstone that a single example will
suffice: under the tabula of the inscription of a certain Decentius who died at age five
Boldetti writes, "Questa Iscrizione insieme col Sagro Corpo si ritrova nella Cappella del
SS. Rosario nella Chiesa di Santa Sabina sull'Aventino conceduto l'Anno 1715."35
In Boldetti's mind, the association between the body of a saint and his or her
epitaph bestowed relic-status on the tombstone itself and thus rendered it a legitimate
object not only of study, but also of veneration. In the introductory chapter to his book
on the catacomb inscriptions, Boldetti makes their sacred status explicit through an
illustrative tale of one tombstone relic's miracle powers:

... avendo letto nella vita di S. Modualdo, che la polvere sola del marmo, che
copriva, e chiudeva nel Sepulcro il Corpo di questo Santo, servia di potente, e
valevole medicamento per risanare gl' Infirmi: 'Quisquis morbo diuturno confectus
rasurd ejusdem marmoris aquae permixtd et in potum sumptd, celeberrimum
languoris remedium certissima curatione obtinebat': Il che leggesi anche de' Sepolcri
di molti altri Santi, come altrove si narreri.

I have read in the Life of St. Modualdo, that the mere powder of the marble
which covered and closed off the body of this saint in the grave served as a
powerful and efficacious treatment for the healing of the sick: 'Anyone with
a chronic disease who made a mixture of the shavings of this stone and
water and drank it, received the most celebrated remedy to weakness with
the most assured cure': The same can be read also concerning the tombs of
many other saints as shall be reported elsewhere.36

By relating this story of the healing powers of the gravestone of a martyr, Boldetti
prompts his reader to consider the subsequent inscriptions of Roman martyrs as simi-
larly efficacious. The epitaphs are important for their texts and what they tell us of the
earliest Christians, but Boldetti's writing also reveals the curative value of the stones
that is conveyed by their very materiality. Physical contact between saint's body and
the marble accounts for the otherworldly power contained in the stone itself and
cannot be transmitted through a mere transcription of its text.

Possessiones

Thus, as the contents of early Christian inscriptions began to receive attention for
their historical information, the epitaphs of Rome's early Christians were also valuable
in the eighteenth century as sacred material objects in and of themselves. Grave mark-
ers from the catacombs became enmeshed in the contemporary traffic in martyr relics.
The dispersal of relics was of course greatly facilitated by the rediscovery of catacombs
that had begun in the sixteenth century. By the time Mabillon himself journeyed to

35. Osservazioni, lib. II cap. III, p. 345 (emphasis mine).

36. Osservazioni, lib. II, cap. I, p. 330.

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Yasin 51

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52 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

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Figure 4. Boldetti's reproduction of the

of its discovery in the catacomb of Calixtu
ed antichi Cristiani di Roma, Roma: Pre
(photo: courtesy of the Department of
Library).

All the bones of her [Faustina's] holy body were found in the grave gleam-
ing and complete and very well preserved and together with the stone
marker, the whole sacred body with the vessel of blood was immediately
granted by the Cardinal of Carpegna, to a prestigious figure of this court,
from whom it finally passed to the hands of the most pious Signor Cavaliere
Niccolb Duodo, Ambassador of the Most Serene Republic of Venice to the
reigning pontiff... 41

41. The passage continues, "... ad effetto d'illustrare con esso una delle sette Chiese esistenti nel
Castello di Monselice nella Diocese di Padova Padronato della sua Nobilissima Famiglia; alle quali la
sa. me. di Paolo V. concedette con Bolla speciale le stesse Indulgenze, e Privilegj, che godono le sette
Chiese di Roma; Per secondare poi le divote brame del mentovato Signor Cavalier Duodo, oltre le
numerose Reliquie, e Corpi Santi, che da molti anni si venerano nel Santuario di quelle sette Chiese,
nel tempo della sua gloriosa Ambasciaria in Roma, & stato anche onorato di varie altre Reliquie, e
Corpi de' Martiri da molti Porporati, e Vescovi di varie Diocesi" (Osservazioni, lib. II, cap. III,
pp. 339-40).

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 Yasin 53

Here Bold
ment of
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Ornamenta

Building on this conception of epitaphs as holy relics, we may now return to the
question of the reappropriation of tombstone fragments into the walls of Roman
churches. While Bosio and other seventeenth-century authors studied early Christian
epitaphs, they give no indication of repositioning the fragments in above-ground col-
lections. Boldetti, on the other hand, provides not only evidence for the practice but
also a moral justification. In the beginning of book II on inscriptions he says,

Alcune finalmente, non senza particolare attenzione, sono state da me conservate a

solo oggetto di collocarle nell' anticha Basilica di S. Maria in Trastevere a pubblica
soddisfazione de gli Eruditi: essendo cosa molto convenevole, che queste sagre
Memorie, le quali dalla lunga serviti~, che hanno prestato a i Corpi de' Santi
Martiri, e de gli altri nostri Cristiani hanno acquistata per cosi dire la Santith
debbano collocarsi in luogi sagri: il che per quanto mi a stato possibile ho sempre
procurato fare di esse, ed anche di ogni altro marmo senza Iscrizione, affinchk
servano per ornamento di Chiese . ..

Certain tinscriptions], finally, have been preserved by me, not without par-
ticular care, with the single object of collecting them in the ancient basilica
of S. Maria in Trastevere for the public satisfaction of learned men; it would
be something very convenient, that these sacred memorials, which have
acquired sanctity so to speak by their long servitude rendered to the bodies
of the martyr saints and of the other of our Christians, ought to be arranged
in holy places. This, in as much as it has been possible, I have always
attempted to do, and also every other marble without inscription in order
that they serve as ornament of churches... 42

Here, by reemphasizing the sanctity of the epitaphs, Boldetti argues for the ap-
propriateness of housing them within the sacred boundaries of the church. The marbles,
he asserts, deserve to be conserved under the protection of the holy place and to be
recognized for their blessed service. Boldetti plays with language of servitude to make
even stronger the connection between these stones, servants of the martyrs, and the
martyrs themselves, the servants of God. Furthermore, Boldetti casts himself in the
role of emancipator, releasing the epitaphs from their dark, underground prison of
unrecognition and oblivion and reestablishing them in glory, "alla luce."43

42. Osservazioni lib. II. cap. I, p. 330.

43. Osservazioni lib. II, cap. I, p. 330. Cf. " ... per lo spazio di molti anni ho avuto in forte di ritrovare,
ed estrarre dalle tenebre de i Sagri Cimiterj" (ibid.).

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54 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

S. Maria in Trastevere, the church over which Boldetti presided, was and is a
popular pilgrimage and tourist church. The collection of catacomb epitaphs that Boldetti
wrote of assembling there is still housed in the church's portico as described at the
beginning of this paper.44 This portico, however, was new in Boldetti's day. The pre-
existing simple, dilapidated porch with overhanging timber roof was redesigned by
Carlo Fontana in accordance with Clement XI's desire to renovate the church while

simultaneously preserving its medieval mosaic facade (see fig. 2 [p. 41 above]).45 The
design which Fontana carried out in 1701)-02 stressed the identification of the church's
relics by incorporating statues on the balustrade above the porch facade of the four
martyr clerics, S. Calixtus, S. Caledopius, S. Julius and S. Quirinus, whose remains are
housed within the church.46 Both Fontana's preservation of the medieval mosaics on
the facade and Boldetti's inscription collection strove to preserve the physical remains
of the church's earlier history while simultaneously enhancing their visibility. More-
over, Boldetti's inscription collection would have powerfully reinforced the emphasis
on the cult of relics in Fontana's design by presenting the catacomb marbles, them-
selves veritable relics of the early Christian martyrs, in the church's portico.
In other basilicas, fragments of early Christian inscriptions were frequently ar-
ranged around the cloister of the adjoining monastery. At S. Giovanni in Laterano, for
example, we are fortunate to be able to trace the formation of the decorative program
quite precisely. The original design of the medieval cloister, built c. 1220-28 by
Vassallettus, included variegated colonettes surmounted by an inlayed geometric frieze
of colored marbles.47 When Borromini redesigned the interior of the Lateran basilica

44. Boldetti originally arranged the inscriptions in the portico and chapel of the sacristy of sta.
Maria in Trastevere (Mazzuchelli, Gli scrittori, vol. 2, pt. 3, p. 1450). The early Christian
antiquities Boldetti arranged in the sacristy, together with many medieval and renaissance
tombstones from the interior of the church, were moved to the portico after the excavations
under the pavement of the church conducted by Vespignani in 1865-69. See CBCR vol. III,
p. 67-8; G. B. De Rossi, "Scoperte nella basilica di S. Maria in Trastevere," Bullettino di
archeologia cristiana, ser. 1, 4 (1866): 76. Vincenzo Forcella lists the eleventh- through nine-
teenth-century inscriptions from the church, many of which are now also housed in the
portico: Inscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edificii di Roma dal secolo XI fino ai giorni nostri, vol. II,
Roma: Fratelli Bencini, 1873, pp. 335-79. Not only was the inscription collection in the porch
subsequently augmented by these inscriptions from the church interior, but many of the
examples installed by Boldetti (approximately 50) were also removed for transfer to the
Vatican epigraphic collections during the course of the nineteenth century (Giandomenico
Spinola, "Nascita e sviluppo della sezione epigrafica cristiana dei Musei Vaticani," in: Index
Inscriptionum Musei Vaticani, 1. Ambulacrum lulianum sive 'Galleria Lapidaria', ed. Ivan Di
Stefano Manzella, Citth del Vaticano: Officina Libraria Pontificia, 1995, p. 26).
45. On Fontana's design for the S. Maria in Trastevere portico, see Allan Braham and Hellmut
Hager, Carlo Fontana: The Drawings at Windsor Castle, London: A. Zwemmer Ltd., 1977, pp.
77-9, and Johns, Papal Art (above, n. 14), pp. 147-51. A note on one of Fontana's drawings
testifies to the pope's stipulation that the medieval mosaics remain visible despite the
destruction of the old portico (Johns, Papal Art, pp. 147-48 and esp. p. 234, n. 43).
46. Apparently for reasons of economy, Fontana's first design included sculpted Albani monti

as the main feature of the upper part of the facade. These, however, were replaced with the
statues of the saints when Clement XI reallocated an additional 21 travertine blocks from
the campanile project of S. Peter's (Braham and Hager, Carlo Fontana, p. 78, and esp. cat. no.
136 [fig. 112]).
47. On S. Giovanni in Laterano in general, see CBCR vol. V, pp. 1-92. On the medieval cloister
see Francesca Pomarici, "Medioevo Architettura," in: San Giovanni in Laterano, ed. Carlo

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Yasin 55

under In
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56 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Summer 2000

The text of the inscription emphasizes the purpose of the transferal to protect the
epitaphs from the heavy traffic and ravages of time to which they were subject in their
original locations. At the same time, the dedication stresses the preciousness of the
stones and treats them as veritable art objects deserving conservation and attention.
Adopting a common ancient epigraphic trope, this inscription addresses its read-
ers directly, delighting in their good fortune in being able to benefit from the frag-
ments of epitaphs collected in the cloister.52 But, whereas the lettering of an ancient
Roman tombstone would have been visible to all passers-by traveling along the road,
this inscription tucked away in the cloister was unlikely to have been read by many of
the visitors to the church. It is interesting to note, for example, that Giovanni Marangoni,
Boldetti's close friend and successor to the office of Custode, does not regularly men-
tion the large Roman cloister collections of Christian inscriptions in his guidebook of
1749 though he was certainly very interested in early Christian archaeology and sup-
ported Boldetti's adoption of antiquities as church ornament. 3 It was the location of
epigraphic collections in the cloisters of these churches that limited the range of their
audience. Boldetti's collection, by contrast, was arranged in the entrance portico of S.
Maria in Trastevere and open to the large public square before the church. Though he
states in the passage quoted above that he transferred the inscriptions, "a pubblica
soddisfazione de gli Eruditi,"4 by locating them within the portico he assured that
anyone approaching the church would see them before entering.55 This is relevant in
attempting to understand Boldetti's project, for his book emphasizes that the epigra-
phy collection at S. Maria in Trastevere consisted of epitaphs not merely relocated
from the floor of his church, but excavated from catacombs all across the city. The
collection was not therefore limited in scope to the historical interests of a particular
titulus, but contained fragments which attested to the martyrdoms of the earliest Chris-
tians in Rome. Indeed, they were considered tangible relics of the golden age of the
early Church which ought to be venerated by all Christians and, as such, Boldetti's
arrangement insured that they would be accessible to each and every visitor to the
church.
As local collections of early Christian inscriptions became increasingly important
means for individual churches to display their historic foundations, so too was a
connection to an early Christian past important to the Church on an institutional level.
Even in Boldetti's day there was a movement to add an inscriptions wing to the
Vatican collections. The prominent early Christian archaeologist Francesco Bianchini
had originally proposed founding a gallery at the Vatican of important Christian in-

52. For an interesting discussion on the "voice" of ancient epitaphs and their strategies for
attracting the attention of the passer-by, see Helmut Hiusel, Das Denkmal als Garant des
Nachruhms: eine Studie zu einem Motiv in Lateinischen Inschriften, Zetemata 75, Miinchen: C.
H. Beck, 1980, section C, "Das Denkmal und sein Leser," pp. 41-63.
53. Giovanni Marangoni, II divoto pellegrino, guidato ed istruito nella visita delle quattro basiliche di
Roma, per il giubileo dell'anno santo MDCCL, Roma: Chracas, 1749. Only the Lateran cloister's
antiquities collection is briefly mentioned (pp. 318-19). On Marangoni's defense of Boldetti's
work see above n. 32.
54. Osservazioni, p. 330.
55. Marangoni too in his guidebook description of S. Maria in Trastevere draws the pilgrims'
attention to both the inscriptions and the statues of saints adorning the portico (1I divoto
pellegrino, pp. 169-70).

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 Yasin 57

scription
tant cost
lasted on
1756 und
with the
displayin

Conclusion

Though Rome's catacombs were known and visited in the fifteenth century, it is
the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which signaled a far greater transforma-
tion in the perception of early Christian antiquities. The display of early Christian
epitaphs in the portico of S. Maria in Trastevere demonstrates the range of intellectual,
antiquarian, and religious meanings that Christian antiquities held for Boldetti and his
contemporaries. Just as renewed interest had been taken in their pagan counterparts,
so early Christian inscriptions came to be seen as increasingly valuable texts to be
studied, published and used as evidence in historical scholarship. Christian inscrip-
tions were not only more visible in scholarly writing, however, but also in the very
fabric of the Roman city. Gathered into large collections, they were no longer mainly
significant as individual gravemarkers, but collectively they formed new monuments
which recalled and localized the Church's past. As tangible objects, they provided
direct physical access to a past which was both historical and sacred. In early modem
Rome, ancient Christian inscriptions were therefore both ruins and relics.

56. See Johns, Papal Art, pp. 36-38.

57. See Angelo Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e vaticanis codicibus edita, vol. V, Roma:
Typis Vaticanis, 1831, pp. v-ix. On the history of the "Museo Ecclesiastico," see Carlo
Pietrangeli, The Vatican Museums: Five Centuries of History, Vatican City: Quasar and Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana, 1993 (orig.: Musei Vaticani. Cinque secoli di storia, Roma: Quasar, 1985),
p. 37, and the useful review of the history of the papal collections of Christian epigraphy by
De Rossi, "Il museo epigrafico cristiano pio-lateranense," Bullettino di archeologia cristiana,
ser. 3, 1 (1876): 120-44. For the museum's contents, see the inventory published by Christian
Hiilsen, "II 'Museo Ecclesiastico' di Clemente XI Albani," Bullettino della Commissione
Archeologica Communale di Roma 18 (1890): 260-77.
58. Giovanni Pietro Chattard provides a contemporary description of the layout and collection
of the Museo Cristiano in Nuova descrizione del vaticano o sia del palazzo apostolico di San Pietro,
vol. III, Roma, 1767, pp. 54-58. For a brief sketch of the history of the Vatican museums in
English, see Carlo Pietrangeli, "The Vatican Museums," in: The Vatican Collections: The Pa-
pacy and Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1982, pp. 14-25.

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