ertain extraordinary circumstances which signalised the
occasion. "When all the brethren had assembled in the church for the
purpose of choosing their future bishop, and when the names of many
worthy and distinguished men had suggested themselves to the
consideration of the multitude, no one so much as thought of Fabian who
was then present. They relate, however, that a dove gliding down from
the roof, straightway settled on his head, as when the Holy Spirit, like
a dove, rested upon the head of our Saviour. On this, the whole people,
as if animated by one divine impulse, with great eagerness, and with the
utmost unanimity, exclaimed that he was worthy; and, taking hold of him,
placed him forthwith on the bishop's chair." [349:2]

Some time after the resurrection of the statue of Hippolytus, another
revelation was made in the neighbourhood of Rome which has thrown much
light upon its early ecclesiastical history. In the latter part of the
sixteenth century, the unusual appearance of some apertures in the
ground, not far from the Papal capital, awakened curiosity, and led to
the discovery of dark subterranean passages of immense extent filled
with monuments and inscriptions. These dismal regions, after having been
shut up for about eight hundred years, were then again re-opened and
re-explored.

The soil for miles around Rome is undermined, and the long labyrinths
thus created are called catacombs. [350:1] The galleries are often found
in stories two or three deep, communicating with each other by stairs;
and it has been thought that formerly some of them were partially
lighted from above. They were originally gravel-pits or stone-quarries,
and were commenced long before the reign of Augustus. [350:2] The
enlargement of the city, and the growing demand for building materials,
led then to new and most extensive excavations. In the preparation of
these vast caverns, we may trace the presiding care of Providence. As
America, discovered a few years before the Reformation, furnished a
place of refuge to the Protestants who fled from ecclesiastical
intolerance, so the catacombs, re-opened shortly before the birth of our
Lord, supplied shelter to the Christians in Rome during the frequent
proscriptions of the second and third centuries. When the gospel was
first propagated in the imperial city, its adherents belonged chiefly to
the lower classes; and, for reasons of which it is now impossible to
speak with certainty, [350:3] i