e blessed." "Gemella," says a third, "sleeps in
peace." "Aselus," says a fourth, "sleeps in Christ." [352:2]

We learn from the testimony of Hippolytus that, during the episcopate of
Zephyrinus, Callistus was "set over the cemetery." [352:3] This was
probably considered a highly important trust, as, in those perilous
times, the safety of the Christians very much depended on the prudence,
activity, and courage of the individual who had the charge of their
subterranean refuge. [352:4] The new curator seems to have signalised
himself by the ability with which he discharged the duties of his
appointment; he probably embellished and enlarged some of these dreary
caves; and hence a portion of the catacombs was designated "The Cemetery
of Callistus." Hippolytus, led astray by the ascetic spirit beginning so
strongly to prevail in the commencement of the third century, was
opposed to all second marriages, so that he was sadly scandalized by the
exceedingly liberal views of his Roman brother on the subject of
matrimony; and he was so ill-informed as to pronounce them novel. "In
his time," says he indignantly, "bishops, presbyters, and deacons,
though they had been twice or three times married, began to be
recognised as God's ministers; and if any one of the clergy married, it
was determined that such a person should remain among the clergy, as not
having sinned." [353:1] We cannot tell how many of the ancient bishops
of the great city were husbands; [353:2] we have certainly no distinct
evidence that even Callistus took to himself a wife; but we have the
clearest proof that the primitive Church of Rome did not impose celibacy
on her ministers; and, in support of this fact, we can produce the
unimpeachable testimony of her own catacombs. There is, for instance, a
monument "To Basilus the Presbyter, and Felicitas his wife;" and, on
another tombstone, erected about A.D. 472, or only four years before the
fall of the Western Empire, there is the following singular
record--"Petronia, a deacon's wife, the type of modesty. In this place I
lay my bones: spare your tears, dear husband and daughters, and believe
that it is forbidden to weep for one who lives in God." [353:3] "Here,"
says another epitaph, "Susanna, the happy daughter of the late Presbyter
Gabinus, lies in peace along with her father." [353:4] In the Lapidarian
Gallery of the papal palace, the curious visitor may still read other
epitaphs of the married ministers of Rome.