neighbouring _Coemeterium Ostrianum_ was
anciently known as "_Fons S. Petri_," "_ubi Petrus baptizavit_," "_ubi
Petrus prius sedit_." This cemetery derives its name from Priscilla,
mother of Pudens, who is said to have given hospitality to St Peter the
Apostle. We are reminded of St Paul, and of his friends Aquila and
Prisca, by a monument erected by an imperial freedman who was
PRAEPOSITVS TABERNACVLORVM--chief tentmaker. In 1888 a corridor was
discovered which had at one time been isolated from the rest of the
cemetery. It had no _loculi_, but recesses in the wall to receive
sarcophagi. At the end of the corridor there was a large chamber, 23 ft.
by 13 ft., once lined with marble and the ceiling covered with mosaic, a
few fragments of which still remain. The only tomb here was a
sarcophagus, of which the broken front bears the letters which show it
to have been the epitaph of one of the Acilian family:--

ACILIO GLABRIONI FILIO

In the vicinity are fragments of the epitaphs of Manius Acilius and
Priscilla, of Quintus Acilius and Caia Acilia in Greek, another Greek
inscription "Acilius Rufinus mayest thou live in God." After careful
examination of the nine Acilii, who were consuls, De Rossi concludes
that this was the resting-place of that Acilius Glabrio, consul with
Trajan, A.D. 91, who in the year of his consulate was compelled by
Domitian to fight with beasts in the arena, and then banished and put to
death in 95. The question of his Christianity seems settled by the
discovery of the sepulchre of these Christian Acilii. From this crypt a
staircase led up to the basilica in which Pope Silvester was buried, and
the whole plan of which was laid bare by De Rossi. The tomb of St
Silvester could be identified, and that of Pope Siricius "at his feet,"
as the pilgrim noted (_Bullett._, 1890, pp. 106-119).

Just before De Rossi's death, Mgr. Wilpert discovered in the Cappella
Greca a painting of the "Fractio Panis" or eucharistic feast, which he
cleansed from the dust with which it had been covered. The picture of
the Blessed Virgin and Child, which De Rossi ascribed to the 2nd, if not
to the 1st century, has received an unexpected proof of its antiquity.
In 1890 the floor of the gallery in which it stands was excavated, and
another floor was found to be 6 ft. below its supposed level. The
_loculi_ in this lower portion were intact, with inscriptions of the 2nd
century still in their places, proving that the niche in wh