Description
The Catacombs of St. Callixtus are one of the great underground cemeteries of the early Christians, along the Appian Way: more than twenty kilometers of tunnels where over fifty martyrs and sixteen popes were buried. The visit takes you down among burial niches, crypts and paintings almost two thousand years old.
The heart of it is the Crypt of the Popes, with the original Greek tombstones of five 3rd-century pontiffs. Next to it, the Crypt of St. Cecilia holds the martyr's tomb and frescoes showing her at prayer; a little farther on, the Cubicles of the Sacraments have 3rd-century paintings that allude to baptism and the Eucharist.
They're named after the deacon Callixtus, who ran the cemetery and, once he became pope, enlarged it. In 821 Pope Paschal I took Cecilia's body to the church dedicated to her in Trastevere.
The heart of it is the Crypt of the Popes, with the original Greek tombstones of five 3rd-century pontiffs. Next to it, the Crypt of St. Cecilia holds the martyr's tomb and frescoes showing her at prayer; a little farther on, the Cubicles of the Sacraments have 3rd-century paintings that allude to baptism and the Eucharist.
They're named after the deacon Callixtus, who ran the cemetery and, once he became pope, enlarged it. In 821 Pope Paschal I took Cecilia's body to the church dedicated to her in Trastevere.