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== The Vatican Cementery ==

== The Vatican Cementery ==

The first popes were buried near the body of St. Peter, in Vatican City... The Cemetery of Priscilla is the oldest general cemetery of Early Christian Rome and in several respects the most important. In this catacomb were buried Sts. Felix and Philip... In the latter half of the fourth century Pope St. Damasus (366-84) did much to beautify the ancient Roman cemeteries and to decorate the tombs of the most illustrious martyrs... After the middle of the ninth century the historic crypts had been emptied, and the bodies brought to Roman churches. Naturally, the written references to the catacombs ceased with the visitors, and a stray chapter in the "Mirabilia Urbis Romae" or an odd indication in the "Libri Indulgentiarum" kept alive the memory of those holy places which once attracted a world of pilgrims. <ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03510a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]</ref>  

''The first popes were buried near the body of St. Peter, in Vatican City... The Cemetery of Priscilla is the oldest general cemetery of Early Christian Rome and in several respects the most important. In this catacomb were buried Sts. Felix and Philip... In the latter half of the fourth century Pope St. Damasus (366-84) did much to beautify the ancient Roman cemeteries and to decorate the tombs of the most illustrious martyrs... After the middle of the ninth century the historic crypts had been emptied, and the bodies brought to Roman churches. Naturally, the written references to the catacombs ceased with the visitors, and a stray chapter in the "Mirabilia Urbis Romae" or an odd indication in the "Libri Indulgentiarum" kept alive the memory of those holy places which once attracted a world of pilgrims.'' <ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03510a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]</ref>

 

== See also ==

== See also ==