Catacombs of St. Agnes – burial in the shadow of a famous martyr
Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, apse with the image of St. Agnes, Pope Honorius I and Pope Gregory the Great
Reliquary with the remains of St. Agnes, Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura
Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, apse with images of St. Agnes
Sketch of the catacombs in the so-called Caementerium Agnesis at via Nomentana
The place of eternal rest of St. Agnes was located in the catacombs at via Nomentanta. Today her remains can be seen enclosed in an ornamental reliquary in the crypt of the Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, reportedly laid to rest right above her original tomb.
The place of eternal rest of St. Agnes was located in the catacombs at via Nomentanta. Today her remains can be seen enclosed in an ornamental reliquary in the crypt of the Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, reportedly laid to rest right above her original tomb.
Before this was a place of Christian catacombs, pagan catacombs were located here as well as a cemetery of the Praetorian guard. The oldest burials took place in II century A.D., the newest in the V century. Today guides show tourists around the broad 10km areal of underground corridors, showing the niches carved out in the soft tuft, where corpses wrapped in sheets were placed. They were closed with stone slabs, sometimes covered with inscriptions or small symbols of the Christian faith – a bird, a fish, or the letters IXOYΣ. This monotonous labyrinth is sometimes diversified by a cubicula – a type of a small chapel, in which wealthy Christians were buried, far from the corridors of the poor, disproving the notion of equality and fraternity of all in the face of death. We will not find any spectacular paintings here, but there are a lot of inscriptions and graffiti.
