July 16, 2001
Correction to article of 9/4/2000

Painted lunette with banquet scene. Catacomb of Ss. Peter and Marcellinus. CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE

The parish of the church of Saints Peter and Marcellinus (extra urbem) will be organizing the tours and asks that reservations be made in person in the sacristy of the church from early May through the dates for the visits. For futher information and confirmation of the dates available for the visits, contact the parish office at +39/06/2419446.

To arrange a private visit to the catacomb and mausoleum of Elena, contact the Rome office of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology (number and e-mail on ICS website).

The parish church of Peter and Marcellinus is not alone in organizing pilgrimages to the original subterranean sanctuaries to the Roman martyrs on the date of their dies natalis (in this context, the "birthday" is the date of death and start of the martyr’s state of eternal beatitute near God in Heaven). There are modern Catholic associations which have revived the very ancient tradition of the veneration of the martyrs in the catacombs, celebrating Masses on the feast dates for the saints in the Roman calender. There are well over a hundred saints in the Roman Martyrology (listed also in the Catholic Daily Missals) whose places of burial were in many of the catacombs near Rome up through the early Middle Ages. In the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., there was a mass effort on the part of several popes to translate the holy relics within the city walls of Rome, and the surviving "calenders" from that time affixed to the walls of churches such as San Silvestro in Capite, San Lorenzo in Lucina, Santa Prassede and San Pietro in Vaticano (modern grottoes) attest to these translation of relics to the churches within the city walls.

The modern pilgrimages to the catacombs are not tourist visits. They will probably include a Mass and, as with all visits to the catacombs, be limited to a small number of people. For those interested in the experience of keeping alive the old tradition, however, the information provided below may help put ICS members in contact with the parishes or groups responsible for the pilgrimages. Among the catacombs which host modern visitors on the feast dates are those to Saint Valentine (February 14th), Saint Pope Sylvester (December 31st, in Priscilla), and it is said Saint Hippolytus and Saint Hermes as well.

Below is an abbreviated Proper of the Saints - acalender taken from the Roman Martyrology which lists the feast dates of many martyrs and confessors buried in the catacombs around Rome. Included as well are several saints either too famous not to mention or whose relics are to be found in Rome today.
The date is given first then the name of the saint, his or her role and in many cases at the end the traditional date of death. One should always note that many of the saints’ Passiones were compiled generations if not centuries after their deaths, and this list does not try to give a critical reading of the veracity and accuracy of these names and dates.

The feast dates correspond to those listed in the calender of the Old Roman rite (pre Vatican II).