3/25/2023 0 Comments Classic snake oil pulpit![]() ![]() This often involved creating a fake catacomb under the sanctuary by either digging out an underground chamber, or by raising the floor of the sanctuary. As a result, most of the catacombs were abandoned and forgotten, and the venerated relics of the martyrs brought into the city to be re-enshrined in its churches. In that period, the countryside around Rome had been overrun by various bands of marauders (including Muslim ones), and the city could no longer guarantee the safety of pilgrims visiting the catacombs. Pope Gregory IV effected a major re-ordering just after the year 790. The motivation is thought to have been the presence of an already old miraculous icon of Our Lady (just possibly the one now in the Altemps Chapel). It used to be believed that this was the first church in Rome to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it is now thought that it was re-dedicated to her by Pope Adrian I towards the end of the 8th century when he ordered a restoration. This re-naming of the titulus after Callixtus as well as the founding pope is the apparent source of the tradition mentioned above, that the church was founded as his memorial chapel. However, by the time of another synod in 595 the dedication had become Iuli et Callisti. ![]() In the acts of a synod of 499 the titulus is given as titulus Iulii. He was buried in the Catacomb of Calepodius on the Aurelian Way, and Pope Julius built a basilica there dedicated to him. There is no historical evidence for this, although the pope's residence was probably close by. According to tradition, that pope was martyred near this place, where the church of San Callisto now stands, and it was imagined that the basilica stands on the site of his house-church. However, tradition claims that it may have been built soon after Pope St Callixtus' death in 222. Limited archaeological investigations recently under the Altemps Chapel, as well as epigraphic evidence, has established a mid-4th century foundation date as being fairly sound. It was probably built by Pope Julius I (337- 352), as he is on record as having built a basilica trans Tiberim. It was, according to tradition, the first church in Rome where Mass was celebrated openly. Santa Maria in Trastevere was originally one of the tituli, the parish churches of palaeochristian Rome. ![]()
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