Brigham City Bugler | 1891-10-10 | Page 2 | Design of the Catacombs

Dcxlgn of the Catacombs. For a long time false opinions were entertained en-tertained which have been dispelled by modern research. The Cutocombs were supposed to be forsaken sand pits und stone quarries, excavated by the heathen and occasionally used as receptacles for the corpses of slaves and criminals. But It Is now ascertained from the difference of soil, which is not at oil adopted for 1 building notorial, ond the mode of con- struction, that they nre of Christian I origin and were intended from the beginning be-ginning for burial places. Another error, that they were places of refuse from heathen persecution has likewise been abandoned. The immense lalwr required for their const ruction could not possibly ! have escaped the notice of the Roman police; po-lice; and the heathen persecutor, by simply closing the access, could hove easily smothered the Christians by thousands thou-sands If they had taken refuse iu those dark and narrow passages. In spile of the knowledge gained on the subject within the lnat twenty years, tiiese errors are still related In popular IxKjks. ; Professor Philip Schaff iu The Century.