Evidence ID
E05313Saint Name
Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060
Saints, unnamed : S00518Saint Name in Source
spirita sancta
spirita sanctaType of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)Evidence not before
350Evidence not after
400Activity not before
350Activity not after
400Place of Evidence - Region
Rome and regionPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Suburban catacombs and cemeteriesPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Suburban catacombs and cemeteries
Rome
Rome
Roma
Ῥώμη
RhōmēCult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relicsCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationSource
Marble plaque, now lost. Found in the 17th c. in the Cemetery of Cyriaca, and recorded under the day 13 February 1660 in the Regesta Sacrarii Pontificii.
First published in 1980 by Antonio Ferrua, from the manuscript.Discussion
Antonio Ferrua supposes that the inscription refers to the 'holy spirits'/spirita sancta, often invoked in the suburban cemeteries of Rome. These can be unnamed martyrs and saints buried in the cemetery, but also the souls of the ordinary deceased Christians.
Dating: The editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari date the inscription to the 4th c.Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB31011, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/31011
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 19602b.
Regesta Sacrarii Pontificii I f. 23 (13 February 1660).
