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E07496: Latin inscription commemorating a vow to *Felicitas (martyr of Rome, S00525). Now lost, but probably displayed at the Cemetery of Felicitas/the Cemetery of Maximus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably 5th c. or later [provisional entry]

online resource

posted on 2019-03-30, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

Petrus et Pancara botu po-
suent marture Felicitati.

'Petrus and Pancara set up a vow to the martyr Felicitas.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 23398 = EDB19812.

History

Evidence ID

E07496

Saint Name

Felicitas, martyr of Rome with her seven sons : S00525

Saint Name in Source

Felicitas

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Felicitas_martyr_of_Rome_with_her_sons_buried_on_the_via_Salaria/13730527

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

418

Evidence not after

700

Activity not before

418

Activity not after

700

Place of Evidence - Region

Rome and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries Rome Rome Roma Ῥώμη Rhōmē

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Vow

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women Other lay individuals/ people

Cult Activities - Cult Related Objects

Ex-votos

Source

The inscription is known only through a copy by Boldetti who reports that he had seen it in the cemetery of Cyriaca ad Sanctum Laurentium, on the via Tiburtina. However, Antonio Ferrua who considers this text as a dedication to the martyr Felicitas, doubts that it could be placed anywhere else than at the site of her tomb and basilica in the Cemetery of Maximus on the via Nomentana. He also produces an argument from other mistaken locations of known epigraphs in Boldetti's work. But except for this reasoning there are no other clues that the inscription indeed pertains to the Cemetery of Maximus.

Discussion

De Rossi argued that the inscription commemorated the burial of an ordinary woman Martura/Martyria Felicitas in the Roman catacombs, not a vow made to the saint. Dating: if this is a dedication to Saint Felicitas, it may postdate the restoration of her tomb and lavish donations by Pope Boniface I (418-422).

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB19812. see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/19812 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 23398 (with further bibliography).