Page 21 - StCecilia

Onsite visit

Beneath the figures are common elements in Roman mosaics: 12
sheep representing the apostles, the Lamb of God, and the holy
cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem on either side.
At the bottom, an inscription in Latin gold letters reads:
HAEC DOMUS AMPLA MICAT VARIIS FABBRICATA
METALLIS
OLIM QUAE FUERAT CONFRACTA SUB TEMPORE
PRISCO
CONDIDIT IN MELIUS PASCHALIS PRAESUL OPIMUS
HANC
AULUM DOMINI FORMANS FUNDAMINE CLARO
AUREA GEMMATIS
RESONANT HAEC DINDIMA TEMPLI LAETUS AMORE
DEI HIC CONIUNXIT CORPORA SANCTAE CAECILIAE
ET SOCIIS
RUTILAT HIC FLORE IUVENTUS QUAE PRIDEM IN
CRYPTIS
PAUSABANT MEMBRA BEATA ROMA RESULTAT
OVANS SEMPER ORNATA PER AEVUM

This spacious house glitters built of varied enamels;
This hall, which once in ancient time had been demolished,
the generous prelate Paschal built to a better state,
shaping it on a famous foundation;
these golden mysteries resound with jewelled precincts;
serene in the love of God
he joined the bodies of Saint Cecilia and her companions;
youth glows red in its bloom, limbs that rested before in
crypts:
Rome is jubilant, triumphant always, adorned forever. 12

12 Matilda Webb, The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome: A Com-
prehensive Guide (Sussex Academic Press, 2001), 266-69.

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