Jillian's Catacombs of Rome page Catacombs of Rome

Catacombs of Rome

Of the over sixty catacombs around Rome, a very few only five, are open to the public. The others can be visited only by archaeology students.


Excavated over a stretch of three centuries, from about.150 to 450 A.D., these underground cemeteries are similar in shape and structure and made up of long galleries, cubicles and crypts. They contain countless tombs adorned with monuments, sculptures, inscriptions and paintings, all expressing the same Christian faith of the early Church of Rome.

The Crypt of St. Cecilia

A statue of the saint, carved by Stefano Maderno,lies under a niche which once contained St. Cecilia's sarcophagus.


Distinguished visitors: Pope John Paul II

On March 7,1984 Pope John Paul II, a true lover of the catacombs, for the 2nd time after his first visit on October 28, 1962, descended the catacombs and stopped for a long time in the crypts of the Popes and of St. Cecilia, in a fervid and collected prayer