to the city.

With psalms and hymns, and the solemn chanting of such versicles as:
_"Convertere anima mea, in requiem tuam"_--"Return unto thy rest, O my
soul;" and _"Si ambulavero in medio umbr[ae] mortis, non timebo
mala"_--"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
shall fear no evil," the funeral procession wound its way, by gleaming
torchlight, through the cypress glades of the garden to the entrance of
the Catacomb of Callixtus. Here additional torches and tapers were
lighted, and carefully the sacred burdens were carried down the long and
narrow stair, and through the intricate passages to the family vault of
the Lady Marcella.

[Illustration: SUBTERRANEAN ORATORY, CATACOMB OF CALLIXTUS.]

This vault was one of unusual size and loftiness, and had been
especially prepared for holding religious service during the outbreak of
persecution. Marcella held the office of deaconess in the Christian
Church, and when even the privacy of her own house was not a sufficient
safeguard against the prying of pagan spies, she was wont to retire to
the deeper seclusion of this subterranean place of prayer. On each side
of the door were seats hewn in the solid rock, one for the deaconess,
the other for the female catechist who shared her pious labours. Around
the wall was a low stone seat for the female catechumens, for the most
part members of her own household, who here received religious
instruction. The accompanying engraving indicates the appearance of this
ancient oratory or class-room, its main features unchanged, although the
lapse of centuries has somewhat marred its structure and defaced its
beauty.

With solemn rites and prayers the remains of the martyrs were consigned
to their last long resting-place. Amid the sobs and tears of the
mourners, the good presbyter Primitius paid a loving tribute to their
holy lives and heroic death--all the more thrilling because they
themselves stood in jeopardy every hour. In the presence of the martyred
dead the venerable pastor then broke the bread and poured the wine of
the Last Supper of the Lord, and the little company of worshippers
seemed united in still closer fellowship with those who now kept the
sacred feast in the kingdom of their common Father and God.

Before they left the chamber, Hilarus, after he had hermetically sealed
the tombs of Demetrius and Ezra, his son, cemented with plaster a marble
slab against the opening of that on which was laid--rude co