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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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CATACOMB, n. A cave, grotto or subterraneous place for the burial of the dead. It is said to have been originally applied to the chapel of St. Sebastian in Rome, where the ancient Roman Calendars say, the body of St. Peter was deposited. It is now applied to a vast number of subterraneous sepulchers, about three miles from Rome, in the Appian way; supposed to be the cells and caves in which the primitive Christians concealed themselves, and in which were deposited the bodies of the primitive martyrs. These are visited by devout people, and relics are taken from them, baptized by the Pope and dispersed through Catholic countries. Each catacomb is three feet broad and eight or ten high; along the side walls are sepulchral niches, closed with thick tiles or pieces of marble. Catacombs are found also at Naples and in other places.
A cave, grotto, or subterraneous place of large extent used
for the burial of the dead; -- commonly in the plural.
* The terms is supposed to have been applied originally to the tombs under the church of St. Sebastian in Rome. The most celebrated catacombs are those near Rome, on the Appian Way, supposed to have been the place or refuge and interment of the early Christians; those of Egypt, extending for a wide distance in the vicinity of Cairo; and those of Paris, in abandoned stone quarries, excavated under a large portion of the city. | ||||||||