File:Christian heroes and martyrs (1895) (14779329524).jpg

Identifier: christianheroesm00fost (find matches)
Title: Christian heroes and martyrs
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: (Foster, William A.) (from old catalog)
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Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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teristic cruelty and cunninghe undertook to divert the attention of the angry mob from himselfby leading them to wreak their vengeance upon helpless and inno-cent victims. He therefore accused the Christians of having setfire to Rome, and ordered them to be hunted down, slain, and tor-tured in such a variety of horrible ways as awakened the pity ofeven the heartless Romans themselves. Neros Torches.In particular he had some sewed up in the skins of wild beasts,and then worried by savage dogs until they expired. Others hehad wrapped in tow and smeared with pitch; they were then fast-ened to tall poles planted in the garden of his palace, and set onfire, while Nero, attended by his slaves and courtiers, reclined upona balcony and watched the blazing of what he called his torches. The Catacombs of Rome.In those dark days the Christians had no churches and darednot meet in public, so they tried to find some secret places wherethey could gather together without being disturbed. Now it hap-
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NEROS TORCHES 4-0 THE WORLDS CHRISTIAN MARTYRS. pened that, just outside the city of Rome there were deep tunnelsor caves in the rock, called catacombs, which had been dug longbefore to get stone for building the city. The rock had been hol-lowed out into many galleries, with here and there a vaulted cham-ber, where several passage-ways crossed or met. Slaves and convictsworked in these places, and they became known to the Christiansas a safe place in which to hide. They also buried their dead insome of these caves, in niches or shelves cut in the sides of thegalleries, and over the bodies they placed their names, with lovinginscriptions, some of which remain plainly visible to this day. TheChristians used to meet for religious services in these gloomy, under-ground chambers, in which they could worship God without fearof being thrown to the lions or given over to the flames. At night these Christian men and women might be seen stealingforth from their homes, carefully looking behind

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