The Presbyters Project

hunc locum Augustus et Gaudiosa se vibus comparaverunt a presviteris

tituli s̅a̅n̅c̅(ti) Crisogoni idest Petro priore Crisogono secundo Catello tertio Gaudi-

oso quarto vel a Filippo preposito beati martyris Prancati sub presentia nonnes

Cutties ancille dei vel sub presentia Iohannitis virgari in quo loco s̅s̅(ancti) imtores

praemiserunt lumina sua [---] meliorem habuerunt idest dulcissi-

mum filium suum Florum qui vixit annus VII mens(es) VII dies XV deposit(us)

in pace s̅u̅b̅ d̅(ie) V non(as) Iulias [Fl(avio) Val]erio v̅(iro) c̅(larissimo) c̅o̅n̅s̅(ule)

(Epigraphic Database Bari, EDB40239)

This is the place bought by Augustus and Gaudiosa from the presbyters

of the title of St Crisogonus that is the first, Peter, the second, Crisogonus, the third, Catellus,

the fourth Gaudiosus, and Philip, the prior of the holy martyr Pancratius, in the presence of the Reverend Nun

Cutties, the servant of God, and in the presence of John, the verger. In this place the buyers

put the best light that they had, that is their sweetest

son Florus who lived seven years, seven months, and fifteen days, and was deposited

in peace on the 5th day before the Nones of July, when Flavius Valerius, vir clarissimus, was the consul [5 July 521]

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The inscription commemorates the buying of the tomb at the cemetery of St Pancratius on the Via Aurelia, and it mentions probably all the presbyters, and some other ecclesiastics, currently active in the titular church (parish) of St Crisogonus in Trastevere.

Apparently, the titulus of Crisogonus was responsible for the administration of the basilica and cemetery of St Pancratius.

The presbyter Peter may be identical with one of the presbyter Peters of the title of Crisogonus present at the Council of Rome of AD 499 [662].

The office of the "prior" (praepositus) of the basilica is confirmed only in the epigraphic sources between AD 492 and 561/562 (Guyon 1974: 580–587). It is not clear, whether they held some ecclesiastical grade. It results from the text that Philip rather was not a presbyter, but it is not totally definite.

Place of event:

Region

Rome

City

Rome

About the source:

Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The funerary inscription was put on the marble slab in the cemetery of St Pancratius. It was lost and is known only from the transcription by de Rossi. There was a second inscription on the same slab commemorating Gaudiosa, who died four years later, in AD 525.

Edition:

Epigraphic Database Bari, 40239

Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae, Nova Series, 2, 4279

E. Diehl (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1, ed. 2, Berlin 1961, no. 1137.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 6/2, 9994

Trismegistos no. 574878.

Epigraphik Datenbank Clauss/Slaby no. EDCS-19600512.

Bibliography:

C. Carletti, Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 216, no. 110.

J. Guyon, "La vente des tombes à travers l’épigraphie de la Rome chrétienne (IIIe, VIIe siècles) : le rôle des fossores, mansionarii, praepositi et prêtres”, Mélanges de l’école française de Rome 86 (1974), 549–596.

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Parish presbyter

Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Specific number of presbyters from the same church

Economic status and activity - Buying & selling

Ecclesiastical administration - Selling tombs/Administering graveyards

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2139, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2139