Bisomus

Bisomus

A Bisomus is a tomb large enough to contain two bodies. The ordinary tombs (loci) in the galleries of the Roman catacombs contained one body. It sometimes happened, however, that a space large enough to contain two bodies was excavated. Such a double grave is referred to in inscriptions as "locus bisomus". An inscription from the catacomb of St. Calixtus, for instance, informs us that a certain Boniface, who died at the age of twenty-three years and two months, was interred in a double grave which had been prepared for himself and for his father ("Bonifacius, qui vixit annix XXII et II (mens) es, positus in bisomum in pace, sibi et patr. suo"). A 4th century inscription tells of two ladies who had purchased for their future interment, a bisomus in a "new crypt" which contained the body of a Saint:

:IN CRYPTA NOBA RETRO SAN :CTUS EMERVM VIVAS BALER :RA ET SABINA MERUM LOC :V BISOM AB APRONE ET A :BIATORE

Like so many pious but rather superstitious persons of that age, "Balerra" and "Sabina" wished to be buried in the closest proximity to a martyr, "retro sanctos", a privilege which, as we learn from another inscription, "many desire but few receive" ("quod multi cupiunt et rari accipiunt").


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bisomus — • A tomb large enough to contain two bodies Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Bisomus     Bisomus     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Gravedigger — For other uses of gravedigger or Grave Digger , see gravedigger (disambiguation). A gravedigger is a cemetery worker responsible for digging graves used in the process of burial.FossorsFossor (plural Fossors) or Fossarius (plural Fossarii), from… …   Wikipedia

  • Fossors — • Grave diggers in the Roman catacombs in the first three or four centuries of the Christian Era Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Fossors     Fossors      …   Catholic encyclopedia

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