PUDENS
■r.'i
PUDICITIA
grandfather or the paternal uncle of the other. Nor does anything preserved in the interior of the present church of Pudentiana carry us back decisively to the first generations of Roman Christians; the older portions of the edilice, however, do contain such indications.
One of the priests of the Church of St. Pudentiana attended a Roman synod in the year 499, and was en- rolled as "Presbyter Tituli Pudentis" (Presbyter of the Church of Pudens). The building was repaired or re- built under Adrian I (A.D. 772-795) ; but portions of an older structure remain. The north aisle runs back much beyond the choir and its apse. In its side to- wards the choir there is a slab with the inscription siricivs bpiscopvs. Siricius was bishop A.D. 384- 398. It is thought that at this time, and in that of Innocent I (402-417), an old hall, or basilica, of a fami- ly mansion which had been used as a church, and was called "Titulus Pudentis," was taken down, and a new church constructed. One wall, however, was left stand- ing— the one at the end of the north aisle and in the rear of the choir. It is now the outer end wall of the church. This, according to competent judges, is a con- struction of the 1st century, and a part of some great palace. Its large hall windows can be readily distin- guished. Made in the 1st century, they are now filled up with brickwork of the 2d. At this time the hall seems to have been changed for some purpose distinct from its primary design. The present church stands in the original hall of the palace. Probably long be- fore its construction the hall itself was a place of assem- bly for Christians in Rome. There are, also, some sub- terranean chambers, said to have been first opened in 1865. Here are three long, narrow, vaulted rooms, now opening into each other, but originally separated by brick walls. The walls are regarded as 1st -century work; but the openings which throw together the three chambers were evidently made subsequently, and ap- parently in the 2d century. This is indicated by the construction of the arches. In the original or lst-cen- tury wall may still be seen hot-air flues, such as be- long to thermal. The cutting of the arches would have spoiled the baths. It secured an admirable arrange- ment for the meetings of a Christian Church in troub- lous times. The combined chambers made a spacious room, remote from the street and below its level. Its windows were apertures in the clear-story, and opened into an inner area. Worship could be conducted with- out attracting attention. The testimony of the walls and the bricks and the arches thus accords with the ancient tradition that the disused baths of Novatus, the son of Pudens, were dedicated about the middle of the 2d century as a Christian church. It is thought that in still another room of this subterranean portion of the traditional mansion of Pudens there was once a bap- tistery. Tradition may present another point of con- tact with these baths. In Justin Martyr's examination by the praefect of Rome (about A.D. 106), the following dialogue is reported :
"Prce/eet. Where do you assemble?
'■'■Justin. Where each one chooses and can. . . . The God of the Christians is not circumscribed by place, but, being invisible, fills heaven and earth, and everywhere is worshipped and glorified by the faithful.
"Prop feet. Say,"where do you assemble, or into what place do you collect your disciples?
"Justin. I dwell above one Martin's, at the Timotine Bath. ... I know of no other meeting than his.
" /'rup/ect. Are you not, then, a Christian ?
"Justin. Yes, I am a Christian." In the Roman tradition, the house of Pudens was the place where Christians coming to Rome were freely en- tertained; and in the baths of Novatus or Timotheus were held, in Justin's time, Christian assemblies.
On the Via Salaria is a cemetery called after Pris- cilla, the traditional mother of Pudens, which bears un- mistakable signs of having been used by persons of wealth and standing belonging to the earliest genera- tions of Roman Christians. These evidences are suffi- ciently indicated in Northcote and Brownlow's Puma
Sotteranea, and need not here be specified. It may be added, however, that, in the lower story of this cata- comb, imprints have been found of the seal of a pvdens felix upon the cement which closes a loculus or grave (De Rossi, Images dc la T. S. Vierge chokies clans les Catacombes de Pome [Rome, 1863], p. 17). The cogno- men suits exactly the tradition that the Pudens family belonged to the gens Cornelia (Cornelius Sulla being the first who took the surname Felix), and the further uniform tradition that this cemetery was their burial- place. The traditions are thus confirmed which repre- sent a Pudens family of wealth and distinction to have been very early connected with the Christian Church in Rome. The}' increase so far the coincidences in fa- vor of the identity of Martial's friends with the Pudens and Claudia of Paul's Epistle. The resemblance is one of family distinction, as well as of name, time, and place. See The House of Pudens in Pome: a Lecture delivered to the Royal Archaeological Institute, June 2, 1871, by John Henry Parker, C.B., F.S.A., etc.; reprinted from the Archaeological Journal.