Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

his earn, but also to each one individually, no matter whence
he came. That same Dionysius whom we 1
contrary, given it a fresh impetus, and he is not only careful
to distribute alms collected for the support of the Christians,
but he comforts with the tenderness of
"
to Rome.
a father, all the faithful
who go
How consoling it was for Lydia
to witness the truth confirmed
of all she had heard in Greece of Soter's goodness. There was
not one in the whole assembly for whom this holy man had not
a word of encouragement and edification. None amongst them
is truly in need, because all arc rich in love. It was one and the
same, faith which called the Christians of the only true Church
to such meetings, and if they were threatened with worldly power,
so one and the same hope made each danger small, nay insigni-
ficant. But that the calumnies which were to be met with everywhere
in the heathen writings were without foundation, we can
see already from the letter which Pliny the younger, addressed
to the Emperor Trajan, in which amongst other things he says
"The Christians assure us, that their entire guilt consists in
this, that on certain days before the rising of the sun. they assemble
to sing a hymn in honor of Christ, the Son of God.
Therefore they would not have solemnly bound themselves to
treason, but on the contrary refrain from theft and adultery, and
the denial of that which is entrusted to them." The faithful
withdrew separately to return to the city. The Pope still remained
in the meeting-hall to arrange the collections. Lydin advanced
to the holy father, cast herself at his feet, and thanked
him for what he had done for her molher. At the same time
she had learned that as Soter had been a friend of St. Polycarp
and in consideration of Charitana having been his spiritual
daughter, he gave orders himself for her burial and tomb. The
kind Pope exhorted Lydia to imitate the virtues of her mother,
and to persevere with firmness to the end, in imitating her Di-
vine Master. She then visited the tombs of Anicetus and of sev-
eral other Popes, and returned with her companions through the
entrance of the Catacombs to the Via Appia.
nicate her inmost thoughts to one whom she so tenderly loved.
Rome was at this time peopled by nearly a million of inhabi-
tants, and although its magnificent palaces and temples, its public
baths and pleasure grounds could not be surpassed, still Lydia
preferred to renounce the immediate seeing of those gnat eights,
that she might reflect upon the wonderful ways of God, particu-
larly as they had been revealed to her withm the last few days.
She was accustomed at all times, as often as a remarkable event
occurred, that broke through the monotony of her hidden life, to
retire into herself, and seek to discover the cause, by a close un
ion with God. The sweet remembrances of her joyful childhood
passed like phantoms before her eyes. She thought of the time,
when as a cheerful happy child, she sat on her mother's knee,
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