Getting to Know Catacombs of St. Callistus

Getting to Know the Catacombs of St. Callistus

Useful for the 2025 Jubilee

(ANS – Rome – April 25, 2024) – As the 2025 Jubilee Year approaches, the Salesians at the Catacombs of St. Callistus retrace their history and highlight the activities they carry out in Rome and in particular within the complex making up the catacombs.

The Catacombs of St. Callistus are among the largest and most important in Rome. They arose in the middle of the 2d century and are part of a cemetery complex that occupies an area of 38 acres, with a network of tunnels almost 12 miles long, on several floors, and reach a depth of more than 70 feet. Dozens of martyrs, 16 popes, and many other Christians were buried in them.

Pope Pius XI, who had met Don Bosco and sensed the good that the Salesian Congregation could do by welcoming pilgrims and visitors to this important place for the Church in the early centuries, decided to entrust custody of the Catacombs of St. Callistus to the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1930.

Since then, many Salesians have cared for and continue to care for pilgrims at the catacombs, and some of them rest in a small cemetery at the entrance of the district. Today there are 16 Salesians from all over the world who make the catacombs known, in many languages, to visitors and pilgrims.

What is proposed is not so much a touristic and archaeological visit, but a real spiritual journey experienced through the symbols, tombs, testimonies, and history of this place.

Here, in fact, in a journey that lasts an average of 45 minutes, the stories of the martyred popes who rest in the Crypt of the Popes are told, the most sacred and important place of these catacombs, called “the little Vatican” because 9 popes and, probably, 8 dignitaries of the Church of the 3d century were buried there. Not only that, passing through the so-called “sopratterra” there are two basilicas with three apses, called “Tricore.” In the eastern one, Pope St. Zephyrinus and the young martyr of the Eucharist, St. Tarcisius, were probably buried.

Also of great importance is the Crypt of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music. Of noble Roman family, she was martyred in the 3d century. Buried where her statue now stands, she was venerated here for at least 5 centuries. In 821 her relics were transported to Trastevere in the basilica dedicated to her.

Inside the Catacombs of St. Callistus, you can also admire ancient frescoes dating from the early 3d century, which symbolically represent Baptism and the Eucharist.

During the visit, each group can stop either in a crypt or in a surface chapel for a brief moment of prayer or for the celebration of Mass. Even just praying, with the litanies of the saints and martyrs of St. Callistus, evokes a world of sensations and faith.

To facilitate the visit, the catacombs also have a large parking lot, a refreshment point, and large open spaces for play, lunch, and moments of conviviality and encounter.

Added value is the presence, in the same area, of the Salesian postnovitiate, where you can find hospitality for the night, a hot meal, and meeting rooms.

For more information on the Catacombs, to learn more about their history, and to book a visit, you can visit the website.