The creation of the small hypogeal basilica, through the expansion of the previous cubiculum where the martyr was buried, is attributed to the intervention of the presbyter Andrea during the pontificate of Pope Vigilius (537–555). The martyr’s tomb was separated from the rock wall and likely enclosed in a block altar. To construct the small basilica, a gallery running alongside the cubiculum was also demolished. The terminal part of the hypogeal basilica became a proper presbytery.
Description: The object of veneration was the tomb of the martyr Hippolytus, a presbyter of the Roman Church, writer, schismatic, and antipope during the time of Callixtus and Pontian (for the complex issue regarding the identification of the figure, see the discussion in Amore, cited in the bibliography). The martyr’s tomb was probably a loculus carved into the wall of a cubiculum in the catacomb (reconstruction of the various phases of the sanctuary in Bertonière, cited in the bibliography).
Date of use: between 354 and 354
Type: Object of veneration not classifiable as an image or relic
Location: Other
Collection of ex-votos: No
Original location of the Sanctuary: Ex-votos could include the inscription of Damasus, that of Vigilius, and the graffiti of pilgrims (ICUR VII, 20166, 19949-44).
The earliest attestation refers to the mention in the Hieronymian Martyrology; the term indicating the beginning of the sanctuary’s abandonment refers to the end of the pontificate of Leo IV, who is said to have transferred the martyr’s body to the urban church of Santi Quattro Coronati.
According to the account in the Passio Polichronii, attributed to the 6th century, Hippolytus, an officer of the palace guard and jailer of Lawrence, was converted by him and thus also condemned to martyrdom; his body and those of his companions were buried by the presbyter Justin in *campo iuxta nimpham ad latus agri Verani*, on the Ides of August. A different tradition, reported by Prudentius, states that Hippolytus, a presbyter, was condemned to be dragged by galloping horses and after his martyrdom was buried in Porto.
The tradition that Hippolytus was condemned to be dragged by horses is recounted by Prudentius, who found visual confirmation of this tradition in the painting above the martyr’s tomb.
The *Liber Pontificalis* records restorations carried out in the small basilica by Pope Adrian I (772–795): *et cymeterium beati Yppoliti martyris… noviter restauravit* (LP I, p. 154). Leo IV (847–855) transferred the body of Hippolytus to the church of Santi Quattro Coronati (LP II, pp. 115–116); however, Hippolytus’s name is mentioned before this translation in an inscription preserved at S. Silvestro in Capite, dated to the time of Paul I (757–767). Relics of the same martyr were given to the Frankish king Pepin and transferred to the monastery of Saint-Denis in Paris.
As with other suburban martyr shrines, a parochial jurisdiction is plausible—that is, some form of dependence on one of the Roman *tituli*. However, there is no definitive evidence regarding which urban *titulus* the cemetery depended on. An inscription dated to 489 mentions the purchase of a tomb from a presbyter of the *titulus* of S. Prassede (ICUR VII, 19991); two other inscriptions (one from the mid-5th century—ICUR VII, 20157—and one from 528—ICUR VII, 19994) refer to two individuals buried in this cemetery who belonged to the *titulus* of S. Pudenziana.
Via di S. Ippolito, 56, 00162 Roma, Italy
