In The Catacomb(S) Of Callixtus Poem by Dr. Antony Theodore

In the Catacomb(s) of Callixtus.
(also known as the Cemetery of Callixtus)


A woman prayed in the third century.
Her picture is on the walls of the Catacomb,
covered the head with a veil
wearing a costly vestment
opening her palms like a shell
she lifts up her hands to God above,
a gesture which lifts us all up to God
as if she prays for all of us.

All women and men of all religions
have lifted up their hands
opening up the palms
to the Gods and Goddesses
of the antique age.

Here in the Catacomb stays a woman
in the underground dark cemetery
praying at the face of death and graves.


Hindus, Muslims, Christians
come, we shall lift up our hands
and open it like an open shell.

God, who is beyond all religions
will listen to our prayers for unity.

(There is the mural painting of praying woman
even now in the underground cemetery of the catacomb in Rom. This poem was written after seeing it) .