Judy Stanford, Age 12, Of Pryor., Okla., for her question:

Where are the catacombs?

In ancient times, catacombs were burial places tunneled down into the ground. They were protected by law, and in the early Christian era they were tunneled below the cities of Rome and Naples, Syracuse and Alexandria. Some of these catacombs were used by the early Christians to escape persecution. The most famous were cut into the soft tufa rock below the chapel of St. Sebastian, near Rome.

After 400 A.D. the famous catacombs of Rome were forgotten for some 200 years.  When they were found again, people thought they were the ruins of a city older than ancient Rome. These catacombs are an underground network of many rooms and passages five to eight feet wide, and their walls are decorated with many splendid paintings.