A Short History of the Middle Ages Fourth Edition

Plate 1.9: Orant Fresco (2nd half of 4th cent.). In a private house located in a posh neighborhood in Rome,
an imposing figure commands the lower wall of a small room serving as a confessio, which contained the
remains of martyrs. At the time, the house functioned as a titulus, or community church. We see here the
sorts of lay devotional initiatives—a confessio in a private house—that Bishop Ambrose hoped to end.