Vatican Museums

The tomb of the twenty-seven year old Vincentia (Vincensa on stone), praised as a “worthy woman”, was commissioned by unknown persons, possibly her husband. It is difficult to ascertain whether by scripsit the dedicant wishes to indicate that he had merely had the epitaph written by others, or if he had also composed the text, or if he had engraved it on the stone as was the case in marble workshops: this is revealed by an ancient sign (Wall 25, 8) which includes the expression scribere titulos, “inscriptions to engrave”. The Christianity of the deceased is demonstrated by the symbol carved at the top of the slab, constituted by the superimposition of two monograms: the chrismon, in which the Greek letters Χ and Ρ, initials of Χριστός (Christós), “Christ”, are intertwined, and the “monogrammatic cross”, that is the Latin cross with a vertical axis constituted by the Greek letter Ρ, alluding to the name and the passion of Christ.