The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (506 page)

(Gk., kata kumbas, ‘by the hollows’, an area south of Rome). In these long underground burial chambers (outside the city walls as burial was not permitted within) the bodies of the departed were placed in coffin-like recesses, in rows usually about four deep. Christian catacombs seem to be copied from Jewish ones. Six Jewish catacombs have been found in Rome. C
tacombs are found outside many cities, but the most famous and extensive—several hundred miles of them—are at Rome. Services commemorating
martyrs
buried there were held, and they became centres of
pilgrimage
as the cult of martyrs developed.

 
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(Gk.,
kat
che
, ‘instruct’). An elementary manual of Christian doctrine. In the Middle Ages books were produced containing explanations of the
Lord's Prayer
and
creed
, lists of mortal sins, etc. It was the
Reformation
, however, with its insistence on religious instruction, which brought forth the catechisms known today. Catechisms normally contain expositions of the creed, Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; RC ones add instructions on the
Hail Mary
,
sacraments
, virtues and vices, and extend into virtually every area of doctrine and behaviour.

 
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Catechumen
.

One who is undergoing training and instruction
(Gk.,
katachesis
) prior to Christian
baptism
. See also
NEO-CATECHUMENATE
.

 
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Categorical imperative
.

In Kantian ethics, the universal moral law, by which all rational beings are by duty constrained to act. The term was introduced in the
Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
(1785).

 
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Category mistakes
:

see
MYTH
.

 
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