When adjacent burial areas belonged to members of the same Christian confraternity, or by gift or purchase fell into the same hands, communications were opened between the respective cemeteries, which thus spread laterally, and gradually acquired that enormous extent which, " even when their fabulous dimensions are reduced to their right measure, form an immense work."' This could only be executed by a large and powerful Christian community unimpeded by legal enactments or police regulations, " a living witness of its immense development corresponding to the importance of the capital."