The entrance to the San Callixtus Catacombs

Even after Jesus Christ was crucified, and after his Apostles died (most begin martyred),
persecution of the Christians was intense for the next several hundred years because
the Christians refused to worship the ancient pagan deities of Rome as well as the Emperor.
The Christian religion was called "strange and unlawful", "deadly", "wicked and unbridled",
"new and harmful", and "mysterious and opposed to light".