Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-12-25
CAPUCHlN CATACoM6S.

Times.
CAPuCHlN CATACoM59.
GrotesQue Scene. III Dural Chamber at
Palermo, Italy.
The soil upon which the Capuchin
Monastery at Palermo, Italy, is built,
possesses to such degre, The singular
property of fastening the deeompcsi-
ton of q corpse. that in one year notn
ing remains upou the bonos except few
patches OF black, withored skin AMI
perhaps, some Of the hair Of the Ieat
and cheeks. The collins are placed II.
small lateral vaults, each of which con-
talns about eight or ten dead; and. afte:
a ear passes, the coffin is opened and
the corpse taken out. frightful num-
my, that is then suspended In one OF the
main galleries, where the members OF
the family come to visit 1t. Those who
wish TO be preserved by this drying
process make cir Wills accordingly;
aud they will be fled away under those
black vaults so long as their relatives
pay certain annual stipend. When
this is no longer paid. the remains are
taken away and buried in the ordinary
manner.
To cntsr, We pass through a chapel
and slowly descend q broad stairway
OF stone. Before lis ia an immense
gallery, 10 whose walls are suspended
whole nation OF skeletons clad in the
most oddly grotosque costumes. Some
hang in the air side by side. A lina
of dead stands erect upon tho ground.
Some heads are gnawed by hideons
vegetationS, which daform even still
more the jaws and the bones OF the
face; some still preserve their hair,
others fragments of mustache; others
q long bit of beard.
And they are all dressed, these dead
--those wfstched, hideous and ridicn-
lous dcad-nll dressed by their relatives.
who have taken them out OF their cot
fins in order to make them take part In
this awful assembly. Almost oil are
clad in sort Of long black robe, with
cowl which is generally drawn over
the head. 9ut there are others whose
friends desire to attire more sumptu'
ously, and the miserable skeleton.
wearing an embroidered Greek cap and
envelopod In o rich mans dressing
gown, seems, as It lies upon Its back,
to sleep nightmarish sleop-a sleep
at ouce ludlcrous and terrific. A pla-
card like blind mans begging card,
bearing the name and the date oil
death, Is hung to the neck of each
corpse. Those dates make cold
shlveT pass threu b the very marrow
of ones bones.
Here are the women, even more bur,
lesque than tho men, for they have been
coquettishly attired and bedeeked
Their heads stare at you from within
bonnets decorated with ribbons and
with lace, mgking q snow-White fringe
around each black face. III petrltied, al
gnawed by the strange chemistry of the
earth. Their hands protrudp, like The
severed roots Of trees, from the sleeves
of new dresses, and stockings that con
tain the bones of the legs look empty
Sometimes the dead wear only pan
of shoes, too large for the poor dried W
feet.
But now we enter y gallery fpll @
little glass collins; this Is tho ohildron'
burial chamber. The bones OF the littl
creatures, still SOFT could not resist th,
work Of decomposition And you cal
not tell exactly what you a'e looking
at, the miserable little Things are so de
formed, so crushed, so frightfully shape
less. But tears come to your oye
when you observe that the mother
have dressed them all In the same llttl
dresses they wore when alive. Ant
they como here to look at them some
/ times.
Often you see beside the corpse pho
tograph showing the living person as h
was, and nothing is more startling
more terrifying than this contrast,
We pass through another gallery
lower ahd darker, which seems to hav
been reserved for the poor. n ON
! black recess there are some twenty q
i them, suspended all tegother undor a
/ opening under the roof, which lets i
ihe outer air upon them in strong an
sudden winds. They are clad in a sol
of black canvas, fastened about tb
, neck and feet, and as they loan ona owe
] the other, you imagine they were shivel
. ing, seeking to escape, screaming fc
/ help. They look like the drowned cre'
Of some ship.
Here is the chamber Of the priests
| vast gallery of horror! AT. the fir
, glance they seem more terrible than Oh
, others, rpbed In their sacred vestmenI
I black, red and violet, But rs yo
, examine them one after the other,
4 nervous and irrcpressible laugh seizt
,, you at the spectacle OF the
bizarre attitudes, the CHASTITY oou
o edy Of their posesl You bohold son,
who sing, you see Others who pra,
y The faces Of all have beer lifted nj
: the hands of all have been crossed
/ They wear the saoerdotal biretta upo
a their fleshless brows. Sometimes
1 hangs sideways over one ear. in jocl
!. lar way, sometimes IL slips down ovC
5 the nose, A very earniysi of death
( this, made more picturesque by Il
!. Silded richness OF the ecclesiastic
4 robes.
o From time 70 tina q head rolls dow
i upon the ground, the attachments
3 the neck having been gnawed throue
4 by MICE. Thousands Of mice dwell
!. this human charnel house.
i On.certain festival days the cat
4 combs Of the Capuchins are throw
q open to the public. Once q drunkt
n man got into the place, lay down
4 sleep and awoke in the middle Of Il
y n;rkt Ha oallod ecraonoaA howl.