New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-06-09
ARARE SIGHT.
u Church of the Cspuchins and the
Burial Place Beneath 1t.

l
IT Church of the Cspuchins and the
Burial Place Beneath 1t.
From the Chicago Journal.
Some things are done in Rome in q
way that would seem strange enough
to the good people Of other countries.
Let me give you an instance. At the
end OF the Wis Capuccini stands the
little old church OF the Capuchin
Monks, church OF plain exterior, but
rich within with marbles and paint
ings. Here is the celebrated St.
Michael, by Guido, figure known in
every Christian land by, the aid OF en-
/ craving and photography. But it is
not OF st. Michael that 1 wish to tell
you; it is OF the good brethren of the
Capuchin order that are now with
the saints, we trust. Under this
church is their burial place, and their
| places Of resurrection, too-a temper
airy resurrection before the final one.
To see that this is properly done is
! the duty OF the living members, not
merely their burying, but their rising
again, to be clad in: their monkish
garb and placed in the niche to which
they are entitled according to date
and regularly established order.
When in the church go to the left
hand corner near the great altar and
by a high railing that shuts you from
the only dimly-lighted side chapels
you will see a bell-rope, pull it. Not
always a safe thing to do, but here,
entirely so. Soon will appear behind
the railing snuff colored old gentle
man-little black cap like a bowl.
fitting tightly to the back of his head,
feet in sandals, all the rest OF him
enshrouded in dingy brown-ask to-
see the cemetery of the brethren and
he will bid you meet him at the side.
basement door outside OF the church.;
here after waiting few minutes, YOU
will hear the key rattling in a lock
venerable with the dust OF ages; the
door opens, the monk steps aside and
you pass in and down a long narrow
stairway INTO q long corridor, from
which opens a series of rooms.
These rooms are small burial plats.
The floor is soft brown earth
and as smooth as floor, with
rows OF cypress twigs planted at
the head Of the many graves ALI the
furniture and adornments OF these
rooms are made OF human bones
bones. OF departed Capuchins. The
candelabrum hanging in each room is
from head, finger and arm bones. Any
one who has visited an arsenal will re-
member how sabers, bayonets, pistols
and the various implements OF de-
struction are woven into decorative
wall designs, rosettes, stars and the
like. Let him but imagine human
bones so used and he may call up a
picture of the CHASTITY mural decora-
lions ofthis strange place, where scarce
a space on either wall or ceiling is not
embossed with some tasteful design
constructed from the three hundred
and odd bones that go to the making
of our anatomy. Any one who doubts
the picturesque and decorative quail
ties latent in a human skeleton should
visit the cemetery OF the Capuchins.
Every alcove or nlche, and they are
many, is occupied by the skeleton OF
a long since departed Capuchin, dress
ed in the grab of the order, their cowls
falling over the grim skull. The effect
; is heightened by scraps of hair and
beard still clinging to the skull and
jaws. The order OF promotion, or 70.
tation is as follows: Should one OF
the brethren die, theground beingfuIl
then the one who has been the longest
time in the ground is taken up and
dressed, and the brother who is the
oldest occupant Of a niche has to give
way to the new conner, who takes his
place in the niche, the old one being
I dismantled and his bones distributed
among the thousands that 60 to the
wall building and decoration of the
place. He has had his day, and has
| thus suddenly been merged in the gen.
| eral whole.
Many of the skeleton statues hold
between their bony fingers a card on
which is written name and date. Some,
if they state the truth, have been SO
held for more than century
These rooms, while not altogether
cheerful, yet are SO grotesque and SO
decorative in their furniture and
upholstery that the impression made
is by no means SO aWesOme as one
would suppose; and, strange to say,
there is no charnel house odor about
them. This is explained by the fact
that the ground in which the monks
lie buried is holy earth brought from
Jerusalem, and that it absorbs all the
impurities that might otherwise prove
offensive. If this be really so, there
are other parts of Rome that should
be sprinkled with little of it.
AS you pass from these dimly Lighted
chambers of death to the light OF day,
a small coin dropped in the hand Of
the good brother at the door will not
be taken amiss, nor are you likely ever
to regret either the time Or money
given for so rare an experience.