The Penn's Grove record., 1886-06-12
CURIOUS
\ Visit to the Burial Place of the
Capuchin Monks.

Some things are done in. Rome in a
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, a
church of plain exterior, but rich within
with marbles and paintings. Here Is
the celebrated st. Michael by Guido,
a figure known in every Christian land
by the aid of engraving and photo
graphy. But it is not of st. Michael
that | wish to tell you, it is of the good
brethren of the Capuchin order, that
Under this church is their burial place,
and their place Of resurrection, too-a
temporary 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 10y
a high railing that shuts you from the
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 a snuff
colored old gentleman-little black cap
like a bowl, fitting tightly to the back
of his head, feet in sandals, all the rest
of him e%nshrOuded III a dingy brown
ask to see the cemetery of the brethren
and he will bid you meet him at a side
basement door outside of the church.;
here. after waiting a few minutes, you
will hear the key rafting with the dust
of ages; the door opens, the monk steps
aside and you pass in and down a little
narrow stairway into a long corridor,
from which opens a series of looms.
These rooms are small burial plats.
The floor is soft brown earth and
smooth as a floor; with rows of cypress
trees planted at the head of the many
graves. AL the furniture and ad0rn-
ments Of these rooms are made of hui
mar bones-bones of departed Capu-
chins. The c~andlelabrum hanging in
each room is from head, finger and arm
bones. Any one who has visited an
arsenal will remember how sabers, bay
onets, pistols, and heyarious implements
of destruction are woven into decora-
tive wall designs, rOSettes, stars and the
like. Let him but imagine human
bones so used and he may call up a pic
ture of the CHASTITY mural decorations Of
this strange place, where scarce Il space
on either wall or ceiling is not embossed
with .gDta,o tagtafn1 .lpriat, a,yAa+.v,atgI
from the 300 and odd bones that go to
making of III anatomy. Any one who
doubts the picturesque and decorative
qualities latent in a human skeleton
should visit the cemetery of the Capu-
chins.
Every alcoyc or niche, and there are
many, is occupied by the skeleton of a
long-since departed Capuchin, dressed
in the garb of the order, their cowls
falling forward owe the grim skull.
The effect is heightened by scraps of
hair and beard still c%linging to the skull
and jaws. The order of promotion, or
rotation. is as follows: Should one of
the brethren die, the ground being full,
then the n who has been the longest
time in the ground is taken up and
dressed, and the brother who is the
Oldest occupant of the niche has to give
way to the new conner. who takes his
place i'll the niche, the old one being
dismantled and his bones distributed
among the thousands that go to the
wall building and decoration of the
place. lie 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 Il century. These
rooms while not altogether cheerful.
yet are so groteSque and 50 decorative
II the furniture and upholstery that the
IMPRESSION made Is by no means So awe
some as one would suppose; and,
strange to say, there is no charnel-
house odor to 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 a little of
it.
AS you pass from these dimly-lighted
chambers of death to the light of day.
a small coin dropped into the hand of
the good brother at the door will not
taken amlsS, nor are YOU likely
to regret either the time or
money given for so rare an experience,