St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-24
WORSHIP OF CORPsEs.
Catacombs Against Which al
Edict Has just Been Issued.

Edlct Has just Been Issued.
corpse worship" stakes a very
strange form in the cemetery of the
Cappucini at Palermo" says writer
in the Pail Mall Gazette. 1t has
been found that the earth of this Gene
tery-powde red tuff rock of some
sort-has the power to hasten the proc
eSS OF decomposition, so that in year,
or less, nothing remains of bodies buried
there but skin and bone, some of the ar
ticular attachments, and often the
hair. At this stage they are some
what like mummies. 70 be buried
in the Cappucini is accounted
privilege, as also the subsequent ex-
humation and station in the galleries
The mummieS, being disinterred, are
clothed by the 'piety' of their families,
and so long as yearly sum is paid for
the honor they are placed among the
gEaStlieSt company by which l ever
found myself surrounded.
"a monk from the adjoining convent
leads the way and the visitor de-
sends broad flight of stairs into we'll
lit corridors cut out of the solid rock.
Goethe saw these galleries long ago and
said the live tutf had been hewn
out with fine architectural eff
feet. The dead in those days
reposed in inches, as they did
Sicily or the Roman columbarii. Per-
haps in modern times there was no
more room for thus 'pigeon-holing'
the dead. Perhaps it was felt to
be better that they should hold
their levee standing, right and left of
the passage-for so they are posed to-
day. (Your sleeve brushes their cos
tunes almost inevitably as you move
alOng.) To these grim corridors come
the sorrowing survivors, moved by the
strangestfOrm of tine cult of the corpse!
And what do they see?
These said my guide. are the
monks-all these-in both these c0rri-
dors'; and we crossed the Capuchins'
quarter into that OF the general public.
These he said again. are the men,
people choose to have our monks
habit for the bodies after they
art exhumed.' In serried ranks,
all down the galleries, standing
or leaning against each other, are
these parodies of humanity. They lie
tier above tier, too. as if in the berths of
The Phantom Ship They stand in
groups sloft on brackets, or singly hung
against the upper parts of the wall.
Some keep their collins. but glazed or
wired side or lid shows you another
version OF the same grim spectacle.
Few of the men are clothed in any
thing but the monks uniform. But by
and by you feel that finery adds another
element of grim irony to the show.
This is the quarter of the PRIESTS said
my monk. THAT is Greek priest with
all the gold OH his vestments. and
hn or
And the red ones belonged to the Ca
thedral. Yes, the purple cassock is a
canon'-he smiled, and added: The |
priests here don't look much better than
the rest of u.s. He was pleased. L won
dered that pleasure could visit the hui
man mind in such surroundings. The
biretti of the priests are sometimes tilted
tipsily over the nOSelesS faces, some
times jauntily over the eyeless eye
orbits. Some bodies have been regu-
larly embalmed. My monk said: See,
his lips are red. The color is bright in
his cheeks. All, cannot tell you if
those are glass eyes, These poor
shades are ticketed. like the blind beg
gars who parade the streets of
London, and their names and
cards. You are invited to admire
Sig. Giuseppe Cuccio's fine head of
hair; the half of beard still adhering
to this other defunct Palermitan; an
eyebrow here, fragment OF a mus
tache there. as you move along.
"a Frenchmen said those cOrpseS
looked to him as if they were writhing
in fierce pain-wOuld presently jabber
at him or shrek; that they hud
died together for fear or helpless
ness! They struck me differently.
The unsparing display of teeth. the
wide-open mouths. made for weak,
wild hilarity. They were far from be-
ing all alike. One hollow-cheeked
figure with gray, flowing locks was ex-
actly like an abject church-door beggar,
still above ground and whining. i'll Pa
lermo.
Undoubtedly the ugliest of the sights
is the Ladies' gallery. Corpse worship
here has prompted freaks of burlesque
millinery, such as the trimming of the
vacant skulls with deep frills of lace. A
young lady'S mummy was adorned with
silver crown, fantastic shoes. open
work stockings, and white kid gloveSl
A Princess-among the most recent of
the interments-Iayi in her coffin. which
bore many artificial garlandS and yards
of much noticed funeral ribbon, and /
know not what other offerings besides.
On All Souls day the dead in the
Cappucini may be said to hold grew |
some sort of reception; but the richer |
class, whose dear departed stands |
there, frequent the cemetery at all sea-
sons. Imagine coming to pay your de- |
vOirS to the ladies with whom you used |
to dance, to your hostesses of former |
years, to the members OF your family, |
to the wife OF your bosom, and being re-
ceived by these phantomS of grizzly |
bone! These bedizened skeletons! |
These rag and bone things, aping |
humanity! 1t is too horrible! Yet |
there are PalermitanS who find mel |
ancholy pleasure, some a certain con-
ISOLATION, few terrible fascination, in
the relics of their dead preserved in |
this cemetery! But not all the inhabi |
tants approve of this mode of sepulture. |
The edict has gone forth that there are !
to be no more interments at the Cap |
pucinl. we ourselves must go now
said my monk guide, ruefully, up there |
to the Campo Santon
ION certain fete days these 'cata- |
combs are open to all corners. A |
drunken man once strayed in here and |
fell asleep. At night the porter locked |
up without noticing the sleeper. Awak |
ening sober, with the early light, the |
horror of his surroundings seized upon |
the man. He ran about wildly among |
the dead. He shrieked, but no one,
even those in the convent, could hear |
him. The earliest passers-by found him
clinging convulsively to the bars of the |
entrance gate. They could hardly |
loose his hold. He was stark madF'