The Capuchin catacombs are located under the Convento dei Cappuccini monastery in Palermo, Italy. Unlike any other catacombs, the entire interior of Palermo consists only of mummified, skeletonized and embalmed bodies, because this is the largest necropolis of mummies in the world. This is both a sad and majestic place, because for a long time the catacombs were considered the most elite cemetery, where the most worthy and famous people were buried.
Let's look at this in more detail, ATTENTION DEAD PEOPLE!
The Catacombs of the Capuchins (Catacombe dei Cappuccini) is a large underground cemetery of the Capuchin monastery, which is located in the crypt of the Church of Santa Maria della Pace in Palermo on Piazza Cappuccini.
The Capuchins (Order of the Brothers of the Lesser Capuchins) is a monastic order representing one of the branches of the Franciscans. It was founded in 1525 by brother Matvey Bassi in Urbino. Three years later, he was recognized by Pope Clement VII as an independent order.
In June 1534, the first Capuchins arrived in Sicily. They settled near Palermo, west of the city walls on the lands where one of the city's districts is currently located - Cuba-Calatafimi. They were given a small old Norman-era church Santa Maria della Pace, which was located next to the settlement. In 1565 it was decided to reconstruct the chapel. The renovation work lasted for several decades due to the constantly arising difficulties and proposals for various additions. On the initiative of one of the patrons, in 1618 the chapel underwent reconstruction, which completely changed its structure and dimensions.
Over the years, the Capuchin community established a small monastery on their lands, which was later expanded with donations from the townspeople. Some have bequeathed their property to the brothers of the order. One of these gifts was the building next to the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, which was transferred to the Capuchins after the death of Don Ottavio D'Aragon, one of the order's wealthy patrons, which made it possible to create a large monastic complex. At the same time, the foundation was laid for the organization of an underground cemetery in the crypt of the temple, which is now called the Catacombs of the Capuchins (Catacombe dei Cappuccini), where the first burial took place at the end of the 16th century.
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In 1623, the new church building was consecrated as Chiesa Santa Maria della Pace, and became the main temple of the monastery.
The church of Santa Maria della Pace acquired its present appearance after a major reconstruction in 1934, preserving a huge number of works of art from the 17th - 19th centuries. It consists of three naves, one of which ends with a wide sacristy and choirs. The interior of the Chiesa Santa Maria della Pace is rich in valuable objects collected by the Capuchins over many decades. These are wooden altars, one of which was carved by a monk in 1854, and marble sculptures, and a valuable medieval Crucifixion, and tombstones over the tombs of the dead, created in the 18th century by the local sculptor Ignazio Marabitti.
Only the rich patrons and defenders of the monastery were buried within the walls of the church, while the remains of the deceased brothers, starting from the 16th century, were placed in a common grave located next to the southern side of the temple.
In 1597 it was decided to create a new, more spacious, underground cemetery, which could be entered from the church. A long corridor was made under the main altar, where the remains of forty-five previously deceased monks were transferred. Their bodies were so well preserved, and it seemed that they had rested a few hours ago. This accidental discovery made it possible to create not an ordinary underground cemetery, but the burial Catacombs of the Capuchins, unique in their kind, albeit a little gloomy, which preserved the almost imperishable remains of about eight thousand bodies, divided by gender and belonging to a particular social class.
The first burial in the Catacombs took place on October 16, 1599, when one of the Capuchin brothers, Silvestro of Gubbio, died, whose remains can be seen in the niche on the left in the monks' corridor. Among other remains of the monks and Riccardo from Palermo is the last Capuchin who was buried in the Catacombs in 1871. The official underground cemetery was closed for burial in 1882, but after that several more bodies were buried here. One of the last burials dates back to 1920. These are the remains of two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo, who died of a bronchial infection. The baby rests in a small coffin at the foot of the altar in the chapel of Saint Rosalia. The girl's embalmed body has remained almost incorrupt, and it seems that she is just sleeping like "Sleeping Beauty".
For almost three centuries, the Catacombs of the Capuchins turned into one of the prestigious burial places of Palermo, where not only the Capuchin brothers found their last refuge, but also representatives of the clergy, aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie. To accommodate such a number of remains, one corridor was not enough and the Capuchin Catacombs were supplemented with new premises. Currently, the corridors form a rectangle, in the corners of which there are small rooms - cubicles.
In 1944, the entrance to the underground cemetery was moved from the church to an adjacent building, which stands perpendicular to the Church of Santa Maria della Pace, behind which, since the middle of the 19th century, has been the "ordinary" cemetery. It was organized after the ban on burials in churches and catacombs. Here are buried ordinary citizens, famous natives of these places, and outstanding people who did a lot for Sicily and Palermo.
Until 1739, the monks still controlled the filling of the catacombs and issued permission for one or another burial. Then they, apparently, got tired of fighting with relatives of dignitaries and began to bury everyone, until by the end of the 19th century they realized that there was simply no more space.
By their structure, the Capuchin catacombs consist of several corridors. In the Corridor, the monks themselves were buried, in fact, the novices of the monastery. Even today, the bodies of 40 of the most revered monks lie there, access to which is not allowed to anyone. Further, the Corridor of Men and the Corridor of Women is the burial place of ordinary laity. In Kubikula (a room, not a corridor in the catacombs), children are buried all who have not turned 14 years old.
In addition, in the catacombs there is a Corridor of professionals, in which the most prominent figures in a particular area were buried separately. For example, the Catacombs of the Capuchins contain the remains of the Spanish artist Diego Velazquez and the sculptor Filippo Pennino. Also in the catacombs there is a separate place where virgins were buried.
Today the Catacombs of the Capuchins are called the main attraction of Palermo. They are annually visited by a large number of tourists, however, admission is not carried out in all premises, and especially creepy mummies are not shown. You cannot take photographs in the catacombs, and modern novices of the monastery are increasingly thinking about banning onlookers from entering the catacombs and leaving the mummies alone.
Tombstones and chapels were created by local sculptors and architects Domenico Delisi, Antonio Ugo, Luigi Filippo Labiso, Salvatore Caronia Roberti in the 20th century, whose works can be seen in city museums and on the streets of Palermo and Mondello.
The cemetery remains in operation today, preserving the ancient tradition of burial in the Capuchin Monastery, which houses the office of the International College for Religious Missions Abroad and a rich library that has preserved rare editions of books.
Once in Palermo, include a visit to the Capuchin Catacombs in your itinerary. You can see for yourself one of the attractions of Palermo, walking from the historic city center.
The main method of preparing bodies for placement in the Catacombs was drying them in special chambers (Collatio) for eight months. After this period, the mummified remains were washed with vinegar, dressed in the best clothes (sometimes, according to wills, the bodies were changed several times a year) and placed directly in the corridors and cubes of the Catacombs. Some bodies were placed in coffins, but in most cases the bodies were hung, displayed or laid open in niches on shelves along the walls.
During epidemics, the method of preserving bodies changed: the remains of the dead were immersed in diluted lime or solutions containing arsenic, and after this procedure the bodies were also displayed.
In 1837, the placement of bodies in the open was prohibited, but, at the request of the testators or their relatives, the ban was bypassed: one of the walls was removed in the coffins or "windows" were left allowing to see the remains.
After the official closure of the Catacombs (1881), several more people were buried here, whose remains were embalmed. Rosalia Lombardo was the last to be buried here (she died on December 6, 1920). The embalming doctor, Alfredo Salafia, never discovered the secret of preserving the body; it was only known that it was based on chemical injections. As a result, not only the soft tissues of the girl's face remained incorrupt, but also the eyeballs, eyelashes, and hair. Currently, the secret of the composition has been discovered by Italian scientists studying embalming. A diary of Alfredo Salafia was found, which describes the composition: formalin, alcohol, glycerin, zinc salts and salicylic acid. The mixture was delivered under pressure through an artery and dispersed through the blood vessels throughout the body. Research conducted in the United States on embalming using Salafia's composition has given excellent results.
The Capuchin catacombs were regarded by the inhabitants of Palermo as a cemetery, albeit unusual. Since in the 18th-19th centuries, burial here was a matter of prestige, the ancestors of many of the current inhabitants of Palermo are buried in the Catacombs. The catacombs are regularly visited by the descendants of those whose bodies are found here. Moreover, after the official closure of the Catacombs for burials (1882), an "ordinary" cemetery was arranged near the walls of the monastery, so that the tradition of burial "at the Capuchins" is still preserved.
In various cities and towns of Sicily, the Capuchins created other underground crypts in imitation of the Palermitian Catacombs, in which mummified bodies are also exhibited. The most famous of these crypts are the Capuchin Catacombs in the town of Savoca (province of Messina), where about fifty mummies of the local clergy and nobility are kept.
On November 2, 1777, on the day of commemoration of the dead, the poet Ippolito Pindemonte visited the Palermo Catacombs, impressed by what he saw, the poem "The Tombs" ("Italian Sepolcri"). In his view, the Catacombs represent a significant triumph of life over death, evidence of faith in the coming Resurrection:
“Large dark underground rooms, where in niches, like rebellious ghosts, there are bodies abandoned by souls, dressed as on the day of their death. From their dead muscles and skin, art has chased away and evaporated every trace of life, so that their bodies and even faces are preserved for centuries. Death looks at them and is horrified at its defeat. When every year falling autumn leaves remind us of the transience of human life and invite us to visit our native graves and shed a tear on them, then the pious crowd fills the underground cells. And by the light of the lamps, everyone is turned to the once beloved body and in its pale features seeks and finds familiar features. Son, friend, brother finds brother, friend, father. The light of the lamps flickers on these faces, forgotten by Fate, and sometimes as if trembling … And sometimes a quiet sigh or restrained sob sounds under the arches,and these cold bodies seem to respond to them. The two worlds are separated by an insignificant barrier, and Life and Death have never been so close."
A hundred years later, the Catacombs were visited by Maupassant, who described his impressions in The Wandering Life (1890). In contrast to the romantic Pindemont, Maupassant was horrified by what he saw, seeing in the Catacombs a disgusting spectacle of rotting flesh and obsolete superstition:
“And I suddenly see in front of me a huge gallery, wide and high, the walls of which are lined with many skeletons, dressed in the most bizarre and ridiculous way. Some hang side by side in the air, others are stacked on five stone shelves that run from floor to ceiling. A number of the dead are standing on the ground in a continuous formation; their heads are terrible, their mouths seem to be about to speak. Some of these heads are covered with hideous vegetation, which further disfigures the jaws and skulls; some have preserved all their hair, others have a clump of mustache, and still others have part of their beard.
Some look up with empty eyes, others down; some skeletons seem to laugh with a terrible laugh, others seem to writhe in pain, and they all seem to be embraced by inexpressible, inhuman horror.
And they are dressed, these dead men, these poor, ugly and ridiculous dead, dressed by their relatives, who pulled them out of their coffins to put them in this terrible meeting. Almost all of them are dressed in some kind of black clothes; some have hoods over their heads. However, there are those who wanted to dress more luxuriously - and a pitiful skeleton with an embroidered Greek fez on its head, in a dressing gown of a rich rentier, lies on its back, scary and comical, as if immersed in a terrible dream …
They say that from time to time one or another head rolls down to the ground: these are mice gnawing the ligaments of the cervical vertebrae. Thousands of mice live in this pantry of human meat.
I am shown a man who died in 1882. Several months before his death, cheerful and healthy, he came here, accompanied by a friend, to choose his place.
“That's where I'll be,” he said and laughed.
His friend now comes here alone and for hours on end looks at the skeleton, motionless in the indicated place ….
Among the celebrities of the 20th century, the Capuchin Catacombs were visited by the French choreographer Maurice Béjart.
The unique cemetery is one of the most famous sights of Palermo, attracting many tourists. Although photography and video filming in the Catacombs is prohibited, several European and American television companies, including NTV, managed to obtain permission to shoot.
The most famous exhibit of this museum is the little girl Rosalia, who died in 1920 and, at the request of her loving father, was embalmed by the famous necro-make-up master Alfredo Salafia. The result exceeded all expectations: almost a hundred years have passed, and the girl in a glass coffin looks just asleep. Her hair, eyelashes, eyebrows were preserved in absolute integrity, and the especially faint-hearted keepers of the crypt even started a rumor that at night the girl opens her eyes. You should not pay attention to this, but it is very interesting to find out the secret of Salafia's magic balm: modern scientists have found out that it included alcohol, formalin, glycerin, zinc and salicylic acid, and the solution was injected directly into the circulatory system. In honor of this girl, the chapel of the Mother of God at the monastery was renamed into the chapel of St. Rosalia, and the girl is located there.
Monks corridor
A typical fragment of the Monks' Corridor
The Monks' Corridor is historically the oldest part of the Catacombs. Burials were made here from 1599 to 1871. To the right of the current entrance of the corridor (closed to the public) are the bodies of 40 of the most revered monks, as well as the following notable persons:
- Alessio Narbone - spiritual writer, - Ayala - the son of a Tunisian bey, who converted to Christianity and took the name Philip of Austria (died September 20, 1622), - Don Vincenzo Agati (died April 3, 1731).
On the left side of the corridor, among other monks, are the bodies of Sylvester of Gubbio (died October 16, 1599), the first to be buried in the Catacombs, and Riccardo of Palermo (died in 1871), the last of the Capuchins to be buried here. All the bodies of the Capuchins are dressed in the robes of their order - a rough cassock with a hood and a rope around the neck.
Corridor of men
Fragment of the Corridor of Men
The men's corridor forms one of the two long sides of the rectangle. Here during the XVIII-XIX centuries the bodies of the philanthropists and donors of the monastery from among the lay men were housed. In accordance with the wills of those buried here or the wishes of their relatives, the bodies of the deceased are dressed in a variety of clothes - from a rough burial shroud like a monk's robe to luxurious suits, shirts, frills and ties.
Cubicle of children
The cubicle of children is located at the intersection of the Corridors of Men and Priests. In a small room, in closed or open coffins, as well as in niches along the walls, the remains of several dozen children are placed. In the central niche is a baby rocking chair, on which a boy sits, holding his younger sister in his arms.
The skeletal remains constitute an amazing contrast to the children's costumes and dresses lovingly chosen by their parents, as noted by Maupassant in The Wandering Life.
… We come to a gallery full of small glass coffins: these are children. Barely strong bones could not stand it. And it is difficult to see what, in fact, lies in front of you, they are so disfigured, flattened and terrible, these pitiful kids. But tears come to your eyes, because their mothers dressed them in the little dresses that they wore in the last days of their lives. And mothers still come here to look at them, at their children!
Corridor of women
Fragment of the Women's Corridor
The women's corridor forms one of the smaller sides of the rectangle. Until 1943, the entrance to this corridor was closed with two wooden bars, and niches with bodies were protected by glass. As a result of the Allied bombing in 1943, one of the gratings and glass barriers were destroyed, and the remains were significantly damaged.
Most of the bodies of women placed here lie in separate horizontal niches, and only a few of the best-preserved bodies are placed in vertical niches. The bodies of women are dressed in the best clothes in the fashion of the 18th-19th centuries - silk dresses with lace and frills, hats and caps. The shocking discrepancy between the scattered remains and the flashy fashionable outfits in which they are dressed is noticed by Maupassant.
Here are women who are even more ugly comical than men because they are coquettishly dressed up. Empty eye sockets gaze at you from under lace caps decorated with ribbons that frame those black faces with their dazzling whiteness, eerie, rotten, eaten by decay. Hands protrude from the sleeves of new dresses like the roots of felled trees, and the stockings that hug the bones of the legs seem empty. Sometimes the deceased is wearing only shoes, huge on his wretched, dry legs.
Cubicle of virgins
A small cube, located at the intersection of the Corridors of Women and Professionals, is reserved for the burial of girls and unmarried women. About a dozen bodies lie and stand by a wooden cross, over which is placed the inscription “These are the ones who were not defiled with their wives, for they are virgins; these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes”(Rev. 14: 4). The girls' heads are crowned with metal crowns as a sign of the virgin purity of the dead.
New corridor
New corridor
The new corridor is the most recent part of the Catacombs, used after the ban on displaying the bodies of the dead (1837). As a result of this prohibition, there are no wall niches in the corridor. The entire space of the corridor was gradually (1837-1882) filled with coffins. As a result of the bombing on March 11, 1943 and the fire in 1966, most of the coffins were destroyed. Currently, the surviving coffins are placed along the walls in several rows, so that in the central part of the corridor you can see the majolica floor. In addition, several "family groups" can be seen in the New Corridor - the bodies of the father and mother of the family with their several teenage children are displayed together.
Corridor of professionals
Fragment of the Corridor of Professionals
Bodies of two military men (Francesco Enea - lower)
The Professional Corridor, which runs parallel to the Men's Corridor, forms one of the two long sides of the rectangle. In this corridor are the bodies of professors, lawyers, painters, sculptors, professional soldiers. Among those buried here are remarkable:
- Filippo Pennino - sculptor, - Lorenzo Marabitti - sculptor who worked, among other things, in the cathedrals of Palermo and Monreale, - Salvatore Manzella - surgeon, - Francesco Enea (died 1848) - Colonel, lying in the perfectly preserved military uniform of the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
According to local legend, accepted or rejected by various researchers, the body of the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez lies in the Corridor of Professionals.
Priests corridor
Fragment of the Priests' Corridor
Parallel to the Corridors of Monks and Women, there is an additional corridor in which the numerous bodies of priests of the Diocese of Palermo are placed. The bodies are dressed in multicolored liturgical vestments, contrasting with withered mummies. In a separate niche is the body of the only prelate buried in the Catacombs - Franco d'Agostino, Bishop of Piana degli Albanesi (Italian-Albanian Catholic Church).