A TRIP TO THE CAPUCHIN CRYPTS FOR AL SOULS WEEK

THESE ARE ALL BONES AND SKULLS  and deceased Friars. You are standing right in front of it!!!

                                                        '  Crypt of the Pelvises '        

                                        Our new friend from Shri Lanka ( living in Rome), Marian
This was possibly the most bizarre thing I have seen in my life, and it was real.  4,000 skulls arranged in art formations in a crypt inside the Santa Maria della Concezione Church ( well, in the basement).  Words and pictures cannot describe what we saw.

You were not allowed to take any pictures in there, so I took a few shots of Karens postcards so you could see what this looks like. 

In the 1631, the Capuchin friars moved locations from the Trevi Fountain area to this present day location.  The remains of the dead friars were transported ( over 300 carts) and laid to rest at this present cemetery underneath th church.  Sometime in the 1800's they started creating art out of the bones.  Part of this was due to the small cemetery and they had to dig up old graves to bury the new.  So they started to use their bones like you will see in th pictures.  I thought it is nice that the friars, although long gone, are still helping to support their church through the donations collected to view the crypt and still living in community underneath it.

AS IF THERE COULD BE MORE, Karen and I went into the church up above and a watchman came out of nowhere and asked us where we were from.  I asked him and it was Shri Lanka.  I told him I met the first lady of Shri Lanka a few years ago while in India etc, etc,  and as we were leaving he said "Come, Come, I want to show you something very special most people cannot see........"   I was thinking I was not ready for anything else after the crypt, but went along. 

This too was creepy because he kept taking us deeper and deeper inside of the church into secret hidden rooms.  I have no pictures because I was too overwhelmed to take them.  There was a secret altar room with grand pictures, like a ballroom and a couple of small chapel/cells where some of the friars slept.....and some other things....I felt myself just wanting to leave after a while because I had been really effected by the crypt.

Marian will visit his family next year in Shri Lanka.  I wish I would have asked him how long it had been since he had been back home. Next time, if I see him again.....

What a day!

The Church of the Immaculate
Via V. Veneto 27
Rome

COMMUNITY RATING   * * * * *  ( buried together for eternity, and our connection to Marian in the Church!)