Oh, The Dead Don't Die

After losing my camera through my own stupidity, I felt dead inside.  So the logical thing was to go see a bunch of dead people.  We were within walking distance of the Cripta dei Frati Cappuccini (Capuchin Crypt).

I figured the only thing that would cheer me up was seeing the bones of people who were already dead, instead of just feeling like they are.

The crypt features the bones of about 3,700 Capuchin friars, a branch of the Franciscan order.  They are in several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the famed Via Veneto, just above Piazza Barberini.

The Capuchin order says the crypts aren't meant to be macabre, but is instead a pointed, silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth, and the mortality of man.

When the friars arrived at the church in 1631, they brought over 300 cartloads of bones/remains of deceased friars.  The soil in the crypt was brought in from Jerusalem by order of Pope Urban VIII, a very urbane pope.

In 1851, the crypt was open to the public for an admittance fee, but only for the weeek following All Souls Day.  It wasn't open to women until 1852, with a year being a relatively short time to disallow women before opening it.

The Mass Chapel, used to celebrate mass, has no bones.  The other five crypts do.  In the Crypt of the Three Skeletons (you'll recognize it by the three skeletons dressed as Capuchin friars), the moral of the story is, translated from Latin, "What you are now, we used to be; what we are now, you will be."  That's a classy way to say, quoting the Star Trekkin' song from 1987, "It's worse than that, he's dead Jim, dead Jim, dead."

I had seen it reported that you were not allowed to take photos in the crypts, but either that was in error, or, like other places with the proliferation of cell phones, the friars have surrendered to the inevitable truth of cell phone cameras -- you can't stop them, you can only help to contain them.

Since Maria had graciously loaned me her camera for the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday (Van has a fancy camera and mad skills), I took pictures (see post below).  Frankly, there's only so many pictures you can take of bones.

Maria had been skeptical about going here, but she managed to handle it well.  We did agree that, with the visit to the crypts, we did not need to also go to any of the catacombs.  I had been twice (1984 & 2007), and given the time and costs associated with getting there, I felt the Crypt covered my need to see bones.

I will say these crypts are not quite as mind-blowing as the Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal.  Everyone should see that before they die.