Cappucine Monks

One of the oddest things I saw while I was in Europe was the Cappucine Monks. The bones in the six-room crypt represent over 4,000 individual monks. It is said monks fled the French Revolution (1793-94) and took refuge at the Church in Roma. There are many theories about the arrangement of the bones, but most stories end with the notion that the anonymous artist reaped his heavenly reward. One tale says that a French Capuchins did the work, no doubt mimicing the catacombs of Paris. The Marquis de Sade visited the crypt in 1775 and described it as “An example of funerary art worthy of an English mind”, created “by a German priest who lived in this house.” Whatever the reason, the tomb of the monks was next to / underneath a church. Can you imagine sitting in church knowing that this was beneath you? For a moment I forgot they were bones, even bones of real people who lived and died and here I am staring up at their bones. I wonder what these rooms will look like in the resurrection. One room was all leg bones, one all hip bones, one all back bones, etc. Bones will be flying around all over the place trying to get back together with the right body. Surprisingly it didn’t smell at all in there and out one of the windows was a little cafe. Strange.