ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 12/185:  THE VATICAN TO CAPUCHIN MONASTRY, ITALY

“DAY 12, 23/12/80 ROME

CAPUCHIN MONASTRY

CATACOMBS”

The Catacombs of Rome are ancient underground burial places in and around Rome.

Roman law forbade burial places within city limits, so all burial places, including the catacombs, were outside the walls of Rome. The first large-scale catacombs near Rome were dug from the 2nd century, into carved volcanic rock which is relatively soft to dig into but subsequently hardens.

Christian catacombs existed as a burial ground for early Christians accompanied by inscriptions and early wall art. By the end of the sixth century there were over 60 Christian catacombs. The art showed a story of how Christians in the first couple of centuries viewed the world and their idealistic view of how it should be.

In 380, Christianity became a state religion. At first, many still wanted to be buried in catacombs alongside the skeletal martyrs. However, catacomb burial declined slowly, and the dead were increasingly buried in church cemeteries.

In the 6th century catacombs were used only for martyrs’ memorial services, though some paintings were added as late as the 7th century. The Vandals and Lombards that sacked Rome also damaged the catacombs, looking for valuables. By the 10th century, the catacombs were abandoned, and holy relics were transferred to above-ground basilicas.

For centuries the Catacombs remained forgotten, until they were rediscovered in 1578.

The Capuchin Crypt are tiny chapels beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto in Rome. It contains the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies of Capuchin friars buried by their order. The Catholic order says the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality

There are six main rooms in the crypt, five featuring unique displays of human bones taken from the bodies of friars who died between 1528 and 1870.

When the monks arrived at the church in 1631, they brought 300 cartloads of deceased friars with them. The soil in the crypt was brought from Jerusalem, by order of Pope Urban VIII. As monks died during the lifetime of the crypt, the longest-buried monk was exhumed to make room for the newly deceased who was buried without a coffin, and the newly reclaimed bones were added after about 30 years decomposing in the soil, before being exhumed.

The Capuchins wore a brown habit of simple form, only a tunic, with the distinctive large, pointed hood reaching to the waist attached to it, girdled by the traditional woolen cord with three knots. By visual analogy, the Capuchin monkey and the cappuccino style of coffee are both named after the shade of brown used for the Capuchins habit.

The consumption of coffee in Europe was based on the traditional Ottoman preparation of the drink, by bringing to boil a mixture of coffee and water together, sometimes adding sugar.

The Viennese used the name "Kapuziner" in the 18th century, on a coffee that included whipped cream and spices. The Italian cappuccino was unknown outside Italy until the 1930s, and was born out of Viennese-style cafés in Trieste and other Italian areas in Austria-Hungary through Kapuziner coffee.

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