L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 8 T hous ands line the corridors. Soldiers mingle with monks, doctors hang out with lawyers and children are here too, dressed in their Sunday best. But the rooms are strangely quiet. Deathly quiet. Because these are the mummies of Palermo – dead for centuries yet resisting death's inevitable decay. So who are these mum- mies , w ho created them and why? The home of these unusual residents is a straightforward, quiet little piazzetta to the west of Palermo city centre. It's been the site of a chapel or church s i n c e 1 0 7 1 , w h e n N o r m a n invaders built a votive chapel dedicated to Santa Maria della Pace here. L a t e r , a r o u n d 1 5 3 3 , C a p u c h i n m o n k s a r r i v e d i n Messina from Calabria, bringing with them the primitive life of solitude and penance practised o r i g i n a l l y b y S t F r a n c i s o f Assisi, the inspiration for their order. I Frati Minori Cappuccini slowly travelled north, arriving in Palermo in the summer of 1534, whereon the Senate grant- e d t h e m l a n d a r o u n d S a n t a Maria della Pace and a license to build a monastery. Within thirty years the brothers had raised a parish church, rehabili- tating and extending the old chapel rather than building from s c r a t c h . T h e c h u r c h w a s restored in 1618 and again in 1934 and all the time retained traces of its Arab-Norman archi- tectural origins. Next to the church, six shal- low steps lead up to the double d o o r s o f t h e p l a i n f r o n t e d monastery built by the friars. They settled into the local com- munity quickly and for more t h a n s i x t y y e a r s a f t e r t h e i r arrival the brothers buried their dead in a common grave under the altar of their church. Forty- five friars found their resting place there, all wrapped simply i n s h e e t s . B u t b y 1 5 9 9 t h e chamber was full and a new solution was required. And so the brothers decid- ed to dig a little deeper. T h e y d u g b e n e a t h t h e m o n a s t e r y c l o i s t e r s a n d o u t under the neighbouring church too, excavating a series of vault- ed limestone corridors, nooks and niches to form a crypt. It was to serve the monastery with space for all the brothers. And that meant the ones who had already been buried under the church too. But when they went to exhume their brethren the Cappuccini were astonished to find 45 intact corpses, mummi- fied naturally in the dry atmos- phere beneath the altar. The discovery was interpret- ed as miraculous by the pious pilgrims and thus began the tra- d i t i o n o f m u m m i f i c a t i o n i n Palermo, a process reserved only for the Cappuccini. Well, in the beginning at least. The first guest laid to rest in the catacombs was Friar Silve- stro from Gubbio near Perugia. He was entombed in his brown, h o o d e d h a b i t i n 1 5 9 9 . A n d today, although his face has deteriorated somewhat, he still stands high up in his niche, his large, papery hands holding the sign across his body signifying his primacy and the date of his death; October 16th 1599. For Silvestro's mummy to have survived at all is incredi- ble. To have survived 420 years since his death is astounding. For him to be the first of over 1252 souls mummified, along- side up to 8000 other corpses in t h e s e c a t a c o m b s i s s i m p l y breathtaking. And it's all down to the Capuchin technique of preserving the bodies and the moderate climate of the crypt. So how did they do it? Today embalming fluid is used by many societies to slow the decay of bodies before bur- ial. The Capuchin brothers of Palermo went a different way, p r e f e r r i n g t o d e s i c c a t e t h e i r d e c e a s e d , t h u s s t o p p i n g t h e g r o w t h o f b a c t e r i a ( w h i c h require fluid to live) and also, as a consequence, the decomposi- tion of the body. First they would lay out the unclothed bodies in a well-venti- lated chamber, or colatoio. The internal organs were removed next and replaced by straw and bay leaves to help with dehydra- t i o n , t o p r e s e r v e t h e b o d y ' s shape and, perhaps more impor- tantly, to combat the distinctive stench of death. The body would then be placed flat on pierced terracotta grids, so that fluid could drain away. And finally the dry, low humidity colatoio was closed to the world and left to do its work. The process would take any- thing from eight months to a year, depending on the body's size and age. Finally, once fully desiccated, each cadaver was gently and reverentially washed in vinegar before being dressed in the Capuchin habit. The friars would then take up their resting place in the crypt, almost intact and recognizable, destined to hang there for eternity. At first only the monks were entombed this way lining the walls of the limestone corridors, their hollow eyes staring out, mouths agape and pr es er ved skin stretched taut over their old cheekbones. Some were hung from hooks by their necks and feet. Some were posed, heads bowed in perpetual prayer. And others were laid in niches, as if sleeping. Over time burial, or rather preservation, in the catacombs gained a certain cachet and other people requested entry to the s t r a n g e l y e e r i e u n d e r g r o u n d w o r l d . L o c a l l u m i n a r i e s l e f t wills asking to be dressed in their best outfits. Others would pay to have their outfits changed r e g u l a r l y ; a p p a r e n t l y i t w a s important to be fashionable even in death. But privilege didn't come without cost. Relatives would visit to pray for their loved ones and to main- tain or redress the bodies. They were also required to give regu- lar donations for the upkeep of the crypt. And as long as the contributions kept coming, the m u m m y w o u l d r e m a i n i n i t s proper place. But if the offerings dwindled the corpse would be p u t a s i d e u n t i l t h e f u n d i n g resumed. Each person had their place in death too. So all the monks, p r i e s t s a n d r e l i g i o u s p e o p l e affiliated with the monastery are h o u s e d i n o n e r o o m w h i l s t women, virgins and children are separated in another. Doctors, lawyers and dignitaries took up a third room recognizable by the clothes of their profession. And dozens of infants lined a hall, l a i d t o r e s t i n l i t t l e n i c h e s , d r e s s e d i n t h e i r c h r i s t e n i n g g o w n s o r p a r t y d r e s s e s l i k e dolls. Despite their deaths, class, gender and occupation contin- ued to divide the underground community just as they had in life. Almost 300 years after it was excavated, the last monk, Friar Riccardo, was interred in the Capuchin crypt in 1871 with the last lay burials dating to the 1 9 2 0 s . A l l t h e m u m m i e s , c o r p s e s a n d c o f f i n s r e m a i n accessible to their families and each year descendants return to q u i t e l i t e r a l l y j o i n h a n d s i n prayer with the deceased. For some, it might seem macabre and reminiscent of a Hollywood horror film. But for others it is a solemn tradition in a land with fascinating views on the mean- ing of life death. Far from being taboo and kept hidden, death here has always been part of life. Just don't try to take a selfie with your great great uncle; pho- tos are absolutely frowned upon. Isn't life strange? The mummies of the Capuchins Catacombs are naturally preserved thanks to the area micro-climate © Anton Kudelin | Dreamstime.com Each corridor of the catacombs is dedicated to a profession or a social position© Anton Kudelin | Dreamstime.com People were buried there in their best clothes © Anton Kudelin | Dreamstime.com Meeting the Capuchin mummies of Palermo NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS ELIZABETH SALTHOUSE

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