I went to Rome This Easter. Here's what I've learnt about the Capuchin Crypts!

Beneath the Baroque Church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome lies a space that leaves most visitors silent. The Capuchin Crypt, decorated with the bones of nearly 4,000 friars, is not merely a macabre tourist curiosity. It is a spiritual meditation on death, resurrection, and the impermanence of the human body, created by and for the members of a devout religious family, the Capuchins.

The Capuchin Order (Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum) is a branch of the Franciscan family, founded in the early 16th century. Born during a time of reform and spiritual renewal within the Catholic Church, the Capuchins sought to return to the austere, simple lifestyle of St. Francis of Assisi. They emphasized: Radical poverty, Manual labor, Contemplative prayer, Service to the poor and sick. They became easily recognizable by their brown cloakes, long beards, and distinctive pointed hoods, or capuccio, from which their name derives. Unlike the more ornate monastic orders of the Renaissance, the Capuchins intentionally lived modestly and were often found preaching in the streets or working in hospitals and plague houses.

The friars viewed death not as a tragedy, but as part of a divine journey. Their spirituality accepted suffering, decay, and impermanence as natural stages in the path to eternal life. This belief lies at the heart of the crypt they created. In 1631, the Capuchin friars relocated to their new monastery and brought with them the remains of their deceased brothers. Over time, these bones were arranged into intricate patterns, chandeliers, altars, arches, even full skeletons dressed in Capuchin robes. Each chapel in the crypt reflects not horror, but reverence. The artistry is precise, delicate, and surprisingly serene.

The decoration wasn't meant to be morbid or boastful. Instead, it was a physical sermon on mortality. As the inscription on the wall reads:

“What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you will be.”

This message is a distilled version of the Capuchin worldview: life is fleeting, and true meaning lies beyond the grave. The bones are not anonymous remains, they are the remnants of friars who chose to live and die in humble service to God.

The Crypts

comprises six chapels, five of which are decorated with human bones. Some notable sections include:

Each chapel within the crypt has its own thematic design, crafted from different human skeletal remains:

• Crypt of the Skulls: Walls and arches formed entirely from skulls, often framing a bone-crafted winged hourglass.

• Crypt of the Pelvises: A thrilling cascade of pelvis bones, sometimes giving the impression of tumbling down toward the visitor. 

• Crypt of Leg Bones (Tibias and Femurs): Chambers lined with leg bones that form patterns and even religious motifs, including the Capuchin coat of arms. 

• Crypt of the Three Skeletons: Features three full skeletons dressed in brown Capuchin habits, one holds a scythe, another balances scales, symbols of death and judgment. 

• Crypt of the Resurrection: Though still decorated with bones, this chapel contains a poignant painting, Jesus raising Lazarus, framed by skeletal motifs. 

• Mass Chapel: The only room without bones; this is a place of worship, housing relics like the heart of Maria Felice Peretti and tombs with connections to the Papal Zouaves. 

The Capuchins chose to create their most powerful visual statement not in gold or marble, but in the human body itself, reduced to bone. This radical humility contrasts deeply with the flamboyant, grandiose churches of the same period. While other orders were commissioning paintings from Caravaggio or building palaces of stone, the Capuchins turned to the remains of their own to create a visual theology.

It is an art of paradox, gruesome yet reverent, simple yet intricate, grim yet hopeful.

The crypt has attracted pilgrims, artists, and writers for centuries. Mark Twain, the Marquis de Sade, and Nathaniel Hawthorne all visited it, leaving behind writings that reflected their own shock and awe. Today, it remains one of Rome's most unforgettable sacred spaces, not for its beauty, but for its brutal honesty.

Conclusion | Death as the great Equalizer

The Capuchin Crypt is not a display of death, it is a proclamation of transcendence. Through their bone-laden chapels, the Capuchins remind the living of their mortality not with fear, but with peace. Death, in their eyes, is not the end. It is the doorway to eternal life. The Capuchin family still lives today, working in communities across the world, preaching humility, charity, and devotion. But in a quiet corner of Rome, beneath the streets, their silent brothers continue to preach, wordlessly, through the language of bone and silence.