1. Crypt of the resurrection

On the rear wall, various parts of the human skeleton form a frame for the picture of Jesus commanding Lazarus to come out alive from the tomb. The Christian belief in the resurrection provides the key to interpreting this work of funereal art.

2. Mass chapel
(a place for quiet prayer)

This is the only area free of bones, since it is used for the celebration of Mass, so that the dead may be freed from the sufferings of Purgatory and may reach paradise. This is illustrated in the altar-piece, in which Mary and the Child Jesus appear to be inviting St.Felix of Cantalice and St. Francis of Assisi (on the left) and St.Anthony of Padua and an angel (on the right) to free the souls from the flames of Purgatory. In the left-hand wall is preserved, at her request, the heart of Maria Felice Peretti (+1650), a grand-niece of Pope Sixtus V, who was very devoted to the Capuchins.

3. Crypt of the Skulls

In the tympanum of the central niche an hour-glass stands out, with wings made of shoulder-blades. The side walls contain two Capuchins resting in curved niches. In the center of the vault are three striking decorative motifs in which circles of flowers predominate. In the corridor vault, a lantern hangs from an eight-pointed star.
The vault in the passageway is enhanced by a new element: a winged skull, its wings fashioned from shoulder-blades.

4. Crypt of the pelvises

The side walls contain two Capuchins serenely reclining in an arched niche. The rear wall has three niches with Capuchins leaning forward: the two at the sides under an upturned arch, while the middle one rests beneath a large baldacchino made of pelvises, from which hangs a fringe of vertebrae.
The central rosette in the vault is formed by seven shoulder-blades, with hangings made of vertebrae. On either side, the decoration ends with crosses bearing the instruments of Christ's passion: the spear and the sponge on top of a staff.

5. Crypt of the leg bones and thigh      bones

The side walls each have four niches occupied by a Capuchin, standing and vested in the habit. Along the rear wall, the central block is a richly imaginative composition: up above, a cross enclosed in a circle; underneath, the Franciscan coat-of-arms: Christ's bare arm crossing the clothed arm of St Francis, surmounted by a crown of vertebrae. In the ground, 18 crosses mark the graves of various friars. The central oval frame in the vault contains an arrangement of jawbones decorated with vertebrae and, on either side, two large flowers made of shoulder-blades, with hangings of vertebrae. The corridor vault has three eight-pointed stars, a massive lantern hanging from the central one.

6. Crypt of the three skeletons

The two small skeletons against the rear wall are holding in one hand a skull with wings made from shoulder-blades. Impressed into the center of the vault there is a delicate skeleton enclosed within an aureole, the symbol of life coming to birth. In its right hand it holds a scythe, symbol of death which cuts down everyone, like grass in a field, while its left hand holds the scales, symbolizing the good and evil deeds weighed by God when he judges the human soul.
The corridor vault is very rich and varied: four small five-pointed stars surround the other eight-pointed star from which the lamp hangs. On the wall opposite the door you see the striking design of the clock, its single face indicating the continuity of life, in time and in eternity.



Rinaldo Cordovani
Translated by Charles Sérignat,