2-637-236 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Catacombs of the Capuchins, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 1927. The Capuchins are an order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief off-shoots of the Franciscans. The catacombs began to be used in the 16th century when the Capuchin monastery of Palermo ran out of space in its cemetery and began to excavate crypts beneath the monastery. Originally the catacombs were only intended to be used to bury the dead friars, but as it came to be regarded as a status symbol, local notables began to be interred there as well and the catacombs were maintained by their donations. The last burials took place in the 1920s. From Italien in Bildern, by Eugen Poppel [August Scherl, Berlin, 1927]