Santa Maria Della Concezione dei Cappuccini

Franciscan Capuchins were a religious order founded in 1529, at the beginning of the Counter Reformation. The formal name for the order is the Friars Minor Capuchin. They became a major force in the vitality of the Church. They became extremely involved in preaching and mission work. Much of their work was in part to recapture and revive Catholicism in areas where Protestantism had gained a foothold. They emphasized the basic doctrines that were uprooted by Luther and other reformers. the religious order backed the new power garnered by the papacy at the Council.

The church itself was the first church in Rome to be dedicated to "God in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary". Keeping with other Capuchin style, the church has a single nave with side chapels that are closed off by wooden gates. Along the floor of the church there are several tombstones that announce the tombs of cardinals who desired to be buried in this church out of devotion to the immaculate Conception, as well as the Capuchins. This exalts the beliefs of the Church. It affirmed the strong belief in orders and the use of orders within the faith, as decided by the Council.

However, the church is not what draws visitors to this attraction; the cemetery of the church draws the most attention. For more than two centuries, starting in the 1500s, bones from deceased Capuchin friars were used to create ornate decorations. It extols the friars for their work within the Church, their efforts to revive the Catholic church and its beliefs as asserted by the Council of Trent. It also follows the ornate style that the Catholic Church took on after the Council in order to counter the Protestant doings. Over four thousand friars allowed their bones to be used in the decorations of the walls, ceilings, and niches. Hundreds of skulls form wall decorations while femurs and other body parts form artwork on the walls and ceilings. Other body parts were used to create chandeliers. Their bones remind visitors that death looms while the thousands of bones are a representation of the style that the Church chose to follow after the Council, again another way to react to the Protestant movement.

*Photography is not allowed in the cemetery so these photographs were pulled from the web.