In 1534, the Capuchin monks in Palermo built their first monastery in Sicily - near the church of Santa Maria Della (The Lady of Peace). The site was allotted to them when they settled and was considered the worst piece of land. As a burial place for their fellow monks, the monks used a small tomb they had dug under the altar of St. Anne. Deceased monks, wrapped in sheets, were lowered into this burial chamber from above.
But: the community of Capuchins grew larger and larger over time and so the tomb was no longer sufficient in 1597. To solve their space problem, the monks chose the old caves behind the main altar as an alternative area. They decided to excavate them and use them as catacombs for the Capuchin monks. No sooner said than done: the excavations began.Two years later, the new underground cemetery was ready. However, when the monks opened the old burial chamber to transfer their dead brothers to their new destination, they came across forty-five intact, naturally mummified bodies. The tufa walls of the vault and the draught conditions had prevented the dead from decomposing normally.
The well-preserved bodies were a shock to the locals. They thought it was a sign from heaven and the abbot at the time decided to display the dead as a symbol of their own transience (memento mori).
The first mummy exhibited in the catacombs was that of monk Frate Silvestro da Gubbio. He was laid out in a plain brown robe, with a headdress and a shield that dated his death to 16 October 1599. If you visit this museum cemetery today, you will come across 1.100 mummies, wearing their best robes, pinned to the wall, sitting on benches or lying in open coffins.
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