Catholic Halloween and Rome's skeleton-filled Capuchin Crypt
- Aimee Boudreaux MacIver
- Oct 6
- 3 min read
Some Catholics distance themselves from Halloween—understandable when the culture uses Halloween to elevate the grotesque, the violent, the destructive, the terrifying, and the demonic. But Halloween (a medieval contraction of "All Hallow's Eve) literally refers to the major Catholic feast of All Saints Day on November 1.
Halloween is ours. We don't merely remember death, we celebrate it. The ancient monastics greeted each other with "Brother, remember your death" (you know, instead of something like "Morning, Bob, how's it going?"). St Francis called death his "Sister." Travel around Catholic churches and shrines, and you will encounter all kinds of winking nods to death: St Mary Magdalene's sumptuously dressed skull; St Anthony of Padua's preserved tongue; St Boniface's golden-crowned skeleton; St Januarius' bubbling blood.
During our family pilgriamge to Rome and Assisi, we visited the mind-blowing Capuchin Crypt Chapel—known also as The Bone Chapel. Here's why you should absolutely add this site to your Rome itinerary and, in my opinion, swap it for Pompeii.
The skeleton-filled Capuchin crypt in Rome
Below the original monastery, the dirt-floored crypt contains thousands of human skeletons broken down and used as elaborate decorations. The chandeliers are made of bones; the sacred symbols set in the ceiling are made of bones; the walls are lined with neat stacks of human skulls. Some full skeletons are dressed and posed in various scenes.
The experience absolutely confirmed our trusty Tip 5 for touring churches with young people: it's impossible to be disengaged when you're staring at a chandelier made out of femurs and jaw bones. Or eye to eye socket with someone's fully dressed and posed remains.
The origins of the chapel are a bit mysterious and unknown. Did the friars relocated the bones of deceased brothers when the order moved to this monastery in the 1600s? Did they create the displays later as a meditation on death and eternity?
I found myself bubbling with these and other questions as we moved through the five small chapels elaborately decorated with vertebrae rosettes, skull-lined arches, and skeletons styled as angels and guardians. How did the friars acquire so many bones? Who planned the designs? How did they create them? And most of all: who was this man whose skull is hanging on the wall? How did he die? Is he in Heaven now, praying for us as we gaze at his empty bones?
Why you should visit the Capuchin Crypt: an encounter with death and resurrection
With all those real skulls (some still bearing hair and mummified flesh), the crypt could have been scary, I guess. But it actually felt reverent, a strangely beautiful moment of elevating the body’s goodness and holiness and sacramentality. The whole point is priority: living with eternity at stake and resurrection as the promise.
One simple chapel marker read, “What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you soon will be.” The bones made into something beautiful emphasized contemplation, not creepiness.
In the liturgy, we proclaim Dying You destroyed our death, rising You restored our life. Through Jesus' Passion, death became its own defeat. We can celebrate death precisely because of the promise of resurrection, body and soul, in Heaven. The focus of memento mori and celebrating death isn't fascination with the macabre, nor on fearful threat, but priority. Remember your death so you can live fully free from the anxieties of this broken life and fully focused on Heaven.
I strongly recommend visitng the Capuchin Crypt instead of devoting a whole day trip to Pompeii. Unlike Pompeii, the Capuchin crypt isn't merely a record of tragedy and death—it's a literal sermon in bone and dust.
How to visit the Capuchin Crypt
If you're near Rome, 10/10 recommend adding the Capuchin Crypt into your itinerary. It’s just off the Via Veneto, near Piazza Barberini, and easily walkable from the Trevi Fountain, which is probably on your list. You'll need only about a hour (maybe two if you're a slow museum-walker).
The €10 ticket includes the crypt, an audio guide, and entry to a small museum about the Capuchin friars and their way of life (there are some fascinating stories about the order's pioneering practice of medicine). Don't miss the small gift shop that offers tons of skull-themed merch for your Goth friends.
Location: Via Vittorio Veneto 27, Rome
Hours: Typically 9:00 a.m.—7:00 p.m. (closed some holidays)
Admission: €10 (includes museum and audio guide)
Nearest landmarks: Trevi Fountain (about 10-15 minute walk)
Nearest Metro: Barberini-Fontana di Trevi
Recommended time: 60 minutes, more if you like to take your time in museums
Recommended ages: All, including children
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