Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/199

Rh interest of the church. Formerly, criminals of rank whose friends did not succeed in obtaining their bodies for burial elsewhere, or whose sentences did not extend to quartering and the distribution of their members for public exhibition until they rotted away, were buried here, and the graveyard is filled with their tombs. The church in consequence is the shrine of a remarkable cult, the cult of the Anime dei Decollati. A tiny side-chapel opening directly on the burial ground forms the special centre of this cult (Plate VIII.). It is filled with votive offerings of wax,—legs, heads, feet, babies, and so forth,—testifying to the various benefits for which the intercession of the Decollati is besought. In a side-case is a representation in relief of Purgatory with three or four persons in the flames. Their necks are hung with hearts and other amulets. Above in the case is a crucifix to which they are apparently praying, and in the case are also several pairs of votive eyes in wax. The money box beneath is inscribed "Elema Messa nei Primi Lunedi." The front of the chapel has been restored. Over the door in the tympanum of the arch are representations of souls in Purgatory praying to the Virgin. Similar representations are on the gateposts of the churchyard and on the pier at the northern angle of the churchyard wall.

Most curious of all, however, is a case of rude watercolour drawings outside and adjoining the church on either wall of the burial ground. These drawings represent persons suffering from internal hemorrhage or various wounds; they represent accidents, shipwrecks, and attempted murders. Some unfortunates are tumbling from scaffolds; some are being crushed by tramcars, some by falling trees, and so forth. Bystanders or relatives are represented in attendance. They, or the persons more immediately concerned, appear to be praying to the Decollati, who are shown in one of the upper corners to the number of three or four up to their waists in the flames