Rome, Quirinale Palace, August 27, 1590. Death of Pope Sixtus V, Filippo Peretti, originally from Marche, who had this palace built by purchasing an old villa that belonged to the cardinals and transforming it into the popes' summer residence. The surgeon who had assisted him during his lifetime transported the body to the Balcony Room, the one which still overlooks the main entrance to the palace today and which was walled up during the conclaves which were held there so that the cardinals have no contact with the outside world. . And it is not only a question of the execution of the will of Sixtus V, because from this day on these provisions will be valid for all popes. The body is embalmed and, to do this, the heart and internal organs (called “precords”) are removed and placed in a separate urn in an alcoholic liquid. Two different funerals will therefore take place for Pope Sixtus V, including that of the body which will be buried in a chapel that he himself built inside the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. The second funeral was that of the precords, the heart and other internal organs buried inside the papal parish of the Quirinale, the church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio which will take on its current appearance in front of the Trevi Fountain when the cardinal Giulio will enlarge it Mazarin. , placing the niece he wanted to marry in the center of the facade and creating a certain scandal with two statues on either side of caryatids with exposed breasts. Pope Sixtus V, as well as himself, established that from then on there would be double funerals for all popes, the deceased being buried there in Trevi when the popes died at the Quirinal, and in the Vatican if the Popes had instead died there. And so it happened for 313 years.
The remains of the Capuchin crypt, the heart of this chapel of the Madonna of Loreto
Vienna, July 10, 1654. Death of Ferdinand IV of Habsburg. And for the first time, even if we didn't know for several years what was happening with the popes, double funerals are also taking place here. In his will he asked to be buried in his beloved Tuscany. But his wish was not granted: his tomb is still in the Capuchin crypt where almost all the Habsburgs rest. A second testamentary request was granted: Ferdinand IV was consecrated to the Madonna of Loreto, of which there was an image in a chapel of the church of Sant'Agostino (Augustinekirche) in Vienna, not far from the Capuchin crypt. Believing that the heart was the coffin of the soul, he had requested a separate funeral for it, asking that it be buried in the chapel of the Madonna of Loreto. Following Ferdinand IV, from this day on, the Habsburgs had double funerals: the bodies in the crypt of the Capuchins, the hearts in the church of Sant'Agostino, where a sort of crypt of the hearts was created inside the chapel with the image of the Black Madonna. of Loreto. It happened like this for 224 years, until the death of Emperor Franz Joseph who expressly requested that there be a single funeral, with the heart in its place, and that he be buried where he was. is today – among the Capuchins – next to his beloved Sissi. .
In the extraordinary cemetery a tricolor ribbon for Napoleon's son
Few people know it, but this very special Crypt of the Hearts can be visited today by appointment and in any case on Sunday after the 11:30 a.m. mass while waiting for the chapel to open. The priest or one of the priests of Sant'Agostino tells the story of these Habsburg hearts, then allows those who stop to stop one by one in front of the crypt, where one cannot enter, but where you can watch (and even photograph). ) through the grids. The hearts are kept in sealed, cup-shaped coffins, similar to the Holy Grail. If you look closely, you will see one of these treasure chest cups surrounded by a ribbon of the French tricolor flag. There rests the heart of what we will call “L'Aiglon”, the only legitimate son of Napoleon Bonaparte born from his marriage to Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine. He died at just 22 years old after becoming Emperor of the French for just two weeks as Napoleon II. Next to him are the hearts of 53 other descendants of the Habsburg family, 32 in the upper row and the rest in the lower row. They belonged to emperors and empresses, to princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses, archdukes and archduchesses down to the last heart, that of Archduke François-Charles de Habsburg-Lorraine) who was buried there on March 8, 1878.
In front of the Trevi Fountain, the church that Belli defined as “a museum of corates and ciorcelli”
In the Church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio in Trevi, the urns containing the hearts and hearts of the popes are not visible today. They are remembered by two marble tombstones, one to the right and one to the left of the church altar, engraved with all the names of the popes who buried their hearts and hearts there. And it turns out that those who made this choice were not only the popes who died at the Quirinal, but also someone who died at the Vatican, because Pope Leo XII of Genga – elected in 1823 and died in 1829 – changed the rules. allowing all after him the burial of the precordi in Trevi. The last heart preserved here is that of Pope Pecci, Leo XIII, whose remains were buried in San Vincenzo and Anastasio when the Quirinal was today the seat of the Kingdom of Italy, where the Savoy family was located. This singular tradition was well known to the citizens of Rome who often joked about it. In a sonnet, Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli defines this church as “a museum of corates and ciorcelli”. According to a plaque, the Roman painter and designer Bartolomeo Pinelli, who lived just across the street from this parish in Trevi, was buried in the same church. His body was transported there after his premature death following yet another drunken episode in a tavern on April 1, 1835. The faithful were, however, scandalized by this proximity between the drunken and easily angry artist and the hearts of the popes. Someone removed the remains from the grave and it is never known where they had been taken.
Mysterious underground works have erased the hearts of some popes
Where is the heart of these popes today? The church that hosts them belongs to the Religious Buildings Fund of the Ministry of the Interior and has been closed for many years. Reopened, it still requires major renovation. Just before the altar there is a small chapel with baptismal funds. There, a small door opens leading to a narrow staircase. The path is not lit, but on the first floor there is a wooden door with a drawn papal symbol and the writing: “Praecordia summorum pontificum”. Opening the door, you find a white wall divided into squares with the sides painted black. And in the center the names of the Popes: Clement XIV, Clement XIII, Pius VII and others. Going up to the second floor with this ladder, you find a second door painted the same way as the one below. And even here, upon opening, you find the white wall with the names of some popes. There could probably be chests similar to those of the Habsburgs inside the wall. But no one has ever dug to understand it. Not only are not all the popes mentioned on the two plaques located next to the altar. There is probably a third secret door and perhaps a fourth that holds these hearts. As you climb the ladder, you don't find others. Going down, it is possible that they are there, because on the ground there is a passage for a possible descent into the basement. But after a meter we stop because a wall of fresh bricks was built by someone who was digging tunnels to visit the basement of the Trevi Fountain and has invaded the space of the church. Its long closure without any surveillance must have allowed more than one intrusion. At the top of the stairs, in fact, you arrive on the roof of the church which also has a small balcony overlooking the Trevi Fountain with a magnificent view. But part of the roof, the one overlooking the dome, has been invaded by a bar from a neighboring street which has built its elevated seat there to enjoy aperitifs with a breathtaking view.
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