Favours From Beyond/Per Grazia Ricevuta

Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

Karl Grimes. 2016 - 2023

1. Anima Pezzentelle Shrine (Scarabattolo). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

Favours From Beyond

In Naples, Italy, life and death are often inextricably linked, bound together by miracles both official and vernacular. While the most celebrated Canonical miracle is the liquefaction of San Gennaro’s blood, vernacular miracles believed to be performed by 'capozzelle' (anonymous ‘little skulls’ lost in purgatory) at the Cemetery of Fontanelle, the Church of Santa Maria delle Anime ad Arco and other sites, have continued to deliver the possibility of hope and agency to lives of the urban Neapolitan proletariat.

In the wake of the Vatican II reforms in the late 1990's, the Neapolitan archbishop denounced the 'capozzelle' cult as superstitious fetishism and ordered the closure of the veneration sites. After a number of protests and a sit-in at the Fontanelle Cemetery in 2010, the city and the archdiocese rescinded their closure and Fontanelle and Santa Maria delle Anime were re-opened to the public.

For decades, devotees have visited these anonymous 'little skulls' to adopt them and offer prayers to grant their souls a speedy crossing from purgatory into heaven. In return, the 'anime pezzentelle' (vagabond souls) conjured by the skulls were expected to be conduits for a range of divine favours both immediate and long-term. Common among the many and varied favours requested are those for an untroubled and healthy journey through life, and, for the revelation of the coming week's winning lotto numbers in dreams.
 
If grace was received or a favour was granted, devotees then built elaborate or simple makeshift 'scarabattole' (shrines) for their chosen skulls, sometimes adopting them with their own families’ names or names received in dreams, and adorning them with cushions, letters, lotto receipts, mementos, prayer cards, family photographs, dried flowers, rosary beads, plants and coins. Each small shrine has its own history handed down by oral tradition among the devotees and their families. As time has passed, much of that oral tradition has been lost.

Favours From Beyond (2016-2023) documents the material culture of these ongoing vernacular religious praxes in Naples and the role of individual agency and creativity within and beyond official religion. In these dark, damp and dusty sites we enter a timeless and liminal space where life, death, dreams and hope coexist somewhere in an in-between.

The project is the first comprehensive archive and visual typology of the diverse range of skull shrines and associated objects at the Cemetery of Fontanelle, Santa Maria delle Anime and other sites in Naples.

Consisting of over 200 large colour images (archival pigment prints & light boxes), the project is due for completion in early 2023. Supported by the Comune di Napoli, Italy, and the Morris Foundation, MI.

2. Winged Skull by Dionisio Lazzari. Church Apse. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

3. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

4. Lucia Shrine. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

5. Lucia's Skull. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

6. Scarabattolo, Anima Pezzentelle. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

7. Scarabattolo. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

8. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

9. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

10. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

11. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

12. Niche (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

13. Niche (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

14. Niche (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

15. Teschi e carte di preghiera - Giuseppe Moscati. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

16. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

17. Scarabattolo. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

18. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

19. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

20. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

21. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

22. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

23. St. Anthony. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

24. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

25. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

26. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

27. Richiesta a Lucia. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

28. Scarabattolo (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

29. Scarabattolo (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

30. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio

31. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco

32. Scarabattolo. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

33. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

34. Niche (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

35. Richiesta a Lucia. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

36. Scarabattolo (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

37. Niche (detail). Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

38. Lucia Alter . Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

39. Niche. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

40. Offerings and requests. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

41. Offerings and requests. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

42. Offerings and requests. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

43. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

44. In memoria. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

45. Upper Church interior. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

46. The Underground Church and anonymous tomb. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco.

47. The Lower Church (Hypogeum) with anonymous tombs and niche skull shrines. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.

48. The Lower Church (Hypogeum) with anonymous tombs and niche skull shrines. Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio.