American Views Abroad


Wednesday, February 08, 2006
 
Those good old days in Europe? A Tiny Paradise Slips Away, an article in the IHT about Rome's non-Catholic cemetery, widely known as the Protestant Cemetery, where Shelley, Keats and Goethe's only son (among very many others) are buried is fascinating reading. Founded in 1734 it was the only place in Rome where non-Catholics could be legally buried. 'The Vatican assigned it land outside the city walls since non-believers could not be buried on Rome's consecrated ground.' Towards the end of the article it reveals the following: 'A wall that divides the cemetery --- built by foreign embassies in the 19th century to keep Catholic fanatics from desecrating the non-Catholic graves --- should probably be removed.... Until 1870, gravestones in the cemetery were not allowed to carry religious symbols or references to redemption, since that was the path for Catholics only.' www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/07/news/cemetery.php.

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