ARE THERE ACTUALLY CATACOMBS BENEATH D.C.?
- There are! While they are not under the National Mall, and aren't home to a monster, they have just as interesting of a history.
- They are owned and operated by the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.
- "Beneath Washington, D.C., a dimly lit web of passages weaves throughout row after row of eerie wall graves, recalling early Christian burials in the catacombs of ancient Rome. The subterranean complex is located underneath the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, with a Dan Brown-style entrance near the main altar and the bones of a boy martyr inside....However, the Catacombs of Washington, D.C., aren’t quite as ancient as the name would suggest, and all but one of the graves are totally fake. They were built at the turn of the 20th century by a well meaning group of Franciscan monks who wanted to create a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas."
- Though the real D.C. catacombs may not contain the remains of several boy band members, they do contain other very important remains.
- "D.C.’s Franciscan Monastery only covers about 45 acres, so its catacombs aren’t nearly as extensive as Rome’s. But if you wander around the narrow, echoing corridors, you’ll see they contain quite a lot — including the actual remains of two saints. The first is Saint Benignus, who Pereiro describes as 'a Roman soldier from the second century, killed for his faith. He was buried in the catacombs, and on top of the altar we can see his actual bones, his relics. We know that he died beheaded, and from what I know here, we have most of his bones but his skull is in the church in Italy.' The bones atop the altar are encased in a glass container, or reliquary. And inside the altar is a replica of a Renaissance sculpture of Saint Benignus. In his hand is a palm frond....Farther along the catacombs, you can see Saint Innocent. He also holds a palm frond, which rests against his elaborately-trimmed and beaded dress."
Photos of the D.C. Catacombs by Elliot Carter & Lawrence OP.