There is a small church in Naples, Italy, that has a basement displaying dozens of skulls. The Church of Santa Luciella ai Librai was built somewhere around 1327, and is not all that unusual for keeping human remains underneath. But one of the skulls was special, because it has ears.&nbsp; <blockquote>For centuries the eared skull in the basement was venerated, a unique example of Naples’ cult of souls of in Purgatory. People would sort of adopt the disarticulated skull of an unknown and pray for its abandoned soul. That soul, once lifted out of Purgatory into Paradise, would then return the favor by extending grace to the person who had helped them get there. The skull with ears held special attraction because its auricular appendages, believed to be ear cartilage that was naturally mummified, could “hear” the prayers and petitions for grace.</blockquote>Naples was devastates by an earthquake in 1980, and the damaged church closed to the public until it was restored in 2019. Researchers were then able to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353100646_Preliminary_notes_on_a_human_eared_skull">examine the eared skull</a> and found out not only how it has ears, but a good amount of information about the person who once inhabited it. You can <a href="http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/62166">read their findings</a> at The History Blog. -via <a href="http://strangeco.blogspot.com/">Strange Company</a> #mementomori #skull #relic