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Life

The Scent of the City: Hygiene in 18th-Century Naples

To understand 18th-century Naples, you must first understand its smell. With nearly 400,000 residents packed into a chaotic urban labyrinth, the city was a sensory battlefield. Hygiene wasn't about "germs"—a concept still a century away—but about managing "miasma" (bad air) and maintaining social appearance.

The Question of the "Wipe": Life Before Toilet Paper

In a world without rolls of soft quilted paper, Neapolitans used whatever was nearby and affordable. The choice of material was a direct reflection of one's class.

• The Elite: High-ranking nobles and the Bourbon court used scraps of old linen, lace, or hemp. Soft and reusable (after being laundered by servants), these were the height of luxury.

• The Middle Class: Merchants might use paper—not toilet paper, but old letters, discarded pamphlets, or scraps from the printing presses that were booming in Naples at the time.

• The Lazzaroni (The Poor): For the masses, nature provided. Large leaves, handfuls of hay, or smooth stones were the standard.

• The Port Influence: In the harbor, sailors often used "tow"—frayed ends of old, salty hemp ropes—which were sometimes dunked in the sea between uses.

The "Basso" and the "Lavaspalle"

Living conditions in Naples were unique. Many families lived in bassi—one-room apartments at street level with no windows and damp walls.

• Public Sewers: Naples had an ancient system of tunnels (the chiaviche), but they were often clogged. People emptied their chamber pots (pitali) directly into the street gutters. The phrase "Acqua 'e sott'!" (Water from below!) or "Sveglia!" (Wake up!) was shouted by those tossing waste from upper balconies to warn pedestrians.

• The Bidet: Interestingly, the bidet appeared in the mid-1700s. While popular in France, it found a home in the Bourbon court of Naples. Queen Maria Carolina was so fond of hers that she had a luxury version installed in the Palace of Caserta, long before it became a common household item.

Bathing vs. "Dry Cleaning"

If you told an 18th-century Neapolitan they needed a daily shower, they would think you were trying to kill them. Water was believed to open the pores to disease.

Social Class Hygiene Method
Nobles Dry washing. They rubbed their skin with white linen cloths to absorb oils and used heavy powders (fine flour or starch) and perfumes to mask odors.
Commoners Partial washing. Face, hands, and feet were washed at public fountains. Full immersion in a tub was rare and usually only for medical reasons.
The "Linen Standard" The ultimate sign of a clean person wasn't their skin, but their undershirt. If your linen shift was snowy white, it meant you were clean enough to keep your clothes from getting "oily."

Hair and Pests

Lice and fleas were the "equalizers" of 18th-century Naples—they bit the king and the beggar alike.

Wigs: High-society men and women wore elaborate wigs not just for fashion, but to hide the fact that their natural hair was often shorn short to combat lice. These wigs were often "cleaned" with scented fats (pomatum) and bone powder.

Combing: For those with natural hair, the "fine-tooth comb" was the primary cleaning tool. It wasn't for styling; it was a mechanical way to scrape away "excrements of the head" (dead skin and parasites).

The Morning Ritual

In the morning, a Neapolitan street was a parade of grooming. Barbers set up chairs on the sidewalks to shave men in public, while women sat in doorways to comb their daughters' hair in the sunlight. In a city where privacy was a luxury, hygiene was a public performance—a constant struggle to stay white-shirted and sweet-smelling in a city of stone, sun, and sea.

Art

The Luminous Soul of Naples: Stained Glass through the 18th Century

Naples is often celebrated for its riotous Baroque marble and shadowed Caravaggesque canvases. However, looking upward in its historic basilicas reveals a different kind of artistry: the evolution of light. From the soaring Gothic arches of the Anjou dynasty to the theatrical brilliance of the late Bourbon era, Neapolitan stained glass tells a story of prestige, faith, and technical transformation.

The Gothic Foundations (13th – 14th Centuries)

Stained glass arrived in Naples primarily through the Angevin (French) influence. When Charles I of Anjou established Naples as his capital, he brought Northern European architectural sensibilities with him.

• San Lorenzo Maggiore: One of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in the city. The windows here were designed to create the lux nova (new light), a theological concept where light passing through colored glass represented the divine.

• The Cathedral (Duomo di San Gennaro): While much has been renovated, the tall, narrow lancet windows established the precedent for monumental glasswork in Southern Italy, shifting away from the smaller, rounded Romanesque apertures.

The Renaissance Shift (15th – 16th Centuries)

As the Renaissance took hold, the focus shifted from "walls of glass" to narrative clarity. The glass became a canvas for complex theological storytelling, often influenced by the Flemish masters who were highly active in the Neapolitan court.

• San Domenico Maggiore: This church became a hub for intellectual and artistic synthesis. The glasswork began to reflect Renaissance proportions, with figures becoming more anatomical and three-dimensional, moving away from the flat, stylized icons of the medieval period.

• The Introduction of "Silver Stain": During this era, artisans perfected the use of silver nitrate, which allowed them to paint yellow tones onto clear glass without using lead cames. This gave Neapolitan windows a new level of intricate detail, especially in halos and royal garments.

The Baroque Explosion (17th Century)

In the 1600s, Naples became one of the most populated and pious cities in Europe. Stained glass had to compete with the overwhelming gold leaf and polychrome marble of the Neapolitan Baroque.

The windows of this era were less about independent storytelling and more about theatrical illumination. Glass was used to create chiaroscuro effects—casting dramatic shafts of colored light onto white marble statues to make them appear to move.

Key Feature: The use of "Cattedrale" glass—vibrant, deeply saturated reds and blues—designed to filter the intense Mediterranean sun into a mystical, dim interior.

The 18th Century: Rococo and the Bourbon Zenith

By the 1700s, under the Bourbon monarchy, the aesthetic shifted toward elegance and "Airiness." This was the age of the Guglie and the grand renovation of the Certosa di San Martino.

• Light over Color: 18th-century windows often featured more "grisaille" (monochrome) work or clear glass with decorative borders. The goal was to brighten the vast naves to show off the intricate ceiling frescoes.

• The Royal Workshop Influence: The proximity of the Capodimonte porcelain works and other royal factories meant that glass painters had access to high-quality enamels. This allowed for windows that looked almost like oil paintings, with soft gradients and delicate floral motifs typical of the Rococo style.

Legacy and Preservation

Tragically, many of Naples' historic windows were damaged during the earthquakes of the 18th century or the bombings of WWII. However, walking through the Santa Chiara complex or the Church of Girolamini, one can still see the remnants of this "frozen light."

These windows remain a testament to a city that, for centuries, sat at the crossroads of French structure, Spanish drama, and Italian grace.

Beauty & Stamina

Below are a few videos featuring the countries of the Scottish and Spanish Redemptorist Houses. May they help you receive an abundance of natural and spiritual graces, filling you with the courage and stamina needed to fulfill the duties of your daily life.

From the Land of the Scottich Redemptorist Houses

From the Land of the Spanish Redemptorist Houses

Redemptorist Priests Who Became War Chaplains: "Where the Soldiers Were, There Was the Mission"

Redemptorists understood chaplaincy as an extension of their missionary vocation: to go where people were suffering and spiritually abandoned. Historical Redemptorist sources indicate that more than 500 Redemptorists served as chaplains worldwide during the First and Second World Wars alone. (CSSR News)

Introduction

The history of the Redemptorists is usually associated with parish missions, preaching, confession, retreats, devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and service to people who were poor or spiritually abandoned. Yet there is another chapter of Redemptorist history that deserves to be remembered: the story of the priests who left their monasteries and parishes to become military chaplains.

In times of war, these priests went wherever soldiers went. They served in training camps and military hospitals, on ships and airfields, in trenches and forward positions, and sometimes directly alongside troops under fire. They celebrated Mass, heard confessions, distributed Holy Communion, administered the Anointing of the Sick and last rites, buried the dead, wrote letters to families, and simply remained present with men facing fear, loneliness and death.

Their work was not confined to one country or one war. Redemptorists served as military chaplains in conflicts ranging from the Spanish-American War to the First and Second World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and later conflicts. The Baltimore Province itself records Redemptorist chaplains serving in the Spanish-American War, World War II and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Baltimore Redemptorists)

The story is therefore not simply one of priests wearing military uniforms. It is a story of missionaries following their people into places of extraordinary suffering.

"Go Where the People Are"

The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was founded by St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori with a particular concern for people who were poor and spiritually abandoned. Redemptorist missionary life traditionally meant going out to meet people rather than waiting for them to come to the church.

War created a terrible new form of missionary territory.

A soldier might be thousands of kilometres from home, separated from his family and parish. He might have gone months without seeing a priest. He might be preparing for battle, recovering from wounds, or facing death in a field hospital.

For a Redemptorist chaplain, that soldier was not simply a member of an army. He was a person in need of pastoral care.

This helps explain why so many Redemptorists volunteered for military chaplaincy.

The First World War

The First World War produced an enormous demand for military chaplains. Catholic priests accompanied armies across Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Among them were Redemptorists.

The English Redemptorist experience is particularly well documented. A history of the London Province reports that more than forty of its priests served as chaplains during the two World Wars. Three of its Redemptorist chaplains were killed while serving. More broadly, Redemptorist historical sources estimate that more than 500 Redemptorists served worldwide during the First and Second World Wars. (CSSR News)

Their ministry could take them into extraordinarily dangerous circumstances.

Father Bernard Kavanagh, C.Ss.R.

One of the most striking examples is Father Bernard Kavanagh, C.Ss.R., who served as a Catholic chaplain during the First World War.

Kavanagh repeatedly attempted to obtain an appointment as a military chaplain despite concerns about his physical health. Eventually he succeeded. His service took him first to a hospital ship and then to Egypt and Palestine.

He was killed while ministering to a dying soldier.

The Redemptorist account of his death describes him being shot while administering the last rites to a wounded man. (CSSR News)

His story captures something fundamental about the chaplain's vocation. The priest was not necessarily there to fight. He was there to accompany those who were fighting—and to remain with them when death came.

Father Charles Watson, C.Ss.R.

Father Charles Watson, C.Ss.R., was another Redemptorist chaplain who died during the First World War.

Serving in the desert, Watson became seriously ill and eventually collapsed and died after celebrating Mass for the troops.

His death illustrates another reality of wartime chaplaincy: danger did not always come from bullets. Disease, exhaustion, exposure and the harsh conditions of military service could be equally deadly.

Father Thomas Bradley, C.Ss.R.

Father Thomas Bradley, C.Ss.R., had an unusual distinction: he served as a chaplain during both World Wars.

During the Second World War he served with the Royal Navy. He was killed when his ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean. Redemptorist records describe him as the first Catholic chaplain to die while serving the Royal Navy in the Second World War. (CSSR News)

Thus, within one Redemptorist life, two world wars could become part of the same priestly ministry.

Redemptorists in the Canadian Forces

The Canadian Redemptorists provide another remarkable example.

Historical research records 31 Redemptorist confreres from the former Toronto Province who served as full-time chaplains during three conflicts: the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

During the Second World War, twenty-nine Redemptorists from the province volunteered and received commissions as full-time chaplains. Thirteen served overseas in Britain and later continental Europe. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

Their assignments covered virtually every branch of the Canadian military.

Father William Enright, C.Ss.R.

Father William Enright became one of the earliest Canadian military chaplains of the Second World War.

He entered the Canadian Chaplain Service in November 1939 and served with the Prince Edward Island Highlanders before working in different locations throughout the Maritimes and Newfoundland. He eventually became senior army chaplain with the honorary rank of major. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

His service continued beyond the immediate war years through the reserves.

Father Edward Gillen, C.Ss.R.

Father Edward Gillen's wartime ministry demonstrates how far a chaplain could travel.

Beginning with service in Canada, he was transferred to Britain and eventually became involved in chaplaincy for Canadian units in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the surrounding islands.

Before and after D-Day, he served with Canadian forces in Normandy, Belgium and Holland.

His ministry therefore followed the movement of the Canadian forces across Europe. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

Father Cecil Moreau, C.Ss.R.

Father Cecil Moreau served as a Royal Canadian Navy chaplain.

In the period leading up to D-Day, he was assigned to a minesweeping flotilla operating in dangerous waters. Although regulations normally restricted chaplains from accompanying certain operations, Moreau went with the crews, believing his presence would encourage them.

He spent nights under enemy fire encouraging sailors and presiding over funerals for those who were killed.

For his devotion to duty, bravery and meritorious service, he received the operational Order of the British Empire. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

His example demonstrates that chaplaincy was not always a ministry conducted safely behind the lines.

Sometimes the priest deliberately went toward danger because his people were there.

Father J. Arthur Ryan, C.Ss.R.

Father J. Arthur Ryan served with Canadian forces in Britain, North Africa, Italy and northwest Europe.

His assignments eventually brought him into the campaigns associated with the Gustav, Hitler and Gothic Lines and the final campaign in Holland.

His wartime diary survives in the Canadian archives, giving historians a direct source for studying the experiences of a Redemptorist chaplain during the conflict. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

Redemptorist Chaplains in the United States

The American Redemptorists also supplied large numbers of military chaplains.

According to the Redemptorist North American Historical Bulletin, the Redemptorists were second only to the Jesuits in the number of chaplains volunteering for U.S. military service during the Second World War. At least 188 Redemptorists entered military service as chaplains. (CSSR News)

For some provinces, this represented a remarkably large proportion of their personnel.

The chaplains underwent military training before being sent to their assignments. But their essential preparation was not simply military. They had to learn how to remain priests in an environment dominated by discipline, danger, violence and death.

Their ministry included Mass, confession, counselling, correspondence with families, hospital visitation and the spiritual care of wounded and dying servicemen.

Father Herman Brinkmann, C.Ss.R.: Vietnam

The Redemptorist chaplain tradition did not end with the Second World War.

In the 1960s, Father Herman Brinkmann, C.Ss.R., volunteered to serve with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

After military training, he was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division in South Vietnam.

His letters reveal the reality of the ministry. He experienced repeated mortar attacks and was eventually injured by the explosion of a land mine, suffering damage to his hearing and eyesight. (Baltimore Redemptorists)

Yet his ministry extended beyond the battlefield.

Brinkmann became involved with an orphanage in My Tho and believed that helping the children also strengthened the morale of the soldiers.

This is an important feature of chaplaincy: the priest's pastoral concern could extend beyond the military unit to civilians, refugees, children and communities caught in the middle of war.

Father Mahoney, C.Ss.R.: Vietnam

Another Redemptorist, Father Mahoney, volunteered for military chaplaincy during the Vietnam War.

In 1968 he was serving with the 4th Infantry Division near Pleiku. His work included celebrating several Masses each Sunday and travelling to different locations during the week, sometimes by helicopter to forward fire bases.

He was eventually awarded two Bronze Stars. (Baltimore Redemptorists)

Again, the pattern is unmistakable: wherever the soldiers were sent, the chaplain attempted to go with them.

The Korean War

The Korean War produced another chapter in Canadian Redemptorist military ministry.

Father Walter Mann, C.Ss.R., enlisted as a Canadian Army chaplain in 1951. After serving at Canadian bases, he went overseas to Japan and Korea, where he was attached to the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

He received the United Nations Service Medal and Korea Medal.

A Canadian Army officer described him as a Redemptorist priest who was "loved and revered by all." (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)

That description may be one of the simplest ways to understand successful military chaplaincy: the priest became trusted because the soldiers knew he would be there.

Beyond the Battlefield

The work of a Redemptorist war chaplain was about much more than celebrating Mass.

A chaplain might spend one morning hearing confessions, the afternoon visiting wounded men, the evening writing letters, and the night travelling toward a unit preparing for combat.

He could be asked to bury a soldier one day and celebrate a baptism or marriage the next.

He could encounter men who had not practised their faith for years.

War often stripped away the ordinary structures of life. Soldiers confronted questions about death, suffering, guilt, forgiveness, family and God with an intensity that was difficult to reproduce in civilian life.

The chaplain stood in that space.

He did not have the power to stop the war.

He could not guarantee that a soldier would survive.

But he could make sure that the soldier did not face fear and death entirely alone.

"A Battle for Souls"

A Redemptorist historical study of Second World War chaplains uses the phrase "A Battle for Souls" to describe their ministry. (CSSR News)

The expression is revealing.

The Redemptorist chaplain did not understand his military service primarily in terms of military victory. His battlefield was spiritual and pastoral.

His weapons were the Gospel, the Eucharist, confession, prayer, compassion and presence.

A soldier who was frightened could be reassured.

A dying man could receive the sacraments.

A grieving comrade could find someone willing to listen.

A lonely serviceman could encounter a priest who remembered that he was more than a uniform.

The Redemptorist Mission in Wartime

There is a thread connecting the Redemptorist chaplains of the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam and later conflicts.

It is the conviction that the mission does not stop when circumstances become dangerous.

Indeed, war often placed people in precisely the circumstances in which pastoral care became most urgent.

The chaplains went with soldiers into training camps, ships, aircraft stations, hospitals, battlefields and occupied territories. They crossed oceans and continents. Some were wounded. Some became sick. Some were killed.

Yet their ministry was fundamentally the same.

They went to people who needed them.

The Redemptorist historical record from Britain estimates that more than 500 Redemptorists served as chaplains worldwide during the First and Second World Wars. The Canadian experience alone accounts for 31 full-time chaplains across three wars, while American Redemptorist sources document large-scale participation in the Second World War and continued service in Vietnam and later conflicts. (CSSR News)

These numbers are significant, but numbers do not tell the whole story.

Behind every number was a priest.

And behind every priest were thousands of individual encounters: a confession before battle, a Mass in a makeshift chapel, a prayer beside a hospital bed, a letter written to a family, a burial in a foreign land, or a quiet conversation with someone who was afraid.

Conclusion

The Redemptorist war chaplains belong to a largely forgotten chapter of Catholic military history.

They were not soldiers in the ordinary sense. Their mission was different.

They entered the military world because soldiers were human beings in need of God, companionship and hope.

Father Bernard Kavanagh died while giving the last rites to a dying soldier. Father Charles Watson died after ministering to troops in the desert. Father Thomas Bradley was killed when his naval vessel was torpedoed. Father Cecil Moreau deliberately accompanied sailors into dangerous waters. Father Herman Brinkmann endured mortar attacks and a mine explosion in Vietnam. Father Walter Mann ministered to Canadian soldiers in Korea.

Their circumstances differed, but their vocation remained remarkably consistent.

They went where the people were.

For the Redemptorists, the battlefield became another mission territory—not because war was holy, but because human beings were suffering there.

And wherever suffering people were found, the Redemptorist missionary sought to bring them the same message that had defined the Congregation from its beginning:

Copiosa apud Eum Redemptio — With Him there is plentiful redemption.

The historical sources are strong enough to expand this into a much larger, book-style article, with a chronological list of named Redemptorist chaplains from different countries and wars, including their units, dates, locations, decorations and how they died or survived. (The Redemptorist Province of Canada)