06/13/87 AP 06/13 0020 Italy-Cult ROME (AP) -- Police arrested two women from a religiou

06/13/87 AP 06/13 0020 Italy-Cult


   ROME  (AP)  -- Police arrested two women from a religious cult
that refuses to  bury  the  dead  after  finding  two  decomposed
corpses in their house near Rome, newspapers reported Friday.

   The  mummified  bodies  of  Assunta  Piergirolami, who died 10
years ago at the age of 50, and of her husband, Nello Maggi,  who
died  last February at the age of 61, were found lying wrapped in
white sheets on a bed in what the newspapers called the "house of
horrors."

   On Thursday, police arrested Maggi's 65-year-old sister,  Lina
Maggi,  and  her  66-year-old friend, Lola Fagioli, on charges of
concealing corpses and abandoning the two dead  people,  who  had
been ill before their deaths, the reports said.

   The  women,  who  are undergoing psychiatric examination, face
possible sentences of up to 11 years in prison.

   "We did not bury the bodies because God did not want it," Lina
Maggi was quoted as saying after her arrest at the house  in  the
Rome suburb  of  Acilia.  The bedroom where the bodies were found
was filled with Christian and Jewish religious symbols, including
a large crucifix, several stars of  David,  a  curtain  inscribed
with religious writings and an empty cradle, the reports said.

   Police  also  found  blue  capes  decorated  with stars in the
cellar of the house and said church members may  have  worn  them
during ritual celebrations, newspapers said.

   The   religious   group  also  refuses  any  form  of  medical
treatment, the reports said.

   Police  reportedly  were  investigating   other   people   who
allegedly belong to the church and are looking for other unburied
corpses.

	SUBMITTED BY PBRYANT.