Mourning Bead Hidden Relic Location in Castlevania Belmont’s Curse

The Mourning Bead is easy to walk past in Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. It sits in a chest behind an iron grate deep in the Catacombs of Paris. The grate only opens when you hit a switch above it, and the fastest way there runs through a hidden chute in a side room.

Quick answer: Go to the Path of the Abyss district in the Catacombs of Paris. Drop through the secret wall in Quarry Elevator, then strike the pink switch above the gate to open the chest alcove.

Mourning Bead effect and stats

The Mourning Bead is a Relic. Each enemy Rose kills gives her 35% more movement speed for 7 seconds. The bonus only works while the bead sits in one of Rose’s three Relic slots, so picking it up is not enough on its own.

The boost fits rooms where you clear weak enemies and keep moving, since every kill starts a fresh speed window. Its flavor text ties the jewel to the Court of Miracles, a district of Paris’s poorest streets.

Requirement: open the Gate to the Catacombs

You can’t reach the Catacombs of Paris right away. The large door at the Gate to the Catacombs, in the Paris Streets area, stays locked until you beat the three bosses that come before it in the main story. Once those fights are done, the door opens and the rest of the route needs no special key.

In-game map screen of Paris Streets, Prison Tower, with explored purple rooms, door icons and marker counter. — The Map tab shows the Paris Streets area, Prison Tower, with the objective to unlock the gate to the Catacombs.

How to reach the Mourning Bead chest in Path of the Abyss

Open your map and head to the Gate to the Catacombs in Paris Streets. It is the large gated door that leads underground.

Map & Gate Overview — The Gate to the Catacombs on the Paris Streets map is where the route starts. Shown at 00:07 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

Interact with the door to enter. A short exchange with Joan plays first. Rose says, “This place… it reeks of death,” and Joan explains that the remains of plague victims were gathered here.

Entering Catacombs — Rose at the entrance to the Catacombs of Paris, just past the gate. Shown at 00:33 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

Work your way down through Catacomb Entrance. Take the staircases and break the weak walls in your path, which open shafts to the lower floors. Flying enemies patrol this descent.

Catacomb Entrance Descent — Breaking the weak walls in Catacomb Entrance opens the way down. Shown at 00:59 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

Keep heading right through the lower corridors. Red cultists block the way here, and you’ll swing across grapple points to cross the gaps.

Lower Catacomb Corridors — Red cultists guard the lower corridors on the way right. Shown at 01:21 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

Continue right into the Path of the Abyss. A large hammer-wielding brute waits near the entrance, along with flying skulls. You can fight them or slip past.

Entering Path of the Abyss — A hammer brute stands at the start of the Path of the Abyss. Shown at 01:58 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

Get through the first rooms of moving red saw blades and spikes. Keep going right until you enter the Quarry Elevator area.

Spinning Saw Hazard Hallways — The saw-blade hallways come before Quarry Elevator. Shown at 02:36 in Shark R’s video. Image: KONAMI

At Quarry Elevator, smash the fractured wall along the shaft’s right ledge. Descend through the concealed chute behind it.

Leave the chute through the opening on the left. It puts you back in a lower chamber of the Path of the Abyss.

Jump and dash past the rotating saws and spikes along the narrow corridors. Head for the central vertical shaft with the lift platform.

Climb to the upper platform and attack the pink crystal switch above the gate. The iron grate guarding the chest opens.

Enter the alcove that has just opened on your right and interact with its chest; the Mourning Bead is inside.

Confirm the Mourning Bead is in your Relics menu

Opening the chest brings up the MOURNING BEAD item card with its effect and flavor text. From there, open the RELICS tab and hold the equip button on the bead to put it in a free slot. The chest’s spot also shows on your map in the Path of the Abyss section of the Catacombs of Paris, which helps if you want to check that you got it.

To test the effect, kill any enemy with the bead equipped. Rose should move noticeably faster for the next 7 seconds.

Catacombs of Paris districts and pickups

The Mourning Bead is one of two Relics in the Catacombs of Paris. If you’re already down there, these districts hold other items, secrets, and a boss worth noting.

District	Items or boss	Secret areas	Breakable walls
Antechamber of Sin	Forsaken Ring	—	—
Altar of Bones	Boss: Death	—	—
Blood Pits	Brave Heart Fragment	9	4
Chamber of Whispers	Wise Heart Fragment	2	2
Circle of Greed	Brave Heart Fragment, Oozing Eye	1	—
Collapsed Path of Orpheus	Gungnir	2	1
Charnel Galleries	Clue: Death Mark	3	2
Condemned Mineshaft	—	2	—

Collapsed Path of Orpheus also has a Ferryman’s Wharf, and Circle of Greed holds the clue “A Door made of Flesh and Eyes.”

The other Catacombs Relic, the Forsaken Ring, gives Rose 25% more damage while her health is full. It pairs naturally with the Mourning Bead, because staying fast makes it easier to avoid hits.