Small Chapel in Niedzica, Poland The word origin of kapliczka is distinctly Christian. As far back as the 7th century, a small building containing the coat and relics of St. Marcin began to be called capella , a diminutive of the Latin cappa, meaning cover or cloak. In countries accepting Christianity, capella became a common term for every small building outside of a church that gave shelter to a religious object or figure. In Poland, the term emerged as kapla, kaple, and eventually kaplica, m