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Cemetery Within Cemetery

Located close to what was formerly the main gate of the cemetery at the end of West Eighth Street is a giant mausoleum.  Built in 1911 and housing 1200 crypts, it is believed to be the fourth oldest public mausoleum in The United States.  In 1990 the building was completely refurbished at a cost of $650,000. The exterior construction of the mausoleum is limestone and granite.  Massive copper doors open to the interior clad in marble from Carrara, Italy.  Natural lighting is supplied by fifty-one handsome stained and leaded glass windows.  This historic mausoleum is utilized for our Candlelight Prayer Services, Cemetery Sunday Mass and for an internment chapel for committal services. In 1964 the administration-chapel building was completed along with the adjacent 43 foot bell tower.  Archbishop Karl J. Alter dedicated the complex in impressive ceremonies the last week in July.  The building provides needed space for the growing business and record-keeping of the cemetery.  The chapel offers mourners an alternative to gravesite burial in inclement weather, valuable and historical data are kept in fireproof vaults.

Rachel Commemorates Unborn

The latest addition to the grounds is a statue of Rachel, the Old Testament figure immortalized in the writings of Jeremiah.  Commissioned by the Board of Trustees, it was dedicated in ceremonies on Memorial Day, 1995.  "Rachel has become a symbol of healing and remembrance for those mourning lost born and unborn babies: those children known as the Holy Innocents", the inscription proclaims.  Included also is the sad verse from Jeremiah 31:15, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly; it is Rachel weeping for her children because they are no more." Local schools, both parochial and public, sponsor field trips to St. Joseph Cemetery to study history, statistics and related topics.  They will discover several areas designated as baby gardens for children who have died in infancy.  There is also a veterans only section honoring those who have paid the ultimate price in service to their country. : Today that section is filled, but it contains the remains of veterans from the Civil War through the Vietnam War. Students and others can chuckle at the gravesite of the Irishman Michael Lally, whose monument in the Southeast Plat indicates he died April 31, 1902, no doubt a day late and a dollar short. To many visitors, epitaphs are a most intriguing and interesting aspect.  The by-laws of the official rules and regulations of the cemetery in 1880 stated that "epitaphs should be plain and simple."  Quoting an unnamed but eminent writer of the day, the by-laws go on to say, "An inscription for the dead should be simple in style, sparing in words, modest in eulogy.  The long and labored epitaph is seldom read, glowing encomium (high praise) is received with distrust.  Excessive praise ...always seems especially so when heaped upon the dead." Perhaps this advice led a journalist to have inscribed "Copy All In", a doctor to choose "Office Upstairs", and an attorney to settle on "The Defense Rests". However, one of the best pieces of tombstone prose was written by Benjamin Franklin, who in 1728 penned his premature epitaph. The body of Benjamin Franklin Printer Like the covering of an old book It's contents worn out And stripped of it's lettering and gilding Lies here, food for worms; But the work shall not be lost It will appear once more In a new and more beautiful edition Corrected and amended by the author.

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