St. Joseph Cemetery (Manchester, New Hampshire) - Consecration

Consecration

In 1884, Pope Leo XIII issued the decree separating the parishes in the state of New Hampshire from the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and naming Father Denis Mary Bradley, the pastor of Saint Joseph Church, as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Manchester. Saint Joseph Church became the cathedral. Attachment to the cathedral parish brought new prominence to Saint Joseph Cemetery. Many of Manchester’s Catholics, now greater in number and better established economically, began to erect larger and more ornate memorials. The first above-ground family tombs date to this period.

The records indicate that Bishop Bradley took a special interest in the development of the cemetery. He made personal inspections, dubbed “Episcopal Visitations”, in 1885 and 1888. In 1889, he had the first committal chapel erected on the grounds just inside the Main Gate on the north side of Donald Street. For the preceding forty-one years, the prayers for the dead were offered at graveside, rain or shine. Finally, on December 1, 1889, Saint Joseph Cemetery was formally consecrated according to the centuries-old rite of the Catholic Church. A description of the rites to be performed appeared in the Manchester Union on November 25, 1889:

“On the day before a cemetery is blessed or consecrated, five crosses are erected in it, a large one in the center and a smaller one in each corner. In front of each of these five crosses a wooden stand or candle holder is placed, capable of holding three candles. These lifeless wooden stands, resembling the dryness of fleshless bones, represent man in his grave. They were set up yesterday, for yesterday is a figure of fleeting time; and in every corner of the cemetery, to remind us that the empire of death is spread all over the earth. The three candles, not yet lighted, represent the imperishable germ of life placed in our bodies by the three persons of the blessed Trinity. Soon at the direction of the bishop these candles will be lighted, and I give you the mysterious signification of the light. The cross in the center of the field is higher than the others, and represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who, having vanquished death, has become for us the resurrection and life. He, the first born among the dead, casting his protecting and saving shadow over his sleeping brethren. From their places in the four extremities of the field the four smaller crosses proclaim that the life-giving God of Calvary has flowed to the four quarters of the glob, to bring life on the day of resurrection to all men, no matter in what age or clime they may have died. It is therefore a beautiful custom, not to be omitted, to adorn the grave of every one dying in the Catholic faith, with the consoling sign sign of the redemption. Even the most costly and elaborate monument, if lacking this sign, can in no wise be compared with the ornament which a simple wooden cross affords to the resting place of the Christian.”