St. Roch Cemetery #2

1725 St. Roch Avenue

St. Michael's Mausoleum Chapel
St. Roch Cemetery #2
New Orleans, Louisiana 

St. Michael's Mausoleum Chapel

"Located in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans, this cemetery was established as St. Roch’s Campo Santo by Father Peter Leonard Thevis, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in lower New Orleans. Construction of the cemetery, modeled after the Campo Santo dei Tedeschi in Rome, began in 1874. In 1876, the chapel was completed and dedicated, the cemetery opening on the feast day of St. Roch. The eastern section of the cemetery (St. Roch Cemetery No. 2) was added in 1895 across Music Street." (Link 3.)

Chapel Statue

"One of the best cemeteries (and still free) to visit! St. Roch was the patron saint of dogs and miraculous cures. In cemetery #1 you'll find the National Shrine to St. Roch where those ailed by the inability to walk, or prosthetics, were cured. Their crutches, braces and medical walking boots are abandoned here inside the small locked room inside the shrine. The floor of the room is lined with bricks imprinted with the words "thank you" and people have tossed coins in thanks inside the shrine as well. Cemetery #1 includes beautiful Stations of the Cross as well. 

Chapel Altar

"In cemetery #2, you'll find more modern mausoleums and so many flowers! Clearly the residents of this graveyard have abundant perpetual care. This cemetery also includes some very intricate and breathtaking mosaics of biblical scenes.

"Walled ... cemetery. ... entry gates and above ground crypts. " (Link 2.)

"The public gate to this block square cemetery is on Music Street . The exterior appearance is much more mixed than the older Sain Roch's Campo Santo 1 and the red sheet metal gates for the service entrance behind the main mausoleum seem almost jarringly out of place."  (Link 1.)

Prayer Before a Crucifix

Photos: Taken in April 2017 by Suzanne's daughter, Amy, while visiting 

                 New Orleans.

Link 1: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1365276
Link 2: https://www.yelp.com/biz/st-roch-cemeteries-new-orleans      
Link 3:  http://tclf.org/st-roch-cemetery

                                                                  Prayer

God, be with persecuted Christians throughout the world. Amen (SW.)

                                                                                                 April 23, 2017

Camp Santo

St Roch Cemetary #1

1725 St. Roch Avenue

Camp Santo
St. Roch Cemetary #1 
New Orleans, Louisiana 

Cemetery Gate

"The cemetery and chapel also have a wonderful genesis myth all their own; as the Greater New Orleans website explains:

"At the height of the yellow fever epidemic of 1867, a German priest named Rev. Peter Leonard Thevis arrived in New Orleans. Faced with the severity of the yellow fever epidemic, he turned to God invoking the intercession of St. Roch, the patron of good health. He promised that if no one in his parish should die from the fever, he would erect a chapel in honor of the Saint. Amazingly, not one member of Holy Trinity died from yellow fever, either in the epidemic of 1867 or 1878.

Cemetery Cross

"In thanks, Rev. Thevis’s conviction was to build not only a chapel as a shrine to St. Roch, but also a mortuary chapel in a last resting place for members of his flock. The cemetery was called the Campo Santo (resting place of the dead). Rev. Thevis traveled to Europe to study the architecture and construction of many beautiful shrines and chapels before building the chapel. The chapel, completed in 1876, was considered a beautiful example of Gothic architecture.

Cemetery

"People came to the shrine in large numbers to ask St. Roch for help in cases of affliction, disease and deformities. At one time, the celebration of All Saints Day attracted thousands of people to the Shrine seeking guidance and help for themselves and others in distress. A small room on the side of the chapel holds a number of offerings left by visitors to the chapel. The tradition was to leave accouterments of the illness or disability (including, in the past, eyeballs, crutches, and false limbs!) in gratitude for recovery.

"Another New Orleans tradition related to St Roch that took place for many years is that on Good Friday young girls made a pilgrimage to St. Roch’s chapel because of a local legend, which promised a husband before the year was out to the maiden who said a prayer and left a small sum at each of nine churches. It was considered doubly lucky if St. Roch’s chapel was the end of the pilgrimage.

"The neighborhood got its current name in 1867 with the dedication of the St. Roch shrine and cemetery. St. Roch Chapel and Cemetery are a very important part of the history of the St. Roch neighborhood. At the height of the yellow fever epidemic of 1867, a German priest named Rev. Peter Leonard Thevis arrived in New Orleans. Faced with the severity of the yellow fever epidemic, he turned to God invoking the intercession of St. Roch, the patron of good health." (Link 1.)

Photos: Taken in April 2017 by Suzanne's daughter, Amy, while visiting 

                 New Orleans.
Link 1:http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.ca/2009/05/st-roch-cemetery-and-chapel-new-orelans.html
Link 2: http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2014/03/i_left_my_leg_in_st_roch_cemet.html

                                                                         Prayer

God, be with persecuted Christians throughout the world. Amen (SW.)