Cremation garden will serve vets, first responders

Story By Beth Donze, Clarion Herald
Photos | COURTESY NEW ORLEANS CATHOLIC CEMETERIES OFFICE

A cremation garden currently under construction inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 in New Orleans will offer hundreds of new burial niches for the exclusive use of military veterans, first responders and their families.

St. Michael the Archangel Cremation Garden, set for completion by the end of the year, will feature 380 single niches and 20 double – or “companion” – niches for the interment of cremated remains.

“We are honored to be able to offer our veterans and first responders a dedicated space for burial, should they choose cremation,” said Sherri Peppo, executive director of the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries Office, noting how the new garden will significantly expand southshore burial options for military and emergency personnel.

“St. Michael the Archangel Cremation Garden is not technically government property, but it can offer (veterans and first responders) sacred ground and space for the family to be buried together, if that is their wish,” Peppo said.

Columbaria will form ‘shield’

  Located in the middle of sprawling St. Louis No. 3 at 3421 Esplanade Ave., space for the new cremation garden was created by closing off one of the cemetery’s cross streets.

“On each side of this (intersection), a new mausoleum is being built: St. Mary of the Angels Mausoleum and St. Michael the Archangel Mausoleum, which will be on the same side as the cremation garden,” Peppo explained.

Although located adjacent to the cremation garden, the two mausoleums, which will provide a total of 60 double crypts and 80 single crypts, will not be restricted to military veterans and first responders, Peppo said.

The design of the cremation garden, a collaboration between the Cemeteries Office and California-based Blackstone Cemetery Development, forms St. Michael’s shield when viewed from above. Two intersecting columbaria (the technical term for structures that hold cremated remains) will form the shield’s central cross and will be topped by a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of police officers, paramedics and the military.

Two low-lying, curving columbaria at the bottom of the garden will complete the shield shape, and brick inlay along the flanking walkways will reinforce the shield design.

Two benches will accommodate visitors, who will enter the cremation garden through a wrought-iron archway flanked by brick columns and a small granite water feature, Peppo said.

The garden’s identity as a site for the burial of veterans and first responders will be announced by eight flags: those of the five branches of the military; the “combination flag” for first responders; the American flag; and Louisiana’s state flag. Each flag will rise to a height of 18 feet on its flagpole.

Growing in popularity

Peppo said the new cremation garden is part of the archdiocese’s response to recent upticks in both local and national interest in cremation.

    Currently, about 40% of burials at New Orleans’ Catholic cemeteries – and about half of burials citywide – involve cremation, Peppo said. Statewide, the cremation burial rate is 33 percent. Peppo said, noting that families continue to be confused about canon law guidelines regarding cremation.

“Either there’s a misconception about cremation not being allowed in our Catholic Church – it actually has been allowed since the 1960s – or that they do not fully understand that the cremated remains need to be buried and that they can’t be separated or scattered or kept at home,” Peppo said.

She said veterans and first responders considering burial at St. Michael the Archangel Cremation Garden will be able choose from several options, including purchasing a double niche for themselves and their spouse, or one or more neighboring single niches for themselves, their spouse and their children.

Choices abound

The new cremation garden will join the Queen of All Saints Cremation Garden, located at St. Patrick Cemetery No. 3, as Catholic cemetery spaces devoted exclusively to the burial of cremated remains. Queen of All Saints, dedicated earlier this year, contains 630 single and double niches, many of which are still available for purchase by any member of the public.

Cremation niches also are available at a free-standing columbarium located at the entrance of St. Louis No. 3 and inside that cemetery’s Resurrection Mausoleum; and at two other Catholic cemeteries: St. Roch Cemetery No. 2 and St. Charles Cemetery in Luling.

Cemetery Services Group, Inc. of New Orleans is the contractor for the ongoing cremation garden and mausoleums projects at St. Louis No. 3. Mullin Landscape Associates, based in St. Rose, will design and install the landscaping.

 The Cemeteries Office is offering veterans and first responders a 20% discount on the niches through Dec. 31, 2019. For more information on the soon-to-open cremation garden, call 596-3050 or visit nolacatholiccemeteries.org. St. Michael the Archangel Cremation Garden can be accessed by driving through St. Louis No. 3’s main entrance gates at 3421 Esplanade Ave. The garden is located about halfway through the cemetery, to the left of the roadway.

Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].