People die and then their bodies need to be disposed of. Most
cultures have chosen burial as the appropriate means of
disposition, and cemeteries have been developed to hold these
remains.
People die and then their bodies need to be disposed of. Most cultures have chosen burial as the appropriate means of disposition, and cemeteries have been developed to hold these remains.
Recently Calvary Catholic Cemetery (one of two operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose) offered a tour of its facilities, an experience that was informative in many ways.
Calvary Cemetery was brand new in November 1882 when 3-year-old John Francis Williams died of diphtheria and was brought there for burial. Today more than 24,000 others have found their final resting place at the graveyard where Valley Transit light rail cars rumble by and planes from Reid-Hillview Airport thunder over.
As old as it is, Calvary actually is a replacement for an even older cemetery named Holy Cross. The Kell family donated it in 1870 to St. Patrick’s parish, but it was considered too far from town and abandoned, so most of those buried there were moved to Calvary. Unfortunately, a fire long ago destroyed most of the records concerning those early days.
The 26 acres of the cemetery contain the remains of many notable pioneers of Santa Clara Valley:
– 16 Bernals, members of a family that owned a 15,000-acre ranch where Grant Ranch County Park is located today.
– 16 Chaboyas, descendants of two members of the Anza expedition.
– Descendants of the Mirassou winemaking family dating from their first vineyard in 1854.
– Thomas Snell, who owned a 700-acre dairy farm where Snell Road meets Blossom Hill Road.
Tour participants were given time to recognize the many examples of Christian symbolism used on grave markers, such as crosses, crucifixes, angels, rosaries and saints. Hands can be especially expressive – pointing up, clasped, praying and extended in blessing – and have different meanings. At the end of the tour, guests were invited to a room with art supplies available where they could spend some time designing their own potential grave markers.
Another feature of the tour was an opportunity to see how a gravesite is prepared for burial including:
– Probing for the underground concrete vault
– Removing sod
– Digging up the soil
– Removing the vault’s lid
– Covering the soil and sod with artificial grass
– Preparing the vault to receive the casket or urn
– Packing the surface tightly
– Replacing the sod.
Calvary has many different areas available for burial, each identified by the name of a saint. Since the property is continually being developed, there will be space for additional burials for the foreseeable future, and there are special areas set aside for young children and military veterans.
There are different choices for a body’s final resting place: in graves with lawn-level markers or raised monuments; in large, three-story buildings known as mausoleums; or in smaller, family-size individual mausoleums.
The public is often confused about the role of cremation in Catholicism. This refers to the reduction of the body of a deceased person to recoverable bone fragments through a process using intense heat. After cooling, the fragments are pulverized, resulting in “cremated remains of the body” weighing approximately five pounds.
For centuries the Church prohibited cremation, considering it “a flagrant rejection of the Christian belief in immortality and the resurrection.” But in 1963, canon law was changed to allow the practice. As this option has increased in popularity, Calvary offers several options for cremated remains:
– in-ground burial
– outdoor or indoor marble or granite niches
– glass-front niches that allow a photo or personal item of the deceased to be viewed
– placement in an existing family grave or crypt.
Calvary Catholic Cemetery is located at 2650 Madden Ave. in San Jose. Details: (408) 258-2954 or www.ccdsj.org.
