There are places for our dead.

Places of peace and not dread.

Sites of simple or elaborate stones that memorialize our lost one's bones welcome to stones and bones oh oh welcome to stones and Catholics trace and ghosts and ghosts

Oh

Catholics trace their cemetery history

all the way back to the first disciple being buried

They chose to bury their loss close to their churches

in anticipation of the resurrection of believers.

These early churchyards referred to as dormitories of rest.

Catholic cemeteries were open for burial to only Catholics, and since they were considered consecrated ground,

Catholics who didn't meet the mark couldn't be

buried in them, like criminals. Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1858 as the first

Central Catholic Cemetery, and being centralized allowed it to serve several parishes. This would be one of

the first racially integrated cemeteries

in the city and was founded on 40 acres of rural farmland. It modeled itself off of Mount Auburn.

While there are obviously many politicians buried here, there is also jazz singer Sadie Crawford

and Buffalo Bill Cody's manager, Arizona, John Burke.

Mount Olivet would serve as an example for other centralized Catholic cemeteries, like the one we're

going to focus on, Holy Cross Cemetery. Holy Cross Cemetery is located in Culver City, California,

at 5835, West Lauscent Avenue, just outside of Los Angeles,

and it overlooks Santa Monica Bay. The original main gate is a beautifully designed wrought iron gate

with a large cross atop it. The immaculate grounds behind the gate rise upward and feature

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