Calvary Cemetery in Springfield is in the process of erecting a columbarium area for the respectful inurnment of cremated remains. It will be the first Catholic cemetery in the diocese to have a columbarium area.
The columbaria will be erected on land once used as a road in an older section of the 153-year-old cemetery. Soil testing was done on the area to be certain an adequate foundations can be installed to support the planned structures, said Linda Medlock, Calvary director.
The project will be completed in two phases. The initial phase, which is under way, is made possible by the generosity of the late Father Joseph Miller, who died July 23, 2002, at the age of 92, said Medlock. His last assignment, prior to retirement, was as pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish, Springfield, from 1960 to 1985.
The elongated columbarium area will run perpendicular to First Street, just a block north of Calvary’s main entrance. Five columbaria are planned. At the center will be an octagon-shaped columbarium with 144 niches. Centered on top of it will be a four-foot tall statue of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Flanking the center columbarium, on the east and west, will be rectangular columbaria with 96 niches in each.
In the project’s second phase, serpentine-shaped columbaria with 104 niches will be added on both ends of the columbarium area. There is also space adjoining to accommodate individual columbaria, with in-ground and above ground options.
Cremation is relatively new to Catholic tradition, which for centuries followed the Jewish practice of bodily burial. Christians buried their dead both out of respect for the body and in anticipation of the resurrection at the Last Judgment.
The old Code of Canon Law (1917) prohibited cremation and required bodies of the faithful to be buried. But an exception was given in times of mass death and the threat of disease. But it was not until the new Code of Canon Law in 1983 that the Catholic Church lifted its prohibition, allowing Catholics to choose cremation, providing cremation was not chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching, said Father Dean Probst, pastor of St. Jude in Rochester and a canon lawyer for the diocesan Office for the Tribunal.
“The church further stipulated the cremated remains must be treated with respect and should be interred in a grave or columbarium,” said Father Probst.
“More and more Catholics are choosing cremation now, and it is really good that we now have a place just for cremated remains,” said Msgr. Thomas Holinga, pastor, St. Joseph in Springfield, and a member of the Calvary Cemetery board. “People have been looking for a place to put urns containing the cremated remains of their loved ones. This will be a nice addition to the cemetery.”