Cemeterians of the Holy Ground

Mission

The ministry of Cemeterians is as old as creation itself. It has always had many diverse dimensions depending on religion, race and culture. Since the beginning of time, people have prayed for their deceased loved ones in their own manner.

An invitation to be a Cemeterian has been extended to all the living, the Church Militant, from the Church Suffering, to pray for them, since they are unable to pray for themselves any longer. The ministry of Cemeterian urges the living to actually go to the graveside and pray for their deceased loved ones, so that the suffering souls may receive special graces and indulgences.

“An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from the 1^st to the 8^th of November; on other days of the year it is partial. (Enchiridion of Indulgences)

“The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them”. Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1032.

“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin”. Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.Catechism of the Catholic Church #1471.

“Since the faithful departed, now being purified, are also members of the same Communion of Saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins, may be remitted. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1479.

“Through indulgences, the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sins for themselves and also for the souls of purgatory”. Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1498.

“And if the faithful offer indulgences in suffrage for the dead, they cultivate charity in an excellent way and while raising their minds to Heaven, they bring a wiser order into the things of this world. Although indulgences are in fact free gifts, nevertheless, they are granted for the living as well as for the dead.”

“One day, rapt in ecstasy, Blessed Mary of Quito, saw in the midst of a large space, an immense table covered with heaps of silver, gold, rubies, pearls and diamonds and at the same time, she heard a voice saying, ‘These riches are public property; each one may approach and take as much as he pleases’. God made known to her that this was a symbol of indulgences.

The purpose of this ministry is to encourage people to go the graveside of their deceased loved ones and pray for their release from purgatory. They know when we go to their grave. If your loved one has already been purified and gone to Heaven, our Heavenly Father gives our prayers to another languishing soul.

Catholics frequently invoke the holy women and men of the church. But how many people make up this exclusive group?

The historic news that emerged from the ecclesial council held on February 11, 2013 was Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. But that was not the day’s only newsworthy event: Benedict called the consistory to vote on three canonization causes. Then on May 12 the Catholic Church recognized another 802 saints. Blessed Laura Montoya Upegui of Colombia and Blessed Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala of Mexico both founded religious orders at the dawn of the 20th century. Blessed Antonio Primaldo and the other 799 saints-to-be were residents of Otranto in southern Italy, killed for refusing to convert to Islam after Ottoman Turks besieged their town in 1480. These 802 men and women will join the more than 10,000 saints the Catholic Church already venerates. The precise number of Catholic saints will always be debatable. Early Christian communities venerated hundreds of saints, but historical research by 17th- and 18th-century Catholic scholars determined that very few of these saints’ stories were backed by solid historical evidence. Lives of such well-known figures as St. George, St. Valentine, and St. Christopher were based either on a legend that often predated Christianity or were entirely made up. Other saints had local followings. In rural France, St. Guinefort was venerated as the protector of infants after he saved his master’s baby from a snakebite. St. Guinefort was a dog.

The prospect of venerating dogs or folk heroes troubled some church leaders. During the Middle Ages, popes began claiming canonization was a power of their office alone. Initially all that was needed was a bishop’s permission for a holy man or woman to be venerated as a saint. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V integrated the sainthood process into the papal bureaucracy, charging the Congregation of Rites and Ceremonies with vetting potential saints. In 1969 Paul VI created the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to oversee this process. He also suppressed several saints’ cults largely on the basis that the acts and miracles attributed to the saints, or in some cases even the basic facts of their existence, could not be historically verified. People already under their patronage could continue to venerate these saints, but they no longer appear on the Roman calendar, and no new parishes or other institutions would open under their name. Revisions to the canonization process in 1983 ensured we will see more saints in the future. John Paul II eliminated the office of Promoter of the Faith, or, as it’s more commonly known, the Devil’s Advocate, a canon lawyer tasked with arguing against a person’s possible canonization. Consequently, John Paul II canonized more saints than the popes from the previous 500 years combined.