"Coming Home"

Announcements

2009 OPEN HOUSES
Cedar Grove Cemetery invites you to attend our annual Open Houses held each home game Friday and Saturday throughout the football season. Staff members are availabe to answer your questions from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Information Packets regarding campus burial opportunities for Alumni and their families are provided. Information Packets may also be viewed on-line by clicking here: Information Packet. To request a copy by mail, please complete an Information Request Form.

OUR LADY OF SORROWS SCULPTURE AND PRAYER GARDEN DEDICATED
September 5, 2008
 Blessed Basile-Antoine-Marie Moreau (1799-1873), priest and founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, had a special devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. She is, in fact, the patroness of the Holy Cross Order. It is with great pride then that the Our Lady of Sorrows at Cedar Grove Cemetery mausolea complex carries her name. And now, with a blessing from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, a new Our Lady of Sorrows sculpture and prayer garden graces the entrance to the mausolea complex.

The sculpture, created by American artist Robert Graham (1938 - 2008), features Mary wearing a veil with seven swords (representing her seven sorrows) piercing her heart. Below her is a figure of Christ laying atop the world – instead of literally on the lap of Mary, the traditional iconography for a pieta. If the viewer observes the sculpture from a distance, the conical base can be seen as the lower portion of the figure’s robe, completing a standing representation of Mary.

All are welcome to visit the sculpture and prayer garden. For those unable to make a trip to campus, Cedar Grove has made it easier for friends of the University to explore the property, thanks to the virtual tour feature on this website (right).

RECENTLY PUBLISHED
"Coming Home" a New Ministry at Notre Dame Builds Upon Meaning and Mission. This is the title of a recent article published in the December, 2007 issue of Catholic Cemetery Magazine. Cedar Grove Cemetery is pleased to share the story of "Coming Home" with you. Please click on the link to your right to view the full article in pdf format. To request a copy by mail, please call us at 574.631.5660 or send an e-mail to cominghome@nd.edu.

 

Our Lady of Sorrows at Cedar Grove Cemetery
Opens July, 2007

To broaden its reach to the Notre Dame community, Cedar Grove Cemetery has introduced new alternatives for Christian burial. Above-ground crypts and niches are now available in a new mausolea complex named Our Lady of Sorrows at Cedar Grove Cemetery. Known as “Coming Home,” the initiative to offer above-ground burial responds to the high level of desire on the part of Notre Dame alumni and members of Sacred Heart Parish to make Cedar Grove Cemetery at Notre Dame their final resting place. Alumni and members of Sacred Heart Parish are eligible to select above-ground burial while faculty and staff continue to have exclusive rights to in-ground burial as well as access to the new above-ground options.

To obtain an information packet fully explaining the options available, please submit an Information Request Form. Upon receipt of your request, an information packet will be mailed to you within two (2) business days. To view the information packet now, click on the link in the right hand column of this page.

Purchases of above-ground burial space may be made in person or via the telephone during a pre-arranged counseling session with one of our Cemetery Counselors. To schedule your counseling session or to simply obtain more information, please call us at 574.631.5660.

A New Tradition

“Coming Home” at Cedar Grove Cemetery is the result of several years’ study of available options to extend the longevity of the Cemetery and expand the Cemetery and its ministry to a wider Notre Dame community.

"For those nurtured on its campus and proud of its traditions and spirit, Notre Dame evokes a sense of family. Whatever one’s origins or time of matriculation or employment, there is a bond that links the generations and makes them comfortable with the symbols, sites and songs of the place."
Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., President Emeritus

Since 1843, a year after the University was founded, the Cemetery has been dedicated to practicing the corporal act of mercy of burying the dead, and the spiritual works of mercy of comforting the afflicted and praying for the living and the dead.

In order to ensure the continuation of these ministries, a Master Plan for Cedar Grove Cemetery was developed, guided by the goals of:

  • Serving ministry needs
  • Expanding chapel use
  • Continuing as a ‘good Steward’ of University property
  • Broadening cemetery inventory
  • Expanding constituent eligibility to University alumni
  • Weaving “new” cemetery with “old,” historic cemetery grounds

These goals are aligned with the University’s tenets for campus planning and mirror its Master Plan.