Dynamic DFW

In my last post about Calvary Cemetery, I told the story of Father Jeffrey Aloysius Hartnett, the  first priest ordained in and for the Dallas Diocese, who died of smallpox after walking into a quarantined hospital to provide last rites for the sick and dying. Not being Catholic myself, I wanted to better understand why this ritual was so important that a priest would risk his life to administer last rites. To get some context, I spoke with Dr. Heidi Miller, Associate Professor of Christian Worship with Southern Methodist University’s (SMU’s) Perkins School of Theology. Although she was not familiar with the exact circumstances in Fr. Hartnett’s case, she was able to provide some clarity regarding the significance of last rites at the turn of the century. In the act of performing last rites (now known as the Anointing of the Sick), the priest’s role is to represent the authority of the Church and to stand in for Christ by extending the opportunity for absolution from sin ...

Near Freedman’s Cemetery Memorial there are a few other historical burial sites that the Uptown Dallas Public Improvement District has designated as part of the Uptown Trails Cemetery Tour. The nice thing about these cemeteries is that they include informational signs so that visitors who don’t opt for the Dallas Historical Society’s tour will still have some exposure to the history and famous residents of each graveyard. Today’s post will focus on Calvary Cemetery. According to a signpost at the entrance, the cemetery was established in 1878 following the land’s purchase by the Bishop of Galveston.  This was not the first Catholic cemetery in Dallas, and the oldest dated headstone remaining is for carpenter P.T. Clark, proprietor of the Railroad Planning Mill, who died on April 22, 1877, suggesting that the cemetery was in use prior to the acquisition by the church. The style of tombstones in Calvary Cemetery are diverse. Many of Calvary Cemetery’s graves b...