Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sacred Heart Cemetery
Diamond Jubilee Book 1873 – 1948
Rev. Eugene Helldorfer, C.S.s.R.
Until 1890, most of the deceased of Sacred Heart parish were buried in St. Alphonsus cemetery. The first provision for a parish cemetery was made by Father Urben when he purchased, in the name of the Redemptorist Fathers, 21 acres of farmland on German Hill Road (sometimes referred to as Mount Carmel Road), about 3 miles from the church. This was in April 1889 and
in the following year 31 acres were added. In 1892 the property was further increased by the purchase of 23 ½ acres. The reason for this last purchase, as given by the chronicler of Sacred Heart, was because this property had a road which would give access to the Shell Road (now Holabird Avenue). It was believed that a new railroad, “The Baltimore, East Baltimore, and North Point Railroad” would lay its track along Holabird Avenue, and this would be a great convenience to those who wanted to visit the cemetery. The extension of this cemetery road to Holabird Avenue ran into difficulties. The terms of the deed calling for a thirty foot right of way were not sufficiently clear and the claim of the Fathers to the road they built was contested. Father Urben lost the suit and the right of way. However, the reason for the road also failed to materialize. To this day there is no railroad or transportation on either Holabird Avenue or German Hill Road.
No general blessing was given to the cemetery, so that non-Catholic members of a family could be buried there. A chapel of wooden construction was built on the top of the hill near the site of the present chapel, probably in 1891. The first mention of Mass at the cemetery is on November 2, 1891 and this custom of Mass at the cemetery on All Souls’ Day continued for about thirty years. The first burial in the Sacred Heart cemetery was that of Joseph Fecher, on April 29, 1890, near the top of the hill in the southwest corner.
(Thanks to John H. Foertschbeck for providing the above information)
Location:
7401 German Hill Road
Baltimore, MD.
Phone: 410-284-0648