Calvary Cemetery, Early June 2019

I felt as if I was in Scotland again when I visited Calvary Cemetery recently. After all of the rain and warm temperatures, there seems to be a haze over the city and rolling hills, and everything is so green.

I really like this cross, a combination of what appears to be gray granite with pink granite from the quarries around I presume Elephant Rocks State Park.

I was intrigued by this depiction of the Crucifixion. As is traditional, the Virgin Mary is shown with John the Evangelist, but the composition is interesting in its cropping of their figures, and the turning of the crucifix and Christ’s body.

Then there is this wonderful, well-wrought reproduction of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s Pietà, which is currently on display in New St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. See another interpretation of the subject in Calvary in here.

There is a fantastic bronze copy of the sculpture in the New Cathedral in the Central West End. I learned from a cathedral tour guide that this version was made during World War II when there was the fear that the devastation of the conflict might threaten the existence of the original.

4 Comments Add yours

  1. David says:

    Chris, I really appreciate your dedicated interest in north St. Louis. It’s wonderful that you are documenting what so many people have forgotten. When I tell people I grew up there, they have no idea and usually think of north county.
    I grew up two blocks from Calvary. Back then we had no parks, playgrounds (other than Mark Twain School), pools, etc. Calvary was my park and still is. I cannot imagine there is a person alive, other than employees, that has spent more time in Calvary.

    1. Chris Naffziger says:

      Thank you, David!

  2. Jim Edwards says:

    Thank you for these great photos, Chris. My parents are buried there, Roadside, in Section 29, shortly passed one of the Stations of the Cross. My maternal Uncle, and his wife are inside the Mausoleum, and we have other family friends, and neighbors buried there. I visit there usually twice a year.
    The monuments, headstones, personal mausoleum’s, et al, are an Historic Treasure to behold. God Bless all there, and you, Chris, for documenting it for all to see World Wide.

    1. Chris Naffziger says:

      Thank you, Jim! Also, remember that you can see all Calvary Cemetery posts by clicking on its tag at the bottom of posts:
      http://stlouispatina.com/tag/calvary-cemetery/

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