Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California)

Holy Cross Cemetery (Spanish: Cementerio de la Santa Cruz)[1][2] is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Colma, California, operated by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Established in 1887 on 300 acres (1.2 km2), it is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in California.

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery
Holy Cross Mausoleum
Details
Established1887
Location
Colma, California
CountryUnited States
Coordinates37°40′16″N 122°26′43″W
TypeCatholic
Owned byArchdiocese of San Francisco
Size300 acres (1.2 km2)
WebsiteHoly Cross Cemetery
Find a GraveHoly Cross Catholic Cemetery
The Political GraveyardHoly Cross Catholic Cemetery

History
Aerial view of Colma; Holy Cross is the prominent green space in the center

Calvary Cemetery in San Francisco was consecrated in 1860 by the first Archbishop of San Francisco, Joseph Sadoc Alemany.[3]: 27  Nearly thirty years later, Cavalry had nearly reached its capacity and Alemany's successor, Patrick William Riordan, purchased 179 acres (72 ha) of land in nearby San Mateo County.[4]: 13  Alemany's successor, Patrick William Riordan, blessed the initial 25-acre (10 ha) Holy Cross site on June 3, 1887, as the first cemetery in Colma.[3]: 24  The first burials were conducted on June 7; Timothy Buckley's funeral carriage arrived just before Elizabeth Martin's.[5] That year, the Southern Pacific Railroad completed a branch track to Holy Cross.[6] The Holy Cross site was deliberately left unconsecrated because of the possibility the cemetery may be relocated again.[3]: 62  The site now covers 283 acres (115 ha).[4]: 13 

The Old Lodge Building, used as offices, were completed in 1902 to a design by Frank and William Shea, across Mission from the main entrance to the cemetery (1595 Mission Road); they also designed the stone-topped cemetery entry gates. These structures feature sandstone fascia in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style.[4]: 282–286  It is nicknamed "McMahon's Station" after a hotel built by the brothers Owen and Patrick McMahon at the same site, which was destroyed by fire in January 1894,[7] rebuilt,[8] and destroyed again by fire in September 1897.[3]: 66 [9] Additional offices were completed in 1956, east of El Camino Real.[4]: 316 

The large mausoleum at Holy Cross was designed by John McQuarrie and dedicated on March 28, 1921 by Archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna. It has been expanded since its opening and contains room for 40,000 crypts, covering 9 acres (3.6 ha).[3]: 62  The Archbishops of San Francisco are interred in crypts within the mausoleum's rotunda.[3]: 62–63  There are two smaller mausoleums on the site: All Saints, in the property's south corner (near Lawndale and Mission) and Saints Peter and Paul, a garden court (outdoor mausoleum) near the north corner.[3]: 64 

After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a measure in March 1900, banning future burials within city limits effective August 1, 1901, the development of Colma as the city's necropolis began in earnest, eventually culminating in the eviction of the existing cemeteries.[3]: 35  Many of the people interred at the Catholic Calvary Cemetery were reburied between 1937 and 1945 at Holy Cross in a project to relocate graves outside of the city.[10][11] There is a memorial sculpture at Holy Cross erected in 1993 to mark the moved remains,[3]: 44  which features three crosses and reads: "Interred here are the remains of 39,307 Catholics moved from Mt. Calvary Cemetery in 1940 and 1941 by order of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Rest in God's Loving Care."[12]

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it was estimated that 3⁄4 of the monuments at Holy Cross were toppled or thrown askew, including large ornamental stone balls atop the entry gates.[3]: 45–46  The subsequent 1957 Daly City earthquake damaged the cemetery again.[3]: 48 

A Googie-styled circular Receiving Chapel complex was designed by Frank W. Trabucco[13] and completed in 1963; it contains five separate chapels, each decorated with murals by Thomas Lawless. The current chapel replaced an older chapel at the same site, completed in 1914.[3]: 63–65 

  • Holy Cross Cemetery shortly after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
    Holy Cross Cemetery shortly after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
  • Archbishops' Crypt, Holy Cross Mausoleum
    Archbishops' Crypt, Holy Cross Mausoleum
  • Holy Cross Receiving Chapel (completed 1963)
    Holy Cross Receiving Chapel (completed 1963)
  • Relocation memorial
    Relocation memorial
  • Stone-topped gate pillar on Mission Road, completed in 1902
    Stone-topped gate pillar on Mission Road, completed in 1902
  • Lawn and mausoleum
    Lawn and mausoleum

Two of the cemetery sequences from the film Harold and Maude, in which Harold attends the funerals of strangers and meets Maude, were filmed at Holy Cross[14] in Sections T[15] and J;[16] the Mausoleum and Hillside Boulevard gate also appear in the film.[17] Additional sequences were filmed at nearby cemeteries in Colma and San Bruno, including Cypress Lawn, Woodlawn,[3]: 12  and Golden Gate National Cemetery.[18]

Notable burials

Several notable people are buried at Holy Cross, including former politicians, and people of the California Gold Rush.

This cemetery also contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a Canadian Infantry soldier of World War I.[19]

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References
  1. Arquidiócesis de San Francisco - Cruzada Guadalupana
  2. San Francisco Católico - Noviembre 17, 2019
  3. Svanevik, Michael; Burgett, Shirley (1995). City of Souls: San Francisco's Necropolis at Colma. San Francisco, California: Custom & Limited Editions. ISBN 1-881529-04-5.
  4. Shoup, Laurence H.; Brack, Mark; Fee, Nancy; Giberti, Bruno (June 1994). A Historic Resources Evaluation Report of Seven Colma Cemeteries (Report). BART–San Francisco Airport Extension Project. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  5. Bartlett, Jean (October 12, 2011). "The grave side of history with Professor Michael Svanevik at nearby Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery". Pacifica Tribune. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  6. "The Departed Year". Times Gazette. 7 January 1888. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  7. "Colma". Times Gazette. 20 January 1894. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  8. "Colma". Times Gazette. 25 August 1894. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  9. "South San Francisco jottings". Times Gazette. 25 September 1897. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  10. Svanevik, Michael; Burgett, Shirley (2017-05-17). "Matters Historical: How dead San Franciscans were moved to Colma". The Mercury News. ISSN 0747-2099. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  11. Kastler, Deanna L. (2010-07-22). "Cemeteries". Encyclopedia of San Francisco. SF Museum and Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  12. Branch, John (2016-02-05). "The Town of Colma, Where San Francisco's Dead Live". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  13. "Trabucco, Frank W." SF Gate. July 4, 2003. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  14. Hartlaub, Peter (2018-05-30). "'Harold and Maude': meeting cute at a funeral". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  15. "Harold and Maude - At the Cemetery - 1". ReelSF. April 12, 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  16. "Harold and Maude - At the Cemetery - 2". ReelSF. August 16, 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  17. Meretzky, Steve (2013). "The cemetery where Maude steals Harold's hearse". The Harold and Maude Project. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  18. "Harold and Maude - Sunflowers and Daisies". ReelSF. March 27, 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  19. CWGC casualty record.
  20. Mino-Bucheli, Sebastian (October 7, 2021). "Some of the Most Famous People Buried in Colma (With Map)". KQED.
  21. Enders, Eric. "Cy Falkenberg". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  22. "Rousseau". San Francisco Chronicle. 1918-11-17. p. 12. ISSN 1932-8672. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
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