Submitted by Cheryl Harris, Apr 26, 2002, last edited Sep 05, 2012
[rich1223@comcast.net].
Total Records = 22,193.
The Mount Calvary cemetery can be reached from Lomas Boulevard,
turn north on Edith Blvd and continue to Indian School Road. Here
you will see it on the east side of Blvd.
The original (oldest) section is called Santa Barbara and is
listed as SB in the burial locations.
In 1869, the Jesuit Fathers in Albuquerque announced they would
be building a new chapel and new cemetery. The old cemetery near
the San Felipe de Neri Church would no longer hold burials. Father
Donato Gasparri found a better site three miles from the Old Town
site. The greater number of the bodies from the old grounds were
carefully moved in 1869.
The first recorded interment was August 1870. The earliest existing
monuments are those of Vicente Otero (1877), Jesusita Baca de
Romero (1877) and Diego Armijo (1878).
In 1936, the Reverend Libertini chaired a committee to modernize
and beautify the cemetery. In 1938, a solemn high mass dedicated
the new chapel and cemetery. The parishes of San Felipe and Immaculate
Conception used Santa Barbara Cemetery which later became a part
of the newer larger Mount Calvary Cemetery.
The new cemetery consisted of an additional eighteen acres of
land north of the older Santa Barbara portion. I new chapel was
built in 1992 as well as a mausoleum. The original business office
is now a columbarium for cremated remains.
Mount Calvary is a non-sectarian perpetual care cemetery. A monthly
mass is celebrated on the first Saturday of each month by various
priests in the city. The cemetery is dedicated to fostering a
spirit of peace, joy, love, unity, communication, cooperation
and service as well as being responsive to the ever-changing needs
of the people it.
