In Gumbo Ya-Ya, Lyle Saxon called St. Roch’s “one of the most unusual cemeteries in New Orleans.”
He wrote that it had an appearance of great age, despite its relative youth.
The story of St. Roch's Cemetery begins with Holy Trinity Church in the Faubourg Marigny.
This lovely church sits defunct and abandoned in a tract of land that was once called “Little Saxony,” since it received the waves of German immigrants pouring into New Orleans during the 1840’s.
This German speaking Catholic parish was founded in 1847, while two blocks away is the city’s first Protestant German church, St. Paul Lutheran, founded in 1840.
The congregations included artisans, shopkeepers, farmers, dairymen, and the settlers of Milneburg.
Holy Trinity served the area as the parish church until 1871, when it was divided and St. Boniface parish was created.
The St. Roch's cemetery chapel is particularly noteworthy due to the offerings left to those in recognition of answered prayers.
The cemetery is well maintained by the current congregation, and is actively used today.
--Text thanks to the amazing people at the non-profit Save Our Cemeteries
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