St Roch Cemetery

St. Roch Cemetery began in 1874, when Father Peter Leonard Thevis established a burial ground for the predominantly German congregation of Holy Trinity Church. He named it Campo Santo, recalling a German cemetery and hospice in Rome. The cemetery’s plan joined burial to devotion: the Stations of the Cross lead through the grounds, and a chapel stands at their center.

The chapel’s origin reaches back to the yellow fever epidemic of 1867. New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries records that Thevis built it in gratitude for what he regarded as St. Roch’s intercession in protecting his congregation. The cemetery itself was dedicated in 1875, and the Gothic-style chapel’s cornerstone was laid that day. Its later dedication took place in 1876.