St. Mary Cemetery was dedicated by Father Henry LeDuc on December 22, 1872, according to a reference in “Catholicity in Mississippi” complied by Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow, S.T.D., Seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Natchez (originally published in 1939 limited edition, Natchez, Mississippi). On its website, www.hancockcountyhistoricalsociety.com, several references to St. Mary Cemetery can be found in Bishop Gerow’s manuscript by searching the Hancock County Historical Society’s Alphabet File, (under Churches – Catholic; Our Lady of the Gulf, Bay St. Louis) , pages 83 to 87. The information shown in this historical account was reproduced with permission from Bishop Gerow’s original document.

Bishop Gerow’s account refers to two pastors who were buried in St. Mary Cemetery. Very Reverend Florimon J. Blanc was the third pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Church. He died on June 14, 1903 and was “buried in the vault beneath the Calvary in St. Mary’s Cemetery.”

The Very Reverend Aloise van Waesberghe was the fourth pastor of OLG from 1903 to his untimely death on April 6, 1906. He is “buried beside his predecessor in the vault reserved for priests in St. Mary’s cemetery.”

The mention of a vault and “Calvary” is a bit of a mystery which is perhaps lost to time. Despite very few plats and records surviving Hurricane Katrina, there was one plat showing a circular area marked “Calvary”. This plat was not dated and today the area shown on the plat is the intersection of the central roadway (which divides the cemetery into the North and South sections) and the first roadway to the right that runs parallel to Necaise Avenue. Unfortunately, no evidence of a vault or the 36 foot circular Calvary exists today in the area as shown on this plat.