St. Paul Cemetery

Born in Holland on May 26, 1843, Father John F. Elsen came to America to minister and was first stationed at Sacred Heart Church in Hudson, MI. When he arrived in Grosse Pointe, he began an effort to build the current church building in 1895 and oversaw its construction while maintaining his regular parishioner duties. However, Father Elsen died before the completion of the church in January of 1899 at the age of 56 and he was buried in the new church cemetery.

In 1984, St. Paul wanted to locate the grave of Father Elsen as his original grave marker had deteriorated and the grave was overgrown. Archaeologists from Wayne State University were charged with doing so. What they found revealed a great about burial practices of Catholic parishioners and the nature of Father Elsen’s own burial.

Burial in Roman Catholicism is a religious act and an ecclesiastical rite, composed of the vigil or wake, the funeral mass, and a ritual at the place of the deceased’s interment. Father Elsen’s own funeral went almost accordingly. His wake took place in the smaller church, during which other funeral preparations were made. As he was a major figure in the diocese, many came to mourn his passing, so the funeral mass was held in the barely completed new church building. While the vigil and mass went accordingly, Father Elsen’s burial ritual was done with more hast due to a snowstorm occurring. Evidence of his quick burial was found during the excavation, such as the wooden post belonging to the wooden cross that marked his grave until arrangements for a stone marker could be made.

One element of the Roman Catholic burial rite that has received notoriety concerning Father Elsen was that of his chalice. The chalice is a sacred and ancient vessel in Catholic liturgy and is a traditional gift given to a priest during his ordination. Although burials with the chalice are recorded in France and other European countries, it is unclear when this practice began, and it was never recorded in 17th and 18th century New France. Among the community, Father Elsen was fabled to have been buried with his chalice, but none was recovered during the excavation. The lack of a vessel at other local priest funerals – such as Father Richard of Ste. Anne de Détroit and Reverend Mueller of the Polish St. Albertus Church – indicate that burial with the chalice is not a requirement in Roman Catholic liturgy but rather a personal request by the priest. However, no Last Will and Testament of Elsen’s has been recovered to verify this.

The two St. Paul's cemeteries reflect burial patterns of the churchyard burial and the rural burial. The first St. Paul Cemetery retained the last vestiges of the Christian burial concept of burying parishioners near their place of worship. While the second cemetery mirrored the garden-like cemetery aesthetic of the Victorian era, parishioners of St. Paul have kept to the reserved, religious expressions on tombstones instead of the popular Romantic and neo-Classical motifs of the time. 

Martinez, Charles H.. Archaeological Investigation to Locate Burial Site of Rev. John F. Elsen In St. Paul's Cemetery . . Published December 20th 1983. Wayne State University.

St. Paul Cemetery, Wayne State University: Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology. Accessed December 11th 2020. http://www.clas.wayne.edu/anthromuseum/st-paul-cemetery.