All Souls Day Mass, burial of cremains
Southern Nebraska Register
Calvary Cemetery in Lincoln plans events for All Souls Day.
All Souls Day, Nov. 2, falls on a Saturday this year. Because that could be inconvenient for many to attend the traditional All Souls Day Mass, it will instead be offered at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4, at Calvary’s St. Charbel Mausoleum Chapel at 3880 L St.
Calvary Cemetery is also continuing a tradition begun five years ago, in which the cemetery will accept unburied cremated remains at the All Souls Memorial Crypt for entombment, without cost, as a sign of the Catholic belief in the reverence for the human body after death. This will also take place Monday, Nov. 4.
Cemetery director Msgr. Timothy Thorburn said those who wish to use the service for cremated remains of deceased loved ones must contact Calvary before Thursday, Oct. 31, to fill out the necessary documents, without which the interment cannot take place.
Cremated remains will be accepted only on the day of the service, Monday, Nov. 4, between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. If for any reason the cremated remains are not on site in time, the opportunity will not be available again until All Souls Day 2025.
The Nov. 4 entombment liturgy will be celebrated at 3 p.m. at the crypt on the north side of St. Charbel Mausoleum Chapel at Calvary Cemetery. Personalized memorial bricks to be placed near the crypt are available for purchase.
When Calvary began offering the entombment service in 2019, Msgr. Thorburn said burial of the deceased “is not just a nice thing to do; it is a corporal work of mercy, as taught by our Catholic faith.” He referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2447. Catholics, in fact, are required to bury or entomb cremated remains, just as they are the bodies of their beloved deceased relatives and friends.
Although preferring the burial or entombment of the body, Catholic belief permits cremation as long as cremation is not chosen to express disbelief the resurrection of the body, as was sometimes the case in the past. Catholic teaching requires that cremated remains be buried or entombed, preferably at a consecrated place, to await the day of their rising.
It is contrary to the reverence for the faithful departed to keep cremated remains, to make jewelry or other items out of them, or to scatter them.
Those who wish to have the cremated remains of a loved one entombed on All Souls Day must contact Calvary before Oct. 31, at 402-476-8787 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
