FATHER FRANK’S LOG: 25th MAY – 1st JUNE 2025
One day, during Holy Week, I decided to go out for a walk from St Mungo’s, just to get a breath of fresh air, and to clear my head, which was over-occupied with so many things. I didn’t want to go too far, and I didn’t want to be out for too long, so I just headed over to the Necropolis, the famous cemetery beside St Mungo’s Cathedral. I can never go there without thinking of the old lady who was in the Royal Infirmary, who said to the late Father Anthony Behan CP, that she found great consolation in looking out at the statue of the Sacred Heart, rising up out of the Necropolis. Father Anthony didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was, in fact, a statue of John Knox she was looking at, and perhaps even praying to. Interestingly, the Necropolis was modelled on the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, which hosts the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, and other famous celebrities. By far the most visited grave in Père-Lachaise is that of Jim Morrison, lead singer and songwriter with the Doors in the 1960’s, and who died tragically, aged just 27, in 1971. I was never a big fan, his voice was a bit depressing, but he has become an enormous cult figure since. Apart from a few industrialists, politicians and the like, including the founder of Tennents brewery, I’m not aware of anyone particularly famous being buried in the Necropolis, not even John Knox. His statue, dominating the hillside, predates the Necropolis, erected when it was still parkland, 200 years ago this year, in 1825. He is buried at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
I hadn’t been to the Necropolis (which means the city of the dead) in ages but, in times past, when I have gone over, I have tended to pass through the main gates, cross over the Bridge of Sighs, then turn left, and take the downward path towards the Jewish enclosure. The very first burial in the Necropolis, which was always intended as a non-denominational cemetery, was a Jewish jeweller called Joseph Levi, and people of all faiths, including Catholics, were buried there throughout the years. On this occasion, for whatever subliminal reason, I crossed the bridge and turned right. As I followed the path, I came across what I can only describe as a small meadow, with two gorgeous cherry blossom trees looming over it. The meadow was arrayed with beautifully coloured wild flowers. When I got closer, I noticed a small plaque, and I discovered that this was in fact a memorial garden, still in construction, to over 8,000 people who were buried in that vicinity in the earlier part of the 19th century. They were buried in common ground, and in unmarked graves, prior to the time, later in the century, when family graves and plots became the more normal thing. At some point, when the garden is completed, a stone marker will be placed at the site, with the exact number of people buried there engraved on it. I found this very poignant, and much in contrast with the famous figures in Père-Lachaise cemetery. How important that the unremembered are remembered.
At the moment I am still in the process of getting the gravestone inscribed for the late Father Justinian at our Passionist plot in St Kentigern’s. Next week, I will also be burying the ashes of my dear brother Patrick, and making arrangements for his name to be inscribed on the gravestone alongside my father, Frank, who died in 1960, and my mother, Alice, who died in 2001. This will also be in St Kentigern’s, not far from our Passionist plot. I regularly visit these graves when I am conducting a burial or a cremation in St Kentigern’s or in Lambhill. In faith we know that our loved ones are not in these graves, and that, with the help of our prayers, their souls are speeding to heaven, as the hymn says, but still, there is a value in marking their graves, and visiting their graves, just as there is a value in creating a beautiful memorial garden for those who might otherwise be forgotten, and lost in the mists of time. Sometime soon, I must head over to the Necropolis again and see how the garden is progressing, and if the stone marker has yet been erected. I might even say a prayer to the Sacred Heart, a.k.a. John Knox, while I’m there. May our deceased loved ones rest in peace.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
One day, during Holy Week, I decided to go out for a walk from St Mungo’s, just to get a breath of fresh air, and to clear my head, which was over-occupied with so many things. I didn’t want to go too far, and I didn’t want to be out for too long, so I just headed over to the Necropolis, the famous cemetery beside St Mungo’s Cathedral. I can never go there without thinking of the old lady who was in the Royal Infirmary, who said to the late Father Anthony Behan CP, that she found great consolation in looking out at the statue of the Sacred Heart, rising up out of the Necropolis. Father Anthony didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was, in fact, a statue of John Knox she was looking at, and perhaps even praying to. Interestingly, the Necropolis was modelled on the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, which hosts the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, and other famous celebrities. By far the most visited grave in Père-Lachaise is that of Jim Morrison, lead singer and songwriter with the Doors in the 1960’s, and who died tragically, aged just 27, in 1971. I was never a big fan, his voice was a bit depressing, but he has become an enormous cult figure since. Apart from a few industrialists, politicians and the like, including the founder of Tennents brewery, I’m not aware of anyone particularly famous being buried in the Necropolis, not even John Knox. His statue, dominating the hillside, predates the Necropolis, erected when it was still parkland, 200 years ago this year, in 1825. He is buried at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
I hadn’t been to the Necropolis (which means the city of the dead) in ages but, in times past, when I have gone over, I have tended to pass through the main gates, cross over the Bridge of Sighs, then turn left, and take the downward path towards the Jewish enclosure. The very first burial in the Necropolis, which was always intended as a non-denominational cemetery, was a Jewish jeweller called Joseph Levi, and people of all faiths, including Catholics, were buried there throughout the years. On this occasion, for whatever subliminal reason, I crossed the bridge and turned right. As I followed the path, I came across what I can only describe as a small meadow, with two gorgeous cherry blossom trees looming over it. The meadow was arrayed with beautifully coloured wild flowers. When I got closer, I noticed a small plaque, and I discovered that this was in fact a memorial garden, still in construction, to over 8,000 people who were buried in that vicinity in the earlier part of the 19th century. They were buried in common ground, and in unmarked graves, prior to the time, later in the century, when family graves and plots became the more normal thing. At some point, when the garden is completed, a stone marker will be placed at the site, with the exact number of people buried there engraved on it. I found this very poignant, and much in contrast with the famous figures in Père-Lachaise cemetery. How important that the unremembered are remembered.
At the moment I am still in the process of getting the gravestone inscribed for the late Father Justinian at our Passionist plot in St Kentigern’s. Next week, I will also be burying the ashes of my dear brother Patrick, and making arrangements for his name to be inscribed on the gravestone alongside my father, Frank, who died in 1960, and my mother, Alice, who died in 2001. This will also be in St Kentigern’s, not far from our Passionist plot. I regularly visit these graves when I am conducting a burial or a cremation in St Kentigern’s or in Lambhill. In faith we know that our loved ones are not in these graves, and that, with the help of our prayers, their souls are speeding to heaven, as the hymn says, but still, there is a value in marking their graves, and visiting their graves, just as there is a value in creating a beautiful memorial garden for those who might otherwise be forgotten, and lost in the mists of time. Sometime soon, I must head over to the Necropolis again and see how the garden is progressing, and if the stone marker has yet been erected. I might even say a prayer to the Sacred Heart, a.k.a. John Knox, while I’m there. May our deceased loved ones rest in peace.
As ever, protect yourself, your loved ones and others, and protect Christ in your lives.
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