Tombstone Tuesday ~ Priests buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery, Hudson, New Hampshire

These tombstones were photographed at St. Patrick's Cemetery, Hudson, New Hampshire.

RT. REV.

MONSIGNOR

MATTHEW J.B.

CREAMER

PASTOR OF

ST. PATRICK'S PARISH

1906 - 1936

DIED

OCTOBER 1, 1936

IN HIS EIGHTIETH

YEAR   R.I.P.

According to the website for St. Patrick parish in Nashua, New Hampshire, the church was founded in 1901, and the building was completed in 1909.  Monsignor Creamer was the very first priest of this parish.  The St. Patrick cemetery was purchased by the community in 1856 on land across the Merrimack River from Nashua, in the town of Hudson. 

Monsignor Creamer's impressive Irish cross monument was located inside a large flat grassy roundabout in the cemetery.  It was only after I got out of my car to photograph his tombstone when I noticed that the grass circle was full of flat monuments to other priests.  They all had served in local Catholic churches near Nashua. 

REV. DENIS P. DOWNEY                         REV. LAUNCELOT F. QUINN

PASTOR OF OUR LADY OF MERCY            PASTOR OF ST. CHRISTOPHER PARISH

MERRIMACK, NH                                                   NASHUA, NH

BORN jAN. 14, 1903 - DIED NOV. 24, 1992          BORN JUNE 22, 1904- DIED JAN. 7, 1960

R.I.P.                                                                   R.I.P.

RT. REV. MSGR. JOSEPH R. O'CONNOR

PASTOR OF ST. PATRICKS PARISH

1957 NASHUA N.H.  1965

BORN JUNE 14, 1888 - DIED OCT 27, 1965

ORDAINED DEC. 21, 1918

R.I.P.

I'm not a Roman Catholic, nor were any of my ancestors since The Reformation in the 1500s.  I haven't really explored many Catholic cemeteries either.  I found this cemetery to be beautiful, with carvings and statuary not usually seen in austere Puritan New England burial grounds.  I was fascinated when I found this section of the cemetery where these priests were buried.  It is poignant to me that they are buried together with their brethren, instead of with their families.  The only other time I have photographed Roman Catholic religious was a post I did of the mausoleum to the Sisters of Mercy in Windham, New Hampshire.  You can see that post at this link:  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/tombstone-tuesday-sisters-of-mercy.html  

St. Patrick Parish history  http://www.stpatricksnashua.org/67  


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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Priests buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery, Hudson, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 17, 2015 (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/11/tombstone-tuesday-priests-buried-at-st.html: accessed [access date]).