Art and technology in 103-year-old Holy Cross Cemetery balance tradition and reinvention

NORTH ARLINGTON — Through technology, architecture and art, the 103-year-old Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum is changing the way people think about traditional Catholic burial.

Aside from being the final resting place of more than 300,000 people, Holy Cross contains over $5 million in preserved and commissioned sculptures and mosaics.

American Cemetery & Cremation magazine has recognized the way the 200-acre cemetery and the nation's largest Catholic mausoleum fits into the small-town tapestry of North Arlington.

“And far more than just a final resting place, Holy Cross Cemetery & Mausoleum offers a park-like setting, exquisite artwork, modern technology and a faith-inspired atmosphere,” the magazine wrote. “It’s easy to understand why Holy Cross Cemetery & Mausoleum has been selected as our seventh annual American Cemetery Excellence award winner.”

With its multiple cemeteries, North Arlington has an unusual distinction itself: The borough has nearly 20 times more deceased people than living residents. There are more people buried in the borough than the population of New Jersey’s largest city, nearby Newark.

'Family-friendly art venue'

The 265,000-square-foot mausoleum has expanded into a museum focused on the North American experience of Roman Catholicism and containing 90 major works of art.

Local art students routinely come in for tours of the mausoleum, Catholic Cemeteries Executive Director Andrew Schafer said.

The expansion’s biblical theme of Genesis came about after several years of planning, noted Joseph Verzi, assistant executive director.

“We said, ‘Let’s make the building a journey,' ” said Verzi. “It truly operates like a museum, when you think about it.”

The Genesis Mausoleum Chapel’s ceiling resembles the hull of a pilgrim’s ship, a reference to how settlers used to construct their churches once in the New World.

“With its four-year, multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion, the mausoleum has combined ancient scriptures and contemporary art in an effort to transform the mausoleum into a family-friendly art venue,” the magazine wrote.

As with modern museums, artwork around the mausoleum and on the cemetery grounds is outfitted with QR codes on plaques, enabling visitors to use their smart phones to learn details of what they're seeing.

Around the new wing are six Genesis mosaics depicting the first days of Creation. Hand-created by the husband-and-wife team of Alexander and Daniela Mandradjiev from California, the murals consist of more than a million pieces of stone and glass.

Imported Venetian Smalti, gold leaf, natural materials, and precious stones from around the world were used to form the more than 1,700 colors.

Mosaics "are a kind of modern art next to 100-year-old statues,” said Schafer. “It’s almost like a fusion of technology and art and embracing the traditions of the Catholic faith.”

In the chapel’s center is a circular altar carved from a block of marble featuring Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life, a different choice from the traditional rectangular altar seen in many churches.

Four life-size statues of Mother Teresa, Mother Cabrini, Mother Cope and Mother Seton stand before stained-glass alcoves with symbols of their service. Commissioned from Italy, these Linden wood statues are in “action” poses, such as reading to children or comforting the sick, portraying the saints in less rigid stances than more traditional saint statues.

“These are saints people can actually relate to,” said Verzi. “We wanted to show the mission of saints from our own time. It’s our own hall of heroes.”

Natural elements from around the world are incorporated into everything from the artwork to the architecture. There's wood from Canada, marble from Egypt, Spain, Italy and Turkey, and granite from Minnesota.

A pair of stained-glass doorways in a corridor captures a radiant sunrise and a colorful sunset. In two exterior gardens within the complex are bronze statues of St. Francis of Assisi with a wolf and St. Kateri Tekawitha and a fawn, “releasing” doves 18 feet upward.

The art is intended to create a beautiful environment evangelizing the Catholic faith, similar to the way medieval churches used visuals to reach a largely illiterate congregation.

Motorists on Ridge Road will notice the pair of 15-foot marble statues flanking the expansion: St. Helen of the Cross and a "finished" version of Michelangelo's Pietà Rondanini. The commissioning of the Pietà was an expedition onto itself.

“Every piece tells its own story,” said Verzi.

Alongside the new is the old: preserved works archived by the Archdiocese when churches were closed.

From Sacred Heart Church in the Vailsburg section of Newark, a 10-foot-diameter stained-glass window depicting Jesus with children stands inside. A pair of 6-foot-diameter portraits of St. Aloysius and St. Augustine are housed in metal displays in the outdoor corridor.

“Our families will have a connection to those windows. They remember them from their own parishes,” said Schafer.

Four century-old windows of the four Gospel authors, housed in custom-built light-boxes, line the lower level, giving the impression of sunlight in the underground corridor. They join two restored floor-to-ceiling paintings from Vailsburg.

Refurbished altars and statues from Sacred Heart of St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Anthony flank the Genesis chapel.

Designers of the expansion incorporated elements of the preserved works into the new architecture and windows, such as continuing key colors or patterns, said Verzi.

“It’s the little things people don’t even see. That’s the amount of detail we have put into it,” he said.

The practice continues at another cemetery in the Archdiocese of Newark.

The iconic dome ceiling and stained-glass windows that were once part of St. Bridget’s Church in Jersey City, closed three years ago, will be the centerpiece of a new mausoleum. Recently restored, the dome will be installed under a skylight at St. Gertrude’s in Colonia, said Schafer.

Cremation grows in popularity 

In 2016, the Vatican released a document titled “To Rise with Christ,” reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s stance that the bodies of the deceased be laid to rest in a consecrated place. This means no scattering of ashes or keeping urns at home.

Included in Holy Cross' 2013 mausoleum expansion were 920 cremation niches situated behind glass and shelved with rich green marble. Already sold out, they are a reflection of how Catholics are rethinking how they wish to be buried.

For the first time in New Jersey across all religions, more than 50 percent of people are choosing cremation, said Verzi.

Holy Cross is responding to this preference this year by creating more niches to the mausoleum, and older sections of the building are being retrofitted for additional niches.

Even the bases of the outdoor statues contain niches.

Urns range from the simple to the ornate. Some niches include personalized memorials, such as framed photos.

Holy Cross has also expanded its offerings of display pieces for crypts, including small angel figures or cameo portraits.

“It gives people the opportunity to really memorialize a loved one,” said Verzi. “We honor the memory of that person and protect them.”

Holy Cross will also accept unclaimed human ashes for free, often surrendered by family members who have no place for them in their home or abandoned at churches.

Verzi recalled how one couple found an urn in the attic of a home they had purchased.

“They are entombed here in a sacred place and will be a part of the community of the faithful,” he said. “We’ve taken in literally hundreds of abandoned human remains.”

Cemetery grounds

Standing above the graves and family mausoleums on the grounds are features that seem more at home in a park than in a cemetery.

Two 20-foot steel frames outline the place where the Twin Towers once adorned the New York City skyline, visible from Holy Cross’s vantage point. A red stained-glass cross, inspired by the cross made of twisted steel found in the rubble, is suspended in the void where the planes struck. They stand across from 10 graves related to Sept. 11, 2001.

“We wanted to capture the essence of that [Ground Zero] cross,” noted Schafer.

The memorial is accented with paver stones from Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark. Schafer said the pavers were removed from the cathedral during construction, since they had the spiritual footprints of visitors like Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.

Mirroring the temporary memorial that went up on the cemetery fence overlooking the skyline, photo collages ring the town sculptures. They capture the horror of attack, the inspiration of the first responders, moments of healing and spiritual reflection, the military response overseas, and the pursuit of peace.

A 30-foot open-air gazebo crowns the Saint Mother Teresa section, accented by birdhouses built by local Catholic school students and newly planted trees.

Because people are living longer and must deal with physical handicaps that limit their ability to visit graves in the middle of a long row, observed Schafer, the gazebo is a sheltered place for visitors to rest. When it's raining, burial ceremonies are performed in the gazebo.

“We were going for a park-like setting,” said Verzi, recalling how at the turn of the 20th century, cemeteries often served as a quiet, natural respite in urban areas.

In the same way the gazebo serves visitors, a 60-foot steel pyramidal structure, once protecting Pope John Paul II during Mass at Giants Stadium in 1995, is the site of the annual Memorial Day Mass.

The business of pre-planning

Holy Cross' picturesque grounds and ornate mausoleum serve to attract pre-planners wishing to decide their own final resting place.

Nearly 75 percent of burial purchases are made in advance. Holy Cross will host an open house for pre-planning on April 7 and 8.

Holy Cross’s standalone office is a microcosm of the cemetery’s evolution. The small building near the Ridge Road gate was expanded to include office space and an ADA entrance for patrons. Rows of filing cabinets are being replaced by electronic recordkeeping, while at the same time, elements of the original building retain its 1937 character.

The layout of the mausoleum was crafted with affordability in mind. As Schafer explained, the upper-level crypts are priced higher to supplement the lower costs of the bottom level.

“We provide space for our Catholic families. If there is a demonstrated need, we can provide a space for them free of charge,” said Schafer.

Catholic Cemeteries works with government agencies to offer assistance and have varying price points to serve parishioners. “The idea is we welcome the marginalized and everyone.”

Catholic Cemeteries has a free grave vouchers program that is offered to Catholic families experiencing “extreme financial crisis at a time of loss.”

Through these initiatives, Holy Cross’s next century promises to be both the same as — and uniquely different from — its last.

Email: grantm@northjersey.com