Catholic Cemetery

Catholic Cemetery was established in 1848 by Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, with the purchase of five acres on Stone St., now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Significant for its circular pattern, the original section has three concentric rings of graves oriented with feet toward the center plot of the Daughters of Charity. Annexation of land in 1866 added 15 acres to Old Catholic Cemetery, known for its high style of funerary art and the graves of Admiral Raphael Semmes and priest-poet Abram J. Ryan. Original gates from c.1850 to Spring Hill College, also founded by Portier, stand at the entrance to a section opened in 1948 totaling 150 acres. It has been the site of the annual All Souls' Day Mass for the Dead since 1929 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Mobile, Alabama · United States