Saint Mary of Lourdes Cemetery in Metamora, Illinois

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Get directions Metamora, Illinois, USA

Coordinates: 40.79484, -89.46304
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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The parish was established in 1839. Pioneers of the Black Partridge area erected the first Catholic church with near-by felled timber in 1840 and called it St. Raphael's Church; it stood at the entrance of the present Lourdes cemetery. The first recorded burial came in 1842, just a few years after the founding of the parish. Mass was held every other Sunday by traveling priests from Peoria, Illinois. During most of those earlier years, all the way up to 1925, services were said and songs were sung in German due to the predominance of Germans in the congregation. Then English was introduced for some Masses. By about 1930, all services were in English. In 1855 a new brick church was built on a ten-acre site purchased for $65 across the road from the log church and cemetery. It cost $12,000, and like the first church it was lighted by kerosene or coal-oil lamps. It was dedicated in September 1855 with the title of the Immaculate Conception. However, from the beginning it was always called St. Mary's Church (St. Mary of Lourdes). St. Mary of Lourdes is the oldest parish in the Peoria Diocese and, in fact, is nearly 40 years older than the diocese itself.