A VERY SPECIAL CLASSROOM
by Rev. Joseph Stefanelli, S.M.

"The first Marianist cemetery in the United States is located on the campus of what is now the University of Dayton. Father Leo Meyer, founder of the American Province, obtained permission from the township authorities to lay out a private cemetery at what was then known as the "Nazareth" convent. He chose a section of land south of the farmhouse and at the eastern end of the property. It was a secluded location and away from the incursion of vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Inaugurated on November 1, All Saints Day, 1854, it continued to receive the departed Marianists until December of 1960. The original cemetery was a small rectangular plot of 75 by 80 feet. It was surrounded by a wooden picket fence with several cedar trees on each side along the fence line. With time, the area was considerably expanded, to the north and to the east. For half a century, wooden crosses were used to mark the gravesites. In 1907, the wooden crosses were replaced by headstones. The headstones in turn were sunk level with the ground in 1971, and now probably escape the notice of many of the passers‐by. But the site is marked by a large granite slab on a granite base." This slab and inscription was added in 1980.