Mount Calvary Cemetery

Duane's take

The marker at Mount Calvary Cemetery tells it like this, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Out here in Brazos County, the story of a cemetery often starts with a community looking for a place to put down roots, and this one is no different. Bryan's St.

Joseph Roman Catholic Church began in 1873, drawing its congregation not just from the city but from the rural communities spreading out around it. For the next twenty-five years, when a parishioner passed, the church turned to whatever ground was already there. Bryan City Cemetery.

Moravian Cemetery, also known as Smetana. And Kurten Cemetery. Three different plots of land holding the same community together, even in death.

Now, things hummed along that way until July of 1890, when Reverend Joseph Pelnar began his tenure at St. Joseph's. He had his eye on something more permanent for the congregation, and he started pushing toward it.

Then, in 1896, the Bryan city council made a decision that changed the math considerably. They declared that only residents of the city proper could be buried in the city cemetery. That ruling cut out a number of church members, folks who lived just outside those city lines.

The door, in other words, had been shut on part of the flock. Reverend Pelnar didn't wait long. In December of the following year, he bought a ten-acre tract of land right at this site.

And then, in March of 1898, he blessed all but one acre of it. The place was initially named Calvary Cemetery. That one unblessed acre was set aside for those who were ineligible under Catholic canon law for a sanctioned burial.

A separate ground, held apart by the rules of the Church itself. That reserved acre, though, has since been incorporated into the rest of the cemetery. Whatever lines once divided it, the ground eventually became whole.

What stands here today is a tie, the marker calls it exactly that, a tie to the history of the Catholic residents of the Bryan area. Twenty-five years of borrowed ground, one city council vote, one determined reverend, ten acres, and a blessing in March of 1898. That's how a community stopped borrowing and finally had a place of its own.

What the marker says

Bryan's St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church began in 1873 with a congregation that drew from the city as well as rural communities in the area. For the next 25 years, the church used existing cemeteries for the burials of parishioners. These included Bryan City Cemetery, Moravian (Smetana) Cemetery and Kurten Cemetery. The Rev. Joseph Pelnar began his tenure at St. Joseph's in July 1890, and he directed early efforts to establish a cemetery for the congregation. In 1896, the Bryan city council declared that only residents of the city proper could be buried in the city cemetery. This excluded a number of church members, and in December of the following year Rev. Pelnar bought a ten-acre tract of land at this site. In March 1898, he blessed all but one acre of what was initially named Calvary Cemetery. The remaining acre was reserved for those who were ineligible by Catholic canon law for a sanctioned burial. That acre has since been incorporated into the rest of the cemetery. Today, the burial ground is a tie to the history of the Bryan area's Catholic residents. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004