Nothing to fear here

COEUR d’ALENE — Jaxon Mauro clutched flowers in his right hand as he walked around St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery on a cloudy and gray Wednesday morning.

He was bundled against the 37-degree conditions with a hooded jacket as he looked for a headstone belonging to a man with the last name of McDonald.

While he was joined by about 75 classmates, teachers and parents from Holy Family Catholic School, he couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling of being in the century-old cemetery with towering trees and scattered leaves.

“Creepy,” he said.

Holy Family students visited the cemetery on the east end of Sherman Avenue on All Souls Day. They came to learn about its history, pray for some of the souls buried there and understand it’s a place of peace.

“I want them to know that this is sacred ground and there’s nothing to be afraid of here,” said Williene Gagnon, a member of the cemetery committee who gave a presentation to students.

Annmarie Lander, another committee member, said St. Thomas cemetery is where anyone can sit, contemplate, and hang out.

“It’s a lovely place just for repose,” she said.

Youth aren't convinced.

Lander said they have found that many kids fear being in a cemetery, or even near one.

“Kind of made it into something that it’s really not,” she said. “All cemeteries are beautiful.”

After hearing a brief history of the cemetery, groups of students were given two gravestone memorials to locate. Some found quick success, while others wandered through the headstones, reading names, and moving on.

“We need to find Eleanor Smith,” one student said.

Students were also asked to stop at a headstone, say a "prayer for the faithful departed,” and leave a flower.

Third-grader Annie Aberle did exactly that. She kneeled and read the prayer: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

When she finished, she placed a pink flower on the headstone, stood and walked away.

Third grade teacher Liz McAllister said it was a good lesson for students to visit the cemetery, and see what it’s like while being respectful.

“I think they are really enjoying this experience and being able to have the opportunity to pray for the souls on All Souls Day,” she said.

Fifth grade teacher Hanna Wilcox said she hoped students realized they were on holy grounds on All Souls Day.

More than 3,000 people are buried at St.Thomas, which dates back to 1890.

“We’re praying for the souls here, more than anything,” she said.

Wilcox said her grandparents, Opal and Henry Hammrich, took care of St.Thomas Catholic Cemetery for nearly 40 years, and are buried there.

Opal C. Hammrich, died Jan. 26, 2019, at the age of 89, while Henry died Nov. 30, 2010, at the age of 83.

“It's pretty special for me to come out here,” Wilcox said. “I got to pray for them.”

Gagnon also asked students several questions, including what to do with ashes from cremation.

“The Vatican says if you are cremated, you need to be buried,” she said. “You can’t be scattered and you can’t be put on the mantle."

When asked why caskets are buried six-feet deep, students offered answers: So it doesn’t stink; protection from natural disasters; so no one steals anything.

Good tries, but not quite right.

Gagnon said the practice started in England. Six feet was deep enough that animals could not dig them up, and so grave diggers could still climb out without needing a ladder.

“That makes sense,” she said.

Gagnon also asked why people are buried facing east.

Several students said it had to do with the rising of the sun.

“They believed that when the sun rises, God would take their souls to heaven,” said a student.

“Second coming, right?” said a teacher.

Gagnon read Matthew 24:27: “For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.”

She and some students looked to the east.

“That’s where Jesus is going to be coming,” Gagnon said.