St. Patrick Cemetery #1

5000 Canal Street
Office: 143 City Park Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70119



504-488-5200
504-488-4989 (alt)
504-488-5209 (fax)


Gates open Monday – Saturday 8:30am to 4:15pm
 Sunday 8:30am to 4:00pm

Keep in mind:

• Bike tours and other motorized bike/vehicle tours are prohibited in our Catholic Cemeteries
• All of our Catholic Cemeteries are closed on Mardi Gras Day.  Gates close early on the Saturday before Mardi Gras due to the Endymion parade.
• No alcohol or food permitted
• Only certified Service animals are permitted in the cemetery

St. Patrick Cemeteries 1, 2 & 3, established in 1841.
The St. Patrick Cemeteries were established in 1841 by the parish of St. Patrick’s Church, located on Camp Street in today’s Central Business District. Catholic Irish immigrants formed the parish in 1833 and they began worshiping out of a small wood frame church on the site of the current building. In the late 1830s, with an ever-growing congregation, administrators hired architects Charles and James Dakin to construct the present building, which was completed by prominent local architect James Gallier in 1840 after problems with the foundation were uncovered.

With the new church constructed, the vestry of St. Patrick’s purchased the land for the cemeteries on the naturally high ground of Metairie Ridge in 1841 from Gabriel Jason (c. 1817-1860), and shortly thereafter received permission to form a cemetery there from the city council of New Orleans. Due to the layout of the site, with Canal Street and City Park Avenue dividing the parcel, the cemetery was separated into three distinct sections known as St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1, 2, and 3.
 
Early on, in-ground burials were the preferred type of interment within St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1 due to cultural preferences and cost concerns. The yellow fever epidemic of 1847 and that of 1853, which has been labeled the worst in New Orleans’ history, left an indelible mark upon the landscape of the cemetery. In August of 1853, a reported 1,300 people died from the disease each week. The Irish population of New Orleans, and that of other recent immigrant groups such as the Germans, were especially hard hit by the epidemic. In the month of August alone, approximately 1,100 yellow fever victims were laid to rest in St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1. The large number of interments within such a short period of time is why St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1 is not organized in distinct rows. For additional information about the cemetery's history during the 1853 outbreak please click here.
 
St. Patrick Cemetery No. 2 and 3 follow a more formal layout, are marked by above-ground tombs, and reflect the changing demographics of the St. Patrick congregation over time, with a number of English, French, and Italian surnames represented.
 
The Calvary Mausoleum, located at the rear of St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1 was constructed in 1973 under the direction of Rev. Raymond A. Wegmann, the archdiocesan director of the cemeteries at the time. The mausoleum, which features a relief carving in Carrara marble of the crucifixion group, replaced an 1891 sculpture of Calvary. The original monument included a 20-foot-tall roughly hewn wooden cross, and seven-feet-tall bronze statues of the crucified Christ, standing figures of Mary and the disciple John, and a kneeling portrayal of the grieving Mary Magdalene.
 
In 1909, the City of New Orleans sought to widen Canal Street and they requested to purchase 34 feet of the front of St. Patrick Cemetery Nos. 1 and 2. In 1911, the deal went through and though no tombs or burials were disturbed during the project the sexton’s house did have to be relocated.
 
In January of 1917, donated Stations of the Cross were installed in locations within the cemeteries that were visible from Canal Street and City Park Avenue. The Pietà in St. Patrick Cemetery No. 2 and the large altar featuring a crucifix at the rear of St. Patrick Cemetery No. 3, memorializing Domenick Carra, were both erected by Father Raymond Carra pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, during the 1910s or early 1920s.
 
The newest additions to the St. Patrick Cemeteries include the Holy Innocents Prayer Garden in St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1 and the Queen of All Saints Cremation Garden in St. Patrick Cemetery No. 3. In 2018, the Holy Innocents Prayer Garden was dedicated for parents who have lost an unborn child through abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth. The Queen of All Saints Cremation Garden was dedicated in 2019 and features 630 single and double niches designed for the interment of cremated remains within a verdant half-acre of garden space marked by columbaria and statuary.