Following Mass, people enter the Vattman Cemetery for prayers commemorating the dead on All Souls Day, Nov. 2. The Cemetery began in 1909 when Theodore Fehmer, one of the early German settlers deeded 9 acres to the Most Rev. Pedro Verdaguer, Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate of Brownsville, Texas for the building of a parish church. A wooden church was built on the property that year. In 1914 it was transferred to the newly established Diocese of Corpus Christi. The wooden church was destroyed in a hurricane in 1916 but the cemetery remained where it is located today.

On All Souls day, Nov. 2, after hearing Mass, the people of Vattman processed to their tiny rural cemetery. There surrounded by plowed fields and under a bright blue sky they stopped to pray for their beloved deceased family members and friends. The ancient memorial day comes down to us from the first Christians and it still helps to remind Catholics of the value and need to pray for the dead.

The day's prayer were led by Our Lady of Consolation administrator Fr. Paul Peter Antony who was joined by Msgr. James E. Harris of Laredo. Harris is a descendant of several of those interred there. While the commemoration of the dead is quite old, the Vattman cemetery has been moved well into the 21st century with its complete documentation and new web pages on the Diocesan website.

The Vattman Cemetery Committee did the web project, which was recently put online. Descendants, committee members and others gathered obituaries, photos, documents, stories and additional pertinent material. It was transcribed and submitted to the Diocesan web master Mark Harris (no relation to Msgr. Harris). Harris designed web pages and the layout of the information, Msgr. Harris wrote much of the narrative for the pages. The following excerpt describes the importance of cemeteries in the broad context of eternity.

"For your faithful people, O Lord, life has changed, not ended. When the body or our earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven."

This preface from the Rite of Christian Burial sums up the Catholic view of the transition from man's earthly existence to his heavenly destiny. We believe that those members of the church who have died continue to live, albeit in the heavenly realm. As such, for Catholics, a cemetery is a sacred place, where the mortal remains of those who have "gone before us marked with the sign of faith," rest in anticipation of the resurrection of their bodies. Those who have died in Christ are as much a part of the life of the church as those of us who continue to tread the pathways of earthly life. The Catholic faith teaches that those in heaven, those who await entrance into heaven, and those of us who still await our death are all members of Christ's mystical body, the church. As such, we continue to love the deceased and pray for them as charity demands.

And our cemeteries are important places for us as Catholics to be reunited with our deceased brothers and sisters in memory, in love for one another and in prayer for their entrance into heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1032) says that this teaching is based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore, (Judas Maccabeus) made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." From the beginning the church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. (St. John Chrysostom) To view the historic Vattman Cemetery to go http://www.diocesecc.org/vattman/