St. Joseph's Cemetery & Mortuary Chapel: Other Burials

Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, nephew of Mother Seton and, like her, a convert to Catholicism, visited the place of her burial in 1873. At this time, he requested to be buried near his aunt, saying, "It is here I wish to be buried, here at Mother Seton's feet." At the time of his death four years later, the remains of Archbishop Bayley were placed in the vault beside those of Mother Seton.

The remains of Bishop John McNamara, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, D.C., were also buried in the Mortuary Chapel in 1960. Bishop McNamara was an ardent promoter of the Cause of Mother Seton for Canonization.

At the time of her beatification in March 1963, the remains of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton were exhumed, placed in a small copper casket, and enshrined above the altar in St. Joseph College Chapel. On January 4, 1968, these sacred relics were transferred to her altar in the Daughters of Charity Chapel (now the Basilica).

The historic oak tree stood until 1984, when the soft earth could no longer support it. Its rotten roots gave way and it fell backwards, causing no damage as it rested between two rows of stones and touched none. Shortly afterwards a new tree was planted.

Cemetery & Chapel

• Stations of the Cross
• The Chapel
• Other Burials