Villiger Buried Twice in Elysian Fields!

     Today's weather was gorgeous - brisk and sunny - a perfect day for my visit to Fr. Villiger's grave.  Following Mass in the Church of the Gesu in November 1902, according to Rev. John Ryan, S.J., in his 1906 biography of Villiger, the funeral cortege wound its way to Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA, where the beloved pastor and school president was buried in the presence of hundreds of mourning parishoners.  
     But according to Mary Kay, a very helpful lady in the cemetery office, Holy Cross records show that Villiger's casket was moved two years later, and reinterred on 4 November 1905, along with that of Rev. Felix Barbelin, S.J., who passed in 1869, and Rev. Patrick Jordan, S.J., who died in 1899 (see pics of headstones).  The most likely explanation for all this activity is that the Jesuits probably purchased their sizable burial plot in 1905 and moved all graves into this space (see scanned map).  Cemetery records show the plot's owner to be "Church & College, St. Josephs".
     I had never heard mention of this site, so when I arrived at "Section X" of the cemetery, I was astonished by the size of the plot and the number of grave markers.  As I stepped between the headstones I recognized many of the names inscribed not only in granite, but in the hearts and minds of a century of St. Joe's men -  "the founders" Barbelin and Villiger; Schnorr - remembered annually with the awarding of the Schnorr Award for service to the Prep; "Pater Magister" D'Alessandro - alumnus and popular Latin teacher; Fay; Smith - the president of SJP my freshman year; Zeits; and well over 100 more priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (see pics).  
     The grounds crew at Holy Cross watches over the Jesuit plot, but it occured to me that it would be a fitting activity for the Villiger Society to visit at Easter, or perhaps on 2 May to remember Villiger's birthday, to pay our respects and lay a wreath to honor the commitment of the men who rest here.  Homer's Elysian Fields lay on the western edge of the Earth beside the stream Oceanus.  Our Elysium lay on the western edge of Darby Creek along Baily Road in Yeadon.