Valley Girl Views: Finding The Forgotten - DiRocco's Memorial Project

Mike DiRocco, with two of the metal crosses, commemorating infants, found in the unconsecrated burial site outside of Mt Carmel Cemetery, part of Wildwood Cemetery

Having located an area in Wildwood Cemetery where more than 90 babies are buried in unmarked, "unconsecrated" ground, Mike DiRocco has been on a mission to memorialize those who are buried there. Among the babies in the plot is his grandfathers brother, a baby who was stillborn.

DiRocco had started out searching for the grave of his great uncle, and in the process discovered that 92 babies and one adult male were buried in Unconsecrated Ground on the edge of Mt. Carmel Cemetery, a catholic cemetery that is today part of Wildwood Cemetery.

See this post on DiRoccos Page HERE

In October of 2023, DiRocco's friend Rick Edler and some of his metal detecting friends, spend two days scanning the property. Through their efforts, they located the unconsecrated grounds, finding nearly 20 metal crosses buried in the ground.

The grounds at Mt Carmel Cemetery were blessed, and are considered consecrated, or "Holy Grounds." Infants, often stillborn, that were unable to be baptized were not buried in consecrated ground, but rather on the outskirts.

DiRocco, in his August 2023 facebook post said " Many of the Babies were stillborn, some lived a few hours, or only a day or two. I cannot explain why they all were in unconsecrated ground, but I know not being baptized, through no fault of their own, was one reason. "

Find a 2 page list of all 90+ burials DiRocco Discovered, at the bottom of this page. A valuable resource for genealogists, it lists the parents names, and their address at the time of burial.

Having located the site, through his efforts, the ground was blessed, and a memorial mass was held, naming each one buried there. Immediately following, a ceremony was held to bless the unconsecrated ground at the cemetery.

Next, DiRocco would like to have a monument erected on the grounds, something similar to this design:

In his facebook post, DiRocco gives the following details:

"The first thing that needs to be done is to have a concrete footing poured for the base. It’ll need to be 40”x40” and at least 36” deep. That’s our frost line.

One issue is that the area is very hard to get to. Impossible for a cement truck. A pump truck would be ideal! Another option would be to build a chute. Of course, I’m looking for volunteer work, or work that can be done at cost, if possible. "

DiRocco estimates that the project will cost roughly $30,000. He has commitments for $7,000 so far, and has ideas for a variety of fundraisers as well.

Donations towards the memorial can be made on a page through the Wildwood Cemetery Site.

Please note that the default donation is $100, but you can donate ANY amount, even just $1.

The directions DiRocco gives to find this burial are are: Turn into the entrance off Wildwood Blvd by Arden Lee Concrete and you are in it. It is not overly big, at least not compared to the rest of wildwood.

See the facebook video, taken by DiRocco, of the blessing of the ground. In the video, DiRocco explains a bit about how his search for these burials.

For all of the latest updates on this project, follow Mike DiRocco's facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/MDiRocco39

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