At St. Alphonsus Villa in New Smyrna Beach, Florida the morning mass ended around 9:10am. The members of the community, under the watchful care of Fr. Ray Collins, C.Ss.R., and the Villa staff, loaded up their new van and several cars, and headed down US 1 to the Edgewater Cemetery. There we gathered in celebration and prayer remembering the lives of Redemptorists and Oblates who rest there.
The staff of the Villa, former and present, were in attendance and joyfully shared stories of the good men and women who sleep there. Before the actual service, many of us walked among the headstones of our beloved dead and counted up to 32 of our members - 31 professed Redemptorists and one oblate (Ms. Maggie Lovelace.) The identity of these Redemptorists represented almost every possible ministry, position, and service of the Congregation.
This little-known cemetery in the Redemptorist world contains the remains of former Vice Provincials (Richmond), Rectors and Professors of Formation communities, rural mission preachers, members who ministered in different (Vice) Provinces, regions, and missions. Many of them served in the foreign missions (Brazil, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean) and returned to the States serving in the Province of Baltimore and the Former Vice Province of Richmond. Their witness of faith and hope changed and blessed the lives of thousands and they are not forgotten.
Every year we gather to celebrate them, and in a special way we celebrate the women and men who still care for our missionaries here at the Villa, who have served in the same way. In the cemetery, under Fr. Ray’s direction, we prayed and sang and remembered with hearts full of thanksgiving. Their stories brought smiles to our faces and tears to our grateful eyes. Redemptorists who served all over the world and in our Province, who made a difference in the lives of countless people and proclaimed the goods new that “With Him there is Plentiful Redemption.” May these Sons and Daughter of St. Alphonsus rest in peace!