St. John Vianney Section Dedicated at Assumption Cemetery

Photo caption: Fr. Riz Carranza, Pastor of St. Peter Claver Parish Simi Valley leading the dedication ceremony at the new St. John Vianney section at Assumption Cemetery Simi Valley. He is surrounded by other clergy, including Rev. Msgr. Joseph Hernandez, Pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church Moorpark. A statue of the patron saint stands behind them.

Like any other year, our 11 Catholic cemeteries celebrated All Souls Day Masses on Thursday, Nov. 2, but this year’s Mass at Assumption Cemetery in Simi Valley brought another cause for celebration. 

When the morning Mass concluded, Fr. Riz Carranza of nearby St. Peter Claver Church led a group of his fellow priests, plus deacons, Knights of Columbus, and hundreds of onlookers to a neighboring corner of the cemetery for a second ceremony to bless and dedicate the St. John of Vianney section. The moment surely took on special meaning for some of the clergy there. St. John Vianney is patron saint of parish priests, and the new section will likely be the final resting place for many of those serving across the Archdiocese.

The St. John Vianney section of the cemetery is now open at Assumption, making it the third Archdiocese cemetery to do so. Queen of Heaven in Rowland Heights and Santa Clara in Oxnard have already opened their own sections in 2021. Calvary Cemetery Santa Barbara also plans to open an additional St. John Vianney section currently under development.

For those visiting Assumption, the new section should be easy to spot. It’s near the northeast corner of the cemetery (to the left of the main entrance), marked by a statue of St. John Vianney, which stands tall atop a granite pedestal. The six-sided base will double as a columbarium, with niche space for the cremated remains of 72 decedents. For those who want a traditional burial, more than 400 lawn crypts await them, preinstalled in the grounds surrounding Vianney’s statue.

Not all who’ll be interred here will be members of the clergy. The majority of the niche and lawn crypt spaces are reserved for laypeople, most likely those who have strong ties to some member of the clergy.

“Having families interred near a parish priest is a huge benefit,” said Ernie Maldonado, preplanning location manager for Assumption. “People get attached to their priests and want to be near them even after passing away.”