About the Tour
Now is your chance to tour one of the least visited but most popular cemeteries in New Orleans.
St. Roch Cemetery, founded in 1874, was established by the Rev. Peter Leonard Thevis. According to legend, during the deadly outbreak of yellow fever in 1868, Rev. Thevis prayed to St. Roch, the Patron Saint of Good Health, and vowed to build a chapel to the Saint if his congregation was spared. When no one died, a shrine and a chapel were built. The locals continued to revere St. Roch for graces of welfare and remission. For decades, believers left their polio braces, glass eyes, dental plates, and other parts of their prosthetic selves when their health recovered. These are on view in the chapel which is ONLY open on the first Friday of each month from 11:00 am to noon. Tour with us on that day, to see inside.
This cemetery was truly neighborhood-centric. With a large population of working-class Germans and French, it was a focal point of the community for both religious and social events.
St. Roch Cemetery is also unique in that it has the Stations of the Cross depicted with statuary carved in Italy by the workshop of Italian sculptor Enrico Arrighini. An annual procession of the 14 stations is still celebrated every year on Good Friday.
Meet Our Tour Guides
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