Cemetery
The Church of the Guardian Angels Cemetery
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Contact Denny Farrell (789-3169) or Linda Deaver (789-3168) for more information.
Rules and Regulations
For the mutual protection and benefit of grave owners, the following Rules and Regulations have been adopted by The Church of the Guardian Angels Cemetery, and all grave owners and visitors within the Cemetery and all graves sold shall be subject to said Rules and Regulations, and subject further to such other Rules and Regulations, amendments or alternatives as shall be adopted from time to time.
DEFINITIONS
DEFINITION 1 The terms lot, plot, or burial place shall be used interchangeably and shall apply with like effect to one or more adjoining grave.
DEFINITION 2 The term interment shall mean the permanent disposition of the full body remains of a deceased person by burial.
DEFINITION 3 The term inurnment shall mean the permanent disposition of the cremated remains of a deceased person by burial.
DEFINITION 4 The term memorial shall include a monument or marker. A monument is an upright, above ground headstone; a marker is a headstone or footstone that is level with the ground. If a marker is the only memorial, it will be placed at the head of the grave. A memorial may include both a monument and a marker if in a designated upright row in the cemetery. If the marker is in addition to a monument, the marker will be placed at the foot of the grave.
DEFINITION 5 The term management shall comprise the persons constituting the Guardian Angels Cemetery Committee, a Sub-Committee of the Finance Council, the Finance Council, the Pastor, and the Parish Administrator. The Parish Administrator is the Cemetery Manager and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Cemetery.
DEFINITION 6 The term care shall apply to the entire Cemetery provided by either a permanent care fund or by Guardian Angels Church.
GENERAL RULES
RULE 1 Guardian Angels Church Cemetery is owned and operated in accordance with the laws of the State of Minnesota and the rules and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. It reserves the right to refuse admission to the Cemetery and to refuse the use of any of the Cemetery’s facilities, at any time, to any person or persons whom the management may deem objectionable to the best interests of the Cemetery.
RULE 2 The Cemetery is intended for the burial of Catholics and members of their families who are entitled to Christian burial according to the rules and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. Any question of the burial of a non-Catholic member of a lot owner’s family or of any person not entitled to Christian burial, shall be decided by the Pastor.
RULE 3 Religious ceremonies other than those of the Roman Catholic Church are not permitted within the Cemetery unless the consent of Pastor has been obtained.
LOTS AND LOT OWNERS
RULE 4 Cemetery lots may be sold to registered parishioners, members of their family, to family members of individuals buried in the Cemetery, or other circumstances as approved by the Pastor, with no more than 8 graves per family. Lots may be sold back to Guardian Angels at the original selling price.
RULE 5 Any priest who has served Guardian Angels is eligible for interment in Guardian Angels Cemetery.
RULE 6 No grave will be sold in common ownership or joint ownership. Title must stand in one persons name.
RULE 7 No grave shall be used for any other purpose than for the burial of the human dead.
RULE 8 The Cemetery disclaims all responsibility for loss or damage from causes beyond its reasonable control, and especially from damage caused by the elements, an act of God, common enemy thieves, vandals, strikers, explosions, insurrections or order of any military or civil authority, whether the damage be direct or collateral, other than as herein provided.
RULE 9 Grave owners are granted only the right of interment/inurnment in their graves. The Cemetery reserves the right to refuse to permit the interment/inurnment of anyone who was not at the time of the death the owner of the grave.
CORRECTION OF ERRORS
RULE 10 The Cemetery reserves, and shall have, the right to correct any errors that may be made by it either in making interments/inurnments, disinterments/disurnments or removals, or in the description, transfer or conveyance or any interment property.
CARE OF GRAVES
RULE 11 The Cemetery will give such care as it can, the care to consist of cutting the grass and general preservation of the grounds.
RULE 12 The general care assumed by the Cemetery shall in no case mean maintenance, repair, or replacement of any vase, basket, memorial, flowers or other objects placed upon graves.
INTERMENTS/INURNMENTS
RULE 13 No interment/inurnment will be made in a grave not fully paid for.
RULE 14 Funeral Director, upon arrival at the Cemetery, must present a burial permit from the local health office.
RULE 15 Once a casket containing a body is within the confines of the Cemetery, no funeral director nor his embalmer, assistant, employee or agent shall be permitted to open the casket, or to touch the body, without the consent of the next of kin or of the legal representative of the deceased or of an order signed by a court of competent jurisdiction.
RULE 16 No interment of more than one body shall be made in one grave except in the case of an infant or two infants buried in one casket, or cremated remains of a family not exceeding four per standard grave.
RULE 17 No interment of a body may be made unless the remains are contained in a casket and vault.
RULE 18 The burial of a cremated remains or infant must be contained in a proper receptacle. A vault is required unless vessel used is a permanent vessel. Appropriate size lots are available for the burial of cremated remains and infants.
PLANTING ON GRAVES
RULE 19 Planting (of flowers, trees, shrubs) on graves is prohibited without the specific approval of the Cemetery Manager. Artificial flowers are not allowed from April 15th to November 1st. Grave owners are responsible for the removal of artificial flowers. Any artificial flowers remaining after May 1 will be removed by Guardian Angels personnel and thrown away.
MEMORIAL WORK
RULE 20 All graves require a memorial. (monument or marker)
RULE 21 Monuments or markers must be installed by registered monument companies.
No memorials may be placed on any grave not fully paid for.
RULE 22 Lot owners may erect or have erected proper memorial work on their respective lots. All memorials must have pre-approval of the management. All monuments shall be set on foundations built of concrete that is 4” larger on all sides of the monument and 4” thick; the size and depth prescribed by the management. No monument on a single grave may exceed two-thirds the width of the grave. A grave is 42 inches wide; the monument may not exceed 28 inches. No monument on multiple graves may exceed 48”. ***NOTE monuments in the infant section (Garden of Angels) or markers in the Cremation Burial Only (CrB-1) area should be no larger than 8” x 16”.
RULE 23 All memorials shall be constructed of natural stone. No artificial stone of any kind is permitted.
RULE 24 A central or family monument shall be allowed on a set of two or more adjacent lots in the same row. See Rule 22 above.
The size of a monument is governed by the size of the adjoining graves on which it is to be placed, and in no case may the length of the base exceed one-half the width of the adjoining graves. The base may not extend over a grave of another owner.
RULE 25 Memorials shall be set on the space designated by the management.
RULE 26 No curbing, fencing, hedging, borders or enclosures of any kind shall be allowed around any grave(s) and no walks shall be allowed on any grave(s). Guardian Angels Cemetery reserves the right to remove the same if so erected, planted or placed.
RULE 27 The Christian symbol of the Cross must be inscribed on every memorial. Other epitaphs and symbols on memorials should be in the spirit of the Roman Catholic Church and in keeping with the design and size of the structure. See Rule 21 above.
RULE 28 No photograph, or reproduction of a photograph, may be affixed to any memorial.
RULE 29 Workmen employed in placing or erecting memorials and other structures, or bringing in materials, shall operate as independent contractors, but must do so under permission of the management.
RULE 30 The right is reserved to the management, to refuse to permit such work, unless the grounds are thoroughly settled and in good condition.
RULE 31 No memorials may be delivered or installed between November 1st and April 15th without permission of the management.
RULE 32 Guardian Angels Church Cemetery reserves the right to stop all work of any nature, whenever, in its opinion, proper preparations have not been made; or when tools and machinery are insufficient or defective; or when work is being executed in such a manner as to threaten life or property; or when the monument dealer has been guilty of misrepresentation; or when any reasonable request on the part of the management; or when work is not being executed according to specifications; or when any person employed on the work violates any rule of the Cemetery.
RULE 33 At each grave and/or adjoining grave only one grave marker will be permitted except in the case of infant interment or cremated remains. All markers must be one piece and set level with the ground.
RULE 34 All markers set level with the ground must be not less than four (4) inches nor more than six (6) inches in thickness, with level or sawed bottom. All lettering or carving on markers must be sunk or incised.
RULE 35 Markers must be placed at the end of the grave farthest from the base of the monument if both monument and markers are being used, and all inscriptions shall read from the front of the lot.
RULE 36 Crosses or other grave markers of wood, iron, cement or any like material are strictly prohibited, except the standard bronze insignia provided for the graves of veterans.
RULE 37 When any memorial work has been set in place, it shall not be removed without due process of law or written permission of the management.