Miscarriage and Infants

The loss of a baby is a profound event in the life of a mother and father, and therefore, the whole community of faith. Together with the parents, the Church entrusts back to God a person who has been created by Him to live for all eternity.

No matter how early a loss takes place in pregnancy, many Catholic parents still long to name, inter and remember their baby as an eternal member of the family—someone who will be encountered in love on the Last Day.

The Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Washington offers the following choices to answer that great desire of their hearts.  

Burial in the Miscarried Baby Section 
As part of the Charity Assistance Program serving our Catholic families, Catholic Cemeteries has sections in the Archdiocesan cemeteries for burial of the remains of a miscarried pregnancy in the first trimester (up to 13 weeks gestation). Kindly download this brochure if you are currently at need. The small burial plots are individual, and the interment is free of charge to Catholic parents who have requested burial through the pastoral care of a priest. Families have the option of memorializing their miscarried baby with a scroll on the large bronze plaque featured in the section.


  
Burial in the Infant Section
Babies who are miscarried in the second (14 to 27 weeks) or third trimester (28-40 weeks), stillborn or lost after birth can be buried and memorialized in the Infant Sections at the cemeteries. While there are costs for burial in these sections, Charity Assistance is also available for Catholic parents who request aid through a priest. 


Kindly check the cemetery for available options at each location:

Mount Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Lower Montgomery County, MD
All Souls Cemetery, Upper Montgomery Country, MD
Resurrection Cemetery, Prince George’s County, MD
St. Mary’s Queen of Peace Cemetery, Southern, MD

“The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not ‘produced’ by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.” 

—Catechism of the Catholic Church, 366