The St. Odilia Prayer Garden includes columbaria with niches for cremated remains as well as traditional in-ground burial plots. This is a sacred place where we bury our dead in the spirit of our faith and hope in eternal life.  It is a place for our community to gather for prayer and a sacred place offering a quiet place for individual reflection and meditation.  The natural beauty of the garden with the pond surrounds each visitor with the peaceful presence of the Creator. We are confident that this ministry at St. Odilia will be a source of comfort and hope for generations to come.  

This sacred place is also a visual reminder of our belief in the Communion of Saints as we will eventually be surrounded by our ancestors in faith who have completed their life journey to God.  A walk through this garden reminds us of those holy members of our community who have enriched the life of this community by their presence and gifts.  Future generations will continue to build on the foundation of faith represented by those who rest in our Prayer Garden.

Overlooking the St. Odilia Prayer Garden is Our Blessed Mother, Mary. The statue of Mary in our Prayer Garden was truly rescued from a demolition pile as the former Home of the Good Shepherd was being taken down in North Oaks!  It was discovered by one of the builders who then contacted Larry Langer of our parish to see if we might have a place for it on our campus.  It was in need of repair but money was raised by the Morning Mass group to do that. 

We do have a special connection with that statue of our Blessed Mother. It stood outside the Convent of the Contemplative Sisters of the Good Shepherd at the Home of the Good Shepherd since the Convent was built in 1969. The Contemplative Sisters prayerfully baked the altar bread that we used at Mass here at St. Odilia for decades! 

When the statue was installed in our Prayer Garden the school children all stood in the Prayer Garden praying the rosary to welcome our Blessed Mother!  Afterward, some of the children went to play on the playground and one of the little girls exclaimed:  “Look, Mary is watching over us even when we are playing!”  

Our Blessed Mother’s shrine in our Prayer Garden is a very special place of prayer for our school children throughout the year.  The second graders especially love to spend time with Mary in the Prayer Garden.  Second grade is a special year of preparation for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist and the children begin the year by asking our Blessed Mother to journey with them as they prepare to meet her Son in these two very special sacraments. This past year we spent even more time praying there as Pope Francis called us to “run into the arms of our Mother” during the pandemic.

The St. Odilia Prayer Garden includes columbaria with niches for cremated remains as well as traditional in ground burial plots.  Yes, that means it IS a cemetery, but it is also so much more!  That is why its official name is the St. Odilia Prayer Garden.

This is a sacred place where we bury our dead in the spirit of our faith and hope in eternal life.  It is a place for our community to gather for prayer and a sacred place offering a quiet place for individual reflection and meditation.  The natural beauty of the garden with the pond surrounds each visitor with the peaceful presence of the Creator. We are confident that this ministry at St. Odilia will be a source of comfort and hope for generations to come.  

This sacred place is also a visual reminder of our belief in the Communion of Saints as we will eventually be surrounded by our ancestors in faith who have completed their life journey to God.  A walk through this garden reminds us of those holy members of our community who have enriched the life of this community by their presence and gifts.  Future generations will continue to build on the foundation of faith represented by those who rest in our Prayer Garden.

 We are now ready for people to begin purchasing niches/graves.  Because of rules regulating ownership of church property, subscribers are technically granted a permanent "use permit" or "right of use" rather than actual ownership of their selected niche or grave. 

There is plenty of space in the St. Odilia Prayer Garden.  
If you would like to reserve a grave and/or columbarium niche, click on the information packet in the list below to print out the form.  

Questions can also be emailed to prayergarden@stodilia.org

Memorial Wall - In Remembrance

"Our St. Odilia Prayer Garden will now have a beautiful new feature near the St. Francis Columbarium.  A Memorial Wall entitled, 'In Remembrance' has been added.  Inscribed on this wall will be the names of those who are interred elsewhere but prayerfully and lovingly remembered by our St. Odilia Community.  The inscriptions will include the names of our loved ones as well as the date of birth and death much like the inscriptions on  the niches in the columbaria.  Please see the 'Files' section below for more information about how to have a loved one's name inscribed on our Memorial Wall.  We hope that you will take the time to stop by our Prayer Garden for a quiet moment of reflection and see the beautiful Memorial Wall."

- Kevin Scroggins, Prayer Garden committee member

St. Odilia Prayer Garden Wins Top Honors!

The St. Odilia Prayer Garden recently won top honors in the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District's Landscape Ecology Awards Program (LEAP) for our three colorful and attractive rain gardens on the north side of the Prayer Garden property.  The judges were impressed with the use of native plants in the design, and amazed to learn how much rain water the gardens intercepted.  "We observed that the maintenance of the garden was excellent.  What a beautiful example of stewardship!  We also want to thank Roger Toogood for being an excellent guide for the project."
 
- Lynne Shriver-Sheedy, Prayer Garden committee member

New Prayer Garden Columbarium named St. Monica

St. Monica was a model of prayer (30 years for her son Augustine!) and our cemetery is called a Prayer Garden. With this name, we honor our Crosier heritage at St. Odilia. The Crosiers always receive their habits on the Feast of St. Monica (Aug. 27) and make their profession of vows on the Feast of St. Augustine (Aug. 28) and they follow the Rule of St. Augustine. 

Niches are available for purchase. For information, please contact Lynne Schriver-Sheedy at H: 952-207-1285 or C: 651-307-5315 or email prayergarden@stodilia.org

Cemetary & Columbarium

The Saint Odilia Prayer Garden includes three columbaria, above-ground pillars with niches for cremated remains, as well as traditional in-ground burial plots. Each columbarium in our St. Odilia prayer Garden has its carefully chosen name etched in a prominent place.

St. Francis Columbarium

The first columbarium erected  (the round columbarium) was named and blessed “St. Francis” for a couple of reasons.  St. Francis is the patron of the environment and it is our hope that the natural beauty in our Prayer Garden will inspire and enhance the prayer of those spending time in that sacred place.  We also chose the name to honor our Pope Francis and his vision for our Church and our planet. 

St. Clare Columbarium

The second columbarium was named “St. Clare” in honor of the companion in ministry of St. Francis.  Together they founded the Franciscan Order which to this day models for us simplicity of lifestyle and selfless care for one another and our earth.

St. Monica Columbarium

The third columbarium honors our Crosier heritage as a Parish with the name “St. Monica”.  The Crosier Fathers and Brothers have followed the Rule of St. Monica’s son St. Augustine for centuries.  They also receive their Crosier habit and pronounce their vows on the Feasts of St. Monica and St. Augustine.  It was the many years that St. Monica spent in prayer for her son that lead to his conversion and ultimately his many gifts to the Church.  How perfect to have a model of prayer remembered in our own Prayer Garden.

Lynne Schriver-Sheedy (c) 651-307-5315
Email: prayergarden@stodilia.org