Day to Remember

By FRANCHESCA CAPUTO- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

We are Humpty Dumpty.”

That is how Lori Biskup, Albany Diocesan Cemeteries Associate Director, began the annual Remembrance Garden prayer service at Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Niskayuna on Thursday for grieving mothers, fathers and grandparents who have lost a baby before or shortly after birth.

With a strong emotional tie to the service, Biskup said during her welcoming speech one of the hardest parts of grieving is feeling alone. “We don’t talk about it,” she said, regarding the silence when watching a family member in pain.

During the prayer service, Rev. O. Robert DeMartinis explained baptism is our gateway, our ticket to heaven. For babies unable to receive baptism before they died, parents and grandparents came up, stated their name and Father DeMartinis baptised them.

The garden, dedicated in 2013, serves as a peaceful place to meditate, reflect and memorialize the loss of a baby, who may not have been publicly acknowledged. The garden is comprised of babies names, engraved into memorial bricks and butterflies scattered around the biblical statue Rachel Mourning.

Upon leaving the garden, a tearful older man knelt down and placed his hand on a brick dated 50 years ago before walking away.