LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP, PA — Tombstones honor the dead who rest at Mount Carmel Cemetery on the grounds of Wildwood Cemetery near Williamsport, but in one section of the Mount Carmel Cemetery, there are no tombstones—just small orange flags and a few metal crosses. That section is where, for decades, babies who were stillborn were buried. One of those babies was named Tony Dirocco. He's the great-uncle of Mike Dirocco of Williamsport.
"Eventually, they let me go through their entire book—120-year-old book—and I took pictures of every page, and I found over 92 babies buried in unconsecrated ground," said Mike DiRocco of Williamsport.
It took Dirocco two years to find exactly where that unconsecrated ground was at Mount Carmel Cemetery, which is owned by Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in Williamsport. The Pastor there says it's unclear why the section of the Mount Carmel Cemetery was considered unconsecrated ground.
"I guess the pastor of the church at the time would've determined that," said Father Dave Bechtel from Saint Joseph The Worker Pastor.
Dirocco approached Pastor Bechtel about having a mass for the relatives of the stillborn babies. This past November, the names of all 92 babies were read in remembrance.
"And then I went up to the cemetery, and we had some prayers there, and I blessed the ground where those stillborns lie, and Mike is also working on a Memorial," said Father Bechtel.
"We want to put all of the babies' names on it because they never had a funeral, they never had anything, so this is kind of—some of these babies have been in the ground 100 years," said Mike DiRocco of Williamsport.
Dirocco says the unconsecrated ground marker will be a statue of a mother holding a baby. It will be placed where the stillborn babies are buried. Fundraising efforts for the memorial are underway. If you'd like to help, you can find a link here.