Cardinal Egan memorializes forgotten Irish immigrants on Staten Island in New York

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Poignant service: The final burial for Irish immigrants 150 years later

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Mourners gathered at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church on Staten Island Saturday to bury the dead, but this was no ordinary funeral.

Members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians escorted two caskets - one a small, white children's casket with golden angels; the other larger and pearl-colored - into the church as bagpipes played "Amazing Grace."

The two coffins contained the final remains of immigrants who died over 150 years ago.

The remains represent the thousands of unnamed Irish and German immigrants who came to America in the mid-19th century, looking for a new and better life, but instead ended up in quarantine on Staten Island because of severe illness. Many of those confined never made it out, and were buried in mass graves with little fanfare or record.

Workers found the bones during the construction of a new courthouse in St. George in 2000. "We knew going into this project that we were likely to encounter the remains of what had once been a burial ground," said Marc Violette, press officer for the New York State Dormitory Authority, which was charged with the project.

As soon as the existence of a cemetery site was confirmed, a long process of historical excavation and forensic analysis began.

For some, the process seemed to take too long. Lynn Rogers is the Executive Director of Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries, a Staten Island non-profit organization that works to reclaim and honor the long-forgotten, buried dead. Rogers and Bill Reilly, a local member of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, worked tirelessly to bring the remains back to where they knew they belonged.

“Bill and I went on a crusade," Rogers said, "and this is the result of our campaign, which was over 2000 letters and petitions.” This weekend, their hard work came to fruition, and for Rogers, the day couldn't come soon enough.

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