The Holy Cross Cemetery was dedicated in 1868 with 150 acres of burial lots. An additional area of 43 acres was acquired in 1915, south of Lynn Street, after the sale of 15 acres from the northern section near Eastern Ave.

The cemetery now sits on approximately 180 acres. The earliest death date is 1868 and is still in use today. In 2002 there were over 500,000 headstones.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission refers to this cemetery in MACRIS as MAL.802 Holy Cross Cemetery.

The Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum is a very large cemetery and is impossible to locate a grave without first knowing its approximate location. To find out this information (if it is not already listed on the memorial page) you will have to contact the Catholic Cemetery of the Archdiocese of Boston at the phone number (or website) listed above and request the deceased grave location.

Finding a specific grave using the plot identifier requires you to have a compass handy or know where you are relative to the cardinal directions. Plot identifiers provided by the cemetery office are generally similar to the following:

4 South Walnut Grave 23 West

For the plot listed above, you would navigate to Walnut Avenue in the Cemetery. Next, you will need to find path 4 listed on the side of Walnut Avenue facing south (path numbers are marked on the pavement). Finally, the grave would be the 23rd plot on the right side of the path (since the grave is on the south side of the road, graves on the left side of the path are east and graves on the right side of the path are west). Keep in mind that not all plots contain a monument (headstone).