A jubilee pilgrimage of hope through Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

Historic Southfield cemetery serves as final resting place for more than 100,000 souls, a place of peace and comfort for families

The Archdiocese of Detroit has designated 12 local pilgrimage sites for Catholics to visit during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. Each month during 2025, Detroit Catholic will highlight one of these sites to encourage Catholics to take advantage of the extraordinary graces offered during the jubilee.

SOUTHFIELD — For almost a century, more than 100,000 souls have found repose in the peaceful 370 acres of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, one of the several cemeteries operated by Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

While the cemetery has long been a place for loved ones who have died to find their peaceful final resting place, the living can also find solace, comfort and grace by visiting the consecrated grounds for prayer and reflection.

During the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Holy Sepulchre Cemetery was named one of the 12 pilgrimage sites designated by the Archdiocese of Detroit for the faithful to visit to receive special graces.

While the cemetery is no stranger to visitors and pilgrims, over the course of the jubilee year — particularly during November, which the Church has set aside to pray for the souls of the faithful departed — the cemetery has seen an increase in pilgrims coming to seek the indulgences offered during the Jubilee year.

“This month alone, we’ve had over 300 pilgrims who have visited the cemetery just to pray and receive those indulgences,” said Deanna Cortese, the cemetery’s outreach coordinator.

Groups from parishes, schools, and individual pilgrims visit the cemetery to attend Mass in the mausoleum, walk the sacred grounds or pray the rosary among the outdoor Stations of the Cross.

By providing a place for the faithful to pray for their loved ones and the souls of the faithful departed, the cemetery offers a poignant, hopeful reminder that when we die, it is not the end of our soul’s journey, Cortese said.

“We have that hope in the resurrection that this isn’t the end,” Cortese told Detroit Catholic. “When we come into the cemetery, we know this is just temporary; we are laying our loved ones to rest among fellow believers, but we have that hope in the resurrection, and we know that we will all be reunited.

“There is so much hope in knowing that this isn’t where it ends,” Cortese continued. “We don’t just put our loved one in the ground and that's it; we know that God has already won that battle and has given us that precious, beautiful, indescribable gift of being with Him forever.”

While the Church prays for the holy souls in purgatory during every Mass, Cortese said it can be easy to overlook them in one's personal prayer life. By making a point to visit a Catholic cemetery, the faithful can find a powerful reminder to pray for those who have gone on from this life.

“In the secular world, when someone dies, people always talk as if they go straight to heaven, but that's not always the case, and there are reasons behind that,” Cortese said. “The reasons aren’t scary; (purgatory) is not a punishment, but it is a purification of our souls to draw closer to God. We need to spend that time in purgatory, cleansing our souls and preparing ourselves for that eternal place in heaven.”

Places like Holy Sepulchre provide a sacred place to do just that, Cortese said.

“We should be praying for our relatives and praying for those that we don’t even know,” Cortese said. “If you are passing a cemetery, it is very easy to say a prayer: ‘Lord, I lift up all of those who are in purgatory,’ whether it is a Catholic cemetery or a secular cemetery.”