Sweet Dreams, Little Ones

Just thinking about these little headstones brings a tear to my eye. On our tour of the painted churches in Texas we stopped at St Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Dubina. The church was temporarily closed so we wandered through the large cemetery. The original settlers were from Moravia, part of what was Czechoslovakia. In the past, stillborn babies or those who lived just a few days, were usually placed in unmarked graves. Sometimes they were added to the grave of the most recently buried stranger or put in a mass grave for stillborn babies. The congregation of this church have created beautiful little headstones for their ancestor’s babies.

The hand-painted church is small but so pretty. When I gazed at the celestial scene above the altar, I thought that the stars represented all the little souls above. Rest in peace, Otilia, Joseph, Valentine, Carolina, Anton, Felix, Dominic and Wilomena. Sweet dreams to all those little ones who visited earth so briefly.

St Cyril and Methodius Church, Dubina, Texas

40 thoughts on “Sweet Dreams, Little Ones

    1. Thank you, Aiva. The headstones are relatively new but the some of the babies were born in the 1880s. We can only imagine the sorrow of the new settlers and to everyone who loses a little one. K x

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    1. You would love them, Pit. It makes it possible to imagine what life was like for those early settlers in such a strange land. Just back from Rockport – my soul is soothed.

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  1. I love the beautiful chapel but those tiny graves would make me shed a tear or so. It’s lovely that they have made the little headstones but gives you pause when you read the short time these wee souls visited earth.๐Ÿ™
    Love Anne x

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  2. It is wonderful what this congreation has done. Many mothers who could not have their babies buried in consecrated ground or who were not told where the baby was buried very often made a little tombstone marker which they carried with them.

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