Around the one-year anniversary of his death, friends, colleagues and family of Cardinal George gathered for an afternoon service April 21 at his gravesite in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines. He is buried there alongside his parents and maternal grandmother.

The purpose of the service was to bless the newly laid Barre gray granite ledger. A ledger is a stone slab laid over a grave and that bears an inscription. It is a traditional way to memorialize graves of bishops or other important people.

Inscribed on the ledger is his name, dates of birth and death, episcopal positions in which he served, his coat of arms and his episcopal motto “To Christ be glory in the church.” His coat of arms as archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Chicago is displayed in mosaic made in Italy of Venetian tile.

In a recent post for the Catholic Chicago Blog, Msgr. Patrick Pollard, director of Catholic Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Chicago, explained that it was the cardinal’s own choice to be buried with his family.

“After much consideration and thought, Cardinal George had made a decision on his final resting place. He told me ‘I will be buried in All Saints Cemetery, where there is an empty grave next to my father. I would like to be buried there, and prayed for, in that sacred place,’” Pollard wrote.

“Cardinal George approved the design for each of his family member’s grave markers, and then he approved his own. The ledger stone that lies atop his grave is exactly as he designed it. The coat of arms is rendered in Italian mosaic which brings beautiful bright colors to the gray granite. He wanted his coat of arms placed just above the translated version of his motto as a reminder to others of our call to discipleship.”

After Archbishop Cupich was installed, Cardinal George became archbishop emeritus and his coat of arms changed. It’s that coat of arms that is on his ledger.

About 80 people attended the service including Cardinal George’s sister Margaret Cain and five Chicago auxiliary bishops. Archbishop Cupich led the service and said shepherds of the church depend on their people to pray for them.

“I know that the cardinal, especially in those last months where he had a great deal of suffering and was, as he said, curious about what was on the other side of that curtain going into eternity, that he depended on the prayers and support of the people of this archdiocese,” the archbishop said.

We have an obligation to pray for one another, for those in leadership positions and for the dead, the archbishop said.

“As we are here today, let us keep in mind that our prayer for the cardinal does not end here today. He always told me that he expected and hoped that people would continue to pray for him as he passed through this life,” Archbishop Cupich said.

Cardinal George’s longtime assistant and master of ceremonies, Father Dan Flens, proclaimed the first reading during the service.

After he blessed the ledger, Archbishop Cupich passed the aspergillum to the auxiliary bishops and Flens so they too could bless the stone.

Cardinal George died April 17, 2015. He was the eighth archbishop of Chicago, the first native Chicagoan to serve as archbishop here and the first cardinal to retire as archbishop. He died following a long battle with cancer.

After attending St. Pascal School he entered the seminary and was ordained a Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1963. He served his community as vicar general in Rome from 1974 until 1986.

Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Yakima, Washington, in 1990. In 1996 he was appointed archbishop of Portland, Oregon. Just one year later he was appointed to Chicago.