Our caring funeral home

It is our promise to customize a celebration of life that is special, meaningful and personalized. Like most people of Louisiana, we experienced tremendous damage and devastation during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Though our West Virtue Street building opened in 1997, it underwent a complete rebuild following the natural disaster. We reopened our beautiful new facility in 2007.

St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home feels comfortable and warm, with an abundance of natural light, calming colors and updated decor. The hallmark of our funeral home building is a magnificent stained-glass window of a magnolia (the Louisiana state flower) situated directly behind our chapel altar. This intricately designed centerpiece survived Hurricane Katrina and provides a beautiful backdrop for our 200-seat chapel.

Our facility features 2 gathering spaces. The smaller lounge is a more intimate area, comfortably accommodating 30 guests. The larger Magnolia Room can be reserved and customized for catered events with up to 75 guests.

We are happy to help you arrange a catered gathering before or after a funeral or memorial service. Think: beignets and coffee in the morning, a muffaletta feast at lunch or a crawfish dinner buffet.

Personalized funerals and memorials

At St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home, we understand that losing a loved one is an emotional and difficult experience. We are committed to providing compassionate, professional and personal care. We offer many options designed to help you through one of the most challenging stages of life. Whether you wish to arrange for a traditional funeral service or are interested in a celebration of life ceremony, we work with you one on one to ensure your needs, wishes and budget are met.

Vietnamese funeral arrangements

We serve families of all backgrounds, cultures and faiths. St. Bernard Parish has a large Vietnamese population, and our experienced team of funeral professionals includes a Vietnamese-speaking counselor.

Here to serve you

Our office is open everyday, 9am-5pm, but we are available to serve you day or night at 504-279-6376. Thank you for considering St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home for your funeral needs. Please contact us if you are in need of immediate assistance, wish to tour our funeral home or would like to meet with an experienced team member to discuss your options. We are here for you.

History

St. Bernard Parish’s 1st perpetual care cemetery, St. Bernard Memorial Gardens was established in 1965 by cemetery and mausoleum developers E.J. “Gabby” and Lucille Mittlebronn Jr. Hurricane Betsy struck the Gulf Coast shortly after the cemetery’s opening and delayed operations for a period of time. The Mittlebronns owned and operated St. Bernard Memorial Gardens until 1982.

St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home opened on the cemetery property in 1997. Following Hurricane Katrina, we built a new funeral home, which opened in 2007.

Today, St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home and St. Bernard Memorial Gardens are members of the Dignity Memorial® network of funeral, cremation and cemetery providers. We provide not only the compassionate care you expect from a locally operated establishment, but also the value you deserve from the largest group of funeral and memorialization providers in North America.

St. Bernard Memorial Gardens cemetery

St. Bernard Memorial Gardens is a serene setting with Southern appeal. Our mission is to provide a variety of personalized interment options so you can choose the most appropriate one for yourself or your family member. A full-service cemetery, we offer a full range of burial and cremation interment options, including indoor crypts, private bench and tomb estates, mausoleums, glass-front niches, columbaria, monuments and more.

Mausoleum choices

The Chapel Mausoleum is an air-conditioned space available for committal services. This building also houses glass-front niches at both entrances. For those honoring loved ones who served in the military, our green and grassy veterans area is a loving tribute located directly outside the Chapel Mausoleum. This space features 5 monuments—1 for each military branch—with 2 flagpoles.

In addition to the Chapel Mausoleum, our property includes 3 outdoor community mausoleums: Garden of the Resurrection, Garden of Serenity and Garden of Peace. These spaces have areas for urns, single crypts, double crypts and abbey crypts that can accommodate up to 12 people.

We also offer marble- and glass-front columbaria, as well as benches with spaces for urns.

Hurricane Katrina monument

The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina will not soon be forgotten. But the resilience and tenacity of Louisianans can be felt throughout Chalmette. Our Hurricane Katrina monument honors lives lost and pays homage to the strong community we call home. We invite you to visit our cemetery to see everything for yourself. If you would like a tour of the grounds or wish to discuss your options, please contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Chalmette community events

Deeply rooted in the Chalmette community, St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home and St. Bernard Memorial Gardens place a high importance on community involvement. Every year on All Saints’ Day, we hold a public mass with a local priest in our funeral home. The following day, All Souls’ Day, we invite the public to a mass held on our cemetery grounds. This day holds great importance in Vietnamese culture and local Vietnamese clergy perform the service for nearly 1,000 guests.