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| date | event | tags | firsts |
| 1997 14 - 15 Jun
199- |
When Thomas Breakwell died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1902 his grave site was leased for five years, after which time, as no surviving members of his family kept up the payments on the plot, his bones were disinterred, cleaned, bundled and numbered, and as is the custom, placed in the cemetery's charnel house. The section where Breakwell's bones were stacked has long since been sealed and other sections built against it, which in turn have been filled. Since the time when Breakwell's bones were removed, two others had been buried in this plot and removed.
When it became known to the Bahá'ís in Paris that the gravesite was once again vacant, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of France applied for permission to erect a permanent monument on the site. A competition was announced and a number of Bahá'í architects submitted a variety of designs. Cemetery officials were reluctant to give approval for an elaborate monument sothe National Assembly had to settle for a simple but dignified stone. Now that the monument is in place, the location has become a focal point of pilgrimage. The Universal House of Justice has encouraged the French Bahá'í community to continue its efforts to retrieve Breakwell's remains from the charnel house and have them returned to their original grave. The gathering at his grave site in the Pantin Cemetery in Paris on this day was to commemorate the 95th anniversary of his passing. [BW1997-98p104, 107; The Life of Thomas Breakwell by Rajwantee Lakshiman-Lepain P48-49] |
Cemeteries and graves; Hájí Muhammad Sadiq; Paris, France; Thomas Breakwell |
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