The graveyard of angels.

When I came back to Charleston in January I had a great plan to visit different historic churches on Sunday mornings. I thought that attending worship in the various sanctuaries of downtown would be the perfect way to experience the Holy City. Two months in, I have yet to attend a Sunday morning worship service. But today was Ash Wednesday, and I went to church.

I decided to pick a church close to where I park for work (which happens to be in a church parking lot, though not the one I attended). Charleston has an intersection known as the Four Corners of Law. The buildings that stand at the corners of Meeting and Broad Streets represent federal law (post office), state law (courthouse), local/city law (city hall), and ecclesiastical law (St.  Michael's Episcopal Church). This is where I attended an Ash Wednesday service.

I had an hour of time between work and church, and I spent some of the time wandering around their graveyard. They boast the burial spots of some big Charleston names including John Rutledge and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, but those were not the stones that caught my attention.

This small stone in the walkway grabbed my curiosity. I know that the church is St. Michael's, but I believe that the Saint and the Archangel aren't one in the same. Besides, why do angels need grave stones? There was another stone simply labeled "All Angels," and then another for The Archangel Raphael. These were the only three I saw, but there may have been more. I have never noticed a marker of this sort, and I am intrigued. I am legitimately curious to know the reason behind these markers, so if you have any insight please let me know. Maybe these angels just help keep the Holy City holy.