It was officially founded on 18 October 1851, in the same place where a slave cemetery had existed since 1839, and has been administered by the Concessionária Reviver since 2015,[1] after more than 150 years of administration by the Santa Casa de Misericórdia [pt] [Holy House of Mercy].

It was the former Campo da Misericórdia (Field of Mercy), used since 1839 when, on July 2, the body of Victoria, a creole, daughter of Thereza, slave of Manoel Rodrigues dos Santos was interred.

Another area of 1,885 square meters, surrounded by railings, with French ceramic tiled floors, is the Cemitério de São Pedro [Saint Peter's Cemetery], reserved for Catholics of the order of the same name.

It was acquired in 1866 by the Venerável Irmandade do Príncipe Apóstolos São Pedro [Venerable Brotherhood of the Prince of Apostles St. Peter], as a product of the bequest of Father José Luís de Oliveira.

Originally, most of the burials belonged to residents of the northern region of the city [pt] and, because it is next to São Cristóvão neighborhood, many personalities of the empire were buried there throughout the middle of the nineteenth century.

But, curiously, the first person of recognized nobility buried there was a French citizen, Viscount Villiers de l'Isle d'Adam, deceased at the Morro do Livramento [pt] Nursing Home on 10 July 1852 at the age of 65.