It is the only cemetery in Puerto Rico with a group of niches built forming a basement, in which the burials occurred beneath ground level, thus giving the effect of a catacomb.

[1] The cemetery is named after Vincent de Paul (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), the French Roman Catholic priest who dedicated his life to serving the poor.

[2] Cementerio Catolico San Vicente de Paul is located off Puerto Rico Route PR-123 in barrio Magueyes Urbano.

During the turn of the 20th century the priests of San Vicente de Paul built a private Catholic cemetery in Ponce.

The wealthy families of the area bought plots for $60 and began to develop the cemetery with magnificent graves and mausoleums.

Ponce, located in the south coast of Puerto Rico, was one of the wealthiest settlements of the island at the turn of the 20th century.

[1] The larger mausolea, which belong to the wealthiest families of southern Puerto Rico, are magnificent examples of monumental funerary architecture of the period.

The baroque style of this structure can be appreciated in the free use of forms, its large scale and sweeping vistas, and the complexity of its composition.

As a result, some graves have been abandoned and cannot be sold by the cemetery administration since they are private property and have a legal, albeit uninterested, owner.