The expansive, star-studded church that towers over downtown Abbeville is integral to the very existence of the city. Abbe Megret, the pastor of St. John the Evangelist at the time, established St. Mary Magdalen parish in 1842 in an effort to remove…

Situated in the quiet beauty of Grand Coteau is a historic school which attracts talented female scholars both from Louisiana and around the world. Established by the Religious of the Sacred Heart in the early 1800s, the Academy has remained in…

In the wake of the Civil War, a 4,000-square-mile parish named St. Francis de Sales formed in western Louisiana (Oubre 40). In 1869, St. Francis de Sales became an established parish by the archbishop; in 1881, the parish constructed a new church…

The history of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church tells a story of outreach to and inclusion of minority Catholics. In the early 1900s, the Diocese of Lafayette included “50,000 black Catholics, one fourth of the total for the entire United…

This cathedral-sized church in Opelousas is called the “Mother Church of Acadiana,” for it was the second to be founded in the Diocese of Lafayette, and many smaller church parishes have been formed within the wide boundaries of the original parish…