One significant feature of the history of Acadiana was the struggle for practicing the Catholic faith. In 1713, the British captured Acadia and required the Acadians to swear allegiance to the British Crown and convert to Anglicanism from…

Louisiana during the postbellum era instituted “black codes” that prevented black citizens from enjoying the same rights as white citizens. Eventually, “separate but equal” facilities came about to separate white citizens from black citizens, and…

During the era of segregation in the United States, many Christian communities created parishes exclusively for black Christians to separate them from the white Christians, whether in support of segregation or to prevent a riot. Saint Katherine…

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there was a crisis in New York City with mothers abandoning their infants in front of orphanages due to the poor welfare institutions present. The Sisters of St. Peter’s Convent in New York…

The town of Arnaudville was a deeply Catholic area in Southern Louisiana, but the citizens would come to recognize a local layman as a saint. Auguste Robert Pelafigue was first born in Beaucens, France. He later settled in Arnaudville the year after…

Chaplains were religious guides that served in the army to provide spiritual relief to soldiers. In Opelousas, Louisiana, Fr. Joseph Verbis Lafleur, a parishioner of St. Landry Catholic Church, joined the U.S. Army during World War II as a chaplain.…