Thibodaux, St. Joseph Cathedral

St. Joseph began as a mission church inside a small wooden structure in 1819 and was replaced by a larger brick version. Destroyed by fire in 1916, nothing was left but a St. Valerie statue which followed the church to its new downtown location near Bayou Lafourche.

In 1925 the new Renaissance Romanesque masterpiece was finished. The stained glass globe window displayed prominently on the cathedral’s facade was built in Europe and modeled after Notre Dame’s cathedral. The delicate artwork, a $300,000 investment, floated on a boat down the bayou. A construction crew transferred it to the cathedral’s second story without a scratch using only ropes and pulleys.

Thirty dedicated bricklayers built the edifice around that window with nothing but scaffolding and raw courage. More than 400,000 bricks still stand seventy-nine years later, shrugging off storms and hurricanes. The ceiling presents a stunning matrix of hand-painted squares detailed with gold-leaf designs, repainted and finished in the late 1940s courtesy of an artist who, like Michelangelo, spent thirteen months lying on his back on top of a scaffold.

New Orleans, St. Alphonsus Church/St. Alphonsus Art and Cultural Center

A church revered for its impeccable ornamentation, St. Alphonsus is a double tower nineteenth-century Italianate church that served a rapidly growing parish of Irish immigrants under the direction of Father John B. Duffy. In the spring of 1855, the digging of the foundations for the new Church of St. Alphonsus began and on April 21, the bricklayers started their work.

There were no pilings used for the foundation, instead construction workers dug fifteen-foot trenches for each wall and filled them with layers of cypress trees, crushed clamshells, river sand and bricks. The low water table provided a constant supply of moisture preventing the cypress from deteriorating.

Decommissioned in the late seventies the church was declared a National Historical Landmark in 1996 and is now known as the St. Alphonsus Art and Cultural Center. Open to the public for tours and special events, many are still drawn to the exquisite ceiling frescos and five tons of stained glass windows that chronicle the lives of the Blessed Mother and Jesus. It is a place that renowned author, Anne Rice, attended as a child devoting several pages in her latest memoir to what she calls, “one of the most engulfingly beautiful places I’ve ever seen.”

Built on foundations for spiritual strength and architectural wonder, over the centuries these pillars of hope have remained constant beacons of peace and serenity.

Details. Details. Details.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church not only serves as a church and school but a gallery of Reverend Dom Gregory deWit’s artwork.
2251 Main Street
Baton Rouge, La
(225) 387-6671
www.sacredheartbtr.com

St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church is available for tours.
133 South Main Street
St. Martinville, La
(337) 394-7334

Holy Name of Mary Church
500 Eliza Street
New Orleans, La
(504) 362-5511

Christ Episcopal Chapel hosts both weddings and funerals but with a maximum capacity of ninety persons. Listed in the National Trust’s Register of Historic Places, it is the oldest building in continuous use in Covington.
120 South New Hampshire Street
Covington, La
(985) 892-3177
www.christchurchcovington.com

The Christ Church Cathedral and Chapel is available for tours.
2919 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, La
(504) 895-6602
www.cccnola.org

St. Joseph Cathedral offers tours.
721 Canal Boulevard
Thibodaux, La
(985) 446-1387
www.stjoseph-cc.org

St. Alphonsus Church/St. Alphonsus Art and Cultural Center. The Friends of St. Alphonsus organization works hard to raise money for the restoration and preservation of the building. The cultural center offers tours and is open to the public year round for special events.
2025 Constance Street
New Orleans, La
(504) 524-8116
www.stalphonsusneworleans.org or www.annerice.com/NewOrleans-SaintAlphonsus.html

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