Three Historic Churches |
In New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood, three churches situated within a few blocks of each other tell the story of the history of the community and the immigrants who settled there: |
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church |
When the congregations of St. Vincent de Paul, Holy Trinity, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Cecilia and Annunciation were all combined in 2001, the name of this church was changed to Blessed Francis Seelos Church. The other churches were closed and Blessed Seelos is the only surviving Catholic parish in the neighborhood. Out of long habit, many New Orleanians still refer to this church as St. Vincent de Paul. |
By the early 1800's, many French Creoles had moved downriver from the French Quarter into what was known as the Third District of the city. A church was needed for the growing population and, in 1838, a frame building was constructed In 1866, a larger bulding was required and construction on the present church was begun. |
(Blessed Francis Seelos Church) |
Holy Trinity Catholic Church |
3000 Block of Dauphine Street |
The church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 2003, a fire did catastrophic damage to the interior of the church. Thanks to the heroic efforts of the New Orleans Fire Department, the church's beautiful stained glass windows were spared. |
The building had not been renovated by 2005, when the levee failures did additional damage. But, shortly after that, work began and the church was beautifully restored. |
700 Block of St. Ferdinand Street |
Holy Trinity Church was founded in 1847 for the German-speaking population of the Third District. The first building burned a few years later and the present church was constructed in 1853. The towers were damaged by fire in the late 1800's, but restored. |
After the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1867, one of Holy Trinity's pastors, the Rev. Peter Thevis, established St. Roch Cemetery and helped design its well-known gothic chapel. |
The historic church closed its doors in 1997. It was purchased shortly after being deconsecrated, but stood, bereft and abandoned, for several years. The current owners planned to restore the building and turn it into a spiritual and artistic haven for the community. I don't know if these plans have come to fruition, but I hope they have. It's hard to think of the historic old church sitting empty and decaying. |
The photo above and the one directly below were taken within the last two years; I took the second photo below in 2006. |
Left: photo of the interior of Holy Trinity Church in the 1940's. Right: interior of the church in 2010, thirteen years after it was deconsecrated. |
Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church |
2300 Block of Burgundy Street |
Irish immigrants moved to the Third District in great numbers between 1830-1850. They sought a church of their own and, in 1860, a building was constructed on Mandeville Street. The congregation soon outgrew that church and property was purchased on what is now Burgundy Street in 1860. Construction of the present building was completed the next year. |
The church was closed in 2001; as far as I know, it has not been sold. I don't know if there are plans for the building, but there were some particularly beautiful stained glass windows in the church. I hope that the time will come when they're able to be seen by the public again. |
Photo Credits: 2010 interior photo of Holy Trinity is thanks to Infrogmation@WikimediaCommons. 1940's interior photo of Holy Trinity is thanks to NewOrleansChurches.com. The link to this page is: http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_Three_Churches.html Back to Old New Orleans Whispers - Home |