St. Patrick's Church (New Orleans)
Encyclopedia
St. Patrick's Church is a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 church and parish in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The parish was founded in 1833, and the current structure was completed in 1840. It is the second oldest parish in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 (the oldest parish is St. Louis Cathedral
St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans
Saint Louis Cathedral , also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans; it has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States...

), located upriver from the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...

 at 724 Camp Street in what is now the Central Business District
New Orleans Central Business District
The Central Business District is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the French Quarter/CBD Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Iberville, Decatur and Canal Streets to the north, the Mississippi River to the east, the New Orleans Morial...

.

History

The first major development in New Orleans outside of the Vieux Carré was Faubourg
Faubourg
Faubourg is an ancient French term approximating "suburb" . The earliest form is Forsbourg, derived from Latin foris, 'out of', and Vulgar Latin burgum, 'town' or 'fortress'...

 St. Mary, begun after 1788; the area is now the core of the Central Business District and Warehouse District. The Faubourg came to be known as the "American Quarter," as differentiated from the French Quarter. Irish immigration
Irish diaspora
thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...

 in the early nineteenth century brought English-speaking Catholics to the city, many of whom settled in the new commercial district of Faubourg St. Mary. The religious and linguistic demographics of the city were changing; Catholicism in New Orleans had been dominated by the Creoles
Louisiana Creole people
Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...

, descendants of the French and Spanish settlers of the previous century. By the 1830s, a church was needed for those who did not speak French.

In 1833, Bishop Leo-Raymond de Neckere
Leo-Raymond de Neckere
Leo-Raymond de Neckère C.M. was a Belgian-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of New Orleans from 1830 until his death in 1833....

 established a new parish in Faubourg St. Mary, St. Patrick's
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

 Church. Construction of a permanent church building began later in the decade and was completed in 1840. During the 1849-1851 rebuilding of St. Louis Cathedral, the church was named pro-cathedral
Pro-cathedral
A pro-cathedral is a parish church that is temporarily serving as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese.-Usage:In Ireland, the term is used to specifically refer to St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin since the Reformation, when Christ Church...

 of the diocese.

The decades after the church's establishment saw anti-immigrant violence involving the Know Nothing
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...

 Party. Father James Mullon, whose portrait hangs in the back of the church, was pastor at the time and held significant clout in the city. Many nativists feared that he and the Irish were taking control of New Orleans from the establishment. St. Patrick's remained an anchor of the local Church throughout the events of the tumultuous decades that followed, including the infamous occupation of the city
New Orleans in the Civil War
New Orleans, in Louisiana, was the largest city in the Southern States during the American Civil War. It provided thousands of troops for the Confederate States Army, as well as several leading officers and generals...

 by Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 troops under the unpopular Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....

 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. During the war, the outspoken Mullon, who had been pastor by then for decades, was accosted by Butler for refusing to preside at the funeral of a Union soldier. Mullon responded, in a moment of local lore, by apologizing and remarking that he would gladly preside at the funerals of Butler and all the Union troops.

The church building was named a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

 in 1975. A major restoration, lasting from 1978 to 1990, preserved the structure so that the parish could continue to serve the people of New Orleans as it had for 150 years.

Hurricane Katrina

Located on relatively high ground near the river
Sliver By The River
The Sliver by the River is a nickname for the area of New Orleans, Louisiana closest to the Mississippi River that escaped major flooding after Hurricane Katrina hit the city on August 29, 2005. It exists on higher ground made up of the natural levee built up by hundreds of years of flooding before...

, St. Patrick's was not in the flood zone during and after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

 and did not experience significant physical damage. Its parishioners and regular churchgoers come from throughout the archdiocese and were scattered
Social effects of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina had many social effects. Initially, many lives were lost, while many more were disrupted. Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands without access to their homes or jobs, has separated people from relatives, and inflicted both physical and mental distress on those who suffered...

 by the hurricane like everyone else.

In keeping with St. Patrick's history as New Orleans' second oldest parish, it and St. Louis Cathedral held the first masses in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina on Sunday, October 2, 2005. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

reported the reopening of both churches, quoting one parishioner regarding the ringing of the bell in the tower, "You can call this a homecoming bell for New Orleans. We have good news we want to get out."

Architecture

St. Patrick's is in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style, with a fairly simple exterior but a highly ornate interior. Doorways, windows, the organ, and the altar all conform to architectural design. The bell tower is 185 feet (56.4 m) tall; some nineteenth century aerial views of New Orleans were painted from its roof. The interior of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 is 85 feet (25.9 m) tall. Slender columns support the fan vaulting
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

 of the ceiling, which is particularly elaborate above the altar, incorporating sixteen stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 windows in a half-dome. Three large paintings above the altar depict, from left to right: Saint Patrick, the Transfiguration of Jesus
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament in which Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels describe it, and 2 Peter 1:16-18 refers to it....

, and Jesus Christ pulling Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

 from the sea
Walking on water
Jesus' walks on water, or Jesus walking on water, is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. Accounts of the miracle appear in three Gospels: Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52 and...

.

The architect of St. Patrick's was James Dakin, who designed a number of buildings in Louisiana, including the Old State Capitol
Old Louisiana State Capitol
The Louisiana's Old State Capitol is a building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States that housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century until the current capitol tower building was constructed in 1929....

 in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

. Problems related to the city's notoriously high
Drainage in New Orleans
Drainage in New Orleans, Louisiana has been a major concern since the founding of the city in the early 18th century, remaining an important factor in the history of New Orleans through today....

 water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...

 drew in another prominent local architect, James Gallier
James Gallier
James Gallier was a prominent New Orleans architect.He was born James Gallagher in Ravensdale, County Louth, Ireland in 1798. He worked in England during his early career, designing the Godmanchester Chinese Bridge which crosses a mill stream of the River Great Ouse in 1827, and then working on the...

, to oversee the construction.

Location

St. Patrick's is located on Camp Street in New Orleans, between Julia and Girod Streets. It is within walking distance of the downtown hotels and French Quarter, less than half a mile from Canal Street
Canal Street, New Orleans
Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...

. It is in the middle of what has become an arts district, with a number of small galleries and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in New Orleans, within the Central Business District adjacent to Lee Circle. It is associated with the University of New Orleans...

 in the surrounding blocks.

Tradition

The parish has made efforts to maintain a sense of traditional reverence amid New Orleans' reputation for revelry. As part of this effort, one Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

 every Sunday is sung in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 according to the 1962 Roman Missal
Roman Missal
The Roman Missal is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.-Situation before the Council of Trent:...

 (Tridentine Mass
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...

) as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite
Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite
"An extraordinary form of the Roman Rite" is a phrase used in Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum to describe the liturgy of the 1962 Roman Missal, widely referred to as the "Tridentine Mass"...

.
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