Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, September 30, 1997

St. Landry's first Catholic church as built in Washington

by Jim Bradshaw

The second church was built in 1798 on the site of the present St. Landry Church in Opelousas. A third building was constructed on that site in 1828, and the present church was begun in 1908 and finished the next year.

When the congregation of St. Landry Catholic Church outgrew the 1828 church, parishioners asked that the new church occupy the site of the old building, and that the material in the old building be used to build the new one. That request was granted, and the foundation of the present building was made from the bricks of the old church.

In the church records in 1798, Father Michel Barriere noted: "During this year the present church was moved from the baillou (bayou) in the locality called the Points a la M. Tessin. Mr. Michel Prud'homme, a native of the neighborhood, donated gratuitously three arpents of land by forty in length, and M. Tesson... gave one."

Genealogist and historian Rev. Donald Hebert thinks that Father Barriere "either was misinformed, or expressed himself inaccurately" about the donation of the land. "Mrs. -- not Mr. -- Tesson's donation was one arpent wide by fourteen in length," according to Father Hebert, "and, continuing this piece of property were the forty arpents given by Prudhomme. The probability is that the first church was located on Bayou Tesson, at a very short distance from the present site

The first documented church ritual in Opelousas was performed by Father Pierre Didier, a Benedictine priest who was also serving Nachitoches and Pointe Coupée. He performed the baptism of the grandson of Joseph LeKintreck, the first trader to settle in the area.

From the late 1750s until the first priest was appointed to Opelousas, the settlement was served by at least two itinerant priests. In 1765, Father Irénée, a Capuchin and pastor of the church at Pointe Coupée visited southwest Louisiana irregularly. In 1766 and 1767, Father Archange. another Capuchin, was pastor of Pointe Coupée. He also visited the Opelousas area.

Old records indicate that a Father Valentine was the first resident priest in Opelousas, having arrived in 1767.

According to William Henry Perrin's account, the first Protestant minister in southwest Louisiana was Joseph Willis, who preached the first Protestant sermon in November 1804, in Vermilion Parish.

Perrin quotes "A History of Louisiana Baptists, written by Rev. W.F. Paxton: "(Willis) Was a mulatto and came to Mississippi previous to 1798 as licensed preacher. He was a man of some education full of the Holy Ghost, and was a sound gospel preacher. Some of' his production in my possession indicate that he was a simple-hearted Christian, glowing with the love of Jesus, and an effective preacher."

According to Perrin, "He remained but a short time on his first visit and preached only three, or four sermons. His color, and being a Baptist, rendered him obnoxious, and exposed him to strong prejudices, and he was threatened with violence. He returned home after a brief visit, but he felt it his duty to come to the country he had visited and labor for the good of the people.

He chose a location, returned to Mississippi, made his arrangements, and the year following returned and located permanently in Louisiana, on Bayou Chicot, in the parish of St. Landry. Here, on the l3th of November, 1812, a church was constituted by him the first Baptist church in the State, and Rev. Mr. Willis became at the request of the church, its pastor."

Opelousas also has other historic churches:

• Holy Ghost Church, established in 1920 is the largest African American church parish in the United States. The present church building on Union Street was built in 1948 on land donated by the Sandoz family.
• Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church on Lombard Street was founded in 1806. This is the first Protestant church in Opelousas, the first Methodist church in Louisiana and the oldest Methodist church west of' Mississippi River.
• The Little Zion Baptist Church on Academy Street was the first black Baptist church at Opelousas. It was organized in 1869.
• Mount Olive Baptist Church on Church Street sits at the site of the Black Academy of Mt. Olive, organized in 1897 as one of Opelousas earliest private schools for black students.