Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Although the church building dates back to 1871 when the parish was established, origins of Catholic life can be traced back to the early 1700s when missionaries came under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Quebec, Canada.

Spanish Capuchins, a branch of the Franciscan Order, established a church in 1730 in the civil parish of Pointe Coupee across the Mississippi River. It was known as St. Francis Church. It remains today as a chapel. Because of the floodwater which occurred every year, and there were no levies, burial of the dead was impossible. So they brought the dead to be buried on the higher bluffs, above Bayou Sara, a thriving port town. They established a graveyard just beyond the hill. The settlement that grew around the graveyard took its name from the ‘church’ and was called St. Francisville.

It was on a visit to St. Francisville that the Archbishop of New Orleans, the Most Reverend N.J. Perche urged the people of the community to build a church. He established the parish in 1871.

Prior to this time, a priest who came once a month from Jackson and Clinton served the Catholic community. Mass was said on these occasions in different homes and sometimes in the courthouse.

Mount Carmel church was built exclusively of native woods, with cypress doors, window and doorframes, while the beams and columns are solid longleaf pine. It is said that General P. T. G. Beauregard designed the plans. A local family donated the semi-circular window with the church’s title over the main entrance in 1951.