Ascension of Our Lord, Donaldsonville

The Church of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ continues to serve the community of Donaldsonville today as it has for more than two hundred and fifty years. Founded by order of King Charles III of Spain in 1772, it has remained the center of faith for Christians here under the flags of Spain, France, the Territory of Louisiana, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.  Acadian settlers were beginning to settle the area as early as 1768. Records indicated that the Spanish militia began construction on a small mission chapel for the settlement on September 10, 1770. 

Thirty-fours years before William Donaldson founded the city of Donaldsonville, Father Angelus Revillogodos, a Franciscan Capuchin Missionary priest, dedicated the church parish to the Ascension of Our Lord on August 15, 1772. It was officially named La Iglesia de la Ascension de Nostro Senor JesuCristo da Lafourche de los Chetimaches. The reference therein is to the Chetimaches Indian tribe found in 1704 by early French explorers at the junction of the Mississippi river and Bayou Lafourche at Donaldsonville. The territory that comprised the original boundaries of the church parish included more than the present geographical area of Ascension civil parish.

Enlarged in 1783, the original wooden mission chapel was finally dismantled and replaced by the first official church building constructed of brick in 1819. The first ordination to the priesthood in Louisiana was celebrated at Ascension of Our Lord on October 24, 1823, when Bishop Louis William DuBourg ordained Jean-Baptiste Blanc, a native of Lyons, France.

Construction of the second larger church building was begun in 1843. This new church was completed at a total cost of $19,000. In 1872, Father Francis Xavier Ceuppens, a native of Belgium, became the twenty-third pastor of Ascension Church and immediately began planning the third and present church building. Construction began on the foundation in 1875, and the cornerstone was laid on June 24, 1876. Construction was slow for want of and waiting for imported materials and because of lacking funds, and was finally halted in 1883, eight years after it had begun. Conflicts between the church’s Board of Wardens and the Archbishop of New Orleans over control of church money and property further delayed its construction. This delay lasted until 1885, when construction slowly resumed. A distinctive change in the color of the bricks halfway up the exterior church wall indicates the interruption in construction. On March 31, 1896, the new church building which had taken twenty-one years to complete at a cost of $80,000 was opened and solemnly dedicated. The original wooden steeple was removed in 1936 after being declared unsafe and in danger of falling.

In 1984, the 1907 rectory was demolished and construction began on a new administration building adjoining the church at the side, and a new clergy residence. Between 1989 and 1993 various renovations and repairs to the church were completed, including repairs to the church roof and attic, restoration of valuable statues, the Stations of the Cross and the stained glass windows. The pictorial windows are sixty years old, while six original windows, 100 years old—with triangular orange-yellow glass—remain. Further restoration was completed in 1996 for the 100 year celebration of the church’s dedication. The community is especially proud of the new steeple. The original steeple for years served as a landmark for travelers and residents in the area by land on both sides of the Mississippi River, and by traffic on the river itself. The church, in its original state with steeple, has been the subject of paintings by several renowned Louisiana artists.

Ascension Church also operates Ascension Cemetery which is the oldest and largest cemetery in the Diocese of Baton Rouge.