Bourg Celebrates Life Filled with Faith, Family, and Community on Centennial Birthday

Crowned with a tiara and wearing a sash, Lorraine Metternich Bourg was the “queen” of her family and friends gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday on Feb. 2. The neighborhood was packed with cars, and an overflow crowd of people mingled in her home and the front and back yards.

A long-time parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge, Bourg grew up on Bienville Street in Mid-City. The street was originally a graveled one.

“We weren’t afraid to go out and be gone all day,” said Bourg. “We would take a lunch and go into the woods and eat it. We followed along the golf course on Claycut Road (Webb Memorial Golf Course) back into the woods.”

Bourg attended Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Baton Rouge. She was part of the first class to graduate from St. Joseph’s Academy (1942) after the school moved to its present location on Broussard Street in 1941.
 Top right photo: Lorraine Bourg surrounded by family and friends on her 100th birthday. Photo by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator
Above photo: Bourg celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1947. Photos provided by Amanda HebertBourg and her husband, Theodore (TJ), deceased, a graduate of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, married in 1951. They had six children. Their story of their caring for their second son, John Michael, inspires the family.

John Michael was severely mentally handicapped. He was not expected to live to be a teenager. The Bourgs went to doctors to find help for John Michael, but the doctors told them they could not help him. They recommended that the Bourgs put John Michael in an institution. But they said no, because they knew he would be loved at home.

“We kept him, and he brought us a lot of joy,” said Bourg.

She added, “He wore diapers for 61 years (his age when he passed away). You had to hand feed him, and he never talked. But when he felt good, he was so happy; he was kicking and waving his hands and doing his little thing,  He was about 13 years old when he took his first step and walked. I stepped with him, and it was so exciting because kids normally do it much earlier.”

John Michael’s siblings were so inspired by him that one of his nephews is named after him. 

Taking care of her grandchildren (who have provided her with 25 great-grandchildren) was something Bourg delighted in doing.

During the school year Bourg picked up grandchildren from Our Lady of Mercy School in Baton Rouge and took care of them after school.

 Bourg with her late husband, T.J., after the marriage anniversary Mass at Our Lady of Mercy in 2011. They were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary“She would walk into the Our Lady of Mercy School office, and they would ask her ‘which kid are you picking up today?’” mused Bourg’s daughter Barbara Vierck.

Bourg took care of the grandkids all summer long when they were out of school. 

“She was the chief chef, and she would cook breakfast for them while we all worked. She covered for us. Our kids, all the cousins, grew up close because she watched them,” said Vierck.

Bourg’s granddaughter, Mandi Hebert, said, “During summer she would cater a breakfast individually for every single child. There are 10 grandkids total, and she asked each kid … ‘What do you want? Sausage, bacon, grits, pancakes, waffles, eggs, you name it. She would make it till every kid got their made-to-order breakfast.”

Hebert said Bourg’s caring of her uncle, John Michael, prompted her to become involved in pro-life ministry in the Diocese of Lafayette. She is the assistant coordinator of office of pro-life apostolate there.

During the summer Bourg also took them to daily Mass and taught them to be reverent. And there they learned about the benedictions and novenas. 

Bourg’s faith and vibrancy still move Hebert.

“She sings Gospel songs and church songs,” said Hebert. “When she’s discouraged, or when she’s lost, she’s alw Bourg as a young woman.ays turning to her faith, which encourages us to turn to our faith.

Yet Bourg also delights in the concrete daily things. Hebert and Bourg shared smiles as they ate birthday cake together.

Rachel Amie said her grandmother was her biggest supporter in the arts.

“I grew up dancing and she never missed a performance,” said Amie. “Even when she started losing her eyesight, she would find me on stage. She’d tell me afterwards if she knew what color I was wearing she was able to find me out of everyone on stage. She would say, ‘I just know my Rachel.’”

Bourg is also Aime’s model for being a mother and wife. The middle name of Aime’s oldest daughter, Naomi, 2, is Lorraine, in honor of her grandmother.  

John Michael’s namesake, John Michael, said his grandmother’s strong example of living her faith prompted him to consider entering the diocese’s diaconate program in the future.

“I think it’s her fire, really, because she doesn’t just use her faith as a passive, quiet faith. She’s very vocal, very inspired. That has given me a chance to do the same," John Michael said.

He remembers that after the 10 p.m. news, his grandparents “hit their knees” and prayed the rosary.

“It was an amazing kind of thing to witness,” John Michael said.

He noted Lorraine is still mentally sharp and keeps up with current events.

“She’s a firecracker even at 100 … She has her stance on a lot of the news, and she knows the issues and she doesn’t hold back. I love that because you can’t deter her and that’s the kind of person I want to be,” John Michael said.

Bourg keeps active by walking 30 minutes a day, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 in the evening, and watches LSU sports. She watches the televised Mass at Our Lady of Mercy every Sunday and receives communion from an extraordinary minister every Monday. 

She also prays with the news.

“Keep the faith, we have to get our country back to God,” said Bourg.

She also loves to sing.

“One of the songs she is always singing to us is from Guys and Dolls, ‘I Love You a Bushel and a Peck,’” Hebert said.
Lorraine with her grandson John Michael Bourg and his wife, Sarah, at the baptism of her great-grandchild, Rosalie, at Our Lady of Mercy Church on August 6, 2023.