Immaculate Conception, Lakeland

A small chapel was constructed in Chenal in 1859. Prior to this time, area Catholics worshipped at St. Francis Church in Pointe Coupee.  The first resident pastor was Father Francois Marion who arrived in 1861 but only stayed for seven months.  By 1882, there were about 2500 parishioners at Immaculate Conception. In 1886, and again in 1900, the church was expanded to fit its growing congregation.

The most well-known of Immaculate Conception’s pastors arrived on June 14, 1896. Father Louis Savoure, a native of Combourg in the Brittany region of France, was appointed pastor at 24 years of age. There was no one waiting to meet him when he arrived at Arbroth Landing, after his trip from Opelousas which had taken him twenty-six hours traveling by boat and wagon. Father Savoure served until his death on January 27, 1948, a period of fifty-one and one-half years.

It was during Father Savoure’s tenure that the decision was made to build a new church at a new location in Lakeland. The new church was dedicated in 1927 by Archbishop Shaw. The altar in the new church came from St. Maurice Church in New Orleans and contains the relics of three martyrs. The stained glass windows, commissioned from the Emil Frei Art Glass Company of St. Louis and Munich and made in Munich, were installed after the dedication at a cost of $2700. The 2 Manual Moller Pipe Organ was installed in 1935. The church was renovated in 1966, 1968, and again in the 1980s. It continues today to be an important part of the local community.