Cathedral ‘Mother Church’ of the Diocese

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After three days of thunderous, heavy downpours, the steeple of St. Joseph Cathedral stands silent and elegant against a backdrop of darkened skies over the Capital City. Surrounded by tall, flat-roofed office buildings, the cathedral is a testament to its unyielding place in the history of both the city and Diocese of Baton Rouge.

“Lots has gone on here,” said pastor Father Paul Counce, who celebrated his own high school graduation and 40th anniversary as a priest at St. Joseph.

More than 230 years before, St. Joseph Church was established by Father Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, a noted traveler, historian and scientist, who was commissioned by the French government to assess the religious conditions in the colony of Louisiana. According to records from the Archives Department of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Father Charlevoix was traveling by canoe from Quebec to New Orleans when he stopped at the Mississippi River landing of Msgr. Dion d’Artaguette’s plantation in Baton Rouge.

 The settlement, located on the banks of what is now Capitol Lake, was comprised of the plantation and a few scattered huts built by the Houma Indians. The next day, New Year’s Day 1722, the Jesuit priest celebrated Mass at an altar in the parlor of the plantation.

International politics would later put Louisiana into the hands of the king of Spain, who appealed to the bishops of Ireland for seminarians to complete their studies in Spain at the University of Salamanca. 

“There, they would also learn Spanish, which would enable them to keep in touch with the home government. Arrived in Louisiana, they would be able to explain to the American frontiersmen the Catholic faith” (“History of St. Joseph’s Church: From 1789 to Date,” by Francis Leon Gassler, 1943).

When Father Carolos Burke, an Irish priest and the first resident pastor sent from Spain, arrived in Baton Rouge in September 1792, a modest chapel had  been built near the area of the present state Capitol. On Jan. 15, 1793, the marriage of Don Antonio de Gras, an affluent Spanish landowner, and Genevieve Dulat was the first recorded marriage in Baton Rouge and that same year de Gras donated land for the construction of a new church. 

When founded in 1792, the parish was called Our Lady of Sorrows, Nuestra Señora de los Dolores,” explained Father Counce. “It was changed to St. Joseph Parish in the 1830s, after Spain had sold the colony to France and France immediately sold it to the United States and Louisiana became a state in 1812. 

“Once we became an American territory, more English people started moving in who didn’t speak French or Spanish, and that’s when the parish took on a new identity, St. Joseph, because St. Joseph has an appeal to people of every denomination. I don’t know precisely why they picked St. Joseph but it was a wonderful choice.”

According to Father Counce, the current church is the third structure. The cornerstone was laid in 1853 for the second church and construction was completed three years later but destroyed in 1862 during the Civil War. 

Rebuilt after the war, the steeple was erected in 1891 and stained glass windows and the mosaic Stations of the Cross were added in the 1920s and 1930s, he said. Additional changes have been completed during the past several decades.

“It was painted over, had a false ceiling at one time, had false pillars at one time, had a wooden high altar and wooden pews,” said Father Counce. “The whole thing inside and out was painted battleship gray with World War II surplus paint. It was renovated in the 1960s.”

In 1961, St. John XXIII created the Diocese of Baton Rouge and chose St. Joseph “to be the cathedral parish” because it was the oldest parish in the city of Baton Rouge, according to Father Counce.

“When Bishop (Robert E.) Tracy came in Nov. 8, 1961, on a beautiful sunny day, he marched in with all of the pomp and ceremony by mandate of the pope, he established the Diocese of Baton Rouge,” Father Counce said.

“Every diocese has a cathedral, and it is spiritually the mother church of the diocese,” he added. “The name cathedral comes from the word ‘cathedra’ which means chair, the bishop’s chair, the special chair that only he sits in when he teaches and presides over the church is always in the cathedral. And so, spiritually and theologically, it’s important because it’s a focus for the church, especially the church gathered around the bishop.”

St. Joseph’s unique location, in the shadow of the Capitol along Fourth Street, has given it a unique place among state politics. As the church closest in proximity to the heart of state government, St. Joseph has been the site of numerous ecumenical prayer services as part of inauguration ceremonies for Louisiana governors. Governor John Bel Edwards and former governors Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco, all of whom are Catholic, have attended Mass at St. Joseph. Blanco’s funeral was celebrated there in 2019.

The church has undergone several changes. In 1966, Bishop Tracy oversaw the renovation of the church interior to reflect new liturgical guidelines instituted by the Second Vatican Council, which took several years to complete. 

Also during that time, the steeple, which had been damaged in a hurricane, was replaced with a replica of the original. In 1993, a massive pipe organ with more than 50 ranks (sets) was installed. 

The church is also unique in its makeup, as Father Counce estimates about 35 to 40 of the people who regularly attend Mass at the cathedral reside in the parish boundaries.

“Most of the parishioners and friends of the cathedral live elsewhere in the area,” he said. “We have parishioners in Lakeland and in Prairieville and Denham Springs and Walker. We have parishioners that live all over Baton Rouge. I am always heartened by the fact that people drive past perfectly good churches to get here on Sundays. Some of them, I’m sure, their families used to live down here and they’ve always come.”

Indeed the mission has changed and become more of a reflection of its location. 

“I’m most proud of the ministries we have to the poor and needy, the Food Pantry,” said Father Counce. “We have a sizeable homeless population and by our participation in the downtown Christian Outreach Center and Society of St. Vincent de Paul (are able to serve the needy). 

“In a special way, our location makes it important for us to reach out to the homeless.”

Snack bags and hygiene bags are regularly handed out, according to Father Counce. And assistance is given to help find shelter for those exposed to the elements during very hot or very cold weather. 

“You do what you can,” he said, adding it’s a fitting reflection of a church, whose patron saint provided protection, shelter and care for his family.

“St. Joseph never said a word in the Bible, but he’s patron of the Universal Church,” said Father Counce. “He’s a wonderful patron because he wasn’t known for one thing. He was a protector, he was a father, he was a worker, he was a carpenter, he worked with his hands, considering the fact that he never said a word in the Bible, we do know enough about him to be impressed.”