Small Church with a Big Heart

Billed as the world’s smallest church, Madonna Chapel in Bayou Goula may be diminutive in statue but stands tall in spiritual and historical significance.

A fixture on River Road since 1903, the chapel was built by Italian farmer Anthony Gullo, who had promised the Blessed Virgin he would build a church in her honor if his son recovered from a serious illness. 

The son recovered and true to his word, Gullo in 1903 built the chapel, which was originally 7’x7’.

Mitzi Roppolo, who was raised in the Bayou Goula area and has been the chapel’s caretaker since 1989, said people in the area, who at the time were poor farmers, contributed to the cost of construction.

In 1924, the church was moved to higher ground and expanded to its current 9’x9’.

“It is not uncommon for Italian and Sicilian families to build a small chapel or shrine building on their property overseas but we don’t see much of it in the United States,” said Father Jason Palermo, pastor at St. Joseph Church in French Settlement and St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Maurepas.

Since 1903, a Mass has been celebrated on Aug. 15, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Father Vic Messina, who was raised in Bayou Goula and credits the time he spent in prayer at the chapel as having a significant influence on his decision to become a priest, said a Latin Mass was originally celebrated inside the church with the people outside braving the heat under umbrellas. Post Vatican II, a portable altar is set up outside and a true outdoor Mass celebrated, one in which Father Messina has been the celebrant on several occasions.

“I can remember my grandparents telling me when the chapel opened there was a procession on River Road with the statue of Mary,” said Father Messina and said in those days families in that area were all Sicilian immigrants.

“There are many roadside shrines in many different areas where people can go and pray but I think what singles out the Madonna Chapel is they have always had Mass there every year on the feast of the Immaculate Conception,” he added. “It was like a day of festivities.”

The Mass traditionally draws about 150 people from throughout southeast Louisiana. Because of COVID-19 concerns, the Mass this past August drew about 90 people, Roppolo said, but the bake sale and raffle were held as scheduled. 

Father Messina remembers when live chickens were sold and someone would donate a calf that was used a raffle item. Even today, all of the proceeds from the bake sale and raffles are used to maintain the church.

“Those of us who faithfully attend Mass at the chapel year in and year out see it as a mini-pilgrimage,” said Father Palermo, who has celebrated the Mass seven of the 14 years he has been ordained, including this year. 

“Everyone involved in the upkeep of the chapel year-round as well as those who bake cakes, make items for the raffle and prepare the chapel for the Mass do it as a labor of love,” he said.

Roppolo, 83 and a Port Allen resident, said through the years she has seen many of the same people attend the Mass, even though the mid-August heat can be stifling.

She said people from as far away as New Orleans and Baton Rouge attend the Mass, taking refuge from the elements by sitting on chairs underneath tents. 

“It’s been there forever and a lot of people know about it and make a trip to the church,” said Roppolo, whose family owned a grocery story near the chapel. “They say it’s hot but it’s not that hot once Mass gets started.”

Father Messina, who is retired and living at St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, said for many years a novena, prayed mostly by women, began Aug. 1 and  leading up to the Aug. 15 Mass.

Roppolo, who used to visit the chapel with her grandmother, mother and a “few ladies” to pray the rosary daily during the month of May, said during the COVID-19 pandemic when churches were shuttered or attendance restricted, she witnessed many people stop in, grab the key which is placed outside the chapel, pray the rosary and light a candle each Sunday. 

For such a small chapel with no parishioners and one annual Mass, the chapel has influenced at least two clergy members. Father Palermo said he once stopped at the chapel to pray on his way to his first day at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. 

“I would go to the chapel and I would ask Mary to help me to become a priest,” Father Messina said, recalling that he began praying at the chapel as early as eight years old. “The chapel had a significant impact on me. It was one of many things that nurtured my vocation.”

More than a century after Gullo fulfilled his promise to the Blessed Mother, the chapel remains an attraction for Catholics from around the world. Often, visitors on tours of Nottoway Plantation in White Castle will visit, burn a candle, offer prayer intentions and sign the guest book, meticulously maintained by Roppolo.  

She recalled how a young lady from Russia, upon returning to her native country, wrote to Roppolo to express how much it meant to visit the chapel. She told Roppolo she relished the opportunity to have the freedom to pray as she desired.

In 2003, Bishop Emeritus Robert W. Muench celebrated a centennial Mass at the chapel. Among those in attendance were Gullo’s son, for whom Gullo prayed to the Blessed Virgin to heal, and his grandsons, who live in Rockford. 

“It is a significant part of the community and means a lot to me,” Roppolo said. “I feel privileged to be able to take care of the Madonna Chapel because the Blessed Mother answers my prayers.

“It’s been an honor for me. That little church is part of me.”