Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Francisville

Catholicism came to the Felicianas when the early French and Spanish missionaries came to minister along the Mississippi River in the late 1700s. Early records indicate that the town of St. Francisville received its name from the early Franciscan missionaries who evangelized the Tunica Indians and established a monastery on the high bluffs overlooking Bayou Sara.

Priests from Jackson, Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee and Clinton, ministered to the people of St. Francisville saying monthly Mass in the courthouse or in a private home. On a pastoral visit in 1871, Archbishop Perche encouraged the Catholics of St. Francisville to build their own church. The parish, established in 1871, was dedicated to St. Mary of Mount Carmel. While many parishes have outgrown their church or built newer, more modern structures, Our Lady of Mount Carmel is proud of its original church building completed in 1893. The church was designed by General P. G. T. Beauregard and is situated at the top of “Catholic Hill” overlooking Bayou Sara and the town of St. Francisville.

The church is constructed exclusively of native wood. The window frames, doors and door frames are constructed of cypress, and the pillars and beams are solid long-leaf pine. The two windows at the entrance of the church and one at the rear of the sacristy are original and contain several of the original window panes. In the early 1950s, oak pews replaced the older cypress pews, but a few of the original cypress pews remain near the sacristy. The Stations of the Cross, 200 years old, German-made and delicately detailed in oil, were donated by the Sisters of Christian Charity in New Orleans.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Jackson, Louisiana was established as a parish in 1858 to serve the Catholic community of the Felicianas. Once Our Lady of Mount Carmel was established, East and West Feliciana were separated ecclesiastically with Our Lady of Perpetual Help as a mission of Mount Carmel.