St. Helena, Amite

Father John Scollard, a missionary priest, was the first priest to serve the Amite area. In 1868, the parish of St. Helena was established, and Father Scollard began a campaign to build a new church. He also founded the only school in Amite where he taught Catholics, Protestants and Jews.

In 1890, the Benedictine fathers began ministering to the Tangipahoa area from their preparatory seminary at Gessen, now known as Rosaryville. Tragedy visited this parish when the beloved Father Felix Rumpf, O.S.B., was killed during a cyclone. As he attempted to ring the church bell to warn area residents, the bell in the 110-foot high bell tower fell, killing him. The church, which was also destroyed during the storm, was rebuilt between 1910 and 1912. This second church served the community until 1940, when it too was destroyed by a tornado. The third and present church was built and dedicated in 1941 under the direction Father Matthew McGlynn, O.P. He was a sculptor and crucifixes which he executed are in the sanctuary at Amite and in other locations worldwide. Notably, the statues at Fatima were completed from the description Father McGlynn received from Sister Lucy.

During the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s, many Italians, especially Sicilians, migrated into Tangipahoa parish, adding to the Catholic population of this area. Invited by Archbishop Blenk, the Spanish Dominicans from the Philippines served in the parish from 1912 to 1938. In 1927, an Amite native, Catharine Bostick, founded a new religious community, the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic. 

St. Helena Parish today has the largest geographic area in the diocese, approximately 700 square miles. Amite is home to a steel mill and several oyster houses where oysters from the Gulf of Mexico are shucked and packed for retail sale.