St. Stephen the Martyr, Whitehall (Maurepas)

St. Stephen the Martyr and its mission church St. Mary, have roots in the parish of St. Joseph of French Settlement. Soon after St. Joseph obtained its first priest, sacraments were performed at Whitehall. The earliest record of a baptism for the area was recorded in 1840 at a home in Whitehall. The early Catholic settlements in the Livingston Parish area were without a
resident pastor.  They were served by priests from Ascension Church in Donaldsonville, St. Francis of Assisi in Smoke Bend, and the Benedictine fathers from Rosaryville.

In 1891, with the growing need for a church in Whitehall, Etienne LeBourgeois donated property for the building of a chapel. Less than one year later the chapel was dedicated under the name St. Stephen the Martyr on October 11, 1892. Archbishop Francis Janssens accepted the property and the chapel for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Regular services of a pastor necessitated a place of worship on Bear Island. Father Antoine Seve rented a store to hold services, until the building of a church was completed. 

In 1919, the order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate came to Livingston, where they ministered for over forty years. Fathers F.X. Gagnon and J.A. Sirois were the first two priests in the area; and when they arrived one of the first tasks was to build a rectory at Whitehall. A rectory was needed for two reasons: one of the fathers would tend the missions of Port Vincent and Head of Island; the other would minister to Whitehall, Bear Island, Livingston, and Denham Springs.

Although they were only seven miles apart the parish lives of Whitehall and Bear Island would be separate until reunited in 1964 as the parish of St. Stephen. On May 30, 1964, the parish of St. Stephen the Martyr with the church of St. Mary became a reality when it was dedicated by Bishop Tracy and assigned its first pastor.