St. Patrick's Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church and parish in the

Archdiocese of New Orleans The Archdiocese of New Orleans (; ; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical division of the Catholic Church spanning Jefferson (except Grand Isle), Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washingto ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

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. The parish was founded in 1833, and the current structure was completed in 1840. It is the second-oldest parish in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

(the oldest parish is St. Louis Cathedral), located upriver from the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

at 724 Camp Street in what is now the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. The building, a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

, is one of the nation's earliest and finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture.

History

The first major development in New Orleans outside of the ''Vieux Carré'' was

Faubourg "Faubourg" () is an ancient French term historically equivalent to "fore-town" (now often termed suburb or ). The earliest form is , derived from Latin , 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) , 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, t ...

St. Mary, begun after 1788; the area is now the core of the Central Business District and Warehouse District. The Faubourg came to be known as the "American Quarter," as differentiated from the French Quarter. Irish immigration in the early nineteenth century brought English-speaking Catholics to the city, many of whom settled in the new commercial district of Faubourg St. Mary. The religious and linguistic demographics of the city were changing; Catholicism in New Orleans had been dominated by the Creoles, descendants of the French, Spanish, and African (both enslaved and free) settlers of the previous century. By the 1830s, a church was needed for those who did not speak French.Campanella, Richard. ''Time and Place in New Orleans: Past Geographies in the Present Day''. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 2002. Nolan, Charles E
''A History of the Archdiocese of New Orleans''
, Strasbourg, France: Éditions du Signe, 2001. In 1833, Bishop Leo-Raymond de Neckere established a new parish in Faubourg St. Mary, St. Patrick's Church. Construction of a permanent church building began later in the decade and was completed in 1840. During the 1849-1851 rebuilding of St. Louis Cathedral, the church was named

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...

of the diocese.St. Patrick's website
/ref> The decades after the church's establishment saw anti-immigrant violence involving the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

Party. Father James Mullon, whose portrait hangs in the back of the church, was pastor at the time and held significant clout in the city. Many nativists feared that he and the Irish were taking control of New Orleans from the establishment. St. Patrick's remained an anchor of the local Church throughout the events of the tumultuous decades that followed, including the infamous occupation of the city by Union troops under the unpopular Major General

Benjamin Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general (United States), major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. During the war, the outspoken Mullon, who had been pastor by then for decades, was accosted by Butler for refusing to preside at the funeral of a Union soldier. Mullon responded, in a moment of local lore, by apologizing and remarking that he would gladly preside at the funerals of Butler and all the Union troops. The church building was named a

in 1975. A major restoration, lasting from 1978 to 1990, preserved the structure so that the parish could continue to serve the people of New Orleans as it had for 150 years.

Hurricane Katrina

Located on relatively high ground near the river, St. Patrick's was not in the flood zone during and after

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

and did not experience significant physical damage. Its parishioners and regular churchgoers come from throughout the archdiocese and were

scattered Scattered may refer to: Music * ''Scattered'' (album), a 2010 album by The Handsome Family * "Scattered" (The Kinks song), 1993 * "Scattered", a song by Ace Young * "Scattered", a song by Lauren Jauregui * "Scattered", a song by Green Day from ...

by the hurricane like everyone else. In keeping with St. Patrick's history as New Orleans' second oldest parish, it and St. Louis Cathedral held the first masses in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina on Sunday, October 2, 2005. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported the reopening of both churches, quoting one parishioner regarding the ringing of the bell in the tower, "You can call this a homecoming bell for New Orleans. We have good news we want to get out."

Architecture

St. Patrick's is in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style, with a fairly simple exterior but a highly ornate interior. Doorways, windows, the organ, and the altar all conform to architectural design. The bell tower is tall; some nineteenth century aerial views of New Orleans were painted from its roof. The interior of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is tall. Slender columns support the fan

vaulting In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

of the ceiling, which is particularly elaborate above the altar, incorporating sixteen

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows in a half-dome. Three large paintings above the altar depict, from left to right: Saint Patrick, the

Transfiguration of Jesus The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event described in the New Testament where Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is Transfiguration (religion), transfigured and becomes radiant in Glory (religion), glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels (, , ) r ...

, and Jesus Christ pulling

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

from the sea "From the Sea" is a song by Australian rock band Eskimo Joe, released on 22 March 2004 as the lead single from their second studio album, ''A Song Is a City'' (2004). It was their most successful single at that time, reaching number 33 on the Au ...

. The architect of St. Patrick's Church was

James H. Dakin James Harrison Dakin (August 24, 1806 – May 13, 1852) was an American architect who designed Neo-Gothic buildings and was the architect for the Old Louisiana State Capitol, Old Bank of Louisville, and other public buildings. Early life Dakin ...

, who designed a number of buildings in Louisiana, including the Old State Capitol in

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. Problems related to the city's notoriously high

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

drew in another prominent local architect,

James Gallier James Gallier (24 July 1798– 3 October 1866) was a prominent nineteenth-century Ireland, Irish-born American architect, most famed for his buildings in New Orleans. Gallier Hall, which he designed and once served as New Orleans City Hall, is ...

, to oversee the construction.Dakin Collection
at the New Orleans Public Library; page 7 includes plans for the church

Location

St. Patrick's is located on Camp Street in New Orleans, between Julia and Girod Streets. It is within walking distance of the downtown hotels and French Quarter, less than half a mile from

Canal Street Canal Street may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Canal Street (Manchester), Manchester, England * Canal Street, Oxford, Jericho, Oxford, England United States * Canal Street (Buffalo), a street and district at the western terminus of the Er ...

. It is in the middle of what has become an arts district, with a number of small galleries and the

Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is a museum dedicated to art by artists from the southern United States in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was established in 1999. The building The Ogden museum is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown ...

in the surrounding blocks.

Tradition

The parish has made efforts to maintain a sense of traditional reverence amid New Orleans' reputation for revelry. As part of this effort, the parish offers the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

Ecclesiastical Latin Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian theology, Christian thought in Late antiquity and used in Christianity, Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration ...

every day, weekdays and Sundays, in accordance with the

1962 Roman Missal The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in 1 ...

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's Church, New Orleans Roman Catholic churches completed in 1840 Roman Catholic churches in New Orleans Gothic Revival church buildings in Louisiana History of New Orleans Irish-American culture in Louisiana Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana National Historic Landmarks in Louisiana 1833 establishments in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in New Orleans Roman Catholic cathedrals in Louisiana 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States