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St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery (Natchez, Louisiana)

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St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Medium sized white church with small steeple and red roof surrounded by some plant beds with brick borders.
The church in 2019
Location 2262 Louisiana Highway 484, Natchez, Louisiana
Coordinates 31°35′37″N 92°58′22″W / 31.59361°N 92.97278°W
Built 1917
Website staugustinecaneriver.com
NRHP reference No. 14000679
Added to NRHP September 24, 2014

St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery, or the Isle Brevelle Church, is a historic Catholic parish property founded in 1829 near Melrose, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. It is the cultural center of the Cane River area's historic French, Spanish, Native American and Black Creole community. It is also the oldest surviving Black Catholic church in the United States.[1]

Established as a mission church by Louisiana Creole Nicolas Augustin Metoyer, St. Augustine is celebrated as the first church in Louisiana to be built by and for free people of color. It is also among the oldest churches founded and built by and for African Americans.[2]

The church and cemetery are within the Cane River National Heritage Area, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3] Because of its significance in Catholic and Creole history, St. Augustine also is a marked destination on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.[4]

History

19th century

Tradition holds that the church was established by Nicolas Augustin Metoyer in 1803 and that services have been held continuously since then. Historical records challenge the local lore. Parish records document the founding of the Chapel of St. Augustine "as a mission of the church of St. François of Natchitoches" in July 1829, shortly after the church was constructed.[5] The mission was recognized in 1856 as a parish in its own right, and authorized a resident priest.

When Fr Jean Baptiste Blanc consecrated the chapel for religious use (19 July 1829), he reported that it had been "erected on Isle Brevelle on the plantation of Sieur Augustin Metoyer through the care and generosity of the above-named Augustin Metoyer, aided by Louis Metoyer, his brother.... The said chapel... having been dedicated to St. Augustine, shall be considered as under the protection of this great doctor."[6] Tradition also describes the role of Augustin's brother Louis (founder of the nearby Melrose Plantation, a National Historic Landmark ), as the chapel's designer and builder.[7]

The Church of St. Augustine is distinctive among Southern churches of all denominations for its racial role reversals. Surviving pew records show that the front seats were occupied by the Créole de couleur Metoyer family, who built the chapel. Seated behind them were the families of prominent white planters and other Creoles within the community with surnames Blanchard, Brevelle, Garcia, Landry, and Lemoine.[8]

On March 11, 1856, the mission of St. Augustine at Isle Brevelle was decreed by Bishop Auguste Marie Martin of Natchitoches to be a parish in its own right, and assigned Fr Francois Martin to be its first resident pastor. St. Augustine expanded to serve four other churches in the area: St. Charles Chapel at Bermuda, St. Anne Church (Spanish Lake) (serving the Adai Caddo Indians of Louisiana), St. Joseph's Catholic Mission at Bayou Derbonne, and St. Anne Chapel at Old River.[8]

The original St. Augustine structure has not survived. Union forces are said to have torched it during the Red River campaign of May 1864. After the Civil War, its congregation was almost exclusively people of color.[9]

20th century

A second church burned in the early 1900s. It was replaced by the present-day church building, which was completed in 1917. Tradition holds that early furnishings included paintings of patron saints Augustine and Louis, in honor of the Metoyer brothers,[10] as well as an altar brought from Europe by other family members. The original bell that hung in the belfry above the vestibule is said to be the one still in use.[11] An image of the original church survives as a backdrop in the contemporary oil portrait of its founder that hangs in the church today.[12]

An oil painting titled Papa Augustin Metoyer (c. 1836) has hung in the church since the 1970s, featuring a portrait of Nicolas Augustin Metoyer posing in a Prince Albert coat in front of green drapery.[13][14] This painting had been part of the Melrose Planation and went up for auction in the 1970s, the pastor of the church brought the oldest descendants of Nicolas Augustin Metoyer to the auction and they pleaded to be allowed to purchase the painting for the Isle Brevelle community and for display in the church.[14]

For many years an annual festival for the Isle Brevelle community has been held at St. Augustine Church.[15]

Representation in other media

  • Elizabeth Shown Mills's historical novel, Isle of Canes, draws upon her research in both family tradition and primary sources. She explores the founding of St. Augustine and the character of the religious leadership of the Isle Brevelle community in Creole Louisiana.[16]
  • The Church is depicted in the 1982 historical romantic drama Cane River, which was lost for decades before being rediscovered a distributed digitally and in theaters beginning in 2020.

See also

Notable people

  • Clementine Hunter (c. 1887–1988), self-taught folk artist, she lived at the Melrose Plantation within Isle Brevelle and attended mass at St. Augustine.[17]
  • Marie Thérèse Coincoin (1742–1816), a planter, former slave turned slave owner, and businesswoman. Her sons were the architect and patron families of St. Augustine.
  • Anne des Cadeaux (unknown–1754), former Native American slave, mother of Jean Baptiste Brevelle II, and buried on Isle Brevelle at the Brevelle Plantation. St. Augustine is built on her family's Spanish land grant. Her descendants were patron families of St. Augustine.
  • Jean Baptiste Brevelle (1698-1754), early 18th century explorer, trader and soldier of Fort Saint Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches. Husband of Anne des Cadeaux and father of the namesake of Isle Brevelle.
  • Robert Brevelle (born 1977), venture capitalist and tribal councilman of the nearby Adai Caddo Indian Nation, is a lineal descendant of Isle Brevelle founder and patron of St. Augustine.[18]

References

  1. Back to citation "Church once featured in Steel Magnolias was first Black-founded, financed, and attended church for Catholics in the U.S." KTALnews.com. December 19, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  2. Back to citation Boston's African Meeting House is recognized as the oldest church built by and for African Americans that is still standing in the United States. See Early black Baptist churches were founded in South Carolina and Virginia around the time of the American Revolutionary War.
  3. Back to citation "Creoles in the Cane River Region", Cane River National Heritage Area: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary, National Park Service, accessed 15 Jul 2008
  4. Back to citation Ron Stodghill, "Driving Back Into Louisiana’s History", New York Times, 25 May 2008, accessed 7 Jul 2008
  5. Back to citation The parish registers from 1803–29 document each time the parish priest traveled to Cane River and Isle Brevelle to conduct services. They explicitly name the site at which the services were held. Those records repeatedly document that Augustin Metoyer and his family brought their children and slaves to one or another named site for baptism or marriage. The first services were held on Augustin's plantation on 19 July 1829; see Parish of St. François of Natchitoches, Register 6: 116. The second occurred four days later when Augustin's great-nephew Louis Monet married at the Chapel of St. Augustine; see St. François Register 11, entry 1829-#10.
  6. Back to citation Fr. J.B. Blanc, Reg. 6: 116. For a lengthy analysis of the evidence surrounding the construction of the chapel, see Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River's Créoles of Color (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 197), 145–150.
  7. Back to citation Clyde Roque, "St. Augustine Church", Diocese of Alexandria, accessed 15 Jul 2008.
  8. Back to citation occurrence 8.0 Back to citation occurrence 8.1 "History of St. Augustine Catholic Church". St. Augustine Catholic Church (). Roman Catholic Church. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  9. Back to citation Mills, The Forgotten People, chapter 9, summarizes the testimony in the numerous Civil War damage claims by St. Augustine parishioners.
  10. Back to citation Clyde Roque, "St. Augustine Church", Diocese of Alexandria, accessed 15 Jul 2008
  11. Back to citation Father J. J. Callahan et al., The History of St. Augustine's Parish; Isle Brevelle, Natchez, La; 1803–1853; 1829–1954; 1856–1856 (Natchitoches: The Parish, 1956).
  12. Back to citation A black-and-white image of the portrait is reproduced online in the archived edition of Ken Ringle, "Up through Slavery," The Washington Post, 12 May 2002 Washingtonpost.com."
  13. Back to citation Laney, Ruth (July 24, 2018). "As Seen by Clementine". Country Roads Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Dowdy, Verdis (September 21, 1975). "Discovering Cenla, Grandpere, a Church, and a Portrait". Newspapers.com. The Town Talk. p. 43. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  15. Back to citation Dowdy, Verdis (October 5, 1975). "Isle Brevelle and Festival". Newspapers.com. The Town Talk. p. 7. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  16. Back to citation Elizabeth Shown Mills, Isle of Canes (Provo: Ancestry.com, 2004).
  17. Back to citation Catlin, Roger. "Self-Taught Artist Clementine Hunter Painted the Bold Hues of Southern Life". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  18. Back to citation Whitney, Amber (September 2023). "Robert Brevelle CEO". thetop100magazine.com. p. 64. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
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