160 years of faith on Dauphine Street
From St. Vincent de Paul to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos — one of New Orleans’s oldest parishes.
In 1838, Bishop Antoine Blanc established a parish for the Creole faubourgs of New Orleans’s Third Municipal District. He named it for St. Vincent de Paul, secondary patron of the Diocese. It was the third parish in the city, and for half a century its sermons were preached in French.
The brick church that stands today was built in 1866 in the basilica plan. The original frame church became the parish school. In about 1907, Italian-born New Orleans artist Achille Peretti painted scenes from the life of St. Vincent de Paul across the shallow-arched barrel vault. In 1923, Corinthian columns were added to reinforce the superstructure.
The building is a federally registered Historical Building, and ranks as the 5th oldest Catholic church in New Orleans — after Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Patrick’s, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the mortuary chapel of the old city), and the St. Louis Cathedral.
Key moments
Parish founded
Bishop Antoine Blanc establishes St. Vincent de Paul Parish to serve the French-speaking Creole community of the Third Municipal District. The third parish in the city.
Present church built
The red-brick church rises on Dauphine Street, designed in the basilica plan. The earlier frame building becomes the parish school.
Fr. Seelos’s ministry in New Orleans
The German Redemptorist priest Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R., comes to New Orleans to minister to victims of yellow fever. He dies of yellow fever on October 4, 1867. He is later beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.
Peretti murals painted
Italian-born New Orleans artist Achille Peretti paints scenes from the life of St. Vincent de Paul across the shallow-arched barrel-vault ceiling.
Corinthian columns added
Columns are installed to reinforce the church’s superstructure.
St. Gerard Majella for the Deaf
The neighboring Catholic community for the Deaf becomes the first Deaf parish in the world — named for St. Gerard Majella, a Redemptorist saint.
Five communities become one
On July 1, the parishes of St. Vincent de Paul, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Gerard Majella for the Deaf, Annunciation, and St. Cecilia merge into a new parish, named for Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.
The fire
On May 25, fire destroys the main altar, the Peretti murals, and the sacristy. Damages exceed $2.5 million. The French- and American-made stained glass survives.
Rededication
On December 9, the church is rededicated under the patronage of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. Partial restoration is complete; full restoration costs are estimated at over $4 million.
150 years
The parish celebrates the 150th anniversary of the building with an Anniversary Mass, an Inaugural Banquet, and a Time Capsule opening.
The fire
On the eve of Pentecost, the pastor was preparing to celebrate Mass for some 500 teenagers when word came: “The Church is on fire.” The sanctuary was gone, the sacristy gone, and a flash fire was already devouring the painted ceiling above the organ loft.
The main altar was lost. The Peretti murals, painted nearly a century earlier, were lost. The stained-glass windows — remarkably — survived.
Three years of work returned the church to active worship. Full restoration is still ongoing.
A sacred place, restored.
The statue of Blessed Seelos — commissioned by a friend of the saint and crafted by Italian sculptor Franco Alessandrini — was rescued from the flames and restored. So was the relic. So was the parish family.
Today five communities worship under one roof: St. Vincent de Paul, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Gerard Majella for the Deaf, Annunciation, and St. Cecilia. The St. Gerard Community remains the base of the Apostolate for the Deaf for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R.
January 11, 1819 – October 4, 1867
Born in Bavaria, Fr. Seelos joined the Redemptorist Congregation and was sent to North America as a missionary on the U.S. frontier. He was renowned for a remarkable cheerfulness and a tireless availability to hear confessions. In 1866 he was assigned to New Orleans, where he ministered to victims of the yellow-fever epidemic. He himself died of yellow fever on October 4, 1867, less than a year after his arrival.
Pope John Paul II beatified him on April 9, 2000. He carried a crucifix everywhere — “Salvation is in the Cross.”