300th Anniversary

Preparations for our Tri-Centennial Celebration are underway.  Four sub-committees have been formed (Spiritual, Publicity, Social & Historical).   This year-long celebration with many events will be planned throughout the following twelve months building up to the Big Celebration Day on Saturday, Nov. 4th, 2023.

Please visit this website and Facebook to keep up with upcoming events. 

Divine Mercy

The 300th Anniversary Spirituality Committee is promoting the Divine Mercy Message, Devotion, and Chaplet. If you could not make it to see The Face of Mercy movie, it is available streaming online. Pamphlets explaining the Divine Mercy Message, Devotion, and Chaplet are available in the Church on tables near all doors. Please take one of each home to read, pray, and learn more about Divine Mercy.

Divine Mercy Devotion -  February 18th

Please join us on Saturday, February 18th, at 3 pm in the church to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. We invite you to join us in praying for God’s mercy on us and on the whole world. This devotion will continue on the third Saturday of every month.
 

Tricentennial News Saturday, Jan. 28, we opened our Tricentennial year with the first of many special events of celebration. This one was a dinner/lecture in the Mule Barn of Destrehan Plantation: "Fr. Paret: In His Own Words." Historian Daniel Castoriano translated the French journal of our 27th Pastor, Fr. Joseph Michael Paret (1848- 1868), and presented portions of it in 1st person, as Father Paret himself. The evening culminated in the stunningly soulful performance of Opera Creole whose specialty is preserving 19th-century musical compositions by African American lyricists. Thank you to the River Road Historical Society for Destrehan Plantation, the administration and staff, and our own Carolyn Boyd for making this first historic event happen. Stay tuned for lots more to come in 2023 culminating on Nov. 4: A Day Like No Other "Let us before we die, gather our heritage and present it to our children." - Will Durant Below: Fr. Joseph Paret (Daniel Castoriano) presenting excerpts from his journal. And Fr. Joseph Paret, the 27th pastor of St. Charles Borromeo (portrayed by historian Daniel Castoriano), met Fr. Mixie, the 38th.

Did you know…in the early days of our cemetery, the oldest in the south, all races were buried here as long as they were baptized? French colonial Louisiana was regulated by “Code Noir” which required the enslaved to be instructed in the Catholic faith and allowed to rest on Sundays. Therefore many of the enslaved of the area were baptized Catholic, worshiped at St. Charles Red Church, and were buried here in unmarked graves.

In 1890 then Pastor Fr. Emile Peufier tells of a grave …near the cemetery entrance, at right, first aisle leading to the cross in the center: a tombstone without inscription. Underneath is buried an old Negro, Daniel St. Cyr, who for 40 years was sacristan at the Old Red Church. Judge Emile Rost ordered this monument as a reward to the faithful Negro for his years of service. In death, he is still the guardian of the cemetery at the entrance gate.

The exact location of that original monument is unknown however, in our Tricentennial year, we will inscribe a tombstone in his honor “near the cemetery entrance”. The unveiling is expected this spring.

In 2023, expect to see SCB projects added to our campus commemorating our Tricentennial
year. Among them; upgrades to the Pieta Shrine in the cemetery, an installation of Fr. Paret’s
watercolors, a commemorative memorial to be introduced soon, and…
RED clay tiles will once again adorn our roof.