HISTORICAL SCAVENGER HUNT

Did you know…   we have a Tricentennial Historical Scavenger Hunt? To celebrate our 300th year, we created a Scavenger Hunt that tells the stories of 8 iconic spots around campus. Just scan the QR code with your phone and enjoy your walk around campus learning as you go.

St. Charles Borromeo Scavenger Hunt 2023

Did you know… our beloved SCB church parish is 300 years old?  Begun in 1723 by German Coast settlers on the west bank, it was moved here as the population shifted in 1740 and named Church of St. Charles.  What a great generational story to tell.
 

1. St. Charles Borromeo Shrine - This life-size statue was a gift to St. Charles Red Church from Pierre Trepagnier who built Ormond Plantation.  It is believed to have stood in the Little Red Church from 1806 when it was built until 1922 when it was moved into our present church.  On his Nov. 4th Feast Day in 1990, this shrine was dedicated to our patron saint who is also the patron of catechists, seminarians, bishops, our civil parish, and at least 36 other churches in North America. 

2. Little Red Church Replica - This replica was built and dedicated in 1973 on the occasion of the 250th year of our existence on the German Coast.   When the original log chapel burned, this one was built in 1806 and became known as St. Charles Red Church.  When steamboats passed nearby on the Mississippi River, the site of this Little Red Church told them New Orleans was only 25 miles downriver and it was time to pay their crew. 

3.  Calvary sculpture in the cemetery -  This Calvary scene has stood in the center of   our cemetery since 1966 when Pastor Malcolm Strassel had it installed.  It reminds us that   those buried here need us to pray for their souls, especially those who no longer have   anyone to pray for them.  When Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children in 1917, she   gave them the Fatima Prayer and told them to say it at the end of each decade of the   Rosary.  Take a moment now to pray for souls in need.

4. Cemetery Pieta - St. Charles Red Church Cemetery is thought to date back to 1740 when a log chapel was first built here.  It is the final resting place for many of our German Coast settlers and ancestors.  Much of our early cemetery was lost under the widening Mississippi River and the encroaching levee.  The tombstones around this marble replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta were rescued from early graves consumed by the river and the levee. 

5. Oldest Gravesite - The oldest surviving grave that we can identify is dated 1777 and found along the River Road just inside our fence line; CAN YOU FIND IT?  It is the final resting place of Francois Trepagnier II who was killed in the 1811 Slave Revolt.  His spouse Elizabeth Dubord died in 1777 likely in childbirth at the age of 26.  Also buried here are their youngest son Pierre and his two sons Alcee and Pierre Leonce.  The tombstone of their oldest son Francois III was rescued from the encroaching levee and can be found around the Pieta.  This is the original marker, but the grave itself was repaired after it was hit by a car that ran off the River Road.   

6. Our Lady of Fatima Shrine - Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal for six consecutive months beginning May 13, 1917. Ten year old Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco were herding sheep when they described seeing a woman “Brighter than the sun…”  Her messages encourage recitation of the rosary, prayer, penance, devotion to the Blessed Trinity and to the Eucharist, and conversion.  We honor our Blessed Mother when we pray her rosary.

            Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women
            and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for
            us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.  Amen

       7. Sacred Heart of Jesus - Directly behind the Fatima building you will find a                                    life-size Sacred Heart of Jesus statue welcoming adorers to our 24/7 Adoration                                  Chapel. On January 14, 1996, Perpetual Adoration in our parish began when Pastor                            Msgr. John Phuc and over 168 weekly adorers responded to His request… Could                                  you not watch one hour with Me  (Matthew 26:40)

            The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship,  Jesus
            awaits us in this Sacrament of Love.  Let us not refuse the time to go to meet
            Him in Adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for
            the serious offenses and crimes of the world.  Let our Adoration never cease. 
                                                                                                           Pope John Paul II   

       8.  Flagpole - The base of our flagpole explains the flags that have flown over this                                 holy ground for the last 300 years: 
                          1718-1769 the French colonial era on the German Coast
                          1769-1803 the Spanish era
                          1803-1861 the American era when we were known as the Gold Coast
                          1865-1933 reconstruction to depression

Interesting fact:  In 1800 we were again under the French Republic until the 1803  Louisiana Purchase however news of the exchange never reached New Orleans and the German Coast so we didn’t know it at the time.