St. Louis Cathedral - New Orleans, LA - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

Long Description:
Saint Louis Cathedral, also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States. The current building replaces two other Roman Catholic churches placed on this spot since 1718.

The first church was a crude wooden structure in the early days of the colony. Construction of a larger brick and timber church began in 1725 and was completed in 1727. This church was destroyed, along with a large number of other buildings of the city, in the Great New Orleans Fire (1788) on Good Friday on 21 March, 1788.

The current church was designed by French architect J.N.B. de Pouilly. Cornerstones were laid in 1789 and the bulding was completed in 1794. In 1793 the church was elevated to the rank of cathedral and in 1819 the central tower, clock and bell were added.

The current church has survived several destructive events including a bomb explosion in 1909 and the New Orleans hurricane of 1915. More recently, winds from Hurricane Katrina toppled some of the large trees in the rear courtyard garden of the church damaging a section of the decorative gating surrounding the area. During this event the Jesus statue in the rear garden lost a forefinger and thumb. Local folklore has already declared that the statue of Jesus sacrificed his two fingers while flicking the storm away from the city and saving it from total destruction.

The cathedral was designated as a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1964. Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral in September of 1987.

Much of the above information above was copied directly from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Cathedral,_New_Orleans">Wikipedia and the "http://www.stlouiscathedral.org/index.htm">St. Louis Cathedral web pages.

Type of Church: Cathedral Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Archdiocese: New Orleans Diocese: New Orleans Address/Location: 615 Pere Antoine Aly New Orleans, LA United States 70116 Relvant Web Site: [Web Link] Date of organization: Not listed Date of building construction: Not listed Dominant Architectural Style: Not listed Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
To log a visit to this waymark, you must post at least one original photo of the site, give the date and a brief description of your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   1/30/2010 iJEEP visited it 3/21/2009 short circuit 2 visited it 3/8/2009 Geojeepsters visited it 11/8/2008 Free2bme29 visited it 11/8/2008 wicked witch of the west coast visited it 11/8/2008 way2whacky visited it 10/27/2008 NickTnReb visited it 7/30/2008 Advntrsekrs visited it 7/17/2008 Broken Trowel visited it 4/9/2007 Big B Bob visited it 2/14/2005 DisneyPrincess visited it 5/27/2001 tnt4utvols visited it 4/5/2000 KDubs visited it

View all visits/logs