by:  Rev. Fr. Brad D. Guillory, BA, MA, M. Div.

This article is the result of a research project that our Associate Pastor Fr. Guillory embarked upon as he was reviewing our parish history. What he found is a fascinating story and an incredible connection between St. Rose de Lima Church in New Orleans, the church where the marble side altars and sanctuary furnishings that we obtained were housed, and St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville, where the marble altars will come to rest. This will be published in a series for the enjoyment of our parishioners.

“Remember the deeds that our fathers did in their times,
and you shall win great glory and an everlasting name.” (1st Maccabees 2:51)

In the hallway of the ministries building at Saint Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church, there exists a timeline of sorts which chronicles the former pastors. Framed images, accompanied by the dates of their pastorate, commemorate the ministry of these men in and around Abbeville, Louisiana. The roll begins with Père Antoine Désire Mégret, founder of the city and church parish; further down is Reverend Father Edmund Daull, who supposedly haunts the property; and the list is current with the present pastor Father William Blanda, attired as a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher.¹ This tribute to the pastors of the past, however, is not a complete portrait of the many priests who were stationed at St. Mary Magdalen over the years. Numerous priests who were assigned to the parish are not included in the display. They are the, often overlooked, parochial vicars or assistant priests, and one such priest left a mark in history. He was a young French curate appointed to the parish for only two years.

Francis Mittlebronn was his name. Born in France on October 8th, 1827, he was brought to Louisiana by Archbishop Antoine Blanc in 1845 to serve in the domestic missions.² In March of 1851, as a newly ordained priest, Père Mittlebronn was named the first parochial vicar to care for the people of Abbeville under the pastorate of Père Hubert Thirion. Together, these priests were the first resident clerics at St. Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church. From our vantage point in time, the mid 1800’s may be viewed with the eyes of nostalgia, but the life and times of Pères Thirion and Mittlebronn were far from pleasant.

The fathers had before them a parish, both ecclesial and civil, that was in turmoil. The LeBlanc house chapel, a converted residence from the original owner of the property, had outgrown its use as the parish church, and a new building was sorely needed to accommodate the increased size of the congregation. At the same time, rival factions in the community fought to relocate the parish church farther down the Vermilion River. Debates were also raging throughout the civil parish as to where the seat of government should be for the newly formed Vermilion Parish, would it be Abbeville or Pont Perry? As arbitrators in these great questions, the priests of Abbeville sought counsel from Père Antoine Désire Mégret of Vermilionville (Lafayette), Archbishop Antoine Blanc of New Orleans, and a number of civil officials to resolve these problems. Neither priest, however, would see the resolution of these conflicts because in October of 1852 they were both transferred to Saint Francis Church in Pointe Coupée, near New Roads.

Fathers Thirion and Mittlebronn found a vibrant and faithful Catholic community at Pointe Coupée. Nevertheless, they spent little time at the small rectory and church of St. Francis. The needs of the greater parish kept them in the saddle or on a buggy throughout the mission fields. In 1853, they spent most of their time tending to victims of a yellow fever epidemic, over time they built several chapels in the mission fields of Point Coupée, all the while winning the undying gratitude and devotion of their parishioners. Lamentably, after several years of working together the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”, found an entry into the daily journals of both Pères Thirion and Mittlebronn. At the dawning of the American Civil War, their presbyteral collaboration would come to an end. Thirion was reassigned, but Mittlebronn remained as pastor.

When Louisiana seceded from the Union and later joined the Confederacy, Père Mittlebronn became the chaplain to the Pointe Coupee Battery of Confederate soldiers. Before the regiment marched to Vicksburg, he blessed their flags and gave them a rousing sermon to prepare them for battle. During the early summer of 1863, an invasion of Union troops into the southern parts of the Confederacy reached the lower regions of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. After ships landed in the Pointe Coupée area, the Northern soldiers began a campaign of plunder and pillage that spared no one. Their motivation was not only Anti-Confederate, but Anti-Catholic.³ Graveyards were vandalized, sacred vessels were carried of, and the holy vestments were used as horse blankets.

In the parish Church of St. Francis, the Northern Soldiers overturned the tabernacle and scattered the Sacred Hosts on the ground, calling out, “Come and look at your God!” As luck would have it, Father Mittlebronn was away from the rectory at the time of one of the missions; thus, he was spared from what became known as the “Pointe Coupée Sacrilege”. As the Union forces moved on to the next town, they crossed paths with Father Mittlebronn, who was transporting horses. The Union soldiers demanded the horses. Fr. Mittlebronn refused. The horses were seized, and Father Mittlebronn was arrested and taken to Baton Rouge. Imprisoned for ten days, he was later left in isolation on a small island in the marsh “with two negroes, a barrel of pork, and a barrel of biscuits.” This island was surrounded with swarms of alligators and snakes, but after three days he found some means of escape and traveled back to his ransacked rectory at St. Francis. Father Mittlebronn remained with his parishioners throughout the misery, sorrow and poverty that followed the ravages of war.

In 1866 a letter arrived in Ponte Coupée for Father Francis Mittlebronn. The correspondence was from Archbishop Blanc informing Père Mittlebronn of a new assignment, pastor of St. Rose de Lima in New Orleans. Gathering his belongings from St. Francis Rectory, he departed for the Crescent City during the Christmas Octave. Upon arrival the parish of St. Rose de Lima was described as, “no church, only a small frame building, and no presbytery [rectory] to speak of,” only a small room attached to the back of a ramshackle chapel. This would be the least of his problems. The flock was scattered due to the post-war reconstruction, the church parish itself was recovering from a recent interdict, and there were rival factions dividing what remained of the parish.⁴ Soon after Father Mittlebronn settled into his surroundings, he began to visit his parishioners so as to ascertain what needed to be done to pull the community back together.

For the life of the parish, he formed “les montreuses de catéchisme”, a pious group of elderly women who instructed parents and children in the Faith. He supported the opening of new streetcar lines to make it easier for people to come to Mass, and held a Solemn Triduum for Pope Pius IX with Benediction each evening at 5:00pm. In 1869 a building project was begun with the sum of $2,000, funds from parish plays, pew rentals, special collections, and from his own pocket; Father Mittlebronn saw a new edifice rise as the parish church in early 1870. The church was given this description, along with altar rails there were: “Three beautiful altars have been built and he [Mittlebronn] had sent from the finest studios in France, three fine statutes: The Sacred Heart for the main altar and those of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph for side altars.”

During the 1870’s, the number of parishioners fluctuated as the boundaries of the parish were moved and re-drawn by the Bishop. In 1877, Archbishop Perche, made Fr. Mittlebronn a Canon of the St. Louis Cathedral, and later appointed Canon Mittlebronn as a member of the diocesan corporation (a sort of Chief Financial Officer). Throughout the 1880’s and1890’s, Fr. Mittlebronn continued to build and improve upon the parish church and facilities, meeting the needs of the parishioners of St. Rose de Lima. He took his first vacation in 1882, and was absent for only seven months. Fr. Mittlebronn also opened two parish schools and invited the Sisters of St. Joseph to serve as the staff and faculty. By 1896, at seventy years of age and thirty years as pastor, he felt it was time to hand on the pastorate of St. Rose to a younger man. Father Alphonse Janssens, a future archbishop of New Orleans, would succeed him. Fr. Mittlebronn, however, would remain in residence at St. Rose de Lima for the next twenty-two years, assisting Fr. Janssens in administering the sacramental needs of the parish, reviving a previous role as an associate.

Many years passed, and St. Rose de Lima flourished under its new pastor, Fr. Janssens, and continued to grow in respect and honor for Fr. Mittlebronn. Then the unthinkable occurred. On Friday, October 24th, 1913 a fire began in the 1870 Church built by Fr. Mittlebronn. When the fire brigade arrived, they found Fr. Mittlebronn carrying the ciborium out of the church into the residence across the street. The blaze completely consumed the church and part of the school, a landmark of the community destroyed. After the losses were accounted for, the Church received $15,000 in insurance money, enough to begin a new church. Much support came from the community to rebuild, and a new building of brick and steel in Tudor Gothic design would replace the previous wooden structure. Included in this “capital campaign” would be the installment of marble sanctuary furniture: 1) statuary and side altars for the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, 2) high pulpit for giving the sermon, and 3) an altar rail for the reception of Holy Communion.⁵ In June of 1915 the church was near completion, enough so that Mass was held despite the missing windows. Among the bishop, pastor, and servers seated in the sanctuary for this Mass was the Right Revered Father Francis Canon Mittlebronn. At 90 years of age, he was able to see the new, and present, St. Rose de Lima Church. Later that year, Fr. Mittlebronn began what would be a long illness and he died on July 8, 1919. His funeral was the largest ever attended at St. Rose.

At the dawning, and over the threshold, of the third millennium, the parish of Saint Rose de Lima would approach its twilight years. After nearly 150 years as the center of life and worship for a community that endured fire, war, poverty, and many divisions that threatened to destroy the existence of the parish; it would be a simple change in demographics that would lead to the closure of St. Rose de Lima. With a Catholic Community no longer present, the Archdiocese of New Orleans took possession of the property and oversaw the relocation and preservation of the assets of the historic Church. Meanwhile, the parish of Saint Mary Magdalen in Abbeville, where Father Mittlebronn was first assigned in 1851, began a capital campaign to renovate and restore its current church building. As work began on the structure of the edifice, Father William Blanda (pastor 2002 until the present) was notified by a parishioner concerning the closed St. Rose de Lima in New Orleans. By this time the parishioners of St. Rose had all found a new home in neighboring parishes, and much of the furnishing had already been transferred or sold to other parishes in the Archdiocese. With that knowledge, Fr. Blanda sent a team to inspect the site. It was discovered that the pews were gone, the organ was promised to another church, and the whole building was to be decommissioned; but the unique marble furnishings were still intact. With that knowledge, the pastor of St. Mary Magdalen saw an occasion not only to beatify and restore pieces long since removed from his own church, but a much greater opportunity to preserve a portion and the memory of the historic St. Rose de Lima church for future generations. With the approval and blessing from the Bishop of Lafayette, a bid was made to the Archdiocese of New Orleans for the altar rail, side altars with statues, baptismal font, and pulpit. It was accepted, and all agreed that such a unique set of circumstances which coincided to bring this renovation, restoration, and preservation to both St. Mary Magdalen and St. Rose de Lima could not be ignored.

Currently, the contractors have dismantled, removed, and cataloged all the parts to the marble structures.
They are in storage while the foundation of the sanctuary at St. Mary Magdalen is reinforced to support the
weight. The pieces will be cleaned, polished, reassembled, and retrofitted into their new home during late
October of 2009.

Those who were baptized by Father Mittlebronn at St. Mary Magdalen:

Person                        Date                 Parents

Hargrave, Marie Melandor      February 16, 1849    Oliver Hargrave & Lucianne Suire

Meaux, Marie                  February 18, 1850    Placide Meaux & Orelia Meaux

Broussard, Antoine Arthur     May 10, 1850         Cyprien Broussard & Pelagie Meaux

Hargrave, Andrew              June 10, 1850        Oliver Hargrave & Lucianne Suire

Abshire, Theoville            December 11, 1850    John Abshire & Marie Uranie Simon

Meaux, Celeste                February 7, 1851     Antoine Meaux & Anastasie Broussard

Faulk, Anathilia              February 25, 1851    Benjamin Faulk & Emelienne Meaux

Touchet, Marguerite           September 9, 1851    Elizee Touchet & Elizabeth Abshire

Meaux, Albert                 October 13, 1851     Placide Meaux & Orelia Meaux

Touchet, Melia                February 1, 1852     Frederick Touchet & Suzanne Touchet

Lapointe, Azema               November 10, 1952    Magloire Lapointe & Adelaide Manceaux

For more information regarding the entire article:

Baudier, Roger. Centennial: St. Rose of Lima Parish, New Orleans, LA: A Parish History. Compiled and published under the direction of Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward C Prendergast, May 18, 1957.

Baudier, Roger; and Lydia Sas-Jaworsky. The History of Saint Mary Magdalen Parish, Abbeville, Louisiana,
1842-1976. December 8, 1976

¹ The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem can trace its origins to Godfrey de Bouillon of the first Crusade, who gathered around him a group of knights who were entrusted with the protection of the religious Chapter of Canons who were present at the Holy Sepulchre of Christ. (http://www.order-of-the-holy-sepulchre.org/

² Just as foreign missionaries are sent out to other countries to spread the Gospel, at times there needs to be similar effort made in the home front.

³ Anti-Catholicism rose strongly during the 1800’s (19th Century America). This was due to the large number of Catholic Immigrants of Irish and German origins. Reviving propaganda of the Reformation, American Protestants promoted a fear of the “Anti-Christ” and “Whore of Babylon”, which they viewed to be the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, allegiance to a foreign power (the Pope), Vatican support of the Confederacy, and being part of Rebel Cause led to a triple discrimination of Catholics in Louisiana.

⁴ For one year beginning in May of 1863, the Archbishop closed down St. Rose de Lima. The previous pastor has disobeyed direct orders and was inciting the people to be disobedient to the Archbishop and his governance. The interdict carried with it a penalty of excommunication for anyone who attended services or received Sacraments at St. Rose.

⁵ These furnishings would later create a symbolic homecoming for Fr. Mittlebronn to Abbeville. As part of the 2009 renovation/restoration these marble structures were purchased from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and installed in St. Mary Magdalen Church.