History and Description
Of
St. Anne Catholic Church
On August 10, 1856, a disastrous storm destroyed Last Island in
which over three hundred people perished, among them being a large
number from Assumption Parish. This is the event that led to the
ultimate building of the Catholic Church in Napoleonville.
According to legend, Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Foley of Napoleonville were
at the hotel on Last Island at the time of the storm and were swept
into the marshes and rescued eleven days later. Mrs. Foley, being a
Catholic, prayed to her God, while Mr. Foley, not being Catholic,
promised his wife that if her prayers were answered he would
embrace her religion. Mr. Foley died later. Mrs. Foley remembered
his promise and donated the land on which is not situated St. Anne
Catholic Church. According to courthouse records, Mrs. Foley, nee
Marcelite M. Blanchard, widow of Arthur Morgan Foley, Assumption
Parish, as recorded in Conveyance Book No. 30, page 274 dated the
15th day of June 1870, donated the property unto the society of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of New Orleans.
The first Catholic Church, given the name St. Napoleon, was a wood
building completed in 1874 and served the community until the
present structure was completed in 1909. The first church was given
the name St. Napoleon by the Archbishop, the Most Reverend
Napoleon Joseph Perche of the New Orleans Diocese. The town was
not incorporated until 1878, and the story is that the town was named
for Napoleon Bonaparte by one of the townspeople who were thought
to have been an admirer or soldier of Napoleon Bonaparte. So it was
coincidental that the church and town had the same name.
As the congregation grew, the need for a larger church became
evident. The present structure was completed in 1909. Area
residents were a very devout community and had prayed to St. Anne
to spare them during one of the yellow fever epidemics. Having been
spared, the congregation kept their promise to her and named the
church St. Anne in her honor. Since that time, a novena to St. Anne
has been conducted each year prior to her feast day.
The present structure of St. Anne Church is located on the original
property on St. Joseph Street in Napoleonville, Louisiana, and is
situated on a two block area of land amidst beautifully moss draped
oak trees. The contract to build the present structure was awarded to
C.C. Stewart of Baton Rouge in August 1908. The cost was
$30,000.00. The structure is a banner example of neoclassic
architecture. The exterior elements include arched fenestration, stark
ornamentation and symmetrical distribution of elements disrupted
slightly by a predominant tower on the main facade. The classic
Romanesque architecture of the church is very evident in the triplearched entrance.
The arches are repeated in various areas of the church. For a church
located in a small rural area as Napoleonville, it is very ornate. The
entire red brick structure is 68 feet by 160 feet long; and it is known
as a five-aisle basilica, which is very unusual. Most churches have
three aisles. In the interior, the church’s style is suggested by the rich
Corinthian capitals at the columns, the heavy unadorned entablature,
and the vaulted ceiling decorated with simple designed coffer panels.
In 1996, interior restoration was begun on the church. The “Restore
the Beauty Project” contract to paint the inside of the church at the
cost of $407,000.00 was awarded to Conrad Schmidt Studios, Inc., of
New Berlin, Wisconsin. During the seven-month restoration the
crew, averaging five members most of the time, erected scaffolding
that covered the entire church. They covered and protected all
surfaces, washed every inch of the interior, scraped and patched every
square foot of the interior, primed, painted, decorated, washed certain
areas again and dismantled the scaffolding.
The last time the church had been painted was in 1956 by Conrad
Schmidt Studios at which time lead based paints were used. Lead
products were thought to have been safe; however, time and
education have proven this was not the case. Therefore, it was
necessary to lead abate and encapsulate the entire interior of the
church. The new materials and techniques used at this time are the
best available on the market.
A great deal of time was spent working on the 45 foot-high vaulted
metal pan ceiling. Decking had to be constructed in order to reach
these areas. The ceiling consists of 24’ square metal panels that are
now finished in a combination of French vanilla and white. There are
1,058 center panels and an additional 215 ceiling panels on each side
of the church. According to our artisans, this type of ceiling is very
rare. The 23-karat gold leaf designs on the ceiling are duplicates of
the original designs.
The church boasts classical Romanesque with the most classic fluted
24-foot columns and capitals with acanthus leaves. The crowning
with acanthus leaves follows the order of Greek architecture where
acanthus leaves were carved of marble on capitals of Corinthian
columns. Terry Meyer, one of our artisans, spent four weeks
applying the 24-karat gold leaf to the capitals. After preparation, a
slow drying varnish was applied. After 24 hours the gold leaf was
applied by hand then burnished using cotton.
The amount of detail, especially in the frieze, is incredible. There is a
total of 464 feet of decorative frieze in the church, including the
2,224 dentils. They were finished with gold composition, which is a
copper and tin alloy. The egg and dart motif featured is appropriate;
the egg signifying life, the dart representing death. This motif is
thought to be used here to symbolize faith, and the transcendence
from life into physical death and immortality.
The bead and reel motif in the molding consists of a series of small,
rounded ornaments, similar to a string of beads, interspersed with the
decorative reels, which are open circles representing eternity. In this
case, the open reels contain in their centers crosses in the cross-pâté
design.
Other symbolic elements in the frieze works are cloves signifying
God in three persons by the division of the three leaves on one stem.
Eleven thousand three hundred ninety (11,390) linear feet of 23-karat
gold leaf was applied throughout the interior. Assuming 15% waste,
9,691 linear feet of true gold now remains. Leaf ranging from 3/8” to
1” was applied at a cost of $14,000.00 for the materials. The artists
estimate that 35% of their time here was spent applying gold leaf.
The decorative painting was based entirely on the architecture, the
decorative elements, and most importantly the functioning worship
space. Warm and cool tones were used to provide the most
comfortable and inviting interior. The soft blush color of the walls
compliments the jewel tones of the stain glass windows.
The choir loft features the Greek key design done in the gold leaf.
The egg and dart design is repeated under the choir loft and is larger
than that used in the frieze work.
The Italian marble main altar and two side altars replaced the first
altars on the 50th anniversary of the church in 1959 along with the
sanctuary marble floor and pulpit. The mosaic Last Supper scene by
Leonardo Da Vinci depicted on the altar table is exceptionally
beautiful. The pure white Carrara marble life-size figure of Christ on
the cross forms the focal point on the altar. In the remainder of the
church, new flooring was laid over the original termite damaged
wood floor and is a vinyl tile selected to match the marble of the
sanctuary. The off-white tile matches the floor of the sanctuary and
the green matches the serpentine shading of marble found back of the
altar rail. The beautiful stain glass windows depicting the mysteries
of the rosary were donated by various families in the congregation
during the early years of the church’s history.
Since the completion of the church in 1909, and during the
subsequent ninety years, parishioners have maintained and enhanced
the worship center at a cost of over one million dollars. Some of the
projects that were achieved during this time were the following;
removal of asbestos roof, replacement and maintenance of the roofs,
installation of air conditioning and heating several times,
beautification of the sanctuary with marble, restoration of the tower
and electrical system, replacement of pews, installation and
replacement of sound systems, and extension of the front plaza.
Although the main building has been renovated to modernize its
facilities, its grace and class proportions have been successfully
retained.