St. John the Evangelist Cathedral, Lafayette, Louisiana Nomination Form
Dates of significance: 1821-1918
Narrative Description
Setting
The nominated property for St. John the Evangelist Cathedral includes the cathedral itself,
the adjacent Bishop's residence, the rear cemetery and the landscaped front lawn with its single
large oak. The property is close to central Lafayette and is a mile away from the University of
Louisiana in Lafayette. The property originally belonged to Jean Mouton, a prosperous
plantation owner. In 1821, Jean Mouton allowed a church to be built on his land near a large live
oak. He later donated those 5.54 arpents (French measurement before the metric system) of land
to the Church. 1 Because of the prevalence of Catholicism in south Louisiana, the commercial
community formed around the Church and surrounding lots, making some later dub Mouton as
the “founder of Lafayette.” 2 The Church stayed in the same location but changed twice, ending
with the present day Cathedral, which became the parish seat for the newly created diocese of
Lafayette in 1918. Jean Mouton also donated the property for the parish courthouse, requesting
that the church and courthouse face eachother.3
The nominated area excludes the modern rectory, the chancery, the modern school buildings and
rear athletic fields.
Cemetery
The St. John Cemetery is the first Catholic cemetery in Lafayette.4 Several prominent members
of the community rest in the cemetery, including Jean Mouton, Kaliste Saloom, and Jefferson
Caffery.5 There are two Jean Moutons buried at St. John’s Cemetery; Jean Mouton who donated
the land for the original St. John church who died in 1834 and General Jean Mouton, a
confederate general that was killed in action and brought back to the cemetery. 6
Kaliste Saloom and his wife are considered some of the first founders of Lafayette, starting a
clothing store in 1910 and donating land for the highway and fire station.7
1
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996), 4.
Valentine Orpha, Lafayette; Its Past People and Progress, (Baton Rouge: Moran Publishing Corporation,
1980), 5; and The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996), 4.
3
“Jean Mouton, Founder of Lafayette,” leaflet in Cathedral Archives.
4
Cathedral archives, “Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist: Established 1821, Lafayette Louisiana”
pamphlet.
5
Kathleen Toups, “History Rests Here, Visit St. John’s on All Souls Day,” Acadiana Life, Lafayette, la, Nov.
1, 1996, B-1.
6
Kathleen Toups, “History Rests Here, Visit St. John’s on All Souls Day,” Acadiana Life, Lafayette, la, Nov.
1, 1996, B-1, and Cathedral archives, Edward Mouton, “General Jean Jacque Alexander Alfred Mouton.”
7
Louisiana Historical Society, “Dictionary of Louisana Biography: Saloom, Mrs Kaliste Joseph,”
http://lahistory.org/site36.php (accessed 3/31/13).
2
1
Parts of the original cemetery are underneath the Cathedral. The original cemetery was behind
the first church, and the present cathedral expanded the area of construction.
Bishop’s Residence
The Bishop's house, called the “L’Évêché” in French, is constructed in style and materials to
echo the cathedral, reflecting the polychromatic use of bricks: red brick, white trim, and terra
cotta tile roof.8 Flanking the main door is the diocesan coat of arms, and Bishop Jeanmard’s coat
of arms is on the building edifice, under the cross.9
It was built for Lafayette parish’s first bishop, Jeanmard, but is currently used as St. John’s
clergy residence.10
St. John Cathedral
Exterior
The Cathedral tower dominates the surrounding low scale commercial and residential
neighborhood. The cathedral itself has a seven bay basilican plan with vaulted side nave and
side aisles and a large semicircular apse. Ancillary spaces (chapels, sacristies, and staircases)
are articulated as separate geometric units on the exterior - a distinctly Romanesque
characteristic. The church is constructed of brick with buttresses which support steel roof
trusses, from which the plaster groin vaults are hung. The exterior is articulated in stucco and
red brick. Its basic features (the stair towers, the ancillary masses, the buttresses, the square bell
tower, the domes, the tripart windows, the round arches and the corbel table) are primarily
Romanesque in derivation. But they are assembled in a vertical attenuated way, with many large
openings, in a manner more reminiscent of the Gothic style. There is little unity in the design
with many contrasting forms juxtaposed. A number of St. John's features are "carry overs" from
the nineteenth century. These include the polychromatic contrasting colors, the column flanked
ached portals, and the complicated massing.
Its striking, bold, and somewhat unromanesque use of Romanesque architecture makes a strong
statement of the importance of the cathedral in the town and in the diocese. The design has a
high degree of individuality which can be seen in its somewhat retardaire use of polychromy and
its unstudied boldness.
Interior
8
Cathedral archives, “Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist: Established 1821, Lafayette Louisiana”
pamphlet.
9
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996), 72.
10
Ibid.
2
The ribbed and vaulted interior was elaborately painted and stenciled by Rudi Compti in the
1920's. Ribs, groins, spandrels, and panels are picked and contrasted by stenciled patterns.
During the renovation in 1984, the original stenciling on the walls and ceiling were covered with
a uniform ivory shade, with gold trimming. During this renovation, the communion rail was
removed, marble floors replaced the linoleum, one of the balconies was removed, a new organ
was installed, and new mahogany doors were installed. 11The organ has 54 ranks (a set of pipes)
for a total of 3,038 pipes and replaced the organ that had been donated to the church by the
Carnegie Foundation during the early years of the Cathedral.12 There are also a number of
portraits of saints on the ceiling and in panels around the apse. The high quality stained glass
windows are original.
The baldichino (a canopied altar ) replaced the hand-carved wooden altar (see figure 10), but it
too was changed and simplified in the 1984 renovations. The tapestries and pillars were removed
and put into storage.13
SPECIFIC DATES: 1913-1916
BUILDER/ARCHITECT: A. E. Cousin
The Oak
This live oak is estimated to be about 500 years old, and historians speculate that the site was
selected because of the Oak. 14
Statement of Significance
Catholicism in Lafayette Parish
Lafayette was settled primarily by Acadian Catholics, and the history of Lafayette is closely tied
with the development of the Catholic Church and presents a uniquely revealing snapshot of race
relations in Lafayette during the 20th century.
The first pastor to the first St. John Church was Father Bernardo Berriere, who came to America
because of the French Revolution. He administered the sacraments on mission trips in Acadiana
before Jean Mouton donated land for the St. John Church. Between 1825 and 1844, there was
conflict in the parish over the authority of clergy in regards administering church and issues such
as freemasonry. In 1844, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided that the church held the
authority. The presence of Masons in the Catholic Church was also a point of contention.
Prominent community citizens were known to be Masons and Catholics, and this caused conflict
between the European-born pastors and laymen because of the Church’s negative stance on
11
1916-1985 Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Cathedral archives, 26.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996), 65.
13
1985 photograph, Cathedral archives.
14
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996), 67.
12
3
freemasonry. 15 Alexander Mouton, who was Louisiana’s ninth governor and buried at St. John’s
Cemetery, was a freemason and donated the land for the masonic Hope Lodge #145, which is on
the National Register of Historic Places. 16
St. John the Evangelist Cathedral is a local architectural landmark which is known throughout
the region for its elaborate and imposing design both inside and out. St. John's makes a
significant contribution to the Lafayette townscape, which cannot boast of many noteworthy
buildings. The cathedral is also noteworthy for its elaborate painted interior by a local artist.
Father W. J. Teurlings, pastor of St. John's Parish in Lafayette from 1906 to 1929, was the
leader of the project to build the new church from the early planning stages to the completion of
construction. The main justification for the new edifice was that the congregation had outgrown
its old church building, which dated from the mid-nineteenth century. Parishioners saw this as a
positive testament to the growth of Catholicism in Lafayette.17 It was in 1909 that Father
Teurlings and his congregation began to plan. "Ah, but I had big plans in my head "' he recalled
years later in his autobiography.” A dream of a church, strictly church-style, perfect in its
proportions and delineations." Father Teurlings visited his parents in Holland in 1910, and on
this visit he met an unemployed architect whose surname was "Cousin," who agreed to draw the
plans for the church. Mr. Cousin finished his drawings a few months after he met Father
Teurlings and mailed them to Lafayette from his home in Nymegen in the Netherlands. It is
sometimes claimed that the design closely follows a church in Holland. Father Teurlings called
on Eugene Guillot of New Iberia to be the contractor. Many of the congregation's farmers
dramatized their enthusiasm for the project by using their wagons to haul building materials
from the railroad depot to the site. Such volunteer work helped cut costs. According to Father
Teurlings, the church cost approximately $50, 000. The cornerstone was laid in November, 1913,
and construction was finished in 1916.
Less than two years later, southwestern Louisiana was declared an independent diocese with
Lafayette as its seat. St. John's Church became St. John’s Cathedral with Father Jules Jeanmard
as its first Bishop.
MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Baudier, Roger. The Catholic Church in Louisiana. New Orleans: The Author, 1939. pp. 540541.
Lafayette Regional Planning Commission. Historical Sites Inventory, Section 2: Structures,
Lafayette Parish (1977), pp. 1-2.
Teurlings, William J. One Mile an Hour. Adapted by Rosalind Foley (New York: Exposition
Press, 1959), pp. 69 -76.
15
Valentine Orpha, Lafayette; Its Past People and Progress, (Baton Rouge: Moran Publishing Corporation,
1980), 7.
16
“History of Louisiana’s Lodges,” http://www.la-mason.com/hist145.htm (accessed 5/3/13).
Charles L. Souvay, “Rummaging Through Old Parish Records: An Historical Sketch of the Church of
Lafayette, La,” St. Louis Catholic Historical Review III, no. 4, October 1921, 293.
17
4
St. John Cathedral Archives, St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Lafayette, Louisiana.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist. Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996.
Orpha, Valentine. Lafayette; Its Past People and Progress. Baton Rouge: Moran Publishing
Corporation, 1980.
5
Figure 1.
6
Figure 2.
7
Figure 3.
8
Figure 4.
9
Figure 5, Bishop Jeanmard’s coat of arms (http://www.diolaf.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=761,
accessed 5/3/13).
Figure 6.
10
Figure 7 (mapquest, satellite view of Cathedral, cemetery, and Bishop’s Residence, 5/3/13).
Figure 8, 500 year old live oak in 2013.
11
Figure 9.
12
Figure 10 (original wooden altar, now in St. Peter church in Carencro).
13
Figure 11. (Cathedral plan, 1996, The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John
Cathedral, 1996).
14
Figure 12. (Fr. Teurlings on horseback, as he visited his parishioners. The Cathedral of Saint John
the Evangelist (Lafayette: St. John Cathedral, 1996).
15
Figure 13. (Sanborn, 1892).
16
Figure 14. (Sanborn, 1898).
17
Figure 15. (Sanborn, 1903).
18
Figure 16. (Sanborn, 1906).
19
Figure 17. (Sanborn, 1912).
20
Figure 18. (Sanborn, 1921).
21