Italian Catholic Churches in Louisiana

[kdub]

Does anyone happen to know of Catholic churches in Louisiana, other than the New Orleans churches, that ministered to Italian (Sicilian) immigrants during 1888-1892? I'm trying to track down a marriage record from 1890 or 1891. The search through the Archdiocese of New Orleans did not produce any results, so now I'm wondering which other churches might have married Italian immigrants that did not speak English. From what we are guessing, my GGGF and GGGM arrived in New Orleans, stayed in Louisiana for 1-2 years and were working on a farm, possibly sugar, before moving to Texas. I've also researched the possibility that they married in Texas, but the two existing Catholic churches where they lived do not have any record of them being married there and their descendants indicate that they always believed they married in Louisiana. Their names are Antonino Ruffino and Giovanna Cutrupia. Thanks for any ideas

[bbivona]

There were not many in that period. The Catholic churches in the US were dominated by the Irish until the turn of the century. In the 1870s the Archdiocese of New Orleans designated a specific church as an ethnic Italian church to meet the immigrants' needs, which was Church of the Resurrection on Esplanade Ave. Then, with growth, in the mid 1870s it was changed to St. Anthony of Padua on Rampart St. (St. Anthony's was also known as the Old Mortuary Chapel.) In 1915 St. Mary's on Chartres became the Italian designated church.

The problem of Irish domination and Italian lack of church participation was a problem around the U.S., not just south Louisiana. As far as I know, the Italian designated churches above were the only ones to focus on Italians.

The sugar plantations where the immigrants worked along the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. While they worked there during the week, the majority still lived in New Orleans and went out by train. Sometimes daily if close enough, or for more distant ones they went for the work week, staying in shacks on the plantation and returning home for the weekends, so even if working on a farm they may have still been in New Orleans. I would assume any church with a focus on Italian immigrants would have still be in New Orleans. In the period you're talking about, geographically they were originally in the 2nd district - the French Quarter and surrounding area. During the 1890s there was also movement into the the 3rd district on the other side of Esplanade. You might try to look for records at the churches near there. St. Louis Cathedral is right in the French Quarter, and may well have served Italian immigrants.

[kdub]

Thank you for this information and history. It looks like I should continue searching within the New Orleans area first before expanding to other parts of Louisiana.

[Palermo Trapani]

kdub: All of the Baptisms in the River Parishes between Baton Rouge and New Orleans such as Ascension parish, Assumption and Iberville are now in the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. So if some of those folks worked in the Sugar Mills in those areas and were Baptized in one of those 3 Civil Parishes, those records are now all in Baton Rouge, LA.