St. Vincent De Paul Roman Catholic Church (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Catholic Church, formerly St. Vincent De Paul Church,[2] is a church in New Orleans listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The parish was founded in 1838 as the third parish in the city. The original parish boundaries intersected those of St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans and served the French community. In fact, the French tradition was so strong that sermons were not given in English until the 1880s. In later years, its parish boundaries overlapped the boundaries of Holy Trinity Church, which served German residents.[3]

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Catholic Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	3051 Dauphine, New Orleans, Louisiana
Coordinates	29°57′52″N 90°2′46″W
Built	1866
NRHP reference No.	76000971[1]
Added to NRHP	April 13, 1976

The church was originally housed in a wood frame building built in 1838. In 1866, a red brick building was built, in the basilica plan, and the original frame building became a school. The church added a clock tower in 1924.[3]

Edward Ripoll, the original owner of Bud Rip's Bar in New Orleans and a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1984 to 1988, organized a golf tournament in the 1980s to help with repairs to St. Vincent de Paul and to assist surviving families of police officers killed in the line of duty.[4]

In 2001, as part of a study of parish facilities, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans announced that five parishes in the area would be merged into one parish. Annunciation, St. Cecilia, St. Gerard (a parish for the hearing-impaired), Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Vincent De Paul were merged into a new parish, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. The new church was located in the church and facilities of St. Vincent De Paul.[5] On May 25, 2003, the building was severely damaged by a fire. The main altar was destroyed, along with several murals and the sacristy.[6] As part of the repairs, the former altar from Sts. Peter and Paul Church was moved to Blessed Seelos Parish, along with the pulpit from St. Cecilia. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused further damage to the nearby St. Gerard Center (the former Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception), forcing the church to replace the roof.[7]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. "Blessed Francis Seelos". Blessed Francis Seelos. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
3. "Document of St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church". Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
4. "Condolesences upon the death of former state representative Edward "Bud Rip" Ripoll, Jr., of New Orleans" (PDF). lanewsbureau.com. 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
5. "A History of the Archdiocese: Into a New Millennium". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
6. "Tragedy of Fire at Blessed Seelos Parish". Retrieved January 28, 2009.
7. "Update on Fire Tragedy". Retrieved January 28, 2009.