Plus ça change – March 13, 2026
This is why I like research so much, it takes me down such interesting paths.
Next up in my thinking will be the dedication of the yellow fever mortuary chapel, Dec 27, 1827. Père Antoine presided (he’s quite old). Marie was a major force in New Orleans during yellow fever epidemics, famous for her healing skills. So there’s lots I can do here with the braids of the story: healing, fever, her confessor/mentor, etc.
Lining up what might happen on this day, it dawns on me that my braid is missing a strand: her Catholicism, or more broadly, the Christianity in New Orleans. Marie was a devout Catholic as well as a priestess of Voudou and healer of the sick. I’ve already done some research, but not enough, so let’s fill this out. I want historical names of parishes, priests, when they show up, etc. One of them, at the very end of the story, was already plotted. But what about in between?
I discover two excellent threads. One is the Rev. Dr. Theodore Clapp, a Presbyterian of Christ-like bent and a powerful preacher. He welcomed everyone and anyone of any color or creed into his church. So much so it was called The Strangers Church. He was tried and convicted of heresy by the Presbyterians because he was espousing Unitarianism. But his parishioners refused to allow him to resign. This in many ways parallels Père Antoine’s story. He was sanctioned by the Catholic Church, but the parishioners intervened to keep him as their priest. Rev. Clapp and the Strangers Church will show up. It’s the contrast between the upright holier-than-thou and the genuinely righteous.
And then I run into The War of the Pews. This is perfect.
In 1841 the free people of color agitated with the Catholic Church for a Black parish, and the Catholic hierarchy authorized the creation. The Ursuline sisters provided the land, provided they named the church after Saint Augustine. No problem. This church is right near where Marie lives in what is today the Tremé district. So from a story perspective, I can (fiction) invent that she goes there. Antoine is long dead, and people of color are NOT welcome at the cathedral. Segregation has become real. Which is why the Black people wanted a church. And the hierarchy was absolutely in favor of keeping “THEM” separate, so agreed. (Later on, in another parish, they censured and removed an abolitionist priest who had the temerity of registering events for both white and Black people in the SAME parish register. The horrors! The Catholic Church in antebellum New Orleans was a racist institution.
Anyway, back in 1841, plans are under way. They dedicated the church Oct 9, 1842. Fine.
At the time, pews cost money. Families owned them. So the local free people of color start buying pews in advance, helps fund construction. The local white people get wind of this, and start a program to buy up all the pews, so the Black people won’t have any place to sit. The War of the Pews ensues. The people of color win, it’s their church. For the white people it’s nothing more than a small-minded attempt to annoy the free people of color. The end result is three to one in favor of the Black people. In the process, the people of color buy all the pews in the side aisles.
And then, something VERY interesting happens. The people of color donate the pews in the side aisles for the use of slaves, who have no money, but need a place to worship. So the slaves have a place to sit. Like ordinary human beings.
This really happened, and in microcosm this is the antebellum American South. It was big things, like keeping the savages enslaved. It was little things, like trying to buy a pew out from under the butt of someone whose skin color offends you. My god, the petty is immense, and the hatred that makes it so becomes phenomenally visible.
It is the mindset of f’in racists to this day.
