St. Mary Magdalen Church, Rectory, and Cemetery
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St. Mary Magdalen Church, Rectory, and Cemetery
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| Location | Pere Megret and Main St., Abbeville, Louisiana |
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| Coordinates | 29°58′28″N 92°8′15″W / 29.97444°N 92.13750°WCoordinates: 29°58′28″N 92°8′15″W / 29.97444°N 92.13750°W |
| Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
| Built | 1911 |
| Architect | Guillot,Eugene |
| Architectural style | Gothic, Pueblo, Other, American Foursquare |
| NRHP Reference # | 88000116 |
| Added to NRHP | February 11, 1988 |
St. Mary Magdalen Church, Rectory, and Cemetery is a historic Roman Catholic church at Pere Megret and Main Street in Abbeville, Louisiana.
It was built in 1911 and added to the National Register in 1988.
St. Mary Magdalen Parish was established in 1842 by Pere Antoine Desire Megret. The first church, the remodeled home of Joseph LeBlanc, was built and dedicated in the spring of 1844. From the beginning it was placed under the invocation of Saint Mary Magdalen, a favorite saint among the descendants of the Acadian exiles all through South Louisiana. The name was always retained, except for a short time during Father Laforest’s administration, when after the 1907 fire, the church was temporarily called Saint Ann's, at least in the reports.
In September 1847, Reverend Nicholas Francais was given charge of Saint Mary Magdalen Church, but Pere Megret continued to look after the Catholics of Abbeville and vicinity. Father Francais served there until after September 1850.
In 1851, Archbishop Blanc made Vermilion Parish an independent parochial jurisdiction, with Saint Mary Magdalen’s Church as the parish church, and Reverend Hubert Thirion, a young French priest, the first resident pastor. He was joined by Reverend Francis Mittlebronn, a newly ordained priest, who became the first parish assistant. Father Thirion and Father Mittlebronn remained until sometime after October 12, 1852.
The church was without a pastor for a time, then in February 1853, Reverend J. Regale was sent to take charge of the parish. Father Regale left Abbeville sometime in 1853, and in either November or December that year Abbeville was given its new pastor, Reverend Stephen (Etienne) Joseph Foltier, a French priest.
In February 1854, a fire at the rectory destroyed the church records. The current parish records begin on February 20, 1854. There was an attempt to reconstruct the baptism records by having the parishioners come in to report the baptism of their children. The marriage records were completely lost.
Father Foltier left in September 1856 and Reverend Jean Arthur Poyet was his successor. Father Poyet was an energetic priest, and he visited every corner of the parish from Delcambre out to Gueydan and Cossinade, and down to the swamps on the Gulf shore. With genuine regret, the parishioners of Saint Mary Magdalen bade farewell to Father Poyet in January 1866.
The new pastor was Reverend Theodore Lamy, another energetic French priest, a man of great spiritual stature. In December 1868, Father Lamy welcomed a young French priest named Alexandre Mehault, who came to serve as assistant, and eventually became one of the outstanding pastors of Saint Mary Magdalen Church.
Father Mehault became pastor in May 1870. During his pastorate, a new rectory was built, a new bell was put in the church, and many improvements were made to the church. He made periodic visits to his home in France and, while there, obtained vestments, ornaments, sacred vessels, statues and other religious ornaments for Saint Mary Magdalen’s church. The parish church became a place of beauty, and ceremonies of the church were conducted with brilliance and solemnity in accord with their high purpose of glorifying Almighty God. New stained-glass windows and a beautiful set of hand-painted Stations of the Cross on canvas were obtained. Many of these articles were donated by people of Vermilion Parish. Father Mehault also brought Catholic education to the parish, persuading the Sisters of Mount Carmel at New Orleans to staff a school in Abbeville.
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