Puerta de la Misericordia

The parish of St. Francis de Sales was founded in 1847 with the Rev. Z. Leveque as its first pastor. The first Mass and other sacraments were celebrated in the courthouse before the first church was built. The first church made of brick in the Romanesque style was built in 1848. In 1870 the Sisters of the Marianites of Holy Cross arrived and opened the first Catholic school in Terrebonne Parish. In 1926 a hurricane destroyed the old church. in 1938 Archbishop Rummel dedicated and consecrated the new "simple village church" that Father August Vandebilt built. The current church follows the French-Gothic style of Europe. On July 31, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew, and other U.S. Senators and Representatives attended funeral services in St. Francis de Sales for Senator Allen J. Ellender, President Pro Tem of the Senate. In 1977, St. Francis de Sales was elevated to the dignity of a cathedral, making her the mother church of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. In 2002, the cathedral underwent extensive renovations and repairs under the leadership of Msgr. Joseph N. Latino, now bishop emeritus of Jackson, Mississippi. The cathedral campus is composed of the church, school, the youth center and parish hall, the priests' rectory and the cathedral convent. Behind the campus is St. Francis de Sales Cemetery No. 1. Currently the Cathedral parish has a little over 2,000 families registered and 700 students in grades pre-K 4 through 7th.