and i'm charlie winham and welcome to lost louisiana places of worship the places of worship dotting louisiana are as diverse as its people in the next hour we will explore some of the sanctuaries of the south i'm at grace episcopal church and cemetery in saint francisville in a little while we'll find out how the folks in this area saw the civil war stop for one day on the grounds of grace we will also head to a synagogue in new orleans that not only carries on jewish traditions but also has a vibrant foothold in louisiana customs as well we'll even find a former shreveport shopping mall that underwent the unlikeliest of conversions and is now a baptist church and in contrast we'll step inside one of the smallest chapels in the world that was built by a grateful italian farmer we begin in thibodaux where there is a large church along canal street that has been a significant part of the landscape for nearly 90 years it is saint joseph's co-cathedral and it is one of the more impressive churches you will find in rural america saint joseph's co-cathedral in thibodeau was built in 1923 but has its roots in the louisiana bayou for almost 200 years the congregation began in a small wooden mission church located about a mile away from here in 1819. two structures and one fire later monsignor alexander barbier began the construction of the current day saint joseph's in 1920 and the cathedral is easily regarded as one of the most impressive churches in the south how does a church this beautiful this large and ornate end up in in lafourche parish in in thibodeau well i guess it was the determination of the monsignor barbier then who was faster from 1911 to 1933 and he had this idea he said that he wanted to build a church that one day would be a cathedral he succeeded he succeeded it reminds me so much of the churches in rome and in france you know i visited there both places and uh you can see the architecture brought out it's more or less very much like it you know saint joseph's is renaissance romanesque and it took three years to build this massive sanctuary the rose window in the rear of the church is modeled after the cathedral of notre dame in paris the marble pillars making up the ornate main altar traveled on a barge from europe along bayou lafourche and weigh 5 000 pounds each this rural church cost roughly half a million dollars to build back in the 20s and would cost close to 17 million dollars today i feel wonderful when i walk in here and i thank god every day for letting me come you know it's just it just it just makes you feel so comfortable you know it's just a feeling that comes over you that makes you enjoy being part of this church in this parish this church is just the place you know it's just i mean you sit back stand back in you look at that mirror that winter up in the quail off and i mean it just it just catches your eye and you look at all the stained glass windows and they all depict something special and it's just you don't see this in modern churches today you know it's just just like a church but it's nothing ornate as this church this church is very very special i think to everybody in thibodaux margaret is a lifelong member and so is gibbon's robo show one of his favorite parts of the church is the elaborate ceiling which includes a painting of saint joseph and intricate gold leafing in 1954 they brought a gentleman in for 13 months on his back on a scaffold and he gold leafed when you see the pictures later the gold leaf is there each he took that like michelangelo a little another jar of gold paint one one little brush at a time what you see up there if you also look up in the church you could easily consider gibbons a fixture inside the cathedral as well [Music] [Music] gibbons how long have you been the organist in this church well i i've been the organist since 1964 but i was in the choir when i came out of the service in 55 so i've been associated with the church upstairs for that long the same year the beatles debuted on the ed sullivan show gibbon's robo show began playing at st joseph's that adds up to roughly 500 weddings and about 1500 funerals inside these cathedral halls [Music] music background increases your devotion and prayer you know now some people say no i'd rather be quiet pray quietly but people take a part in the liturgy you know it didn't used to be like that the mass used to be the priest was up at the altar with his back to you and he was the whole thing you know people never said anything was in latin you know what are some of your favorite songs to play on the organ oh of course we go back to holy god we praise thy name oh lord i am not worthy you know uh david maria everybody asks for that all the time super savvy mariah [Music] gibbons has great musical range so does the church organ it used to be in a silent movie house until its usefulness was eliminated by talking movies a family in the congregation discovered it and in 1932 there was a new role for this wix organ made in illinois it headed south and was born again so this family were able to locate a two thousand dollar organ the one that's up there now in illinois and headed down here two thousand dollars and they've added they've added some pipes to it since that time but it's a it's a beautiful organ and uh imagine now it costs 160 000 to replace it times change changing one item in the right transept of the cathedral remains eerily timeless inside a glass enclosure is a statue of saint valerie a native of rome who was beheaded during the christian persecutions in the latter part of the second century about 1860 father minot who was a pastor here for 50 years went to europe about 1860 for on a trip and he wanted to bring something back to the people as a memory of his trip for the people of saint joseph and he found he went to a cardinal over there who had a relic of a bone of saint valerie who was a martyr and inside the right arm of the statue contains the arm bone fragment of saint valerie when she arrived in thibodeau in april of 1868 all businesses were closed and 4 000 people gathered to welcome saint valerie to the rural church father menard brought this relic to louisiana in order to impress the spirit of piety and religion to his parishioners well saint valerie is our patron saint and from june 1st to november 30th we pray to saint valerie to protect protect lives and property here in this area and she's done a wonderful job she has protected us a fire in 1916 would destroy the previous saint joseph's church but volunteer firefighters rescued saint valerie and the blessed sacrament every april 28th the feast of saint valerie is celebrated and the farmer saved her so in april we have a special mass for saint valerie and then the firemen come in and take her and we go around the block and recite the rosary and take her around the block they used to do that 100 years ago and we're still doing it [Music] tradition devotion and resiliency are the cornerstones to the parish of saint joseph's co-cathedral the foundation laid down nearly 200 years ago remains an everlasting reminder in thibodeau today and for generations to come [Music] back in nineteen 30 bricklayers used 400 000 bricks to construct st joseph's the cathedral is open to tourists all year round and it is also very popular for weddings and folks from all around louisiana have decided to get married inside beautiful saint joseph's next we make our way over to iberville parish which is home to thousands of italian immigrants in the sleepy corner of bayougula many call their community little italy but it's not the only thing little in bayougula [Music] as churches go this one in bayougula is one of the smallest in the world just a few hundred steps from the mississippi river and just a few feet off la highway 405 rests the madonna chapel and if you want to get inside any time just use the key it's in the box to the right of the door the box marked key [Music] thank you anybody comes they know it they can go get the key open it up go in and say their prayers light account do anything they want you see mitzi ropolo and husband aj know every inch of this nine by nine church married over 50 years ago they have been the caretakers of the chapel since 1989. well to tell you the truth she asked me and she went she had a little small operation done and when she came back from that operation when i went in the room to see her she told me i want to take care of a little church i said okay we'll take care of it in 1902 an italian farmer and his family lived on this land it is said that when the eldest son of anthony gulo became seriously ill the father pledged a chapel to the madonna if the boy recovered he did recover and the father kept his promise and he collected donations from the people that were farmers around here because he runs a well-off person no more than about six people can fit inside the madonna chapel at one time the 21 statues and rows of candles fill much of the room a table on the left has a guest book do you get a lot of visitors yes many visitors i had a girl from russia she was a exchange student that came and wrote me a beautiful note when she got back so you never know who's going to stop by it's harder for aj to get around these days but to keep up with the upkeep aj has help i wouldn't have these fellas here that helped me i couldn't do it because i got crippled now i can't only walk but i got some good help i got four four boys is very dependable those four boys are jack calvin leo and pecan a group of retired gentlemen from nearby plaquemines these four youngsters range in ages 75 to 81. first thing we'll do to really make the yard look good we'll edge weed eat and trim and then cut the grass and then if the fence needs washing we'll wash it with clorox soap sod and all make it looks good and then we'll wash the belt off and then we'll paint it nobody has a special job on me we all get together and help each other out there is another building on the chapel grounds it's the storage shed and it's bigger than the church the shed holds 250 chairs and they use all of them once a year for the feast of the assumption mass held every august 15th yeah i'm gonna bring one over here who's gonna clean all these chairs jack you and these men have a great deal of devotion for aj we'll come over here my wife and i and jack and then we'll come over here whenever the grass needs to be cut and the trace needs to be clean with clorox different things and all the fence and everything whatever it takes we come down here and do it for mr aj we like it we like it this is joy it's a pleasure it's one of our pleasures in life we all get together with good friends been friends all our life and we just we just come down anyway we look forward to this in fact i wish we had a couple down to you the annual august mass literally stops traffic in bayougula the descendants of the gulo family now live in rockford illinois but they frequently attend this yearly service the family also rebuilt the steeple after hurricane gustoff in 2008 and every year at 9 00 a.m on august 15th a church bell fills this peaceful bayou countryside sometime when they're ringing at nine o'clock you know a long time ago most probably the people were on this land have a bunch of cattle back here and when they were ringing that bell the the cattle would come up here most probably they figured they had some food for them and all so they would ring the bell so they'll come up here and they'd do some hooping and hollering you ought to hear them i believe god is here all the time and when we come down here we when we open that door there it's reverence down here we take our hats off we don't go inside the building even though we're working we take our hats off in reverence you know we do just like jesus do honor and respect the virgin mary it's very important to me because upload church the blessed mother sends us whatever we need we're not even discussing it with anybody it's there when we need it this little church has left a big mark to so many people for those seeking guidance or a quiet place for reflection for those seeking gentle reminders to the lessons their forefathers learned over a century ago this little chapel holds the key the madonna chapel is located on river road just outside of plaquemine the church is open every day to anyone who wishes to visit and enjoy its peace and solitude and remember the key is kept in the mailbox from the smallest louisiana church to arguably the largest we next head north to shreveport's summer grove baptist church it was formed by a handful of people in 1849 things have changed over the years it is now a contemporary church of several thousand members and it could be the right place for others shopping for a church home back in 2005 a large plot of land and a mountain of mortar and bricks in shreveport moved from the material world into the spiritual welcome to summer grove baptist church one of the largest churches in the state the reason why it's so big summer grove baptist used to be a shopping mall the former south park mall fell on hard times in the 90s crime was on the rise stores were closing fast forward a few years summer grove church leaders including pastor rod masteller were looking to expand south park mall became a convert pastor rob what did this building used to be this was a j.c penney's building an anchor store yeah i tell you i got to tell you a story come on i brought a jewish rabbi in here we walked through this door and and he looked at him and he said wow and then he said pastor i used to buy my underwear right over there [Laughter] the former j.c penney's is now a 2500 seat sanctuary where a vacant shopping mall once stood mass teller and others saw an opportunity to become the new anchor in the community this area was really declining and was in very very bad shape and turning the wrong direction and we wanted to bring light here and hope here and that's why we have that steeple out there is to say you know even if it if everything looks bad you can turn it around and that's what's happened here i'm kind of a visionary i'm kind of i kind of got a little bit of an entrepreneur in me and i just thought i wonder if this could be of god summer grove now owns one million square feet of space about one third of that is utilized the unused areas of dillard's and montgomery ward are closed off and look frozen in time getting a quick tour on foot would be challenging that's where associate pastor charles reynolds steps in charles is walking the most effective way of transportation getting around the mall church i'd like to take a golf cart if we could that'd make it a little bit quicker could we yes let's do it i like that idea a lot all right let's go pastor reynolds says only two other malls in the country have been converted into a church on this scale while it may seem a bit unorthodox reynolds believes there is a great deal of promise in turning old malls into new churches and so as you look at this we gave people opportunity to take actual old stores and we put sunday school classes in them until we could have a chance to come in and actually gut them and remodel them charles points out a former storefront that is now the senior high school youth room this shows you the type of work that our people have done transformed this into a great area as far as our senior high is concerned and they can do a lot of different configurations in here from chairs to couches to tables and chairs so this really provides a neat opportunity the senior high youth room also offers ping pong and foosball it even sports a stage for kids to play music and perform skits members give this space rave reviews we have a 17 year old daughter and a 14 year old son and when we lived in north carolina i couldn't get my daughter in church she just didn't want anything to do with it and here i can't get her out of church the activity area for preschoolers is located in the former el chico restaurant and serves up a safari theme for the kids and if you're looking for a good meal and fellowship just head to the food court come on in and let me show you all right what happened to piccadilly hey we're in a piccadilly we're in a piccadilly that's correct and let me show you how it's been transformed into an area for our church family to use for fellowships meals etc like this uh we're going to stop here in the center area first we can put about 240 people in this big area right here let me take you on here and show you one of our private dining rooms so you can see how they turned out again this doesn't look like a used piccadilly when you look at how the church remodeled this it really has a nice attractive air and this room right here will hold approximately 75 people [Music] back near the sanctuary music feeds the soul in the former pennies ladies and misses department the choir meets every wednesday night we sing about 80 every sunday morning and have an orchestra a rhythm driven orchestra with guitars drums and that's about 15 people we lead worship every sunday morning summer groves has always had a rich history and a tradition of a choir not just as a performance group but as a dynamic worship leading body continue the mall church tour and you will see a church clothing store it is open tuesdays and thursdays anyone can come inside to shop all the items inside the store are free at the other end of the mall the church also runs a counseling center there are tenants here as well including the burlington coat factory living interiors provides and cares for all the plants in the mall in exchange for store space the caddo sheriff and shreveport police departments opened a white-collar crime unit inside suspects are processed for crimes like forgery or check theft and for anyone looking for a little forgiveness that's just down the hall first floor one of the things that makes us trust is to know that somebody really loves [Music] me [Music] when we first moved here when we lived in north carolina we were going to a very small probably about 18 people all together right church and when we moved here i wanted to find a very personable church that's what i wanted i wanted something small but lo and behold we came and this church has so much to offer it's i just couldn't believe it that it was that it is so personable and it really doesn't matter to members what this building used to be the resurrection of the mall is interesting but it is far from the center of attention it's all in what you what you use the space for and you know i mean it's not a mall anymore this is a church full of love i mean you don't even think of it as that anymore and i i really believe that this place is going to be used for many good things there's lots of good things for the future we believe very strongly that god didn't bring us out here without a great plan to help our community the mall space at summer grove baptist church also houses medical records for a local hospital the cattle parish school system holds adult education classes and there's even a six cinema movie complex there but that's not being used at this time stay right here there's more places of worship to explore when we come back see how a new orleans synagogue not only carries on jewish traditions but also has a vibrant foothold in louisiana customs as well you're watching lost louisiana places of worship on louisiana public welcome back to lost louisiana places of worship i'm your host charlie whitham next we travel to a new orleans synagogue that honors the memory of philanthropist and community leader joseph turo the turo synagogue bears the same name of the oldest synagogue in america built in newport rhode island and since 1828 the jewish traditions have been carried out but with the distinct style that is all new orleans the touro synagogue in new orleans is as much a part of the city's fabric as the streetcars that pass by the saint charles street sanctuary and arguably the person to give tours here is adrian gerdsbacher janae adrian is one of the most qualified and passionate for the job when you include her five grandchildren adrian's family dates back seven generations to this congregation and to this city i do tours as often as possible i love to do them i love to have people visit us because i think it's a beautiful building and i also like to teach people what the jewish people are about adrian how old is this synagogue the building was built in 1909 however parts of it go back to 1847. really almost every congregation has an eternal light a near to mead [Music] it reminds you that god is always present also right above that you'll see a copy a replica of the ten commandments now remember in hebrew is read right to left so the first commandment is the upper right the tenth is the lower left each synagogue also has an arc it is symbolic of the ark of the covenant that carried the ten commandments and our torahs are housed in this ark which was given by judituro to the congregation on canal street beautiful in 1847 so we use it for basically every service and one or more tourists are stored inside the ark each torah is exactly the same the first five books of the bible and there's a section read at each sabbath service and other holidays also most torahs have a breast plate which is reminiscent of the breastplates that the priests in the temple in jerusalem the the first temple wore also you'll see two crowns now the torah is called the crown of the jewish people and in a symbolic way we put crowns on these torahs this ark is over 160 years old and is made from the cedars of lebanon it offers a reminder of the merging of the german-based gates of mercy congregation and the second congregation dispersed of judah made up of portuguese descendants the ark is also a reminder of the man who donated it new orleans philanthropist judah toro in 1802 the year before the louisiana purchase judah came to new orleans to make his fortune now at that time new orleans and louisiana territory was under the control of the french and governed by something called the code noir the black code and one of the first lines in the black code is there shall be no jews in the colony but there were there were jewish people here they didn't count they weren't official but they were allowed to come in for a certain length of time to do business and then leave churro became one of the richest men in the world he was a cotton broker shipping magnet and real estate broker one of his prime holdings was along canal street between bourbon and royal called the turo block he didn't seem to have that much feeling in his life but in his death he donated a designated money to every jewish organization in the country every congregation in the country and a lot of international jewish organizations that were existing at the time of his death over 150 years after judah turo's death the current day touro synagogue is a vital and progressive center of jewish life you would think that a 185 year old congregation would be you know mostly mostly about its historical grandeur and its established ways but this congregation is unusually forward-thinking i think and unfettered by unshackled by its history but you know reverent about it and proud but not dusty i think the thing that that makes congregations so vibrant here is the real priority of community turo synagogue also has an undeniable foothold in new orleans culture [Music] every year leading into jazz fest touro synagogue hosts a jazz fest shabbat the friday evening service has included new orleans musical greats like kermit ruffin ellis marsalis jeremy davenport and marcia ball in a recently created tradition performers are presented a jazzy jacket of many colors created by congregation member mia mcguire has a token of appreciation and within the time of the service there is a break from the regular ritual and worship um a 10 minute or so performance by our special guest and it's just it's as fun as it can be it's just a hoot why is that so important this is new orleans darling you know we gotta play the game and it works those are just some of the reasons touro synagogue is so special to adrian katrina took her family's house in 2005 but no one will ever take away her worship home this is my place this is my place this city is my city i can't imagine not being here here meaning new orleans here meaning terra synagogue and i hope i've imparted that to my children because both of my children live here and my five grandchildren are religious school students here so i hope that this will become an eighth a ninth tenth generation at turo and in new orleans it's very important to me i have a great sense of history here southern jewish historian eli evans points out that over one million jews live in the south and many jewish communities are thriving in louisiana towns including nacogdish baton rouge lafayette shreveport and monroe finally our journey wraps up here in saint francisville at the grace episcopal church and cemetery the church was first organized in the spring of 1827. some of the most challenging days occurred during the civil war residents of that period suffered through the tough times with amazing amounts of grace [Music] the treasures abound in and around grace episcopal church in saint francisville acorns planted in 1855 by harriet matthews from her old greenwood plantation are now towering live oaks that reign over the sanctuary saint francisville resident shirley porsche has attended services here for over 20 years surely yes why do you like this church so much well i like it because of the people they're so friendly and christian and open to new ideas while maintaining the history and shirley loves to share the history of this church that was completed on easter sunday of 1860 lighting this simple gothic structure is a center chandelier donated in 1870 by james and sarah bowman of rose down plantation it was originally a gaslight and it is believed the last remaining pilcher organ in the united states rests here typical of english churches the pews are divided and at closer inspection they are also numbered why are there numbers on the pews because originally you had to rent your pew and uh rent your poo and we have some of the descendants of the people who rented them and they still consider them their own personal property and unfortunately they might ask you to move if you sat in their pew now nicely oh yes just three years after grace church opened these numbered pews also gave parishioners a front row seat to something never witnessed before grace episcopal church and the cemetery has stood witness to quite a remarkable story in civil war history it's a story that revolves around a union commander of a vessel that was traveling up the mississippi river and a confederate soldier from saint francisville on this ground inside this church the civil war stopped for one day on june 11 1863 the union vessel uss albatross was patrolling the mississippi river near the port town of bayou sera in the captain state room lieutenant commander john elliott hart fired a single bullet to his head it is believed hart took his own life after years of suffering from chronic stomach pain known as dyspepsia commander hart was dead at age 39 and before he died he had requested to have to be buried not in the river which would be the traditional navy practice but on land and he requested also that he have the full masonic burial rites robert leake is very familiar with the civil war tale because it was his great great grandfather who approved hart's funeral and burial on confederate soil w w leak also happened to be a mason and heard of commander hart's final wish of a burial with masonic rights he recognized two obligations first as an officer of the armed forces of the confederacy it was his obligation to permit the enemy to bury the dead and as a mason when he was informed that the decedent was a brother mason then his masonic duty kicked in and he said well of course and under a white flag of troops union soldiers brought commander hart's body from their vessel to grace episcopal church and that brotherhood those bonds are strong enough that it even supersedes a civil war transcends the hatred and bitterness of the war the fraternity of freemasons includes powerful bonds and dates back to the late 16th century we attempt to instill into the initiate our principles of morality virtue honesty charity benevolence brotherly love support for your brother and in the broader sense dedication to service to the community and the country even though captain hart was born in new york and even though union forces shelled saint francisville hart made his eternal home in louisiana after the war some of hart's descendants gave some thought to exhuming the body and reburying him in schenectady and when they came down and saw the grave the surroundings and the way it was maintained by the local folk they said no it's fitting that he remained here and it is also fitting the gravesite of w.w leake rests between grace church and commander heart well it imposes a certain burden on me to try to emulate him and to reach to conform to the standards that he said it's a responsibility one you take gladly yes yes and back inside another story unfolds i have a friend who won't sit anywhere but where she can see that red stained glass door and the story is that one of the union officers on the gun boat who took part in the shelling had such a remorse for what they had done during the war to this beautiful little church and he sent them a hundred dollars and they put up that beautiful red stained glass door like any place of worship stories of remorse forgiveness and mercy are common thoughts of civil war bloodshed may be seen through the red bohemian glass for others it may offer rose-colored promises of hope and faith for mankind [Music] it is even said that after the burial union troops invited wwe league on board the uss albatross to share a meal but leaked declined union troops were also said to have left behind a skiff filled with medicine and supplies for the people of saint francisville robert leake was part of a documentary made in 2009 called the day the war stopped and ever since 1999 masonic brothers from both the north and the south gather every june in saint francisville to reenact the burial of lieutenant commander john e hart and that will bring an end to our journey for now i hope you've enjoyed lost louisiana places of worship for everyone at louisiana public broadcasting thanks for watching [Music] you