St. Helena
On April 25, 1793, the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas was established. In 2006, forty-nine dioceses have been formed from The Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, including the Diocese of New Orleans, which was raised to the rank of Archdiocese in 1850. In 1860 the Archdiocese of New Orleans assigned them a missionary priest, Father John Scollard, to Amite just two years after John Coleman donated land in Amite for a Catholic Church. Father Scollard celebrated the first Mass in Amite that same year in a two-room home. Eight years later, in 1868, the church parish of St. Helena was created and the first church and rectory were completed.
Missionary priests from the Archdiocese of New Orleans staffed the church until September of 1890, when the Benedictines were assigned to care for St. Helena's twenty families. On April 24, 1908, 1908, Father Felix Rumpf, O.S.B was killed and the church building destroyed by a tornado. Later that year, the first parish fair was held to raise funds for the building of a new church. By 1910, the new church was completed.
In July of 1912, the Spanish Dominicans were assigned to care for St. Helena church. They remained until April of 1938, at which time the American Dominicans were assigned to St. Helena. The second church building was destroyed on April 6, 1940 by another tornado, which also destroyed the church hall and damaged the rectory. Weekend Mass was celebrated at the local movie theater and daily mass was celebrated at the rectory until the third church could be completed and dedicated on September 14, 1941.
The American Dominicans remained at St. Helena until July of 1991, when the Diocese of Baton Rouge (created in 1961) assumed the care of St. Helena. Father Fred Youngs was the first diocesan priest to serve here, remaining until July of 1995, when Father Jack Nutter replaced him. Father Jack served until June of 2005, Father Joe Camilleri served until July of 2011, and Father Mark Beard served until his death in August of 2023. During Fr. Mark's time at St. Helena he asked Retired Priest, Fr. Howard Adkins to reside in Priest home and assist him with the Sacraments. Fr. Miles still resides in Priest Home and assist as needed. Fr. Miles Walsh served as Pastor from August 2023-June 2024. Beginning July 1, 2024 Father Reuben Dykes will serve as Pastor and Father Emilio Gomez will serve as Parochial Vicar.
St. Helen, also known as St. Helena (d. 327 A.D.) was a woman of humble means from Asia Minor. She married the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and their son Constantine was born c. 272. Constantius divorced Helen in c. 293 to marry Emperor Maximian's daughter for the sake of political gain. When her son Constantine became the Roman Emperor, St. Helen was given the imperial title "Augusta" and was treated like royalty. After Constantine legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire, St. Helen, a Christian convert, went to the Holy Land in search of the actual cross on which Christ was crucified, despite being in her 80s. She questioned local Christians and Jews and learned that the cross was buried under the Temple of Venus. Helen had the temple demolished and excavated. There she discovered the Holy Sepulcher, three crosses, the board with Pilate's inscription, and the nails wich pierced Jesus's Sacred Body. In order to determine which cross was the Lord's, the Bishop of Jerusalem touched them to a corpse, causing the man to come back to life. A second miraculous healing of a sick woman confirmed the discovery of the True Cross. St. Helen then visited all the holy places of Jesus's life and built many churches over their locations, including Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemane. St. Helen is the patron of divorced people, empresses, difficult marriages, converts, and archeologists. Her feast day is August 18th.
Mater Dolorosa
The people of Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church were first served by Father Columban Wenzel, one of the pioneers among the Benedictine monks in southeast Louisiana. Fr. Wenzel attended the needs of the Catholics in Independence for his ministry at Saint Joseph's, in Independence, and came every Sunday to celebrate Mass. The church he built was a small frame structure, which had to be enlarged twice because of the rapid growth of the congregation, especially the new Italian immigrants from the island of Sicily.
From 1898 to 1908 Mater Dolorosa Church was served by the pastor of St. Helena, in Amite, Fr. Felix Rumf, O.S.B. In 1908 Fr. Placido Gabrielle, O.S.B. became the first resident pastor, according to Roger Baudier in his book The Catholic Church in Louisiana. Soon after his arrival in Independence, Fr. Gabrielle built the present concrete structure which now serves as a museum of ancient traditions, customs, and culture from early times. That church replaced the old one which had been partly destroyed by a storm in 1907. The parish was under the direction of the Benedictine's from 1898 to 1913 when the Dominican Fathers of the Provine of the most Holy Rosary in Spain began their ministry in Independence. The same Dominican Fathers established a seminary for their province at Wadesboro, Rosaryville. The first Dominican pastor was Fr. William Martin.
St. Dominic has the proud distinction of being the oldest Catholic Church in Tangipahoa Parish. The mission dates back to 1855 when Fr. C.M DuPuy came occasionally from Covington to celebrate Mass in the homes of Noris Baham and Lawrence Husser. In 1864 a church was built of logs cut and hewn by local residents. The hand wrought cross, made by Lawrence Husser, is still attached to the new church at the sacristy entrance. The log church was replaced by a "large box church" in 1880 to a growing membership.
In 1931 St. Dominic became a mission of Tickfaw and a frame building replaced the box church. The present brick church was erected and decicated in 1958 when Fr. Odilo Alt, O.S.B was pastor. Fr. Odilo had the exquistely beautiful Stations of the Cross sent directly from Germany. A hand carved rosary, made from a single solid piece of wood, was made by Warren H. Bahm and decorated the vestibule of the church. In 1961, the Diocese of Baton Rouge was formed and St. Dominic became attached to Mater Dolorosa as a mission church. Once again the parish came under the care of Dominican Fathers until 1994 when the diocese assumed pastoral care of the community.