Page 31 - Hancock County Tourism ~ 2021 History
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Do you know about...
St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church
Missionaries of the Society of the Divine
Word (SVD) established a seminary in Bay St. Louis in the 1920s to train young black Catholics for the priesthood. At that time, the Sisters of St. Joseph were operating two schools − St. Joseph Academy
and a school for African- American children, both of which were affiliated with Our Lady of the Gulf Parish. Running both schools proved difficult,
so the SVDs were put in
charge of the black school. It was soon decided
that, to better serve the African-American Catholic community, a separate parish was needed. In 1925, the black school was moved from Second Street to newly purchased property on Necaise Avenue, and the new parish was named St. Rose de Lima. Construction of the church began immediately thereafter,
and the St. Rose de Lima Church, at 301 S. Necaise Ave., opened in 1926.
St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church (Photos/Ellis Anderson, The Shoofly Magazine)
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