Celebration of Christianity First Being Brought to Louisiana In 1682 at St Joseph Louisiana

Well this is interesting. People often think all the important Catholic history of Louisiana happend in South Louisiana. A good bit happened up north too!!

The latest addition of the Catholic newspapers for the Diocese of Alexandrai has a nice photo of the cross and other pictures on page page 13/ It is a PDF files and be viewed here The Church Today, Sept. 20, 2010

I wish there was a bigger story :( Here are the captions below

St. Joseph, La -- Where
Christianity
was first brought to
Louisiana in 1682

LEFT. The plaque on the stone cross pedestal
reads: “In March of 1682, Fr. Zenobius Membre,
a French Franciscan Recollect Father accompanying
Robert deLa Salle’s Expedition down
the Mississippi, became the first missionary to
proclaim the Gospel of Christ within the State
of Louisiana when he preached to the Tensas
Indians on the shores of Lake St. Joseph. This
monument was erected in his memory during
the Centennial Jubilee of the establishment of
the Diocese of Alexandria, Anno Domini 2010.”