THE CATHEDRAL
Or Church of St. Louis, is the principal and centre of three buildings which stand on Chartres street, immediately opposite to the Place d'Armes, or Parade Ground. This edifice forcibly strikes the stranger by its venerable and antique appearance. There is perhaps, none in the Union which is on this account more impressive. The foundation of the building was laid in 1792, and it was, to a certain extent, completed in 1794, at the expense of Don Andre Almonaster, perpetual regidor, and Alvarez Real.
The architecture of the Cathedral is by no means pure, but is not wanting in effect on this account. The lower story is of the rustic order, flanked at each of the front angles by hexagonal towers, projecting one half of their diameter, showing below Tuscan antes at each angle, and above pilastres of plain mason-work, in the same style, with antique wreaths on the frieze of the entablatures. These towers are crowned by low spires, erected after Latrobe's designs, about 1814.
The grand entrance to the Cathedral is in the middle of the front, being a semi-circular arched door, with two clustered Tuscan columns on either side. This entrance is flanked by two smaller doors, similar to the principal one.
The second story of the front has the same general appearance, as to the number of columns &c. as the lower one, but is of the Roman Doric order. Above, and corresponding to the main entrance, is a circular window, with niches on either side, above the flanking doors below. On the apex of the pediment of this story rises the chief turret, being in the Tuscan style, and in two parts—the lower being square, about twenty feet in height, with circular apertures on each side; the upper hexagonal, having a belfry, with apertures at the sides for letting out the sound, flanked by antes. The proportions of the order are not observed in this belfry, which was erected about 1824, by Le Riche.
The Cathedral has a tenure, to speak in legal phrase, of every Saturday evening offering masses for the soul of its founder, Don Andre. The requirement is faithfully observed, for as the day returns, at set of sun, the mournful sound of the tolling bell recalls the memory of the departed. This building is almost inseparably connected, in the minds of the old residents, with the memory of the venerable Pere Antonio de Sedella, curate of the parish for nearly fifty years. This excellent old man, adored for his universal benevolence, came to Louisiana, then a province, in 1779, and is supposed to have performed nearly one half of the marriage and funeral ceremonies of its inhabitants, until the period of his death, at the ripe age of nearly ninety years, in 1837. This venerated relic of by gone days lies buried at the foot of the altar.
