An improbably young Empress Helena, as imagined by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Louisiana was founded by the French as an expressly Catholic colony, and while Jews and Protestants eventually did arrive, its Catholic flavor has continued to this day. Instead of counties, we have parishes, itself a Catholic word. Unsurprisingly, we have a large number of parishes named after saints: St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and St. Tammany. St. Mary, St. James, and St. John the Baptist need no introduction for even the most lukewarm Sunday school student, but their other fellows on the map of Louisiana are relatively obscure.
St. Bernard Parish is ostensibly named for a saint, but actually got its name from Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana during the American Revolution. He encouraged trade with America, suppressed British smuggling in New Orleans, and seized Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola from the British. The early residents of St. Bernard Parish were Spanish and they decided to honor Galvez by naming the place after his patron saint—but since there are seven St. Bernards, which Bernard is unclear.
St. Charles Parish is named after St. Charles Borromeo. Although he had a speech impediment and considered austere and humorless, he was able to rise up the Catholic ranks of the Catholic Church through his hard work and family connections. He was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, which reformed the Catholic Church after the rise of Protestantism. Despite several high-profile disagreements with the Vatican, such was his renown that he was canonized less than thirty years after his death. Today, he is a less well-known saint, likely since his life lacked the dramatic twists and turns of people like Thomas More and Joan of Arc.
St. Helena Parish honors Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine I. Helena played a major role in spreading Christianity; the religion was illegal when she converted, but she remained steadfast in her beliefs. Constantine, although not Christian, became emperor when he defeated a rival claimant at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. During the fighting, his men painted Christian symbols on their shields. As emperor, Constantine tolerated Christianity and himself converted to the faith in his dying days, none of which would have been possible without his mother’s influence.
St. Landry Parish is named after Landry, also known as Landericus, one of the first bishops of Paris. He is most noted for founding Paris’ first hospital in 650, the Hôtel-Dieu, which has remained open to this day. He also performed several miracles, but not much else is known about him given the paucity of writings from that era.
St. Martin Parish is named for Martin of Tours, a Roman aristocrat who became a Christian against his family’s wishes. After serving as a soldier, he became a hermit, monk, and eventually a bishop. He was a fixture of French Catholicism, particularly during the Middle Ages and the aftermath of France’s loss in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, which led to a renewal of French nationalism. His tomb is one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world.
St. Tammany Parish is not even named after a Catholic saint. It was named after Tamanend, or Tammany as he became known, a chief of the Lenape people who lived at what is today Philadelphia. He negotiated with William Penn when the colonist founded Pennsylvania and spent his last years in Philadelphia itself. Over time, he was dubbed the “Patron Saint of America” due to his love of peace, and every May 1, his life was celebrated with a festival in Philadelphia. In 1772 in Philadelphia, the Sons of King Tammany was founded, but later renamed the Sons of St. Tammany. After the American Revolution, other Tammany societies sprang up, the most famous being New York City’s Tammany Hall, which was noted for the services it provided immigrants as well as for its corrupt machine politics.
Most celebrations and honors heaped on Tamanend occurred in the original thirteen colonies, in particular Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. William C. C. Claiborne, the first American governor of Louisiana, was from Virginia and grew up during the height of Tammany celebrations. The parish was also home to a variety of tribes, in particular the powerful Choctaw. Naming the site after a famous Native American was likely a peace offering that was in keeping with the wishes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who were Claiborne’s patrons. Both men desired coexistence with the native tribes, and the Choctaw repaid the Americans by sending warriors to defend New Orleans during the War of 1812.
