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Cast In Stone
Emblems of Heritage
Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Engravings are Forever. At long last the fulfillment of anticipating ones’ family brick, in memory of a loved one, has arrived. The Walk of Memories leading to The Shrine of Our Lady of the Woods has begun.
Parishoners and visitors alike have been seen studying the newly placed stones, some with smiles and some with wonderment. Some have been noted to be just plain curious about the walkway lined by graceful oaks, inviting the stroller to take a walk down OLG’s Walk of Memories. If the stones could speak, our ears would be full of tid-bits of parish history since our inception as a parish family in 1847 when Fr. Louise Stanislaus Mary Buteaux left France to become Bay St. Louis’s first Catholic priest.
The Walk of Memories was established as a project to help pay for the purchase of the St. Joseph property adjacent to the Church. The development of OLG since Fr. Buteaux landed in Bay St. Louis has been a long labor of love by its parishioners. If Fr. Buteaux were to ’ 'stroll along memory lane,’ ’ he would notice that St. Stanislaus, named after him, is still operating and presently expanding its facilities, despite a yellow fever epidemic that temporarily closed the school.
Fr. Buteaux would also notice that times have changed quite a bit for the girls’ school he founded as St. Joseph’s Academy along with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Bourg, France. They arrived in Bay St. Louis January 6, 1855, setting up their first school in America. On one journey from France to their new homeland, they encountered a harsh storm. Falling to his knees, Fr. Buteaux invoked the protection of the Blessed Virgin, and promised if their lives were spared, he would erect a shrine. Their lives were saved, and history reads that a few months later a statue arrived from France with a pamphlet stating: ’ 'A gentle man involved in serious difficulties made a promise to 'Our Lady of the Woods’ that if she would help him, he would build a suitable shrine in her honor.” The shrine still stands today.
If Fr. Henry LeDuc, second pastor to come to Bay St. Louis from France, could speak up for his stone, he might tell of his adventures tackling the Yankees during the Civil War. The Confederates had taken some Yankees as prisoners and as revenge they wanted to burn down the town of Bay St. Louis. Fr. LeDuc set to the streets with a cross of Christ to appeal to the soldiers to cease their destruction. The soldiers, mostly Irish Catholics, yielded to him and so the town was saved.