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Presentation and Dedication of Historical Marker for Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church will be held Monday, May 9th, at 4:30 P.M. on the steps of the church.
Residents are invited to attend the cememony and a representative of the Department of Archives and History at Jackson will present the historical marker.
The most Reverend Bishop of the diocese Joseph L. Howze will officiate, and accepting for the parish will be Monsignor Gregory J. Johnson, pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Church.
The St. Stanislaus Band will present the musical program and Mrs. Michael D. Haas, Sr. will narrate a brief creative history of the church and its establishment in 1848.
Representing the Hancock County Historical Society will be Lionel Baxter.
Our Lady of the Gulf?s First Pastor:
On July 2,1808 a young child was bom in Paris, France. His parents christened him Louis Stanislaus Mary Buteux. Like many other young boys, God called Louis to be a priest. He studied at the Seminary of St. Sulpice in France and was ordained in 1836.
Fr. Louis was the ad-venturour type and he came to the missions of Indiana. There he became Chaplain to the Sisters of Providence. These sisters had come to found St. Mary of the Woods College near Terre Haute, Ind.
Fr. Louis worked at its /'nnstriir+inn as a lahnrpr Hp
of the Sacred Heart in charge. In August of that same year he went to France anc contacted Brother Polycarp, Superior of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. He told him of the advantages of a boarding school for boys in Bay St. Louis. His efforts were successful. St. Stanislaus College was founded due to his efforts.
It was named after that great first pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Church - Fr. Louis Stanislaus Mary Buteux.
His tireless work drained him of his strength and energy over the years in Bay St. Louis. On Nov. 17,1859 he was relieved of his duties. He spent the remaining years of his life in Boston. There he was Chaplain to several Catholic institutions.
Bishop Elder paid him a final tribute at his death: ?On June 14, 1875, Rev. Louis Stanislaus Mary Buteux died in Boston after years of fruitful labor and others spent in patient suffering, still occupied with the service of souls.? Bay St. Louis and the world had lost a great man. His memories still live on.
Long before the French explorers came to this area, the city of Bay St. Louis was an Indian Village bearing the name of Acoupoulou. In all probability, Robert Chevalier de la Salle was the first white man to explore this part of the Coast. De la Salle?s official, historian, Jacques de la Merairie, tells us that on April 7,1682, la Salle went to explore the shores of the Gulf Coast. Six years later the faithful Tonti came as far as the Gulf to seek tidings of his lost friend.
? *$-ary Mary Joseph Chanche became its first Bishop? It is interesting to note that Father Chanche had been offered the bishopricks of j Baltimore, Boston and Newt. York. He turned them down to receive Natchez.	?
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