This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

from this injury on August 27, 1897. The third pastor was Very Rev. Florimond J. Blanc who served from January 1, 1898 to June 1903. He put electric lights into the church and bought the property where the present rectory stand. He fell ill in June of 1903 and on Sunday, June 14, he died. He was buried in the vault beneath the Calvary in St. Mary's cemetery.
Fr. Aloise van Waesberghe served from 1903 to 1906. He is buried in St. Mary's cemetery. On June 23, 1906 Rev. John M. Prendergast was appointed pastor of Bay St. Louis, a post which he held until January 17, 1918.
On Saturday morning, November 16,	1907, a great
catastrophe occured. St. Joseph's academy, the Church of Our Lady of the Gulf and the Catholic rectory were destroyed by fire. The loss was irreparable. Father Prendergast was not disheartened. He formulated plans for a greater church. On October 4, 1908, the cornerstone was laid for the present church. On December 13,	1908 the	First Mass of	the	new
Church was celebrated by Fr. Prendergast; it was like wise the day of the first initiation of the Knights of Columbus in Bay St. Louis named after Fr . LeDuc.
In 1908 the St. Joseph's Academy Boarding and Day School was replaced by a larger academy. The academy was at one time affiliated with the Catholic University in Washington. The academy was closed in 1967 when the last class graduated. This school served the 1st through the 12th grades for girls and 1st through 3rd grade for boys. The boys later went to St. Stanislaus boarding or day school. The Acadmey was reopened as Our Lady Academy for girls in 1971 under the leadership	of then	pastor, Msgr.	Gregory
Johnson. The last remnants of St. Joseph's Academy, an old gymnasium, burned to the ground on September 7,	1988
bringing to an end the era of the St. Joseph's academy. During the Christmas season of 1988, the people of Our Lady of the Gulf reacquired the St. Joseph's property a task which filled the people with pride that the original property was now back in the possesion of the parish so it could have room for expansion.
Many difficulties were faced during these years. New fields were opened when the Church of St. Henry (which has since burned down) at Edwardsville and the Church at Lakeshore and Clermont Harbor were dedicated.
Fr. Prendergast left in 1918 for Vicksburg and was replaced by Very Rev. Andrew J. Gmelch from Germany. He became pastor of Bay St. Louis on January 17, 1918 and served for many years until	he died in	the late 50's	and	was
buried with other former pastors at St.	Mary's Cemetery.
Fr. Gmelch proposed Waveland to be a separate parish. Bishop Gunn approved and in 1919 Waveland became a separate parish with Rev. Michael Costello as the first resident pastor. In 1922 Father Gmelch, a long time friend of the Fathers of the Divine Word, welcomed them to Bay St. Louis where they established the St. Augustine Mission House. The Divine Word Fathers took over the black school in 1923 and
--Our Lady of the Gulf History page 3 -