Day 3, January 5th

Day 3, January 5th:

The Ursuline Convent

                                The Ursuline Convent, the oldest standing French building in New Orleans, if not the country. The fires of 1788 and 1794 could not destroy this beloved building. The fire of 1788 tried, but the Lord intervened, and the winds changed direction just in time. When the Spanish took over, they were requiring that all buildings not destroyed be taken down - all except the convent of the Ursuline nuns. The French buildings had wooden shingles and did not have a protective plaster. The convent, however, was already built to the Spaniard’s standards and so it was allowed to stand. In the Catholic faith, the bells are not rung Good Friday. The fire of 1794 just happened to be on a Good Friday and the church leader refused to break the rules and ring the bells for the fire as they would to alert the town that there was an emergency. The result was the great fire of 1794. This was on the other side of the French Quarter from the convent and so it was spared once again. The St Louis Cathedral, however was not. The fire spread across town and burnt a lot of the Cathedral. After the damage was done, the church needed rebuilt. A man by the name of Don Andres Almonaster said he wanted to pay for the entire church to be rebuilt! When he died years later, he was buried under the church floor and the floor above it is a plaque in his honor. The St Louis Cathedral is the oldest standing cathedral still in use today in the country.

Pictures below are of the St Louis Cathedral