Many,many thanks for your comments on N.O. you brought me back to a photo copy of my childhood. Do you remember WWL and the hour of St.Francis? Midnight mass at the St.Louis Cathedral? Do you remember trying to make nine churches on Good Friday? Do you remember the 8th Eucharistic congress at city park or our mothers donating their gold so Bernard&Gruning could make a Monstrnce for that occasion? Do yoy rember Christmas caroling at Jackson square or Loyola U?Your memories of the Carmelite convent brings back memories,I remember my mother walking by the convent at night so that we could hear the nuns singing the Gregorian Chants.When I was older I bought a home on Esplanade Ave just for that reason unfortunately they were moved out on Gentily H,way.Their last postulant was the daughter of Notre Dames winning coaches.THANKS
Wow! Thank y’all! I knew you were out there! I’m getting tired of having the sobriquet of “sin city” attached to NO when my memories are anything but. Yes, I do remember the nine churches on Good Friday. And the fact that all the restaurants and movie theatres closed on Good Friday. I don’t remember the 8th Eucharistic Congress.
But, oh, to have gone to St. Aloysius! What a rich heritage I inherited. I started 8th grade at St. A. We were housed at St. Augustine’s parish - a few blocks away from St. A. We witnessed several jazz funerals from St. Augustine. The Brothers taught us about the customs and let us all align the fence and watch the procession into St. Augustine.
We didn’t have air conditioning in those days. We could hear the bells of St. Louis Cathedral toll the hours. We could hear the bananna man with his mule drawn wagon. We could hear the steam whistles of the ships in the the river.
Later, in high school, we would have 9 weeks exams. These finished around 12 and we would walk from Rampart and Esplanade to Canal St. Pop into St. Jude and make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. And then go to the show, downtown.
Jesuit’s always had confession available after school.
How about All Saint’s Day? My folks are all buried in St. Joseph’s #3 on Washington Ave. We would go and clean the tomb and then white wash it. Scrape the mud and plant flowers. And then head to the chapel for prayers.
The big altars in front of St. Joseph’s on Tulane for St. Joseph’s Day?
I grew up in a thoroughly Catholic world. We rode the bus. We rode the street car. We passed in front of a church and made the sign of the cross. The NO I know and the NO that is portrayed in the news media are two different cities.