History

The History of St. Luke’s was researched and documented by the Reverend George T. Swallow during his tenure as its rector 1966-1973. Clifford R. Bryan, Ph.D., (1912-1991) member of St. Luke’s, updated the written history of St. Luke’s through the 1990s.   

According to Rev. Swallow, the Negro church in New Orleans was established in 1855 by the Right Reverend Leonidas Polk, first bishop of Louisiana, for the “provision for religious instruction of the colored race." In 1855, Bishop Polk met with several free people of color in New Orleans to organize the church later named St. Thomas. The church was led by the Reverend Charles H. Williamson who was an English priest from Quebec, Canada. 

The next documented activities of the Negro Church occurred during the tenure of Louisiana’s second Bishop, Joseph Wilmer who acquired a church building at the corner of Calliope and Prytania Streets and set up a Negro Mission in 1877 named for S. Philip. The church was led by then Deacon Dr. Charles Henry Thompson who was later ordained to the priesthood at St. Philip’s in 1879. This original building was sold in 1885 to settle church indebtedness to the Protestant Episcopal Association.  Membership declined and in January 1887 the church was reorganized during a meeting with the Bishop at the rector’s home on Baronne Street (where services were held). The reorganized church became known as St. Luke’s. The congregation purchased two lots and a house on Fourth Street at Carondelet Street. Construction for the new church building began in July 1888 and the first service in the new church building was held on Easter Sunday, April 21, 1889.  

Frances Joseph Gaudet was born free in Holmesville, Mississippi, in 1861, with indigenous heritage on her mother's side. Her specific Native American tribe is unknown. Her father was a freed Black man. After leaving her alcoholic husband to rear her three children by herself, she supported herself as a seamstress. She moved to New Orleans at an early age to live with extended family. 

In 1902, Frances Joseph Gaudet raised funds from Episcopalian and other benefactors in order to open the Colored Industrial and Normal School. It was a highly successful school for Black children and occupied 105 acres at the corner of Gentilly Boulevard and the Industrial Canal. The school was located in the Gentilly neighborhood, close to Dillard University, the precursor of which was Straight College which she attended. The Gaudet School is included in George F. Bragg's History of the Afro-American Group of the Episcopal Church. 

Gaudet was an active lay member of Historic St. James Episcopal Church AME in New Orleans. In her autobiography, He Leadeth Me, published in 1913, she mentions financial aid from several Episcopalian women. Gaudet courageously crossed the color barrier both in her prison ministry and in her friendships with other Protestant women concerned with the wellbeing of Black children in New Orleans. 

In approximately 1919, at the start of Gaudet's ill health, the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana purchased the property and the school. Gaudet eventually moved to Philadelphia, where she died in 1934. 

The school was renamed Gaudet School and remained in operation for thirty-three years. Rev. Swallow’s research recounted a long pastoral connection and many personal relationships between St. Luke's and the Gaudet School. “During the school’s thirty-three years of operation, all the clergy of St. Luke’s, and many of its people were involved in the work of the school. The school was controlled by an all-white board of directors until 1944, when the first Negro was appointed, a member of St. Luke’s.”

The land in Gentilly was sold by the Diocese in 1966. Proceeds from the sale were deposited into the Gaudet Trust which is still administered by Episcopal Community Services of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.    

Senior parishioners’ gratitude for the Gaudet School that educated their parents led the late Bishop Charles Jenkins to dedicate the Gaudet side altar at St. Luke’s as the National Gaudet Shrine.  She is included in Lesser Feasts and Fasts. 

Her strong historical connection to St. Luke’s and her passion for advocating for and educating Black youth and demanding criminal justice reform speaks to both longtime and new church members, giving them a common bond and mission to ask “What Would Gaudet Do” today?  

The icon you see to the right depicts scenes from Gaudet's prison ministry at Angola, the school buildings, and her passion for evangelism and reform of the juvenile justice and education systems. Children from summer camp are holding their prayer cards of Blessed Gaudet, thanks to the grant from the Gaudet Fund to support children's outreach at St. Luke's. 

To give to the Gaudet Mural Project, in part funded by the Episcopal Church's Becoming Beloved Community grant, please see our donation page. This outdoor pilgrimage opportunity will be completed in 2025!

The church applied for parish status in 1945 and it was granted in 1946 at General Convention. The Diocese eventually purchased property at General Taylor and Clara Streets for St. Luke’s. The church built a rectory and parish hall in addition to the church building. In 1963, the buildings were severely damaged by fire. Major renovations after the fire included the installation of air-conditioning and an organ. The church was rededicated in 1965 during the tenure of the Reverend George Swallow.     

St. Luke’s moved to its current site in 1976 into the building which previously housed the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Church. 

Notable figures in the life of St. Luke's at its current location include the late Rev. Curtis Winfield Sisco, Jr., to whom the Lift Every Voice and Sing II hymnal is dedicated, and the composer Moses Hogan, who served as organist while attending NOCCA and again in adulthood. 

In 2005, the church and community center, Gaudet Hall, sustained major damage after the landfall of hurricane Katrina. After repairs, it was utilized for years in neighborhood rebuilding efforts. The rebuilding of St. Luke’s has been due in great part to the kindness and generosity of Episcopal Black Ministries and our partner parishes throughout the country.       

Many, many volunteers contributed to St. Luke's in the years following Hurricane Katrina. On April 15th, 2007, volunteers from All Saints Episcopal Church in Chicago presented a gift of water and a letter accompanying it.  "The Katrina waters have brought us together. Our two cities, Chicago and New Orleans, share a water existence. You have Lake Pontchartrain and we have Lake Michigan. We have the Chicago River, and you, the Mississippi, the better river. You have bayous and we have the Skokie lagoons. We share a faith tradition that begins with the waters of creation and the first flood that washed the whole earth. We share a tradition of baptism where water is a visible sign of God’s grace and promise of new life and renewal.  Today we present this vessel filled, with baptismal waters from All Saints, as a sign of our shared vision for a renewed and more just New Orleans and Chicago…"

Upon the arrival of The Reverend Canon William Barnwell in November 2012, St. Luke's began a new chapter in its Regrowth, Revitalization and Outreach. Assisted by The Reverend Canon Barnwell's sure leadership, St. Luke's continues to strive for that elusive standard that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  described as the "Beloved Community."  The late Canon Barnwell is the author of Angels in the Wilderness and other titles on racial justice and prison ministry. 

In January 2014, St. Luke's proposed three resolutions to the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana 178th Convention. These resolutions passed and included, that the 178th Convention of the Diocese of Louisiana: Recognize St. Luke's Episcopal Church in New Orleans as the first largely African American parish in The Diocese of Louisiana henceforth known as Historic St. Luke's New Orleans.    

Adding to the fond musical memories of Rev. Sisco and Moses Hogan, the congregation is very proud of its organist emeritus, Dr. Courtney Bryan. Currently premiering her composition works that blend inspiration from the church music she grew up with and stirring commentaries on racialized police terror and the pandemic, Dr. Courtney Bryan is a 2023 MacArthur Genius grant recipient. As seen in her November 2023 interview with the Christian Science Monitor, St. Luke’s has been a major influence for her music:

[Interviewer:] How much has being a Black woman from New Orleans who grew up Episcopalian influenced your palate and what you offer to the world through your creativity? 

[Dr. Courtney Bryan responding:] I realized my church that I grew up in, it’s like the earliest music memories that I have. There’s so many musical memories, of course, coming up in New Orleans, but I feel like my church – it’s called St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in New Orleans – we always had an interesting mix of styles. We did the traditional Anglican hymns, and we had Gregorian chant. We also did spirituals and we did our version of gospel music. 

Growing up in that, we were a very diverse church. Some folks are from New Orleans, but a lot of folks are from the Caribbean or from Central, South America – some from West Africa. That cultural mix, we kind of brought that into the music in different ways. Sometimes we have West African percussion or some sort of rhythm that sounded more Caribbean on a tambourine that mixed with the Anglican hymns. That kind of mixture is natural for me. 

And also, I didn’t think about this until much later, but I realized it was special that I grew up in a church where the artwork we had, we were surrounded by Black saints [including St. Martin de Porres and St. Frances Gaudet, who worked with incarcerated juveniles in Louisiana]. All of the stained glass of Jesus, he looks a little bit darker. I grew up seeing that. We have a Martin Luther King stained glass window. I noticed that later. I was like, “Oh, that was nice growing up with just all these images of important figures, important Christian figures that look like me.” 

With thanks to the tenure of many supply priests and interim priests over the decades as well as gifted musicians, St. Luke’s is embracing a future where its lively worship, the national Blessed Frances Joseph-Gaudet Shrine, and its open doors welcome people from every walk of life. The current Rector is Mother Jane-Allison Wiggin.