St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Catholic church building in Paincourtville, Louisiana.
St. Elizabeth Catholic Church is a Gothic-style brick building with twin towers and a large rose window centered on the gable front. The interior is brightened by multiple stained glass windows that were installed between 1906 and 1910.
The current building was completed in 1902 to replace an earlier wooden structure that burned in 1854, marking the third church building for the parish since 1840. The Sisters of Mount Carmel had established a convent and school at the site in 1876 to provide education for local girls.
The parish's name honours St. Elizabeth of Hungary. In 1876 Fr. Jean Baptiste La Saichere asked the Sisters of Mount Carmel to come to Paincourtville to teach girls; the parish built a convent and a school for boarders and day students, and the school was oversubscribed within a year. In 1964 the sisters sold the school to the diocese, which runs it as an interparochial school. In 2000 the parish was clustered with St. Jules in Bell Rose.
The church stands at 114 Louisiana Highway 403 in Paincourtville, in Assumption Parish. Its twin towers and gable rose window make it easy to pick out from the road. The parish is clustered with St. Jules in Bell Rose, so enquiries about opening the interior can be directed to the parish office.
The church was modeled on the church at Ploubalay, France, the home parish of the La Saicherre brothers, who served as pastors here. Its twin towers were originally topped with spires, blown down in the 1909 Grand Isle hurricane and never replaced.
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