St Louis Cathedral, Pt I
One of the most recognizable buildings in the French Quarter is the Cathedral at the head of Jackson Square. This peaceful setting has far too much history and too many bizarre stories to all be told at once, but here’s a start.
In 1779, Spain held the city, much to the annoyance of the citizenry. They were a little uptight, those Spaniards, and were really not happy with their colony. Letters from Spanish officials sent home complain at length that the locals are lazy, indecent, and would rather eat lavishly and drink copiously than work.
Well those plucky Spaniards had a cure for that! And so they sent over Father Antonio de Sedella, “commissioner of Inquisition of Faith.” He worked quietly for a year, putting into place the various instruments of the Spanish Inquisition to ‘convince’ the people that a life of quiet piety was much healthier for them than their current path.
When he finally told the governor what he was up to and that he was ready to start his interrogations, he was very quickly put on a ship headed back to Europe with an explanation that, as nice an idea as it was, really, we’ll pass.
And that’s how we became the only place in the Americas to have the Spanish Inquisition.
Sorta.
[techtags: French Quarter, New Orleans,St. Louis, Inquisition]
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