This mix of the pews resulted in the most integrated congregation in the entire country; one large row of free people of color, one large row of whites with a smattering of ethnics and two outer aisles of slaves. Except for a brief six month period when its sanctuary was enlarged and blessed in time for Christmas 1925, St. Augustine Church has been in continuous use as a place of worship until the present time.
Saint Augustine Church on November 21, 1842 and pledged to live in community to work for orphan girls, the uneducated, the poor, the sick and the elderly among the free people of color, thus founding the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, after the Oblates of Providence founded in Baltimore in 1828, the second oldest African-Americancongregation of religious women
In the midst of all these things, Henriette Delille, a free woman of color, and Juliette Gaudin, a Cuban, began aiding slaves, orphan girls, the uneducated, the sick and the elderly among people of color around 1823. Their particular concern for the education and care of colored children aided greatly in the founding, financing, staffing and administration of the city’s early private schools for the colored.
At the urging of Jeanne Marie Aliquot and the wise counseling of Pere Etienne Rousselin, the two women knelt publicly at the altar of St. Augustine Church on November 21, 1842 and pledged to live in community to work for orphan girls, the uneducated, the poor, the sick and the elderly among the free people of color, thus founding the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, after the Oblates of Providence founded in Baltimore in 1828, the second-oldest African-American congregation of religious women.
Historical figures such as Homer Plessy, of Plessy vs. Ferguson fame form the U.S. Supreme Court decision on May 18, 1896 and Alexander P. Tureaud, Sr., a giant among the civil rights attorneys of the stormy sixties, were members of Saint Augustine Church.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is nether slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28