Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

MOUNT CARMEL
ACADEMY
Above: Mount Carmel Academy was
chartered in 1896 by the State of Louisiana
at its location on Governor Nicholls Street.
Top: In 1926 the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel built a four-story building in
the newly developing Lakeview area of
New Orleans, which provided a residence
for the Sisters and housed a day and
boarding school, a novitiate, and a Catholic
Normal School to train teachers.
New Orleans need look no
further than the Sisters of Mount
Carmel for a school for young
girls emphasizing a life of faith.
Mount Carmel’s spiritual goal for
their students is “growing in
friendship with God, experiencing
God’s love, pondering the
mystery and wonder of life, and
searching for meaning.”
Prayer is at the heart of
the Carmelite spirit. The Sisters’
faithfulness to God and their
willingness to respond to the
needs of the times permeate
the history of the Congregation
of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
and continue to bless and shape
the lives of generations of young
women. The Sisters live and teach
their mission and truth.
The Sisters of Mount Carmel came to
New Orleans on November 2, 1833. Mount
Carmel Academy, founded by the Sisters
of Mount Carmel, was incorporated into
New Orleans Parish in 1858 and the State
of Louisiana in 1896.
The first community of the Sisters of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel originated in Tours,
France, in 1824. Julie Thèrése Chevrel joined
the community in 1825. The education of
young girls was at the core of the Sisters’
mission. The young community endured
adversity and was plagued by financial crisis
and religious persecution spawned by
France’s July Revolution of 1830. Mother
St. Paul Bazir, a community co-foundress,
predicted that Thèrése would cross the sea
and the community would survive in a new
country. She was right. Thérèse became
the Superior of the community in 1828 at
twenty-two, when Mother St. Paul died.
During those turbulent times, she responded
faithfully to God’s call. She was ready to
immigrate to the United States to fulfill the
need for education and ministry in south
Louisiana. She and Augustin Clerc arrived
from France on November 2, 1833. Their
journey laid the cornerstone for the
Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
in the United States, with a commitment to
Catholic education.
The bishop invited the Sisters to administer
a free school for young ladies of color in
New Orleans. Upon their arrival, though,
Sisters Thérèse and Clerc were sent to
Plattenville along Bayou Lafourche to re-open
a school. Then in 1838, they were needed in
New Orleans and returned to the city to
assume administration of the St. Claude Street
School from the Ursuline Sisters. They opened
a boarding and day school on Governor
Nicholls Street in 1840, the forerunner of
present-day Mount Carmel. In 1869, Carmelite
Sisters took over the orphanage at Royal and
Piety Streets, which grew into a major facility
for Civil War orphans, yellow fever victims and
victims of abuse and poverty. The orphanage
operated until 1919, when it was sold due
to repairs needed from a major hurricane.
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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