St. Matt's Bell Photos

Per Father Craig concerning St. Matthew's Bell which was recovered from the ashes today:

Bell was removed and is in good condition--just covered with soot. It is dedicated to the "Protestant Episcopal Church in Houma"--and is dated 1872. It was made in Troy, New York. It must have hung in the bell tower of the original brick church. The original church was built in 1858, then damaged when the rectory burned in 1890, and was subsequently torn down. The cypress church was then erected in 1892, and the bell re-installed. (Tucker Hall was built as the new rectory at the same time.) Now we have a chance to re-install our very old bell into the new church!

Photos courtesy of Mike Niette

More St. Matthew's Photos

It has been a little over a month since St. Matthew's burned down. The torched remnants are still on the grounds but will probably be hauled away in a few weeks. Here are some photos of the charred inside. Hopefully, we will soon have a clean lot and then eventually a beautiful new building!

Pieces of the broken marble baptismal font.

Back of the church

Parish Hall

Photos courtesy of Mike Niette

A Few Bits From St. Matthew's

This morning we had our first service since the church burned down last Thursday. A few bits and pieces were recovered from the church.

This first photo is a section of the cross that was carried during the processional at the beginning and end of each service.

This is the back of one of the kneeler pads which were all made of needlepoint by the ladies of the church. The design was on the front and this is the back which shows the names of the people that the kneelers were dedicated to. It is amazing that this material survived as the temperature of the fire was estimated to be between 1000 to 1500 degrees.

This banner survived fully intact because it wasn't in the fire. The story is as follows: Thursday, the day of the fire, was Veteran's day. Some of the school children made a banner for that event. They needed a pole to hang their banner on, so they borrowed the pole that this banner was hanging on from the church on Wednesday. Thus, this banner ended up being safely stored in a classroom when the fire broke out and was consequently spared.