Corpus Christi Church — Hardin Mural Site

In a city shaped by centuries of Catholic devotion layered over African and Caribbean roots, Corpus Christi Church on St. Bernard Avenue served one of the largest Black Catholic congregations in New Orleans. Inside, murals by Ulrick Jean-Pierre depict the Stations of the Cross with African American figures — a radical choice in the mid-20th century South. The faces watching Christ's journey are Black faces, and the artist painted them that way when such an act carried weight. The sequence remains one of the earliest examples of Black Catholic devotional art in Louisiana. The parish merged with St. Peter Claver in 2008, and the building's future has been uncertain since. The murals endure, whether the doors open or not.