St. Expedite Shrine — Our Lady of Guadalupe

Built in 1827 as a mortuary chapel for yellow fever victims, Our Lady of Guadalupe stands as the oldest surviving church building in New Orleans. The logic of its founding was grim and practical: at the time, people believed exhalations from the dead could spread the disease, so rather than burden St. Louis Cathedral further, city authorities erected a separate chapel close to St. Louis Cemeteries #1 and #2. St. Louis Cemetery #1 sits directly behind the church, across Basin Street. The dead stayed near their own.

The chapel was originally established as the Chapel of St. Anthony of Padua. In 1918, Archbishop John Shaw brought in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to serve what had fallen into disuse, and the missionaries renamed it to its current name. In the 1930s, parishioners praying to Saint Jude reported their prayers answered — the kind of thing that, in New Orleans, becomes institutional fast. Regular novenas to Saint Jude began, and they continue today. The shrine to Saint Jude, including a relic of the saint, is maintained to the left of the altar. The church grounds also hold a Marian grotto between the church and the rectory.

Then there is St. Expedite. His shrine is in the left transept, and local tradition holds that he occupies a singular position in this city's religious life — simultaneously a Catholic saint and, so they say, a figure of genuine standing in New Orleans Voodoo practice. Catholics come. Voodoo practitioners come. Devotees leave pound cake and flowers; the saint is invoked for urgent requests. That convergence — two traditions, one room, neither subordinate to the other — is not a curiosity. It is New Orleans religion working exactly as it has always worked.

In November 2025, the Archdiocese of New Orleans placed the church in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a settlement plan for sex abuse lawsuits. The building endures. Open daily, free, 411 N. Rampart Street.