He gathered plants and parishioners

Bradshaw

Father Augustus Barthélemy Langlois is buried near the epistle altar of St. Martin de Tours Church in St. Martinville. He was the revered pastor of the parish when he died on July 31, 1900, at the age of 69, but when he first came to Louisiana it was not a sure thing that he would achieve either esteem or old age.

When he arrived at Pointe-à-la-Hache in Plaquemines Parish in December 1857 for his first priestly assignment, one of the first things the shy, 25-year-old found in his church was the ripped cassock of his predecessor who had been murdered, perhaps by parishioners, for unknown reasons. He said his first Sunday Mass in an empty church, and the pews remained empty all that month, even on Christmas.