Old Ursuline Convent

On passing through the time-etched doors of the Lodge on "la Rue Conde", now Chartres Street, which gives entrance to the Old Ursuline Convent, the New Orleans visitor finds himself wandering through centuries of yesterdays of this old city. History has stored away here in this nearly 250 year old structure the memories of stirring events that have left their imprint not only on New Orleans, the old capital of the French colonial empire, but on the whole Mississippi Valley. The convent is crowded with memories of an entire galaxy of notables - French, Spanish, American, Confederate and a whole people of the past: saints, sinners, prelates, Indians, Negro slaves, social leaders of the Creole aristocracy, American merchants, and history's great. The early days of the convent were filled with raw adventure of the terrifying, shattering sort that only saints and pioneers can face. The Ursulines were both of these. Following the Natchez massacre, the Convent opened its doors to the orphaned children of the French colonists slaughtered at Fort Rosalie. In the yellowing archives of the Convent, one may still read their names: Louise Chalante, Francoise Caillon, Marie LePris, and so on, through a pitifully long list.

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