LEONVILLE

Nestled along scenic Bayou Teche between Opelousas and Arnaudville on Highway 31, the community of Leonville was founded as a settlement of free men of color, or gens de couleur libres. The town was named by the settlement's first pastor, Father Leon Mailluchet, who built the first church there in 1898.

The present church, with its distinctive tower, was built by the second pastor, Father Eugene Livorel, between 1907 and 1916. He converted the old church into a rectory, and upper windows in the attic are still paneled in stained glass from the days that the house was a church.