Founded in 1826 by Irish plantation owners and enslaved African Americans, Saint James the Greater is a rare and remarkable example of a rural African American Roman Catholic parish that has remained intact for two centuries.

Our Church, schoool house (built in 1897), and cemetery (dating to 1835) form a campus of a deep spiritual and historical importance.  Many of our parishioners today are descendants of those who worshipped here without a priest or church building for over 40 years —  guided by the powerful leadership of Vincent de Paul Davis, a formerly enslaved catechist who kept the flame of Catholic faith alive.