Comparison Of Montegut, Bourg, And Little Caillou

The focus of this book is Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and Parish in Montegut, Louisiana, and the outline of the book follows the tenure of each priest. However, I could not write about Sacred Heart without writing about Montegut, Bourg, and Little Caillou. The book follows the church parish boundaries and as each new parish is created, the focus remains with the priest of Sacred Heart.
Though we live in other places in the world, we identify Montegut and Sacred Heart as home and home to our grandparents, great grandparents, and great, great grandparents stretching back through the 150 years. Many of the names of Montegut today, were the names of le Terrebonne, our first name in French. Between 1864 and today, our names have include Authement,

Belanger, Billiot, Chaisson, Courteaux, Dugas, Dupre, Ellender, Fields, Guidry, LeBouef, Pitre, Naquin, Robichaux, Sanders, Stoufflet, and Viguerie, among many others. The Church has given us important roots in binding us as a church and community family, sticking us to this small place, Montegut.
My goals in writing this history of the Sacred Heart Church and Montegut were two-fold. One was to reminisce about our church and its history. The second goal was to preserve the history of Montegut, its people who with affection, and love for such a place and its life that they want to continue to live here and preserve it. One of the struggles of the book was that as I finished a section more wonderful pieces of history appeared. It was as though they were waiting to be discovered.
I appreciated the opportunity to conduct research in the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese Archives supported by Kevin Allemand. Additionally, Dorenda Dupre, the Diocese of New Orleans, Archive office in developing this history, assisted us. Archivist Clifford Theriot, Nicholls State University, Ellender Library, Dr. T.I. St. Martin Collection for providing digital copies of key pictures. Dr. Christopher E. Cenac provided hours of guidance and conversation, shaping the book. Members of our community who graciously loaned us pictures, told us stories, and gave me clues to finding our history are numerous. A special thanks to Adam Pennison whose hours of incredible research helped to shape this book. I was assisted and guided by many, some of whom have since become our ancestors.
Finally, a special thanks to my mother, AnnaBelle S. Browning and her mother, Annette Duplantis Stoufflet, who without their stories and love of words the little kid sitting on the floor would have never absorbed the sounds of their voices and their stories of faith, families, and friends. I felt their presence and those who are held only in memories, as I researched and assembled the history.
If you are not a sticker to Sacred Heart and Montegut already, we would love to have you join us one Sunday for Mass, and you will find folks ready and looking forward to seeing you at Mass.
Laura A. Browning